Eccentric

	BAILEY, Denio & Palmer: The Gospel Record Code:SRRCD004 Price: £12.93 Quantity in Basket: none
Amy and sometimes Dennis sing Gospel songs. Derek plays the guitar, Dennis Synthesiser and Samples. This is not improvised music, as known, it is rather stretched arrangements of Gospel music. It's great to hear Derek in this context - as with the great ‘Ballads', it's a rare occasion on which he leavens the abstractly free with the generic, melodic and harmonic and it suits him. More of this. Palmer orchestrates with taste and imagination. Amy does some daring and some risky things and holds everything together. Altogether a fine release. Short. 7 songs. But who need quantity when there's quality to be had.
	BING SELFISH: The art of selfishness Code:BINGSELFISHTheartofselfishness Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Another grainy low rent message from the undisputed voice of his generation, last of the great cryers in the wilderness, now exiled in a cave somewhere in the teeming souks of the south. This new message to the faithful tackles the topics a supine brit-pack prefers not to face: Geoffrey Archer, Accountancy, being busted on the tube, Bovicide, Financial Advisors, Alcohol and the New Economic Policy. Not to forget Alcohol, Laudanum and a paean to Andre Breton. With his guitar, a small band and some sound effects, Bing proves again that sybarites can still find the time to be bitter and twisted, as well as snacking on lotuses. My Coup DÕetat. A dilly. Fans of Bing will be happy.
	BUTLER, GARY: Greatest Hits Volumes 1-5 Code:garyBulter1-5 Price: £12.93 Quantity in Basket: none
Any of you who listened to of my 'Out of the Blue Radio' shows might remember Gary Butler as the Australian contributor whose 30 minutes were recorded on a beach - he put bread on his guitar strings, set up the recording equipment and let a lot of hungry gulls make the music. Rude, noisy electric guitar, quiet, bizarre sometime acoustic guitar, extended techniques and general chaos. Joined on different tracks by a catalogue of Australian improvisers including Jim Denley, Rik Rue, Warren Burt, Sean Baxter, Amanda Stewart, the Von Krapp Family and the Illawarra Choral Society. This covers a lot of ground, reminds me of the days when improvising was fun and is satisfyingly real.
	CARPENTER, CHARLES: Frog A La Peche Code:CAT8221 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
5 pieces for synthesised instruments, based on the Bohlen/Pierce tuning system (so- 'out of tune') with strong rhythmic structure and thorough through- composition. Interesting and unusual.
	COHRAN, PHILIP : And the Artistic Heritage Ensemble Code:AES1 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Thumb-pianist Cohran with what sounds like mid era Sun Ra big band lurching, loose and tuneful pieces. Eccentric notes and packaging, and nice organic playing. A rarity.
	DIDKOVSKY/MACLEAN/VRTACEK: Flies in the Face of Logic Code:POGUS21008- Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Pieces by the 3 characters above for virtual and real pianos, sampled, treated, prepared and reconstructed pianos and one dropped from a crane from 100 feet.The Maclean pieces I have to single out for special mention- work of exquisitely integrated conception. performance, construction and subsequent manipulation; this is close to perfection by earthly standards. A lot of invention, thinking and pragmatics all round. Appropriately, 'None of us play piano. This is a common obstacle we shared, took advantage of and each dealt with in our own way'
	DIE TRIP COMPUTER DIE: Die like a Rock Code:ALDTCD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
A radical turn for the DTCDs, this is a CD of coherent songs that crush and elide time. It's wholly contemporary; it breathes the '60s and '70s. In the best way. Now and then The Velvet Underground or The Residents might spring to mind, not to mention Marc Bolan, but the association will be quickly repressed as something else takes over. Performed, these songs holds together the way played music does; solid with samples and studio manipulation, it bristles with detail and surprise. The production is radical, the arrangements highly imaginative, the texts pitched between brilliant and taking the piss. It is a perfectly judged CD and a pleasure to listen to, with great singing (of course, both Lepke and Xentos - who we didn't hear sing much since the Homosexuals days - have track records, and together they shine). These songs listen well, they make sense, they have all the qualities that good songs have - and they sound great. The mix of playing and electronics, of familiarity and strangeness, are in a class of their own. This is DYCD in from the cold, having its cake and eating it too. A very classy and evolved record.
