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New releases and pre-orders 12th of June 2020

There are some good albums this week with Kahil El Zabar (of the ethnic Heritage Orchestra) and David Murray ‘Spirit Groove’ leading the way, and good sets from Connie Han and Boney James.
We have a few more copies of the illusive DW3 cd but these may be the last batch so please order early to avoid disappointment (all backorders have been shipped).
Z records ‘Under the Influence’ series featuring underground disco and boogie tracks reaches volume 8 compiled by Woody Bianchi, and underground band 24 Carat Black have their third and previously unreleased album issued on Numero LP. We also have very few copies of James Reese unreleased LP on Now again reserve.


Pre-order

Pre-order for next week for the delayed 45’s from Brenda Jones, Earl White and Wendell Watts, Dee Dee Bridgewater’s incredible debut ‘Afro Blue’ , Deniece Chandler (Williams) rare 45s on an album and 3 great Blue Note reissues , plus new music from Don Bryant, Free Nationals, Kim Waters and more see all the pre-order titles here.


Love Record Stores event – Saturday 20th June

We are participating in the Love Record Stores event which happens on 20th June – this is one-off event that allows online sellers and those stores that can’t open their doors to carry a limited amount of special releases made available for the day. Our own list is still being confirmed – we will aim to carry most of the soul and jazz releases and a select amount of other titles. See the LRS list here


BEST SELLERS

Check out the best selling albums and singles this week at this link


WE ARE NOW MAIL ORDER ONLY UNTIL RESTRICTIONS ARE LIFTED

As you may know the shop is now closed for walk in business to conform with the Government Covid19 regulations but we are still operating mail order services, and will do as long as we are able to. Future release dates are likely to be changeable as product supply especially from USA and Europe become harder to source due to flight restrictions.

**************We can now take pre-paid orders for shop collection at an arranged time). Hopefully we will be able to re-open the shop in the not too distant future, albeit with some restrictions to ensure safe social distancing.*****************


Album of the day

We featured some more great albums this week including one of my all time favourites James Brown The Payback, plus new albums from Chip Wickham and The Devonns. See all the featured albums of the day here

Thanks for the great feedback that you have given to this feature.


We are delighted to be bringing Earl White Jr’s 1977 modern soul rarity ‘Very Special Girl’ out on a 45. The manufacturing has been delayed so we are expecting them on the 19th June (next Friday) instead of today. Check the video here


Father’s Day Sunday 21st of June

Sunday 21st June is Fathers Day and what better gift to give (or receive) than the gift of music which gives enjoyment for years after.  We have put a few ideas together here for Father’s Day gifts and will publish more early next week. We have some great offers on some very special 45 box sets here.

POSTAL DELAYS

We are aware that some deliveries are taking longer than usual – from what we hear this is due to a mix of Royal Mail staff shortages and industrial action. Please bear with us – these are factors that are out of our hands. The backlog of post appears to be clearing and parcels sent this week have been arriving in about 48 hours, some even the next day.

Most parcels seem to be getting to customers in 2-3 days but there are some areas where there are still backlogs and delays of up to 10 days.


We are also running on the absolute minimum of staff so order turnaround times may also be affected for more complicated orders. Thanks for your understanding.


SOUL JAPAN PRESENTS PORTRAIT

The Ultimate Soul / RnB Quarantined Delivered Event is coming ! 90’s Legendary RnB group PORTRAIT in concert !

To access the concert follow this link. Also, checkout their latest album ‘Soul Trees’ here

 


RSD 20

Record Store Day has now been postponed again and will now take place on three days , 29th August, 26th September and 24th October. The lists of which titles will be each day will be published on 1st June. Hopefully by that time we will be able to invite you to the shop , but keeping social distance and on-line from 6pm on each day for what titles are still available. See the list here

‘Fill the Gap’ – classic albums on vinyl…

In the meantime you can see our ‘fill the gap’ feature here

We are now back in stock of the majority of Bill Withers Lps and CDs which you can see in our feature here. Also the fantastic 9cd set of his complete albums is now in stock.


An introduction to Blue Note – 10 albums you must hear

Arguably Blue Note is the greatest Jazz label ever and was responsible for releasing so many classic albums over its 80+ year history. Its halcyon era was 1950’s/ 1960’s, when it pioneered Hard Bop. At various times, its roster included the likes of Art Blakey, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan and Horace Silver plus geniuses such as Miles Davis. The label recorded the first albums by a host of legends – for example, Jimmy Smith, Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard to name just a few. The label remained active in the Jazz Funk era and Donald Byrd’s 1973 album ‘Black Byrd’ was not only ground-breaking but was Blue Note’s biggest selling LP at that time.

Selecting 10 classic albums (100 would be hard enough) is a challenge, but this introductory selection is just a taster. See the list here


Collector’s vinyl

Recent original Vinyl Soul and Jazz LP arrivals can be seen here, there are some great collectors items still available.

Recent Original vinyl 12″ singles and Original vinyl 45’s here.
The massive range of Outta Sight Modern and Northern Soul 45’s can be seen here.

Our current best selling albums and singles can be seen here.


Radio Show

Our usual spot on Solar will be suspended for the time being as we practise responsible social distancing by not putting ourselves or others at risk, both by travelling to the studio and also being in the studio. We think that the health of ourselves and others while also protecting the NHS is important at this time.

We are however going to continue to bring you the best weekly releases and collector’s pieces with a weekly two-hour mix that you can find on our Mixcloud. At present we don’t have the facility to record voiceovers, but hopefully you can still enjoy the music.

We timestamp the playlists and provide a download link so you can listen any time, anywhere.

Find the latest show here.

Have a great weekend.

Laurence and Jason