Category Archives: The TVD Storefront

Remembering Paul Atkinson, born on this day in 1946. —Ed.

With three enduring hit singles, the last of which derives from a classic album that’s as redolent of its era as any, The Zombies aren’t accurately classified as underrated, but it’s also right to say that the potential of much of their catalog went unfulfilled while they were extant. Since their breakup, subsequent generations have dug into that body of work, which has aged rather well, and right now nearly all of it can be found in Varèse Sarabande’s The Complete Studio Recordings, a 5LP collection released in celebration of the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For anyone cultivating a shelf of ’60s pop-rock vinyl, this collection is a smart acquisition.

The Zombies began cohering as a band around 1961-’62 in St Albans, Hertfordshire UK. By the time they debuted on record in ’64 the lineup had solidified, featuring lead vocalist-guitarist Colin Blunstone, keyboardist Rod Argent, guitarist Paul Atkinson, bassist Chris White, and drummer Hugh Grundy. That’s how it would remain until their breakup in December of ’67. Rightly considered part of the mid-’60s British Invasion, The Zombies’ stature in the context of this explosion basically rests on the success of two singles, both far more popular in the US than in the band’s home country.

Those hits, “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No,” each made the Billboard Top 10 (the former all the way to No. 2) and respectively open sides one and two of the US version of their first album, a move suggesting confidence on the part of their label Parrot that, as the needle worked its way inward, listeners wouldn’t become dismayed or bored by a drop-off in quality.

That assurance was well-founded. While “She’s Not There” is an utter pop gem, thriving on perfectly-judged instrumental construction (in its original, superior mono version with Grundy’s added drum input) and emotional breadth that’s found it long-eclipsing mere oldies nostalgia, and “Tell Her No” a more relaxed yet crisp follow-up, their talents were established beyond those two songs, even if nothing else on The Zombies quite rises to the same heights of quality.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Shimmy-Disc shares the posthumous reissue of Bruce Haack’s 1975 album This Old Man (Shimmy-2029). This is the second Bruce Haack LP that Shimmy-Disc has re-released, following Captain Entropy (Shimmy-2019), in August 2023. This reissue is the first time This Old Man has been released on vinyl since 1975, originally via the artist’s own label, Dimension 5.

Bruce Haack (1931–1988) was a Canadian composer and electronic music pioneer whose creative output from the 1950s through the 1970s has been tragically under-appreciated. Now considered to have been decades ahead of his time, Bruce Haack forged his music from glittering “new” computer landscapes of his own invention, long before the world was aware that such things were even possible. Welcome to his beautiful crucible of electronic sounds, wherein he illuminated his myriad of interests in science, the wonders of childhood, and the human condition, woven into a musical tapestry that shimmers like an exploding sun.

Alongside the vinyl reissue, Shimmy-Disc is sharing a video for the single, “Thank You.” Bruce Haack’s greatest genius resided in his humble vision combined with a ferocious curiosity and idiosyncratic approach to musical experimentation. The directness of his prose and his ability to wear his heart on his sleeve is never more apparent than in this sweet apparition of a song. He means what he says, and he knows you know….who You are.

Most of the music on this album was programmed on a polyphonic music computer built by Bruce Haack from surplus parts furnished by Ver-Tech Radio of Philadelphia. The machine was made in 18 months—without diagrams or plans (Bruce Haack has never studied electronics) and will produce up to twelve simultaneous voices in changing sequence via a memory holding over four-thousand bits of information. It will also compose at random.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Art Pepper An Afternoon in Norway: The Kongsberg Concert, a blazing, previously unreleased live recording by the great alto saxophonist captured at the titular 1980 festival in Norway, will be issued LP on May 9 by Elemental Music. The collection will be available as a two-CD set on May 16.

Co-produced by Zev Feldman, the award-winning “Jazz Detective,” and Elemental partner Jordi Soley, the hard-hitting 1980 quartet date features Pepper, then in the middle of a late-career renaissance, backed sympathetically by the brilliant Bulgarian pianist Milcho Leviev, bassist Tony Dumas, and drummer Carl Burnett. The hastily booked appearance came less than 24 hours after Pepper and his band concluded an engagement at Ronnie Scott’s London club.

Elemental’s typically expansive notes for the limited-edition 2-LP set (to be issued on 180-gram vinyl and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at the Mastering Lab) includes recollections by the musicians wife Laurie Pepper (who co-authored his candid 1979 autobiography Straight Life), Dumas, and Burnett; detailed notes by acclaimed author/journalist Marc Myers; appreciations by saxophonists John Zorn and Rudresh Mahanthappa; and an archival interview conducted with Pepper at Kongsberg.