	DIE TRIP COMPUTER DIE: We are your friends Code:ALDT2KCD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Return of the eccentric Samples and Playing ensemble. Convincing, sometimes astonishing pieces, songs, mini-dramas. One of the best ensembles using this technology I've heard; very focussed and highly musical. Excellent.
	DRAKE, BOB: The Skull Mailbox Code:CTA9 Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
The strangest so far. Mostly songs; a lot of acoustic instruments, a lot of unidentifiable sounds, a lot of fragments borne on a wind from somewhere else; bizarre picking interludes, humour (maybe) and snatches of incandescent playing. You can't pin this one down; it's full of twists and turns and a geometry that doesn't quite add up. Seemingly casual, there's not an ounce of fat on it, and the production - or anti-production - is, on repeated listening, quite extraordinary. Impressive. Listen to a sample of this release
	DRAKE, BOB: The Shunned Country Code:ReRCTA Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
A collection of 52 very short songs on uncanny themes, illustrated in the exquisite 24p full-colour booklet with a set of 20 commissioned paintings by Ray O'Bannon. Perhaps the scariest thing is that each of these miniatures is a fully formed, fully orchestrated and complete structure - no lazy snippets here - and Bob plays all the parts with his famously Paganini-esque virtuosity in spooky variable tempo synchrony, packing more ideas and material into 50 seconds than many manage on an entire album. You think I exaggerate? A paltry 11 pounds will settle the question once and for all. Classic. Listen to a sample of this release
	DUNAWAY, JUDY: and the Evan Gallagher Little Band Code:AMF1036 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
With a lot of classy guests, extraordinary songstress and guitarist JD breaks as many popsong rules as she can think of, to great effect. Sharp, funny, musically interesting, good songs. Drummer EG fits like a glove.
	FASSET, JIM: Symphony of the Birds Code:1044CD Price: £18.51 Quantity in Basket: none
Reissue of the legendary 1960 vinyl release of a piece originally made for radio. Fasset, a radio presenter and administrator, painstakingly pieced together this composition using only fragments of bird-call recordings, altering the speeds, editing and layering them into a three part composition. Its value is historic, though it is also fascinating to listen to - and to think about: a window on another and alien world: the almost immediate past. With a fat book, mostly in Japanese with a facsimile of the LP back with the liner notes in English, and with some quotes and notes in English scattered throughout the book. Many rare and wonderful pictures. Import. Limited number. Sorry about the price.
	FLYNT, HENRY: 3. Hillbilly Tape Music Code:Recorded003 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Another excellent collection of pieces for violin or guitar, mingling hillbilly/blues riffs played with a raw sensibility, minimal structural movement and non-generic repetition Ð art repetition played with feeling - a hard trick to pull off. This CD also Includes the really great swelling guitar pieces, Ôleather High in AÕ and E.
	FLYNT, HENRY: Back Porch Hillbilly Blues Vol.1 Code:locust16 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
A remarkable collection of hillbilly minimalism, by one of the forgotten heroes. These are blocks of generic material subtly changed by reiteration and lack of development. Like Beefheart, Henry Flynt is one of the rare examples of musicians who fearlessly experimented with the blues and folk forms in the face of all contemporary and experimental music orthodoxies. An important recording and a great listen.
	HARBOUR SYMPHONY: Music for Ships Horns Code:HARBOURSYMPHONY:MusicforShipsHorns Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Music for Ships Horns
	HELMUTH, OTE: Implements of Actuation Code:EMFCD023 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Despite the title, an interesting and sustained CD for percussionist and computer. 5 pieces, for specified instruments and recorded sounds (for instance limited metal percussion and a sample of a spoon hitting a pot - not that you'd ever guess - or stones, birdcalls, bells, earth and water related sounds, or snare drum (excellent), or electric Mbira and bicycle wheels - all with recorded sounds and processing. Substantial. It works.
