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JIM

Jim Sullivan

U.F.O. - 2023 Reissue

    In March 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost in the desert. Some think he fell foul of a local family with alleged mafia ties. Some think he was abducted by aliens.

    By coincidence – or perhaps not – Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost, until Seattle’s Light In The Attic Records begun a years-long quest to give it the full release it deserves – and to solve the mystery of Sullivan’s disappearance. Only one of those things happened.

    For record collectors, some albums are considered impossible to get hold of, records so rare you could sit on eBay for years and not get a sniff of a copy. U.F.O. is one of those albums. A seventh son, Jim Sullivan was a West Coast should-have-been, an Irish-American former high school quarterback whose gift for storytelling earned him cult status in the Malibu bar where he performed nightly. Sullivan was always on the edge of fame; hanging out with movie stars like Harry Dean Stanton, performing on the Jose Feliciano show, even stealing a cameo in the ultimate hippie movie, Easy Rider.

    Friend and actor Al Dobbs thought he could change all that, and founded a label – Monnie Records – to release Jim’s album, enlisting the assistance of Phil Spector’s legendary sessioneers The Wrecking Crew to do so. That’s Don Randi, Earl Palmer and Jimmy Bond you can hear, the latter also acting as producer and arranger.

    U.F.O. was a different beast to the one-man-and-his-guitar stuff Jim had been doing on stage; instead, it was a fully realised album of scope and imagination, a folk-rock record with its head in the stratosphere. Sullivan’s voice is deep and expressive like Fred Neil with a weathered and worldly Americana sound like Joe South, pop songs that aren’t happy – but filled with despair. The album is punctuated with a string section (that recalls David Axelrod), other times a Wurlitzer piano provides the driving groove (as if Memphis great Jim Dickinson was running the show). U.F.O. is a slice of American pop music filtered from the murky depths of Los Angeles, by way of the deep south.

    With no music industry contacts, the record went largely unnoticed, and Jim simply moved on, releasing a further album on the Playboy label in 1972. But by 1975, his marriage breaking up, Jim left, for Nashville and the promise of a new life as a sessioneer in the home of C&W. That’s where it gets hazy.
    We know he was stopped by cops for swerving on the highway in Santa Rosa, some 15 hours after setting off. We know he was taken to a local police station, found to be sober, and told to go to the local La Mesa Motel to get some rest, which he did. Some time later, his car was spotted on a ranch belonging to the local Genetti family, who confronted him about his business there. The next day his car was found 26 miles down the road, abandoned. His car and his hotel room contained, among other things, his twelve-string guitar, his wallet, his clothes and several copies of his second album, but no note, and no Jim. It was as if he had simply vanished into thin air.

    Jim’s family travelled out to join search parties looking for him, the local papers printed missing person stories, but the search proved fruitless. Around the same time, the local sheriff retired and the Genettis moved to Hawaii. Jim’s manager Robert “Buster” Ginter later stated that during the early morning hours of a long evening Jim and Buster were talking about what would you do if they had to disappear. Jim said he’d walk into the desert and never come back.

    Tracking down the truth behind Jim’s mystery became an obsession of Light In The Attic’s Matt Sullivan (no relation) when he happened upon a copy of the album and fell in love. He took on a cross country pilgrimage in search of master tapes and truth, and came back with neither, despite hundreds of phone calls, e-mails, letters, faxes, private detectives, telepathy, palm readings and meetings with Jim’s wife, son and producer. Thanks to superb digital mastering techniques, Light In The Attic is still able to present a clean, near perfect copy of Jim’s masterpiece for general consumption for the first time. Enjoy. And remember, beyond the mystery, there’s the music.


    TRACK LISTING

    Jerome
    Plain As Your Eyes Can See
    Roll Back The Time 
    Whistle Stop
    Rosey
     Highways
    U.F.O.
    So Natural
    Johnny
    Sandman

    JIM

    Love Makes Magic

      Who is Jim?

      A kaleidoscope of harmony vocals - as Crosby, Stills and Nash might have sounded with a funky back beat. Delicate acoustic fingerpicking, warmed by a swell of brass before a drama of electric unfolds. Guitar band music, delivered with the sensibilities of someone who knows how to make you dance. Sun-kissed blue-eyed soul, reminiscent of Ned Doheny, but emanating from a beach far from California.