On Black Friday Record Store Day last November, Elemental released Bill Evans In Norway: The Kongsberg Concert, a trio date by the pianist captured in 1970. This new release marks the label’s second archival set from Pepper: Live at Fat Tuesday’s, recorded in 1981 at the New York club, was unearthed in 2015.

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Remembering Wilson Pickett, born on this day in 1941. —Ed.

Hear ye hear ye: I am going to begin this review of Alabama native son Wilson Pickett’s 1969 LP Hey Jude by stating right off that the title cut is one of the most phenomenal songs ever recorded, and is in fact so great I would probably give this album an A even if every other song on it was a jingle for a cereal commercial.

Pickett, whom I consider the best screamer in the history of soul and R&B, if not rock too, lays into “Hey Jude” like somebody just chopped his foot off with a hatchet, while the horn section kicks ass and Duane Allman, who was just beginning his career as a session musician, tears off one of the most brilliant and in-your-face guitar solos you’ll ever hear. It’s a bravura performance, “Hey Jude,” and supernatural in its greatness, and if I die tomorrow I will die having heard a sound so pleasing to God that he decided (I’ve talked to him about this) to push the date of the Last Judgment back a hundred years or so.

Fortunately Pickett fills out the album with a bunch of other songs that, while they can’t (what could?) compare with “Hey Jude,” are excellent in their own right. His voice is a miracle, his screams make Joe Cocker sound like a pee wee leaguer, and in short he turns in a whole slew of superb performances, demonstrating his mastery of phrasing and the wild scream even on those songs (his unfortunate take on Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild,” the gospel-flavored but not very exciting “People Make the World,” and the funky but unhappily titled “Toe Hold”) that don’t quite measure up to the rest of the songs on the album.

Putting Pickett, Allman, the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (the so-called Swampers), and some great horn players together in the studio was a stroke of genius on Atlantic Records honcho Jerry Wexler’s part, and it paid off in a royal flush as the bunch of ‘em simply could not fail to turn an okay song into a great one.

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Celebrating Bill Frisell on his 74th birthday. —Ed.

Michael Gibbs is a musician of many facets, chalking up credits as a composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and instrumentalist on trombone and keyboard. However, much of his adult life has been devoted to teaching, a role that contributed to a relatively trim discography and a fairly modest profile. Amongst his students was Bill Frisell; subsequently, their association blossomed into friendship and collaboration. For evidence one need look no further than Cuneiform Records’ superb CD, wherein Michael Gibbs & the NDR Bigband Play a Bill Frisell Set List.

Engaging in a discussion over worthwhile contemporary creative guitarists will find the name Bill Frisell rolling off tongues sooner rather than later. But when the talk turns to active composer-arrangers Michael Gibbs could easily get neglected, and as his career in jazz spans over half a century undeservedly so.

Born on September 25th, 1937 in Salisbury Southern Rhodesia, Gibbs moved to Boston in 1959 to attend Berklee College of Music. He studied there with Herb Pomeroy, but just as importantly received a full scholarship to the Lenox School of Jazz in 1960; the short-lived program started by the Modern Jazz Quartet’s John Lewis brought Gibbs into contact with such major compositional figures as Gunther Schuller, George Russell, and J.J. Johnson.

Gibbs’ “Fly Time Fly (Sigh)” turns up on his fellow Berklee alumnus and longtime friend Gary Burton’s second LP for RCA Victor, Who is Gary Burton? By ’64 Gibbs had relocated to London, his talent on the trombone proving very much in demand; an easy point of inspection from this period is Deep Dark Blue Centre by the Graham Collier Septet from ’67 on Deram.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | 1970s Platinum-selling Swiss hard rock/metal band Krokus successfully broke the US market in the ’80s and forged a path through the live sector there and on continental Europe that has continued one way or another to this day. In 1999, the band was back in the studio for 13th album, the appropriately-titled Round 13.

Welsh vocalist Carl Sentance (ex-Persian Risk, Geezer Butler Band) joined co-founder Fernando von Arb (guitars, keyboards), Chris Lauper (guitars), ex-Killer’s Many Maurer (bass) for Round 13, with ex-Calhoun Conquer drummer Peter Haas returning.

Fernando von Arb recalls: “I had wanted to revive the old Krokus but the band had all had babies and wanted to stay at home! “So we stopped for a few years and then I went to the UK and found Carl: such a pro, a pleasure to work with. It’s a good album though on reflection I would have chosen a bigger studio: it was tiny!”