	HOFFMANN, SHIRLEY ANN: Alp Traum Code:LUS005 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Another fine record of eccentric pieces for euphonuim, pocket trumpet, trombone, tuba accordeon, analogue synth, sample, garden hose, singing (that's Shirley-Ann) and some guests (drums, bass, clarinet, spoons). Hard to categorise but tuneful, un-aggressive, nicely arranged and decidedly unusual. File with other Swiss, Ensemble Raye for instance..
	HOPKIN, BART and Various Artists: Gravicords, Whirlies etc (book) Code:CD3530 Price: £48.76 Quantity in Basket: none
Reduced CD reissue of Hopkins' remarkable book that opened a wonderful window on the world of new and unusual instruments (brief account, pictures, motives, potted histories) most of which are extraordinary - what people do is stranger than you can imagine). Mostly new to non-subscribers to Bart's magazine, but includes Leon Theremin, Harry Partch, Hans Reichel and Robert Moog and a 73 minute CD of original performances by 18 of the 37 designers on their instruments.
	HOSTETLER, RANDY: Happily Ever After Code:FP09 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
A unique work that interleaves a number of bizarre and compelling narratives to construct, through a fascinating fog of words and texts and voices, a hearing event that is both engaging and suspenseful.
	JABLKON: Devata Vlna Code:SU5365-2311 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Finally reissued on CD, this was one of the signature Czech bands, unplaceable really. Not electric, but tough - though highly eccentric. A bit of acoustic early Etron Fou, but stranger... Involved, twisty compositions for guitars, tuned percussion and junk. Reissued here with 6 extra titles. Welcome back.
	JACOBS, HENRY: Radio Programme No.1 Code:jacobsRadioProgramme1 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Originally released in 1955 on Folkways, this is an extraordinary collection of audio experiments, cut-ups, loops, Indian music, and spoof interviews (genuinely funny) based on Jacobsâ visionary radio programme ÎMusic and Folkloreâ in the early '50âs. A very welcome reissue.
	JON and UTSUNOMIYA: S/T Code:MIMI004 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Utsunomiya some will recall was the genius behind the sound of After Dinner. Here, working with singer and accordionist JON, he has produced a CD that is more or less indescribable. It is a work of pure sound (and comes with a long and thoughtful essay about sound, place and performance. Do not expect 'weird' sounds and conventional complexity, nor electronics.. this is superficially baffling but essentially and existentially a genuine innovation. You can't listen to it for 'the music', it is a complete event, and there are listening recommendations which it pays to follow. Japanese release. limited quantity.
	JUNGHANS, STEFFEN BASHO : Waters in Azure Code:SAAH005CD Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
Very minimal steel string and slide guitar.
	KRAABEL, CAROLINE and HARGREAVES, PHIL: Where we were - shadows of Liverpool Code:CDLR407 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Made over four years in an anechoic chamber and mostly the streets, greenhouses, bars, , tunnels, libraries and halls of Liverpool by the over-modest (imported) national treasure Caroline Kraabel (sax, voice) and bat-eared Phil Hargreaves (saxes, flute, voice), this is that rare thing - a recording that captures a mutual musicality in the context of -indeed inseparable from - real places and real times. It's hard to explain why this works so well - why should the acoustic and ambience of a site so transform the musical material? Perhaps because psychoacoustically our ears are designed to assess and picture place from the minute shifts in reverberation and tone that open location recordings provide. Studio recordings as a rule go out of their way to eliminate all this 'unwanted' data and wind up flat, or at least fake like a painting: perspective is still not space. Here is space.
