ARCHIVE

Lucinda Tait, Strummer’s widow, on the new compilation

JOE STRUMMER

LUCINDA GARLAND

A SSEMBLY is not the first Joe Strummer compilation of recent years – it follows the 32-track 2018 collection Joe Strummer 001. “There’s definitely a different idea with Assembly,” says Lucinda Tait, Strummer’s widow and executive producer of the set. “001 was conceived because we came across a lot of archival material [for] the die-hard fans. But Assembly is a collection of Joe’s betterknown songs, which have been remastered to celebrate this part of his career.”

Strummer’s post-Clash years didn’t strictly comprise a solo career. There was almost always a band, whether Latino Rockabilly War, The Pogues or The Mescaleros. “Joe was definitely a ‘band’ man,” says Tait. “He was a collaborative artist. The lyrics were his, but the musical influences came from everyone.”

Strummer would have been 70 next year. Assembly is a potent and melancholy reminder that he was nowhere near done. “He’d finished touring at the end of 2002,” says Tait, “and he had gone straight into Rockfield Studios. The plan was to get [2003’s] Streetcore out. He was writing manically. He wasn’t resting on his laurels at all.”

ANDREW MUELLER

FRANCISCO MORA CATLETT

Mora! &Mora!II 

FAR OUT RECORDINGS

9/10

Rare late-’80s pan-American sessions from a little-known African- American/Mexican drummer

The self-released debut LP by Francisco Mora Catlett – 1986’s Mora! – came after the Mexico City-raised drummer had spent seven years in Detroit as a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra. At a time when US jazz was in thrall to the neo-bop revival, Mora’s fusion of hard bop, samba jazz and pan-American world music sank without trace, and the (even more experimental) follow-up session wasn’t even released. But this belated two-disc package showcases a prescient project that foreshadows the 21st century’s more globally minded Fourth World jazz. On tracks such as “Samba De Amor” and “Amazona”, the clatter of rainforest sounds and tightly synchronised Brazilian hand drums mesh with ecstatic horns and the Flora Purim-like vocals of Francisco’s wife Teresa Mora; more ruminative tracks like the stately “El Moro” and “Cultural Warrior” give room for Mora’s crew of Detroit vets and teenage newcomers to shine.

Extras: None.

JOHN LEWIS

THE NIGHTINGALES

Pigs On Purpose (reissue, 1982)

CALL OF THE VOID

8/10

Brummisfits’ eccentric debut expanded to a (vinyl) double

This reissue follows the funny and affectionate King Rocker, a sort-of rockumentary about Robert Lloyd’s cultish flock, directed by Michael Cumming and written by Stewart Lee. The first (CD) reissue in 2004 expanded the original 13-song set with six additional tracks, but this remastered iteration pushes the total to a whopping 29. Pigs On Purpose is both of its time and slightly outside it: nervy, high-tensile guitars, furiously rolling drums and Lloyd’s flat vocal tone align it with post-punk but, at times, as on “Yeah, It’s OK”, it flips into a kind of proto-indie pop. More oddly, there’s the yawing, unaccompanied folk of “Well Done Underdog”, which Richard Dawson would surely applaud. Throughout, Lloyd’s eloquent lyrics hit their target with GPS-like precision.

Extras: 7/10. A mix of demos, live recordings and singles from the same era. Crucially, they include terrific debut single “Idiot Strength”, not on the earlier reissue.

SHARON O’CONNELL

THE ROOTS

Do You WantMore?!!!??! (reissue, 1995) 

DGC RECORDS

7/10

Breakthrough second from Philadelphia jazz-rap troupe

There was already an established dynasty of hip-hop groups mining jazz for the perfect break when The Roots rose to fame in the mid- ’90s. Do You Want More?!!!??!, though, undeniably took the genre to the next level. The Roots weren’t averse to sampling, but they were also a virtuoso band who built their records from extended live jams. Questlove’s limber rhythms are the foundation, but just as key is Scott Storch, whose silky Fender Rhodes infuses “Proceed” and “Mellow My Man” with the sound of 1970s soul and funk. The lyricism is of a 1990s flavour but today it’s a nostalgic listen, one that’s aged with charm and grace.

Extras: 9/10. This reissue, available digitally and as 3LP and 4LP sets, adds a wealth of bonus and unheard material, including remixes, alternate versions and a take on “Proceed” featuring Roy Ayers. 24-page booklet.