      These are the sounds of Jim, as heard on debut album 'Love Makes Magic'.

      Debuting in 2021 on the folk-informed 'Falling That You Know' EP, Jim is the latest alias of songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and renowned DJ Jim Baron. Famed as co-founder and musical director of festival-stunning favourites Crazy P, his latest Jim project is a musical journey unlike anything he has done before. 

      STAFF COMMENTS

      Paul says: On first listening to ‘Love Makes Magic’ by JIM, it’s hard to believe that the man behind it, Jim Baron, is a founding member of Manchester dance innovators Crazy P - a group who’ve been shaking dance floors all across the globe for two decades.

      Here, he's influenced by the likes of Nick Drake, Jackson C. Frank, Terry Callier, and guitar bands from the 60s and 70s such as Crosby, Stills and Nash, as well as soulful West Coast sounds like Ned Doheny. It's no surprise, then, that this is an album full of lush, intricate summer folk sounds and beautiful Balearic beats.

      It's full of subtle melodies and grooves which proliferate on a journey through space and time - from Laurel Canyon to Levenshulme via Ibiza. It's a simple call to hazy memories, youthful exuberance with a care-free, feel-good spirit and a return to the feeling of home. Essential.

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Across The Street
      2. A Life Inbetween
      3. Where The Leaves Are Falling
      4. Oxygen
      5. Still River Flows
      6. The Ballad Of San Marino
      7. Phoenix
      8. Sea Of Unbelonging
      9. Then We Do It Again
      10. Love Make Magic 

      Tony Conrad / Arnold Dreyblatt / Jim O'Rourke

      Tonic 19-01-2001

        Celebrating its one hundredth release, Black Truffle is honoured to present a major archival discovery: a stunning document of the only performance by the trio of Tony Conrad, Arnold Dreyblatt and Jim O’Rourke.

        Across a two-night programme organised by David Weinstein at legendary New York experimental venue Tonic in January 2001, Conrad, Dreyblatt and O’Rourke presented individual projects before performing a collaborative set each night, the first with members of Dreyblatt’s ensemble and the second the trio heard here.

        As Dreyblatt points out in the wonderfully informative and reflective liner notes written for this release, this was a collaboration across generations, reflecting the profound impact of Conrad’s pioneering minimalism on Dreyblatt and O’Rourke. Both Dreyblatt and O’Rourke came to this collaboration armed with a deep appreciation of Conrad’s music and the just intonation principles at its core, Dreyblatt having first encountered the incredible power of Conrad’s precisely tuned violin chords during his tenure as an archivist for La Monte Young in 1975, while O’Rourke had performed with Conrad in various settings since the mid-1990s (as well as admiring, reissuing, and performing Dreyblatt's music).

        The flyer for the concert promised ‘massive, ecstatic, pulsating overtones’, and the trio certainly delivered. From the moment this keening stream of bowed strings begins, it is clear, as Dreyblatt writes, that we are in ‘Tony’s sonic universe’, as massively amplified, slowly shifting combinations of precisely chosen pitches fill the room with complex beating patterns and ghostly difference tones.

        For more than twenty-five minutes, the music operates at a level of intensity comparable to classic recordings such as Conrad’s Four Violins, until the texture thins out slightly in the performance’s final quarter, allowing for the listener’s first recognition of the individual voices that make up this enormous, overwhelming harmonic edifice. The constant stream of bowed tones is broken by a beautifully rich pizzicato from Conrad on monochord, the sliding low tones and metallic shimmer of the other strings taking the set's final moments on an unexpected detour into spacious pastoral psychedelia.

        Though produced by three individuals known for their own distinctive bodies of the work, this is egoless music, the perfect expression of Conrad's desire 'to move away from composing to listening', to 'working "on" the sound from "inside" the sound'. Historically important and overwhelming in sonic impact, this release also serves as a moving tribute to Tony Conrad from two musicians profoundly marked by the example set by his art and life.