	KRAABEL,CAROLINE: Now We are One Two Code:dbc207 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Caroline is a Saxophonist and Performance Artist and this is a remarkable solo album. Palpably personal and present - using extended techniques, no technique, atmospheric noise, strangled cries, fragments of dialogue, suspense - this removes itself from the normal and conventionally musical to arrive at a kind of invocation of performance; I mean, of what is it to be alone in front of an audience and invent. And the cover, extraordinary...
	KRZISNIK, BORUT : Stories from Magatrea Code:BK1 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Extraordinary and already out of print item (some will remember our Borut's ReR Points East LP). Huge Orchestra composition with unbelievable monster sound. Great Music. Serious imagination ! A remarkable achievement. Very Limited Quantity - first come...
	KYRIAKIDES, YANNIS: A conspiracy cantata Code:u01 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Thoroughly composed 'electronic cantata' that juxtaposes 2 cryptic sources: short-wave radio spy number transmissions and the utterances of the oracle at Delphi. For Piano, 2 voices and electronics - fascinating work. Also includes hYDAtorison (for loudspeakers with sliding tones mounted inside piano, exiting varying pitches with feldmanesque playing alongside) and tetTIX for drum machines and heavy processing: unnatural sounds of nature as the machines call to one another in an'electronic Eden'. Altogether an impressive body of work.
	L.VOAG: The Way Out Code:ALLVCD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Reissue of the genuinely strange and idiosyncratic masterpiece reclusive and light-sensitive LV. In the guise of VERY OPEN and stretched pop songs, experiments stream out at A LOT per minute. A melange of snappy tunes, highly unobvious arrangements, left handed humour, sound research, super radical mixing and one off words and singing style. With extra material including the legendary and wholly perfect Beauty Spreads 7-inch. In my view, this is a benchmark best of the late 70's Magnum Opus.
	LEMONS, CHRIS: Control/Refugee Code:CL1 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
'Nirvana meets Lutoslavski' with String Orchestra of of Lyric Opera, Chicago and Rock instruments. Heavily composed and well integrated. OPTION compares to Rhys Chatham, Zappa, Chronos etc.
	LEMONS, CHRIS: Fantasy and Icon Code:CL2 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
A completely extraordinary production. This is a 38 minute piece for Electric Guitar, Bass, Kit and Udo Drums, Synthesiser, some ethnic instruments and Symphony Orchestra. And it's not Deep Purple but a fascinating and skilfully through composed piece after Lutoslawski - though far more liberal with instrumentation and genre references - where the electric instruments are fully and properly integrated. More amazing is that CL managed to arrange and finance an orchestra (the Lithuanian State Orchestra) to perform and record it. It was then substantially reworked and re-mastered it back in the USA. A remarkable achievement and I'm sure an early glimpse into a career that could produce great things.
	LERMAN, RICHARD: The Music of Richard Lerman 1964-87 (dbl CD) Code:EM1063CD Price: £21.74 Quantity in Basket: none
The first CD presents a re-mastered version of the original Folkways release Travelon Gamelon - music for amplified bicycles. The street and concert hall versions (1979-82) presented there are augmented here with a previously unissued concert version from New Zealand, recorded in 1986. This collection is interesting as much for the juxtaposition of street (environmental) and concert hall recordings as for its documentation of an idea that may well otherwise have been lost. Though many people used bicycles as musical instruments - playing the spokes, mostly - not least Frank Zappa, no one else to my knowledge took the idea so far. The second CD presents a number of other works from a prolific but low profile career, all of them built around electronically modified performances, and includes a very early proto-plunderphonic piece (1963/4: the source sounds are records by Stan Kenton and Mahler, respectively). There is also a modified soundscape work (1980) that uses live feeds from the street processed in real time through a double tape-machine 8 track loop. Other works use processes or homebuilt contraptions to evolve musical form. The accompanying booklet is substantial, useful and well annotated - and includes a small gallery of pictures (colour and b/w) with descriptions of various other installations and performance structures by Lerman not represented on the CDs. A useful release, because it documents an already forgotten artist and adds to the picture of the inspirations and DIY lo-tech approaches to sound - and the organic approach to structure - that was important, especially in America, in the 1960s.