Krokus sold over 15 million records, toured the world, and received gold and platinum record awards in the USA and Canada. In its 50th year, the band continues to perform live.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Platinum-selling artist Marina marks the 10th anniversary of her critically acclaimed third album Froot with a special Limited Edition 2LP Red EcoRecord, set for release on 25th July 2025.

Originally released in 2015, Froot was a turning point in Marina’s career, showcasing her songwriting and artistic independence. The album debuted at #10 on the Billboard 200, making it her highest-charting release at the time, and included fan-favorite tracks such as “Happy,” “Forget,” “Blue,” and the title track “Froot.” Praised for its lush production and introspective lyricism, the record remains a cornerstone of Marina’s discography, celebrating themes of growth, love, and self-discovery.

To honour its milestone anniversary, this EcoRecord will include a Tropical scented Sticker and features the unreleased track “I’m Not Hungry Anymore” from the Froot era.

The limited edition Froot 10th Anniversary EcoRecord will be available for pre-order now here.

Remembering Nat King Cole, born on this day in 1919. —Ed.

Nat King Cole’s enduring renown derives from his skill as a vocalist, but he’s also arguably the most underrated of jazz’s great pianists. The seven CDs or ten LPs comprising Hittin’ The Ramp: The Early Years (1936-1943) do a stellar job of highlighting Cole’s keyboard prowess while documenting the growth of his superb trio with guitarist Oscar Moore and bassist Wesley Prince first, and later Johnny Miller. There are also brief visits from the great saxophonists Lester Young and Dexter Gordon and a ton of singing, though the approach lands solidly in a hot and often vocal group zone. 

Back in 1991, Mosaic Records issued The Complete Capitol Recordings of the Nat King Cole Trio, an exhaustive limited-edition set spread across 18 compact discs or 27 vinyl records. It was obviously produced for hardcore jazz nut collectors, the kind of listener who would know that Cole had worked extensively as a musician prior to his career-defining move to Capitol (an association he would maintain throughout his superstardom until the end of his life) but with very few commercial records detailing said period.

Hittin’ The Ramp features jukebox-only discs, private recordings, and a slew of radio transcriptions along with the handful of sessions that resulted in discs that were available for retail purchase, with the vast majority of the selections here officially released for the first time. There is a smidge of overlap with the Mosaic collection, but it doesn’t arrive until LP eight (or CD six) with “Vom, Vim, Veedle” commencing a smattering of cuts for the small Excelsior and Premier labels which were later purchased by Capitol and serve as the kickoff to the Mosaic set.

This repetition isn’t likely to bother owners of The Complete Capitol Recordings one bit, as it’s a miniscule percentage, specifically ten tracks out of Hittin’ The Ramp’s 183. Yes, that’s a lot of music, but slim compared to the behemoth decades-of-discovery scenario presented by Mosaic’s presentation of Capitol’s holdings, though in its vinyl incarnation Resonance’s achievement is also a limited edition.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino proudly announces a 50th anniversary reissue of the GRAMMY®-nominated album Barretto, the genre-defining salsa classic from legendary conguero and bandleader, Ray Barretto. The album, which returns to vinyl for the first time since its 1975 release, marks Barretto’s first recording to feature the renowned voices of Rubén Blades and Tito Gómez and includes such enduring hits as “Guararé,” “Ban Ban Queré,” and “Canto Abacuá.”

Set for release on May 9th, Barretto was mastered from its original analog tapes by Dave Polster and Clint Holley at Well Made Music and pressed on 180-gram vinyl and housed in a replica of its classic jacket, including a die-cut flap on the front cover that opens up to album credits and the original cover notes written by Pablo “Yoruba” Guzman. A limited-edition “Yellow Smoke” 140-gram color vinyl variant (limited to 300 copies), with an exclusive bundle option that includes a classic Fania Records T-shirt, is available at Fania.com. Additionally, the album will make its debut in hi-res (192/24) digital on May 9th.

In 1975, celebrated bandleader Ray Barretto (1929–2006) was enjoying one of the most triumphant periods of his long and influential career. For more than a decade, the Brooklyn-born Puerto Rican musician had enjoyed his status as one of the foremost names in Latin jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms. He had become the go-to conguero in New York City, playing alongside such jazz greats as Wes Montgomery, Cal Tjader, Kenny Burrell, and Dizzy Gillespie. As a bandleader, meanwhile, Barretto achieved stardom with his 1963 hit, “El Watusi,” later becoming a foundational figure in the soulful boogaloo movement and, at the end of the decade, was at the forefront of the emerging salsa scene, releasing such popular albums as 1968’s Acid, 1971’s The Message, and 1972’s Que viva la música.