        TRACK LISTING

        A Tony Conrad / Arnold Dreyblatt / Jim O'Rourke I 00:20:25
        B Tony Conrad / Arnold Dreyblatt / Jim O'Rourke II 00:21:09

        Jim James

        Regions Of Light And Sound Of God - 2022 Reissue

          Released in 2013, ‘Regions of Light and Sound of God’ was the debut solo album from Jim James of My Morning Jacket.

          This deluxe reissue features the original album plus a second LP of twelve B-sides, demos and alternate versions, including ‘State of The Art (Demo)’ and the previously unheard ballad ‘Begin Again’.

          The double LP is housed in a rainbow foil tip-on gatefold spot matte jacket with revised artwork, a fold-out handwritten lyrics insert and new custom inner-sleeves and centre labels. Pressed on clear/purple blob vinyl.

          TRACK LISTING

          ‘Regions Of Light And Sound Of God’
          State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.)
          Know Til Now
          Dear One
          A New Life
          Exploding
          Of The Mother Again
          Actress
          All Is Forgiven
          God’s Love To Deliver

          Bonus Disc
          All Is Forgiven (Alt Version)
          State Of The Art (A.E.I.O.U.) [Demo]
          A New Life (Alt Version)
          Dear One (Demo)
          Actress (Demo)
          God’s Love To Deliver (Demo)
          You Always Know
          Read Between (Begin Again)
          Epichord
          Sweets
          Moving Away (Alt Version)
          Hallway Of Trees

          James Righton

          Jim, I'm Still Here

            ‘Jim, I’m Still Here’ is the second album from James Righton under his own name; produced by David & Stephen Dewaele of Soulwax and released on their label DEEWEE, the album follows The Performer released in 2020. James’ musical past is well documented; as the frontman of the genre inventing Klaxons, he helped create a revolution in British music and spawned a youth subculture. ‘Jim, I’m Still Here’ is a captivating meditation on the artists experience of the pandemic as James looks to conceptualize the myriad of emotions and events into a fascinating third person narrative. One of the album tracks features Benny Andersson from Swedish pop legendary band ABBA, with whom James has been working on putting together their new live band.

            TRACK LISTING

            1. Livestream Superstar
            2. Pause
            3. Touch
            4. Release Party
            5. Real World Park
            6. Never Give Up On The City 
            7. A Day At The Races
            8. I Want To Live
            9. Lover Boy
            10. Empty Rooms
            11. Playing To Win
            12. Farewell Superstar

            Jim Noir

            Deep Blue View

              AM Jazz was the moment we all became truly acquainted with Alan Roberts; the melodic maestro beneath Jim Noir’s dandy exterior, whose hypnotic minimalist symphonies waltzed their way to Piccadilly Records’ #2 Best Album of 2020. Not to mention a whole host of great reviews….

              No less than 12 months later arrives ‘Deep Blue View’ – not so much of a follow-up, as a mini-flipside moving the Jazz from AM to PM, between city and sea.

              “I originally had AM Jazz down as walking around some New York backstreet at 4am, smoking in a fedora, looking for crimes to solve but it now ends as night begins,” reveals Al, of his latest tale’s gradual evolution. “Deep Blue View is the night-time album now… like losing yourself deeper in the fog, or disappearing in the sea… would someone, or some 'thing' come to save you or would they , or it , come along for the ride?”

              Usually by now, Daveyhulme’s own could-be John Barry would have left distractions of success for suburban side-projects and writing with his fellow Mancunian musicians, but AM Jazz left unfinished business - and, with 50 or so session recordings leaving a litter of sonic debris strewn about the cutting room floor, one major clean-up. Deep Blue View is 6 brand new tracks crafted from its reconstructed and revived remnants, unfurling like Sinatra’s Wee Small Hours to reinforce the strangely beautiful atmosphere of Al’s now revered repertoire.

              “I had the urge to create something new and started playing around with different EPs and pseudonyms but when I sequenced these tracks, I was really happy how smoothly they flowed; it just needed an opener. I quickly wrote ‘Deep Blue View’ and it fell into place. It’s great, so I carried on, knowing it was time to save the best stuff for myself,” Al grins.

