Thursday, October 02, 2014

NEW RELEASES: DEODATO – O SOM DOS CATEDRATICOS; SLY'S STONE FLOWER 1969-70 - I'M JUST LIKE YOU; MARK DE CLIVE-LOWE - CHURCH

DEODATO – O SOM DOS CATEDRATICOS

Killer early work from Eumir Deodato – all done in an organ-heavy groove that's quite similar to Walter Wanderley's best from the time! Deodato handled all the arrangements, and although his organ and piano are at the front of the mix, the group's nicely large too – with additional instrumentation that includes trombone from Raul De Souza, guitar from Neco and Geraldo Vespar, drums from Dom Um Romao, percussion from Rubens Bassini, and some additional sax and trumpet as well. The sound is clean and lean – and most rhythms are in a jazz samba or bossa mode, with a keen focus on Deodato's great keyboard lines. Titles include "Os Grilos", "Muito A Vontade", "Imenso Amor", "Gente (Chup, Chup, I Got Away)", "Tempinho Bom", and "Ainda Mais Lindo". Very cool, with a groovy bossa sound all the way through! Includes one bonus track – a mono version of "Os Grilos".  ~, Dusty Groove

SLY'S STONE FLOWER 1969-70 - I'M JUST LIKE YOU

An incredible snapshot of the funky soul genius of Sly Stone in an early transitional period – featuring all the known recordings of his short-lived Stone Flower label and production house from 1969-1970! Sly was a rising star at this point, and while the Stone Flower Productions name had been established already for Sly & The Family Stone's work-to-date, there was a brief period when he and manager David Kapralik set out make Stone Flower an official management and production house – and recorded some great tunes with female vocal trio Little Sister, funky soul singer and harmonica player Joe Hicks and funk rock sexet 6ix – as well as some gems sung by Sly himself. Sly & The Family Stone were soon to take off in a really huge way, his business relationship with Kapalik was becoming strained, and other factors behind-the-scenes made it impossible for Stone Flower Productions to really take root, but this brief period is fantastic. We're so glad it's been dug up and collected here! The cuts are primarily written and produced by Sly Stone – with Sly out front on "Just Like A Baby", "Africa", "Spirit" and "Scared" – and other great tracks include "You're The One" and "Somebody's Watching You" by Little Sister, "Home Sweet Home (Part 2)" and "I'm Going Home (Part 1)" by Joe Hicks, "Trying To Make You Feel Good", "You Can, We Can" by 6ix and more. 18 tracks in all – with a nice booklet of notes by Alec Palao, and an interview with the elusive Sly Stone himself!  ~ Dusty Groove




Mark De Clive-Lowe takes us to church – with a set that's easily his most soulful, spiritual record ever! The album's got a lot more acoustic elements than usual – plenty of jazz elements on tenor, flute, trumpet, and percussion – mixed with Mark's own great Fender Rhodes and other keyboards – some of which shift the sound of the acoustic instruments in the process! The shift is a bit like that taken by Jimi Tenor with his own music in recent years, but the overall sound is still very much in the soaring, cosmic territory we've always loved from Mark – but there's also a much deeper connection to the planet as well. Wonderful throughout – a great step forward for an artist we already love so much – and titles include "Sketch For Miguel", "Now Or Never", "Nova Roda", "The Mission", "Distractions", "Mason's Galaxy", "Imam", and "Sun Up Sun Down".  ~ Dusty Groove


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