The Montgolfier Brothers

★★★★

Think Once More – A Journey With The Montgolfier Brothers NEEDLE MYTHOLOGY. CD/DL/LP

Mancunian duo’s first anthology; the best sadcore you haven’t discovered yet.

Naming themselves after the 18th-century French aviation pioneers hints at the rarified vision shared by Mark Tranmer (music) and the late Roger Quigley (vocals, lyrics). Over three albums – Seventeen Stars, The World Is Flat and All My Bad Thoughts – between 1999 and 2005, the duo developed a gently aching sound, everything exquisitely pared to the bone. Quigley sometimes adheres to the Morrissey school of early knocks (“Stopped hoping at an early age/Stopped guessing at an early age” from Between Two Points) though it’s clear he has found love in his life, if only to repeatedly lose it. There are short songs – the arch Pro-Celebrity Standing Around is under two minutes – but six flow over six minutes, as if Quigley can’t let go of whatever is ailing him, as Inches Away makes plain: “Inches away and not knowing/The space we share keeps us both apart.”

Martin Aston

Hothouse Flowers

★★★★

The Older We Get: The London Years CHERRY RED. CD

Their four major-label albums magically transformed into eight CDs.

Of the new U2s, Hothouse Flowers always looked the most likely. They had the supremely charismatic frontman in the shape of Liam Ó Maonlaí, the musical adventurism which allowed them to escape pigeonholes and a traditional-inspired musicality to enhance the Celtic soul feel. They had the songs too, but neither luck nor the shark-eyed ambition. Their four major-label albums are now enhanced by bonus tracks, live songs and demos, and collectively state a case for belated rehabilitation. 1988’s People was a multi-faceted statement of intent and 1990’s Home a restatement, but three years later, by the breakthrough quintet’s final hurrah Songs From The Rain, they were exploring ever more intriguing musical highways. 1998’s overly delayed Born saw London lose interest, but for more than one heady moment – Love Don’t Work This Way; Movies; Isn’t It Amazing? – globe-straddling success seemed possible. John Aizlewood with/without drum machines or instrumentals) and previously unreleased cuts. If the William Onyeabor revival caught your imagination, this will be just the ticket – more stripped-back and more recognisably African, but every bit as much fun and danceable.

David Hutcheon

Francis Bebey

Getty

★★★

Trésor Magnétique AFRICA SEVEN. CD/DL

A deep dive into the vaults of Cameroon’s synth pioneer

Born 98 years ago, Bebey was a prizewinning novelist and broadcaster on three continents, but if many of his achievements have faded from the spotlight, his legacy as a musician remains ripe for rediscovery. Primarily a guitarist playing the regional makossa style, he was also reputedly the first African to use a drum machine or electric keyboard and released his debut album in 1968, hitting a rich seam in the 1980s using a sansa, the Cameroon thumb piano, to mind-blowing effect (see the 2014 compilation Psychedelic Zanzu). This isn’t quite up there, being a collection of alternative versions (different languages, ing. Utilising nods and hand signals, he could transform, say, Village Of The Sun, into a marching song on a whim. Every performance was unique. Here’s a hot one.

Mark Paytress

Frank Zappa

★★★★

Cheaper Than Cheep ZAPPA/UME. CD+BR/LP

Long-lost concert film from 1974 now available in Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround, stereo, picture disc and “with original footage” formats.

The virtuoso, jazz-funk Mothers incarnation marked a second high peak in Zappa’s career, best heard on the 1974 Roxy & Elsewhere live double. This newly exhumed set was also recorded and filmed for TV broadcast, but like the former, was junked due to technical shortcomings. Its title, taken from Frank’s introductory spiel, alludes to that; for all his admiration for Stravinsky and Varèse, Zappa valued cheap, knock-off culture. A blend of high classicism, clavinet-led superfunk, exquisite, often comic jazz and iffy humour runs effortlessly throughout, especially welcome on non-Roxy titles like RDNZL and Inca Roads. Remakes of early Mothers material bear comparison to the way Bowie turned the Diamond Dogs tour into a soul revue that same summer. But Zappa’s attitude to change was all-encompass proof that Mayall's happy place was the stage.

John Bungey

John Mayall

★★★

The Second Generation: Live Magic 1968-1993 MADFISH. CD

Thirty CDs of previously unreleased shows from the father of British blues.