              Just as AM Jazz was created in the spirit of his earlier working style on debut album Tower of Love, Deep Blue View fuses Al’s love of finding the ‘right’ in the odd, weird, back-to-front and everything in between, with the hi-fi meets lo-fi sounds of his crate-digging curiosity and empathy for TV themes and movie soundtracks. Guided by melody, his home-based sorcery of working with analog, tape and field recordings opposed to the lure of studio mechanics allowed his inner subconscious to tap at the door and reveal itself in new musical forms. “In the studio it’s tempting to turn everything up loud but I’ve got bad tinnitus and don’t want to write anything else in a Beatles style. I have done all that now… at home I have a computer, a microphone and just go crazy and lose myself staring at the screen. Then suddenly loads of music is written.”

              Setting his inner autopilot to flight mode, ‘Peppergone’ adds to the tracks’ nocturnal narrative and appears reborn after a last-minute culling from AM Jazz’s initial tracklist. Like a beautifully romantic ode to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata, it is a fitting tribute to dearly departed best friend 'Batfinks', written in the middle of a tough night. “I have no idea why or how the song came about because I was so upset to do anything, let alone record any music. But there you go. Somehow I did and it’s a really special thing. I know he would have dug me using his chords; growing up we’d both try to create the perfect chord sequence. This is his idea of that. I hope he doesn’t think it’s shit,” Al jests.

              Also revived from AM Jazz’s archive is the simmering groove of ‘Night Talk Late Street’ and instrumental ‘Star Six Seven’, whilst ‘Have Another Cigar’ weaves its own semi-autobiographical fairy-tale with lyrics written and sung by long-time pal and former housemate Aidan Smith. Transformed from backing track into a cool morsel of story pop, it recalls the drunken joy of when the pair would make recordings together between singing the Everly Brothers at full volume. “I’m sure it’s about not wanting the musical party to stop and having to get on with real life,” Al says.

              ‘String Beat’ meanwhile, soars like a beautiful Bond theme with the shimmer of Lee Hazlewood holidaying in Palm Springs, alongside perhaps, the waltzing string-like synthonies of some long-lost rhythm and blues orchestra of Davyhulme (whose real-life origins reside with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra), introduced to him by Super Furry Animals’ Cian Ciaran. “I’ve never created anything this moody before and have always threatened to do something John Barry-esque with some slightly dark and spooky musical changes.”

              First may not be worst, but as AM Jazz has proven, second can be best and as a master of suspense Jim’s Deep Blue View arranges the day to night pieces of another puzzle that makes a whole lot of sense.


              STAFF COMMENTS

              Andy says: Another absolutely beautiful record. Gonna be one of my favourites of the year, I can tell already.

              Barry says: Where 'A.M Jazz' wasn't particularly true to its name, 'Deep Blue View' plunges much more readily into smooth jazz waters, with swimming melodies and progressions perfectly befitting Roberts' hazy dreamlike vocal lines. A brilliantly cohesive and fitting follow-up to A.M Jazz, showing the rapid upwards trajectory of this local gem. Brilliant.

              Jim Ghedi

              In The Furrows Of Common Place

                “Instead of landscape sketches I wanted to go into more personal areas of my reality,” says Jim Ghedi of his third album In The Furrows Of Common Place. “To hold up certain aspects of society that were laying bare in front of me.”

                Whilst Ghedi’s previous idiosyncratic take on folk has often been instrumental, exploring the natural world and his relationship to it through his music as seen on 2018's A Hymn For Ancient Land. His new album In The Furrow Of Common Place is a deeper plunge inside himself to offer up more of his voice to accompany his profoundly unique and moving compositions. “There were things I was seeing around me and being affected by in my daily life,” he says. “Socially and politically I saw defiance but also hopelessness. I wanted to be honest with the frustration and turmoil I was experiencing.”

                The decision to include more of Ghedi’s vocals was a conscious one and driven by a need to say something. However, this isn’t a brash raging political polemic. As is now customary with Ghedi’s work, it is rich in nuance, history, poetry and allegory. Musically, the album is equally locked into this ongoing sense of evolution. Ghedi’s intricate yet deft guitar playing still twists and flows its way through the core, weaving in and out of gliding double bass, sweeping violin, gentle percussion and vocals that shift from tender solos to overlapping harmonies.