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Robert Christgau once wrote, in the midst of a think piece about one of California’s chief 1970s exports, “Another thing that interests me about the Eagles is that I hate them.” I hate them too, but what’s more interesting is that I hate them while liking (or even loving) some of their music, which seems downright perverse. You’re supposed to LIKE the bands who make music that you like. That’s the natural order of things. The Eagles force you to do the unnatural, and doing the unnatural makes you uncomfortable.

If I had the same problem with the Red Hot Chili Peppers I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable. I’d jump off a bridge.

This is why 1978’s The Long Run is the perfect Eagles album. It’s their worst album, for sure, an abomination in fact, but at long last Eagle haters such as myself found their hatred of the Eagles themselves—and Glenn Frey and Don Henley in particular—in perfect alignment with their hatred of the Eagles’ music. I loved Hotel California, and talk about your cognitive dissonance—I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.

The Long Run I loathed, and I finally knew peace. It was easy to loathe The Long Run, because it’s a bad, bad album, full of songs that made it starkly apparent that the Eagles—the most arrogant and reptilian frozen noses in an LA scene full of arrogant and reptilian frozen noses—had finally run their long course.

There are several decent songs on The Long Run, but none of them come within Lear jet distance of their best work. I’m don’t listen to them. And there are songs on The Long Run that defy description. Throwaways like “Teenage Jail” and “The Disco Strangler” plumb abysses of utter suckitude that even the band’s biggest detractors never dreamed the Eagles had in them.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Eli Paperboy Reed is celebrating 20 years of making soulful music with the re-release of his very first album, Sings Walkin’ And Talkin’ And Other Smash Hits! The set was originally recorded in a basement studio in Allston, Massachusetts, all live to analog tape in mono and pressed as a limited run of 300 CDs in 2005.

This self-released CD was mostly sold while Reed busked on the streets of Harvard Square in Cambridge, Mass in his early 20s. The first disc of the newly remastered double LP reissue will contain the original tracks from the album, plus four additional tracks recorded the same December day in 2004. The second disc contains a session recorded for WHRB radio at Harvard University in 2005. The single deluxe CD will contain all of the songs featured on the deluxe LP.

This deluxe set presents Reed’s humble beginnings in Boston by way of Mississippi and Chicago, playing his own rough and ready interpretations of down-home blues, R&B and gospel. With this 20th anniversary release and the celebration of two decades of legendary live performances, Reed cements himself as an elder statesman of the genre. To further mark the milestone, Reed will be touring with a full band playing music from that first album in addition to his vast catalog.

The first single from this set is “Stop Talking In Your Sleep (Radio Session),” a raw and raucous amalgamation of inner city gospel and the primordial rock ‘n’ roll of Little Richard.

Remembering Lightnin’ Hopkins in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

Lightnin’ Sam Hopkins remains one of the crucial figures in the annals of the blues. By extension, he recorded a ton, and owning all his music will require diligence and a seriously long shelf. However, there are a few albums that are a must even for casual blues collectors, and his self-titled effort from 1959 is one of them. Recorded by historian Samuel Charters in Hopkins’ apartment while he played a borrowed guitar, it served as the door-opener to years of prominence. A highly intimate gem of nimble-fingered deep blues feeling, Lightnin’ Hopkins is available through Smithsonian Folkways, remastered from the source tapes in a tip-on jacket with Charters’ original notes.

To call Lightnin’ Hopkins the byproduct of rediscovery isn’t inaccurate, but it does risk stripping the contents of its unique story. Unlike Son House, Skip James, Bukka White, and John Hurt (all from Mississippi), Texan Hopkins had only been inactive for a few years when Samuel Charters found and recorded him in Houston, and if he’d been playing since the 1930s, he was still very much in his musical prime.

Hopkins debuted on record in 1946 for the Aladdin label of Los Angeles in tandem with pianist Wilson “Thunder” Smith, the partnership bringing him his sobriquet. From there, a solid decade of studio dates (and some R&B chart action) commenced; his additional sides for Aladdin fill a 2CD set, and the sessions for Gold Star take up two separate CD volumes. Additionally, there were worthy recordings for Modern, Sittin’ in With, and majors Mercury and Decca. 1954 brought a massive spurt of wild, highly amplified material for the Herald label; it contrasts sharply with the one-man circumstance of Lightnin’ Hopkins.