LOUIS PATTISON

THE SELECTER

Too Much Pressure (reissue, 1980) 

CHRYSALIS

7/10

Coventry’s other 2-Tone act’s debut on triple-CD or half-speed vinyl

From their instrumental B-side to The Specials’ debut “Gangsters”, which gave The Selecter their name, to the recording of “On My Radio” by a remodelled lineup centred on Pauline Black’s potent presence – both addictively strange, hooky records – the band crucially contributed to 2-Tone’s 1979 eruption. The musical limitations of rewiring ska with punk amphetamines can, though, be felt on an LP rushed out straight afterwards. Stinging UK R&B guitar stands out on the likes of “Danger”, and “They Make Me Mad” is alert to middle-class condescension, but a routinely revved-up “Too Much Pressure” sums up the missed chance.

Extras: 8/10. Singles, a Peel session and a gig at Tiffany’s in Coventry capturing The Selecter’s part in what Black calls “the recent 2-Tone takeover”, and her charisma, better than the LP. “This stage is too small,” she declares, unperturbed. “This place is too hot.” You can imagine.

NICK HASTED

AL STEWART

Year Of The Cat: 45th Anniversary Edition

CHERRY RED

8/10

The Scottish troubadour’s shining hour gets afresh polish

Released 10 years into a career whose prior highlights were an appearance at the first Glastonbury and an 18-minute-long underground hit that dared include the F-word, 1976’s Year Of The Cat transformed an unabashedly wordy Glaswegian into one of the era’s most inescapable musical presences. On the evidence of Cherry Red’s 3CD/1DVD edition, the most striking reason for that turn is the plushness of the settings crafted by Stewart and producer Alan Parsons alongside Stewart’s band, Cockney Rebel’s rhythm section, and ace sessioneers like saxophonist Phil Kenzie. That Stewart’s choice of subject matter could be as esoteric as the 16th-century naval battles described on “Lord Grenville” or the title track’s Casablanca-inspired intrigues hardly mattered whenit was all married to such an impeccable merger of folk-rock, progressive pop and the smoothest sounds of the ’70s. The highlights of Cherry Red’s new edition, the Parsonssupervised remaster and 5.1 surround mix add further richness and texture to what was already the aural equivalent of an irresistibly cozy shag carpet. The mix is nearly as clean and well balanced for the previously unreleased 1976 performance in Seattle that offers many more pleasures on discs two and three.

Extras: 8/10. 68-page book, facsimile tour poster, postcards.

JASON ANDERSON

JOE STRUMMER

Assembly

DARK HORSE

8/10

Reintroduction to an overshadowed solo career

By Strummer’s own admission, it took him a decent stretch of his post-Clash period to answer the question “A nd now what?”. This pick-and-mix of his solo career amply demonstrates that he got there eventually. If there’s one thing uniting the tracks gathered on Assembly it’s Strummer’s rediscovery of a purehearted joy in making music, especially audible in the tracks recorded with the Mescaleros, from the zesty zydeco of “Johnny Appleseed” to the 101ers-style pub rock of “Coma Girl”. Even when he revisits Clash material, on live versions of “Rudie Can’t Fail” and “I Fought The Law” and an acoustic take on “Junco Partner”, Strummer sounds mostly like he’s having a total blast. However, Assembly cannot help prompt rueful contemplation of what else Strummer might have accomplished had he lived past 50: the plain lovely “Long Shadow” and “Sleepwalk” suggest regrettably under-explored possibilities as a balladeer.

Extras: None.

ANDREW MUELLER

TAME IMPALA

Innerspeaker: 10th Anniversary Box Set

ISLAND/UMG

9/10

A 4LP expansion of Kevin Parker’s first blast off into the stratosphere

Te n years ago, it was laughably absurd to think a gloriously florid garage-psych project born in a Perth bedroom would soon achieve global superstardom. Yet Kevin Parker’s sonic starbursts have enraptured an audience beyond the usual smattering of long-haired freaks, though it’s the latter contingent who will be most spellbound by the treasures unearthed in the 4LP expansion of Tame Impala’s stillstunning 2010 debut. The penchants for Hendrixian fury and Floydian languor that Parker otherwise carefully constrained on the original 11 songs get much freer rein on instrumental versions of “Why Won’t You Make Up Your Mind” and “It Is Not Meant To Be”. Even they seem conservative compared with the contents of the fourth LP: a spellbinding 20-minute collage of ideas and demos, and “Wave House Live Jam”, a sprawling, ever-undulating 18-minute instrumental that may be far messier than anything else Parker has ever officially released yet still demonstrates his burgeoning mastery of the principles of flow, tension and release.

Extras: 6/10. As well as the aforementioned, there’s a 40-page booklet.