                As with much of Ghedi’s work, there’s a rich connection between the past and the current. Musically, he continues to sit in a singular position of sounding distinctly contemporary yet also with a touch of traditional flair. This expands itself into the lyrical terrain here too. “I've been exploring contemporary issues and in that process discovering sources that correlate with similar issues in the past,” he says. “Which proves that these issues throughout history - environmental destruction, working class poverty etc - are ongoing.”

                For all the socio-political and historical backdrop to the record it is not one that feels overwhelmed by it. Much like Ghedi’s work when it was largely instrumental - and some of it still is here - it flows and unfurls thoughtfully, with space still being utilised masterfully, creating room to pause and reflect. It’s another inimitable record from an artist that truly sounds like nobody else right now. 


                STAFF COMMENTS

                Barry says: An intoxicating mix of traditional folk, hazy psychedelia and classic rock progressions all enriched with Ghedi's distinctive vocal affectations. It's a heady and transportive affair, and one that will reward richly on repeated listens. Gorgeous.

                TRACK LISTING

                1. Common Thread
                2. The Lamentations Of Round Oak Waters
                3. Mytholm
                4. Stolen Ground
                5. Ah Cud Hew
                6. Beneath The Willow
                7. Beneath The Willow Part II
                8. Son David

                Jim White And Marisa Anderson

                The Quickening

                  The Quickening is an improvised work guided by emotional intuition and an ability to spin collective experience into music of potent and boundless beauty.

                  Jim White and Marisa Anderson instrumental voices’ are unmistakable and spellbindingly lyrical. Anderson unravels global guitar traditions into atmospheres all their own through improvisations and transforming melodic lines. While White implements an array of sticks, brushes, and techniques that imbue each rhythmic percussion passage with its own distinct personality. Together their melodic flourishes cascade and twist upon one another, at times trading conversational exchanges, and at others drifting in unison as if lost in the same train of thought.

                  White and Anderson share an abounding appetite for musical exploration. White, as a member of Venom P Stinger, Dirty Three, and Xylouris White, is well known for his creative and idiosyncratic drumming. His singular abilities have also led to collaborations with Cat Power, PJ Harvey, and Bill Callahan among others.

                  Anderson’s prolific output as a solo performer, her mastery of traditional folk and blues forms and her abilities to make them entirely her own has established her as one of the most exciting and forward-thinking guitarists of the last decade.

                  White and Anderson’s considerable technical skills are used in the most inventive and unconventional manner on their debut duo recording, The Quickening. The duo’ friendship and shared explorative nature inform these warm and daring improvisations. Their remarkable performances take the listener on a journey of exuberant discovery.

                  The idea of a collaboration developed while on the road together in 2015, Anderson playing solo and White playing with Xylouris white. The Quickening began at the Portland studio Type Foundry in late 2018, where the duo initially agreed to meet and improvise and record. Happy with the recordings, the duo headed to Mexico City and into Estudios Noviembres, a time capsule of a studio from the 70’s that had been largely closed before some young engineers took it over. The “slight disorientation” of working in less familiar environments mirrored their willingness to plunge headfirst into exploring new sonic territory together. Anderson purchased a new nylon string Ramos-Castillo guitar from a Mexican luthier just ahead of recording which leant to the spontaneity of “The Lucky” and “The Quickening”. The duo did not rehearse or perform together prior to the recording sessions; as White puts it, “it’s good to suspend disbelief at this stage of playing.”

                  TRACK LISTING

                  Gathering
                  Unwritten
                  The Lucky
                  The Other Christmas
                  Song
                  Last Days
                  Diver
                  The Quickening
                  Pallet
                  18 To 1
                  November

                  Jim Morrison & The Doors

                  An American Prayer

                    An American Prayer was The Doors’ 9th and final studio album and posthumously features Jim Morrison. The band reunited 7 years after Morrison’s death and 5 years after the remaining members broke up. They recorded backing tracks over Morrison’s poetry, originally recorded between 1969-1970. Other pieces of music and audio include dialogue from Morrison’s film HWY: An American Pastoral and snippets from jam sessions

                    Jim Sullivan

                    Jim Sullivan

                      On March 4, 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost. Some think the mafia bumped him. Some even think he was abducted by aliens.