If commercial recording industry prospects had dried up by ’59 and Hopkins’ guitar was in hock, there was no trace of rustiness from inactivity, though the comfort level does increase as these songs progress (the bottle of gin Charters bought likely had something to do with it). What’s shared with his prior electric band stuff is a recognizable, eventually signature style based in the conversation between rural blues verve and more citified boogie motion (in this he shares much with John Lee Hooker).

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PHOTO: GODLIS | I recently spoke with Cynthia Sley, the iconic frontwoman of Bush Tetras, the legendary NYC art-punk band that helped define the downtown underground scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s.

Cynthia’s distinct image and half-spoken, sharp delivery have undeniably influenced current artists like Florence Shaw of Dry Cleaning.

The band’s overall sound—blending funk, punk, and No Wave with elements of dub and groove—has echoed through every era of post and art-punk revival. Bush Tetras blazed the trail with this sound that can still be heard today.

Cynthia and I discussed her journey from Ohio to New York, the electric energy of the late-’70s East Village where art thrived with no limits, and the evolution of Bush Tetras up to today. For more information, upcoming show dates (when announced), and vinyl, visit Wharf Cat Records.

Radar features discussions with artists and industry leaders who are creators and devotees of music and is produced by Dylan Hundley and The Vinyl District. Dylan Hundley is an artist and performer, and the co-creator and lead singer of Lulu Lewis and all things at Darling Black. She co-curates and hosts Salon Lulu which is a New York based multidisciplinary performance series. She is also a cast member of the iconic New York film Metropolitan.

Remembering Phil Lesh in advance of his birthdate tomorrow. —Ed.

How many Deadheads does it take to change a light bulb? Six hundred and one. One to score the acid, and the other six hundred to stare slackjawed at the dead bulb and say, “Looks lit to me, man.” I know, it’s a shitty joke, but there’s some truth in it. The chief problem with Deadheads has always been their lack of quality control. They see no difference between 1970’s brilliant American Beauty and 1978’s execrable Shakedown Street, and lack the discernment to recognize that the light of creative genius that illuminated the Grateful Dead at the dawn of the seventies had long since flickered out by the time Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995.

Drug burn-out was the culprit, that and the natural order of the rock creativity; virtually no one continues to make great album after great album—shit, by my accounting, even Bob Dylan did his best work between 1965 and 1967, and that’s if you count The Basement Tapes, which weren’t released until years later.

As for the Dead, I think they did their best work between 1969 and 1972, when they released the lackluster Wake of the Flood, which a true fan, Robert Christgau, described as “capturing that ruminative, seemingly aimless part of the concert when the boogiers nod out.” As for when their live concerts finally settled into equal parts boredom and cult worship, I have no opinion, although I will say that the three shows I saw in the eighties were perfunctory and the Dead appeared to wish they were somewhere else.

Ah, but at their best they were sublime. My personal favorite is 1970’s Workingman’s Dead, but that same year’s American Beauty is a close second. On both LPs the Dead abandoned their free-form extended jams (1969’s Live/Dead had two sides with one song on them, and one side with two songs on it) for real songs, and on both they proved that they had plenty of great four-minute songs in them. As for American Beauty, it was prettier than Workingman’s Dead—a folk-rock LP that eschewed the doom-laden songs on its predecessor for songs that were, for lack of a better phrase, sunnier and more pastoral.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | An expansive and revelatory inside look at John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s life in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s, One to One: John & Yoko delivers an immersive cinematic experience that brings to life electrifying, never-before-seen material and newly restored footage of John and Yoko’s only full-length concert. Featuring mind-blowing music newly remixed and produced by Sean Ono Lennon, the film is a seismic revelation that will challenge pre-existing notions of the iconic couple.

On August 30, 1972, in New York City, John Lennon played his only full-length show after leaving The Beatles, the One to One benefit concert at Madison Square Garden, a rollicking, dazzling performance from him and Yoko Ono. Oscar®-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald’s riveting documentary takes that legendary musical event and uses it as the starting point to explore eighteen defining months in the lives of John and Yoko. By 1971 the couple was newly arrived in the United States—living in a tiny apartment in Greenwich Village and watching a huge amount of American television.

The film uses a riotous mélange of American TV to conjure the era through what the two would have been seeing on the screen: the Vietnam War, The Price is Right, Nixon, Coca-Cola ads, Cronkite, The Waltons. As they experience a year of love and transformation in the US, John and Yoko begin to change their approach to protest—ultimately leading to the One to One concert, which was inspired by a Geraldo Rivera exposé they watched on TV.

Filmed in a meticulously faithful reproduction of the NYC apartment the duo shared, One to One: John & Yoko offers a bold new take on a seminal time in the lives of two of history’s most influential artists.