	MALCOLM, GREG: What is it Keith? Code:MALCOLM,GREG:WhatisitKeith? Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
New Zealand guitarists' layered and idiosyncratic documentation of his media experiences in respect of a song he wrote - the ballad of a (real) cricket umpire who died in 1989 after a bondage session in Aukland. An absurd study, funny, well cut together, musically nimble- Guitar, Voice, Tuba and Drums (the ubiquitous Tony Buck) with guests Joe Williamson and Jon Rose. An unusual and eccentric item, and very listenable. Scarce NZ import.
	NAING NAING: Toothbrush Fever Code:(RE)11 Price: £14.10 Quantity in Basket: none
This is a very eccentric release. A collection of rhythmic pieces, sort of poppy in spirit if not in form, made from thematically grouped documentary recordings - roosters, cement mixers, cicadas, toothbrushes, small balloon, frogs and toads, flies and wasps (there's a 'wasp tabla'), generators, &c., authored by a Frenchman living in Burma whose guiding principles are: any sound can become a musical instrument and it is possible to make a whole song from only one sound source. Lurid, extensive booklet. A one-off. Interesting.
	NED MUDD: This is Nowhere Code:NEDMUDDThisisNowhere Price: £13.51 Quantity in Basket: none
An excellent, what - sound documentary? In fact film soundtrack, though it functions grippingly as a listening object. Songs and stretches of music with intelligent spoken text Ð (somewhere between David ThomasÕ Mirror Man and Capt. Beefheart, thought that doesnÕt do it justice), some interview material with people who live in mobile homes parked outside Wal*Marts - all seamlessly edited together. Musicians include fellow Alabaman, Davey Williams. Highly recommended.
	PATE, RON and his DEBONAIRS: Raudelunas 'Pataphysical Revue' Code:ALRP1CD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
This one is obligatory. A classic. The Revue was a one-off concert in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1975 - part of the second Raudalunas Exposition - trapped on tape by chance or no one would have believed it. A revue that remains consistently outside any genre, culture or canon of taste: from breathtaking versions of 'My kind of Town' and 'Volare' - Las Vegas style, feat. the delirious and scary Debonairs Bigband - through Anne Lebaron's score for taped frogs, oboe, voices and guitar (Davey Williams). Then there's The Captains of Industry, who play domestic appliances, the legendary Blue Denim deals without the Arms; and Neo Roman combo Nubis Oxis Quarum - with their hit 'The Chief Divisions of the Peoples of Gaul. All this is tied veeringly together by ubiquitous MC Fred Lane - master of bad taste. Performed by a large company (including LeBaron, Williams, laDonna Smith and Craig Nutt) to an audience who have to make themselves heard during rather than after the pieces. Taking no chances, the company piped in their own hysterical applause through the PA. This was and is an adamantine gem.
	PORTELLA, PATRICK: Winterreise Code:GMEME102 Price: £15.28 Quantity in Basket: none
Patrick Portella (of ZNR and Les Flots Blues fame) here with an extremely radical reworking of Schubert's 'Winterreisse'. Electronics, Plunder, environs and the hair-raising voice of Brigitte Balian. A 20 minute miniature gem, tightly focused and sharply realised. Exactly - A winter journey.
	PUSH PULL: PushPull Code:SONG1001 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Eccentrically played and interrupted blues-rock-jazz- sort-of-thing, gone terribly wrong, but in a unique and fascinating way. Well played, funny, imaginative and one-of-a-kind vignettes. Interesting.