                      By coincidence–or perhaps not–Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O.. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost until Light In The Attic Records began a years-long quest to re-release it–and to solve the mystery of Sullivan’s disappearance. Only one of those things happened, and you can guess which…

                      Light In The Attic’s reissue of U.F.O. introduced the world to an overlooked masterwork and won him, posthumously (presumably), legions of new fans. Those new admirers are in for a real treat: a lavish reissue of Jim’s 1972 sophomore album, Jim Sullivan.

                      The self-titled LP was originally released on Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner’s short-lived Playboy imprint. Horns sweeten this funky and bombastic session driven by Jim’s unmistakably larger-than-life voice and exceptional song-writing chops, alongside a cast of legendary session musicians including Jim Hughart. Another LP you’ll rarely see in the wild, it is by no means the poor relation of U.F.O., but rather a big stride into country, folk rock, and swampy blues, mesmerically finger-picked, brass-bedecked, and with that uniqueness of phrasing–part crooner, part jazz singer–that makes Sullivan such a rare performer.

                      Each song could have been a bonafide radio hit, but with spotty promotion and negative connotations surrounding the Playboy name, the self-titled album suffered a fate known all too well and fizzled out. While Sullivan’s disappearance remains unsolved, his music endures and is finally gaining him the recognition he deserves, albeit long overdue.


                      TRACK LISTING

                      Don't Let It Throw You
                      Sunny Jim
                      Tea Leaves
                      Biblical Boogie (True He's Gone)
                      Lonesome Picker
                      Sandman
                      Tom Cat
                      You Show Me The Way To Go
                      Amos
                      I'll Be Here
                      Plain To See

                      Jim Sullivan

                      If The Evening Were Dawn

                        On March 4, 1975, Jim Sullivan mysteriously disappeared outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico. His VW bug was found abandoned, his motel room untouched. Some think he got lost. Some think the mafia bumped him. Some even think he was abducted by aliens.

                        By coincidence–or perhaps not–Jim’s 1969 debut album was titled U.F.O.. Released in tiny numbers on a private label, it too was truly lost until Light In The Attic Records began a years-long quest to re-release it–and to solve the mystery of Sullivan’s disappearance. Only one of those things happened, and you can guess which…

                        Light In The Attic’s reissue of U.F.O. introduced the world to an overlooked masterwork and won Sullivan, posthumously (presumably), legions of new fans. Those new admirers are in for a real treat: a lavish, first-time release of a previously unheard 1969 studio session.

                        If The Evening Were Dawn contains 10 acoustic solo recordings that have never seen the light of day. Whereas U.F.O. was bolstered by legendary sessioneers The Wrecking Crew, this is Jim Sullivan on his own terms, stripped down and soulful as ever. Recorded at a Los Angeles studio circa 1969, the session contains acoustic versions of a handful of U.F.O. tracks alongside a half dozen previously unheard songs. This, then, is the closest thing to those fabled Malibu bar performances at which Sullivan was first noticed.

                        According to his widow, Barbara, this was the album Jim always hoped to record. It serves as an unprecedented glimpse into the mysterious, larger-than-life figure who’s become the stuff of legends.

                        While Sullivan’s disappearance remains unsolved, his music endures and is finally gaining him the recognition he deserves, albeit long overdue. This recording serves as an unexpected missing piece of the puzzle; this is Jim Sullivan’s true swan song.


                        TRACK LISTING

                        Roll Back The Time
                        Sandman
                        Walls
                        Jerome
                        What To Tell Her
                        Grandpa's Trip
                        So Natural
                        Whistle Stop / Mama
                        What Is My Name
                        Close My Eyes

                        Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind

                        CollectiV

                          Hot on the heels of 2018’s successful reunion with garage-psych testifiers Thee Hypnotics, singer/guitarist Jim Jones returns to give 2019 the kick-start that it so urgently needs with his current band, Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind, and the release of their incendiary second album, CollectiV. Rising from the ashes of The Jim Jones Revue, Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind paint from a broader sonic palette. Incorporating elements of chain gang chants, mutant soul and gospel, and psychedelia, Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind are fervent torchbearers for rock’n’roll at its most primal, feral and elemental. Jim Jones & The Righteous Mind’s debut album, Super Natural, was rightly showered by the kind of hosannas most bands merely dare dream of, while their legendarily highly-charged live shows have left audiences breathless across the UK and Europe.