JASON ANDERSON

ALI FARKA TOURÉ

Ali Farka Touré (reissue, 1984)

WORLDCIRCUIT

9/10

‘The Red Album’ back on vinyl for the first time since release

Touré bought his first acoustic guitar in Bulgaria in the late ’60s, but it took until this 1984 record for his music to flow back to Europe. Later albums, such as Talking Timbuktu and Savane, were more lavish affairs, but the best place to hear his stunning playing – drones intertwining with staccato, bluesy flourishes –is still here. The sessions at Bamako’s Radio Mali studio captured Touré and percussionist Hama Sankare live with just two microphones, and this stripped-down feel is the key to ‘Red’’s magic –it sounds at once ancient and completely modern, the Pink Moon of western-embraced Malian music. Of its eight tracks, “Ali Aoudy” shows off the pair’s skill with a lopsided groove, but the joyful “Chéri” is the classic.

Extras: None.

TOM PINNOCK

NAT TURNER REBELLION

Laugh To Keep From Crying

PHILLY GROOVE

9/10

Philly Soul protest pioneers finally rise up

Named after a bloody 1831 slave rebellion, and disbanding after baritone Bill Spratley pulled a gun on co-founder Joseph Jefferson backstage in 1972, Nat Turner Rebellion rarely avoided trouble. In fact, this ‘debut’ didn’t appear until 2019’s Record Store Day; the tapes from whichit was compiled had long been confined to Philly Groove’s archives after disagreements with label boss Sam Watson. Their patron missed a trick – with the title track they’d crafted a classic of psychedelic funk, complete with doo-wop flourishes and a chorus built around a mocking laugh. If this weren’t eclectic enough, “Fat Back” combined James Brown yaps with Jimi Hendrix guitars, “McBride’s Daughter” was as smooth as The 5th Dimension, the harmonies and fuzz guitar on “Love, Peace & Understanding” recalled – inevitably – Mayfield-era The Impressions, and “Can’t Go On Loving” o ffer e d Oti s Redding heartbreak. “We wanted to be Sly,” Jefferson once said, but they settled for more.

Extras: None.

WYNDHAM WALLACE

THE VACCINES

What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? (reissue, 2011)

COLUMBIA

7/10

Rebel yell: Nat Turner Rebellion

Sprightly, serviceable debut celebrates its first decade

Dropping at the tail-end of a period that saw legions of guitar-toting indie bands showered with hyperbole by the music press, the hotly anticipated debut from The Vaccines didn’t quite reshape the mould of British pop. What the west London foursome’s first LP did reveal was a penchant for writing tight hooks and neatly arranged indie dancefloor fillers. This rollicking, energetic record may not have upset quite as many apple carts as some had hoped, yet its songs have endured. Take the gothy teen drama of “Post Break-Up Sex”, the knockabout folk-punk of “Nørgaard” or indie club staple “If You Wanna” – all of which remain enjoyable yet inoffensive listens. The Vaccines’ avoidance of the self-mythologising of many of their contemporaries is laudable, though some may find these subtext-free earworms a tad superficial.

Extras: 6/10. 10th-anniversary edition on limited-edition solid pink vinyl; download coupon for 10 unreleased demos from the era – o fte n mor e tantalising than the finished products.

ANDREW PRICE

VARIOUS ARTISTS

London Pirate Radio Adverts 1984–1993, Vol 1 and Vol 2

DEATHIS NOT THE END

8/10, 8/10

Era-evoking radio commercials from the rave age

Music’s ability to transport the listener to another time or place is well recognised. But in fact it’s often advertisements that give an unparalleled insight into the fashions, habits and preoccupations of their era. These two volumes, compiled by the small-press label and radio show Death Is Not The End, pick through a decade of London pirate radio transmissions and excise the music, leaving just the cheap and cheerful commercials and idents. A procession of fast-talking hustlers shout out under-18s discos, premium datelines, school reunions and the video shop on Dalston’s Kingsland High Road (“y’know, just opposite the rice and peas”), their voices adorned by basic FX and tinny breakbeats. It’s great fun, of course, but it feels like more than that, too. Taken as a whole, the two volumes feels like a social history of London life, as lived by some of those living it the hardest.

Extras: None.

LOUIS PATTISON

VARIOUS ARTISTS

If I Had APair Of Wings: Jamaican Doo Wop, Vol 3

DEATHIS NOT THE END

8/10

Sweet’n’soulful Caribbean sounds

Those smart folks over at Death Is Not The End have gone and doneit again with this third and (alas) final collection of sweet-assugar doo-wop numbers from late-’50s and early-’60s Jamaica. With ska just around the corner, Jamaica worked up its own beautiful versions of doo-wop numbers ready to play at dances, rather than looking to America for singles to import. There are some big names here, including Jackie Edwards doing the gentle “Never Go Away”, Derrick (Morgan) &Patsy’s grooving “Crying In The Chapel”, and everyone’s favourite heartbreaker Alton Ellis on Alton & Eddie’s beautiful “My Heaven”. Have a cocktail and a sway, andif you can’t get enough, revel in the fact there are two other volumes to dance to.