	RACAILLE/PORTELLA: Les Flots Bleus (vinyl) Code:RR16 Price: £14.10 Quantity in Basket: none
Joseph was 33.33% of ZNR. One side = multiple horn pieces, the other short songs for piano and horns. The shade of Erik Satie hovers; eccentric, charming and not a little odd...THIS IS A VINYL RELEASE
	SCHERCHEN, HERMAN: Orchestra Proben Beethoven 6 (vinyl) Code:ERZ6001 Price: £13.87 Quantity in Basket: none
As the title indicates this is a recording of rehearsals for Radio Televisione Della Svizzera Italiana of parts of Beethoven's 'Pastorale'. The recording is excellent and Scherchen's commentary, exhortation, inspiration, clarity and grasp of the score exciting to listen to - mostly in Italian, sprinkled with German; this doesn't matter; the whole thing is intensely musical and although decidedly odd, moving.THIS IS A VINYL RELEASE
	SELFISH, BING and THE IDEALS: Dizzy with Success Code:ALBS1CD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
Back, with more ambitious arrangements and new songs about the big issues, this is an enigmatic record with subtle and strange relations to the 2nd half of the C20. Parallel universe where the 60's never went away but but no one believed in them . I hope that's enigmatic enough? A cult record? A sofa record? Bound to be badly imitated by Robbie Williams.
	SELFISH, BING: The Last of the Bohemians Code:bingLast Price: £13.51 Quantity in Basket: none
Grizzled, desperate and hoarse from decades of abuse, but with his shirts still washed and ironed, Bing is back with a dubiously legal version of his legendary MTV 'unplugged' debacle. Confounding the critics who said his sybaritic lifestyle would see him under the ground by the age of 35, Bing manages here to get through 12 new songs that make Huysman's Des Esseintes look like a brickie. The iniquities of modern life are not shirked, weary good advice is given, obscure topics are pointlessly aired as if they mattered. A national treasure (and therefore resident in Spain) Bing just won't give up. Your purchase will be tax deductible. Special Offer
	SUMO: Sumo (sic) CDR Code:SumoCDR Price: £14.10 Quantity in Basket: none
A second collection of inventive and eccentric pieces (some of them songs) that mix fine real playing (families of strings, brass, piano, drums) with electronic manipulations, dipping into various styles in a broad tour of musical and sonic worlds that add up to a very personal and constantly unusual record. Limited edition CDR release.
	SUN RA: Salute to Walt Disney Code:CDLR230 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
A guaranteed hit. Live recording of the Arkestra playing and singing Ra arrangements of Disney classics. Put it on at your party and watch those jaws drop. You wouldn't believe it if you read it.
	SUN RA: Spaceship Lullaby Code:ALP243CD Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
From the unheard music series, this is a deeply strange CD consisting of standards, exotica, MOR and doo wop songs arranged by Ra for vocal ensembles in the early '50's, with Ra playing piano accompaniments. A lot of this is pure corn, but there are strange corners and some wild songs - 37 of them, in fact - by the Nu Sounds, the Lintels and The Cosmic Rays (one of these backed by the Arkestra - all home recordings and rehearsals made between 1950-60. For Ra fans and collectors of exotica.
	SUN RA: The Creator of the Universe (Double CD) The Lost Reel Collection. Volume One Code:Transparency0301 Price: £17.33 Quantity in Basket: none
Transparency has acquired eleven reel-to-reel tapes that were completely unknown before. None of this material is on any tape trader list or in any discography. All are of pretty high quality. These two are from mid-1971: a concert at awarehouse in San Francisco, the centrepiece of whichis a very dramatic and intense 20-minute declamation with massed arkestra interruptions, urging the black race to rise up into freedom and identity; followed by a great version of 'The Satellites are spinning' and 'Enlightment'. CD 2 is a class given by Ra during his teaching residency at UC Berkeley and is mesmerising. Ra's thinking is not simple. A fascinating release, and like nothing else in the Ra canon. Indispensable.