                          Often found in the thick of the action, Jim Jones has worked his mojo through memorable performances on Later with Jools Holland and Late Night with David Letterman, as well recording radio sessions for the likes of the BBC’s late, great John Peel, and Marc Riley. A seasoned veteran of the road, he’s shared bills with The Stooges, Jack White, The Cult, The Cramps and Grinderman and many more. And he’s also spread the gospel of rock’n’roll with his own shows on 6 Music and Boogaloo Radio. A rock’n’roll singer and guitarist of rare distinction, Jim Jones is a raconteur with one hell of a story to tell. You should hear it. 

                          STAFF COMMENTS

                          Barry says: Jim Jones (not that one) has always been one for the heavier more chaotic end of the rock music spectrum, and 'CollectiV' doesn't change that trend at all, featuring frenetic piano and cavernous reverb, soaring choruses and all-out instrumental mayhem in equal measure, this is a chaotic and thoroughly exciting adventure.

                          TRACK LISTING

                          1 Sex Robot
                          2 Satan's Got His Heart Set On You
                          3 O Genie
                          4 Attack Of The Killer Brainz
                          5 Meth Church
                          6 Dark Secrets
                          7 I Found A Love
                          8 Out Align
                          9 Going There Anyway
                          10 Shazam

                          “The idea for UNIFORM CLARITY came from UNIFORM DISTORTION,” says James, “an album of intentional chaos/dirt: literal and figurative distortion of lyrics and sound meant to echo and hopefully shed some light on the twisted times and distortion of the truth in which we now live. UNIFORM CLARITY is meant to illuminate the other side – raw and real, but very clear, much like in the early days of recording where all you could hear was the truth because there were no ways to manipulate recordings in the studio. Working with Shawn Everett, we created a document style recording of these songs- just vocals, guitar and the space itself- no special FX. A crystal clear illustration of the flawed beauty of what a song starts off as or sometimes remains- a thought. a seed. a light from the womb of the universe brought to life down here on earth."

                          TRACK LISTING

                          1 Just A Fool
                          2 You Get To Rome
                          3 Out Of Time
                          4 Throwback
                          5 No Secrets
                          6 Yes To Everything
                          7 No Use Waiting
                          8 All In Your Head
                          9 Better Late Than Never
                          10 Over And Over
                          11 Too Good To Be True
                          12 It Will Work Out
                          13 Flash In The Pan

                          Jim James third studio album ‘Uniform Distortion’ follows on from his previous success from being frontman of My Morning Jacket.Uniform Distortion was produced by Jim James and Kevin Ratterman at Louisville, KY’s La La Land, with Ratterman also serving as recording engineer. All songs were written by James, who is backed on the album by bassist Seth Kauffman (Floating Action) and longtime touring drummer Dave Givan, with backing vocals provided throughout by Dear Lemon Trees’ Leslie Stevens, Jamie Drake and Kathleen Grace. “The name of my new record is Uniform Distortion because I feel like there is this blanket distortion on society/media and the way we gather our ‘news and important information. More and more of us are feeling lost and looking for new ways out of this distortion and back to the truth…and finding hope in places like the desert where I write this now...finding hope in the land and in the water and in old books offering new ideas and most importantly in each other and love.” says James. Uniform Distortion is James’ finest work to date filled with compassion and brimming with meaningful ideology. 

                          STAFF COMMENTS

                          Andy says: Jim James does things differently on his solo records and this one's no exception. Raw, playful and rocking, but still with melodies galore, which other massive alt-rock stars keep things this fresh!

                          TRACK LISTING

                          1. Just A Fool
                          2. You Get To Rome
                          3. Out Of Time
                          4. Throwback
                          5. No Secrets
                          6. Yes To Everything
                          7. No Use Waiting
                          8. All In Your Head
                          9. Better Late Than Never
                          10. Over And Over
                          11. Too Good To Be True

                          Jim Ghedi

                          A Hymn For Ancient Land

                            Fourth release on new independent label Basin Rock following highly acclaimed albums by Julie Byrne and Nadia Reid.