Extras: None, though it is available on limited-edition vinyl and cassette.

HANNAH VETTESE

VARIOUS ARTISTS

La Ola Interior: Spanish Ambient &Acid Exoticism 1983-1990

BONGO JOE

7/10

Tripping in Spain’s post-Franco experimental underground

Despite the opening ethereal drone of Miguel A Ruiz’ “Transparent”, don’t be fooled by the title of this 20-track collection. There may be recognisably ‘ambient’ music here in the sense that Eno definedit – Luis Delgado’s meditative “El Llanto De Nouronihar”; the slow-motion phased crescendo of Suzo Saiz’ “Horizonte Paseo”; the New Age flutes of Jabir’s “Vuelo Por Las Alturas De Xauen” – but there’s even more ‘acid exoticism’, some of it dissonant, most of it inventive. The term – coined by critic Loïc Diaz Ronda, compiler of 2018’s La Contra Ola: Synth Wave And Post Punk From Spain 1980-86 – successfully signifies a hallucinogenic, ‘ethnic’ composite championed in a predominantly tapebased culture, with Orfeón Gagarin’s “Última Instancia” full of squelching synths, and Esplendor Geométrico’s “Sheikh” spotlighting muted bass drums and Middle Eastern wails. Most revelatory are Madrid trio Finis Africae, who fuse eastern, African and Mediterranean sounds on two tracks.

Extras: None.

WYNDHAM WALLACE

THE WHO

The WhoSell Out

UMC/POLYDOR

9/10

‘Super Deluxe’ 5CDedition of their 1967 pop art masterpiece

Caught between nostalgia for the recent past and the new dawn of experimental psychedelia, The Who’s third album, released post- Monterey, manages to embrace both in spectacular fashion. The Who Sell Out is linked by spoof ads in the tradition of fast-disappearing pirate radio, while Pete Townshend’s songwriting reaches deeper and wider with the unveiling of leftfield gem “Sunrise”, celebrated pocket opera “Rael” and the mighty “I Can See For Miles”. The band’s playful spirit also meansit carries its conceptual weight lightly.

Extras: 9/10. Four discs of single mixes, alternate takes – among them oddities like “Early Morning Cold Taxi” (written by Roger Daltrey and Whoroadie Dave Langston) – and previously unheard Townshend home demos that include a dashingly great “Jaguar” and Tommy pre-echo “Glow Girl”.

ROB HUGHES

TAMMY WYNETTE

Only Lonely Sometimes/ Soft Touch/Good Love And Heartbreak/Even The Strong Get Lonely

CHERRY RED

7/10

First CDrelease for four of the country queen’s early-’80s albums

The period in which these albums were released – 1980–1983 –is generally recalled as an ebb tide for Wynette. Though her position as country’s reigning monarch was unquestioned, the records were earning diminishing returns, and she was plagued by health problems. Nevertheless, much about this period is worth revisiting. The pick of this quartet is Only Lonely Sometimes, the only one produced by Billy Sherrill, the Nashville producer who sculpted monumental arrangements of lachrymose strings for generations of country balladeers. The versions of Bob McDill’s “Starting Over” and the Waylon Jennings hit “Come With Me” capture the defiant strength and fragile vulnerability that Wynette always wove into her best performances. The other three albums, all produced by Wynette’s fifth husband George Richey, are less consistent, but have their moments: “It’s The Goodbye That Blows Me Away” from “Good Love And Heartbreak” perfectly encapsulates Wynette’s singular gift for wringing operatic melodrama from everyday disappointment.

Extras: None.

ANDREW MUELLER

COMING NEXT MONTH...

There’s a bunch of exciting May releases for us to check out next time, from Paul Weller’s Fat Pop Volume 1 and Marianne Faithfull & WarrenEllis’s She Walks In Beauty to Rose City Band’s Earth Trip and Iceage’s Seek Shelter. There are also promising LPs from Reigning Sound, Mdou Moctar and Toumani Diabaté &The London Symphony Orchestra. Archivally speaking, there’s Can’s stellar Live In Stuttgart 1975, Sun Ra’s Lanquidity, reissues from the underrated Seefeel and a load of other prime cuts yet to be announced.

EMAIL: TOM.PINNOCK@UNCUT.CO.UK