	SUN RA: The Creator of the Universe (Double CD) The Lost Reel Collection. Volume One Code:Transparency0301 Price: £14.75 Quantity in Basket: none
Transparency has acquired eleven reel-to-reel tapes that were completely unknown before. None of this material is on any tape trader list or in any discography. All are of pretty high quality. These two are from mid-1971: a concert at awarehouse in San Francisco, the centrepiece of whichis a very dramatic and intense 20-minute declamation with massed arkestra interruptions, urging the black race to rise up into freedom and identity; followed by a great version of 'The Satellites are spinning' and 'Enlightment'. CD 2 is a class given by Ra during his teaching residency at UC Berkeley and is mesmerising. Ra's thinking is not simple. A fascinating release, and like nothing else in the Ra canon. Indispensable.
	SUN RA: The Creator of the Universe (Double CD) The Lost Reel Collection. Volume One Code:Transparency0301 Price: £14.75 Quantity in Basket: none
Transparency has acquired eleven reel-to-reel tapes that were completely unknown before. None of this material is on any tape trader list or in any discography. All are of pretty high quality. These two are from mid-1971: a concert at awarehouse in San Francisco, the centrepiece of whichis a very dramatic and intense 20-minute declamation with massed arkestra interruptions, urging the black race to rise up into freedom and identity; followed by a great version of 'The Satellites are spinning' and 'Enlightment'. CD 2 is a class given by Ra during his teaching residency at UC Berkeley and is mesmerising. Ra's thinking is not simple. A fascinating release, and like nothing else in the Ra canon. Indispensable.
	SUN RA: The Singles (double cd) Code:ECD22164-2 Price: £29.96 Quantity in Basket: none
49 collected singles, amazingly comprising in large part doo wop, barber shop, rock n roll and other single type stuff. And some of the Sun Ra Arkestra -as known - material. Informative book and careful, inclusive work. For Sun Ra fans, not the new listener. Remarkable and very surprising slice of history.
	TAYLOR, HOLLIS and JON ROSE: Infidel Code:TF11 Price: £14.10 Quantity in Basket: none
The result of a lifetime of research, Hollis Taylor presents a CD of Hoedowns - traditional fiddle tunes, somewhat adapted and rendered more contemporary by arrangements that include fences, positive organ, camel piano, flies, spoons, banjo, bass, various pianos (played by Rose and a dog), banjo, cello, tenor violin and viola. This is both a scholarly and an inspired record. Eminently listenable, virtuosic, popular, honest and fun. Go on. You'll never hear anything like this again.
	VANDER, CHRISTIAN: Baba Yaga Code:AKT7 Price: £13.51 Quantity in Basket: none
Following Carl Orff, a 65 strong children's choir, six percussionists, 13 instrumentalists plus 5 invited additional musicians. Pitifully badly documented, no explanation of how the project came about, how these children learned to perform Mekanihk (which is not simple) or why. Still it's a live concert and after the first minutes disentangling yourself from Magma you start to realise what this says about Vander's compositional ability and the rubbish that's talked about simplicity and complexity and music. Because the tunes are good and the composition is logical a large children’s choir has no problem with the additive rhythms, cycles, counterpoint or sudden tempo changes. Educational.
	WOODBURY,. BRIAN: The Brian Woodbury Songbook Code:SomePhil5 Price: £14.69 Quantity in Basket: none
For those who like songs, a little eccentric but not too strange, with full arrangements, more in the mainstream of show tradition, except with flashes of brilliance, Brian is one of the few- 'Consummate songwriting and craft, says Van Dyke Parks, 'not since Esquivel and the young Brian Wilson have I heard sound of this romantic design. Indispensable.' A song has to please many masters. These shift from the centre to the edge. Of course I prefer the edge; and you won't come across this CD anywhere else, I'm sure.
	ZNR: Barricades 3 Code:ReRZNR1 Price: £12.50 Quantity in Basket: none
The legendary first LP reissued. One of the more extraordinary groups of all time; bizarre, minimal, Satiesque, Les Six and Brasilian echoes; clear as crystal, completely impenetrable, innocent and ironic. There never was before, nor has been ever again anything quite like it. Listen to a sample of this release