                            Born in Sheffield before moving around various parts of Derbyshire, Shropshire and Scotland and then settling in Moss Valley - an abandoned and forgotten area on the edgelands of South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire - it makes perfect sense that 26 year old Jim Ghedi’s music feels both fluidly transient yet also deeply rooted to a sense of place.

                            In 2015 he released his debut album, Home Is Where I Exist, Now To Live and Die (Cambrian Records), which was an extension of the folk-tinged six and twelve-string acoustic guitar instrumentals he had been forging for some time around Sheffield's pubs and then whilst traveling across Europe. On his second album, A Hymn For Ancient Land, his elemental style of playing has expanded into a fuller band set-up, complete with glorious orchestration and dazzling composition that makes it a truly innovative contemporary record whilst still being rooted in great tradition.

                            Through the inclusion of double bass, violin, cello, harp, trumpet, piano, accordion and numerous other instruments, Ghedi has elevated his unique blend of folk music to a level far beyond that of that of his earlier work. Perhaps most remarkable still is how seamless their inclusions feel, rather than wrestling for space, the wealth of instruments float in and out of one another, interlocking absorbing guitars, gently whirring strings and drums that beat like the faint sounds of thunder on the horizon.

                            On top of the community of Moss Valley, a driving force behind much of the creations on this record come from Ghedi’s travels, playing shows in numerous rural towns and villages across the British Isles. This traversing through remote parts of the UK, Wales, Scotland and Ireland soon brought a desire to capture the full breadth, scale and beauty of the landscapes he was witnessing. “I wanted to bring in wider instrumentation to somehow resemble the landscapes which musically I could hear in my head, It was at this point I became fixated on connecting the two worlds of classical and contemporary folk” Ghedi says of the album’s birthing period.

                            All songs on the album are named after places from said travels - ‘Home for Moss Valley’, ‘Bramley Moor’, ‘Cwm Elan’ etc - and Ghedi’s natural ear and eye for capturing the spaces he inhabits creates an immersive environment, in which the guitar lines seem to mirror rolling hills, the rich hum of the ambience hangs like a gentle morning fog and the intricacies and beauty of the arrangements create something almost tangible in their efforts, like capturing a light dew on the tip ends of grass or the sticky moisture of well trampled soil. Nature permeates through this record from start to finish, gliding through its core like a bubbling brook.


                            TRACK LISTING

                            1 Home For Moss Valley
                            2 Cwm Elan
                            3 Bramley Moor
                            4 Fortingall Yew
                            5 Phoenix Works
                            6 Banks Of Mulroy Bay
                            7 Sloade Lane

                            Jim James

                            Tribute To

                              Tribute To is a collection of George Harrison songs recorded by Jim after George’s death. “All I had was that eight track at our studio and right after George died I just went up there and sat in a room and played those songs to try and deal with the emotions I felt from his passing and pay tribute to him” said Jim James.

                              Spin described the EP as “spare and somber – just that windy Americana tenor against a squeaky acoustic guitar … Many of us remember where we were when Harrison died; now we hear when James began to heal.”


                              This re-issue includes a bonus track, a cover of "If Not For You".

                              TRACK LISTING

                              Long, Long, Long
                              Behind That Locked Door
                              Love You To
                              If Not For You
                              My Sweet Lord
                              Ballad Of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)
                              All Things Must Pass

                              Jim James

                              Tribute To 2

                                After releasing the politically charged solo album ‘Eternally Even’ in 2016, My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James returns with ‘Tribute To 2’, a collection of cover songs that reverberate with hope.

                                Unlike his 2009 mini album of songs by George Harrison and the Beatles, ‘Tribute To’, which was recorded on an eight-track, reel-toreel tape recorder in the days following Harrison’s passing, the 11 songs of ‘Tribute To 2’ were recorded over a period of years, in different places, with different gear and varied instrumentation. James explains, “These are some of my favourite covers - songs I recorded trying to bring myself peace during a rough time or trying to make myself laugh or just have fun. I hope others can relate and enjoy the journey during these tough times and hopefully in times of peace and love as well!”

                                Jim White

                                Waffles, Triangles & Jesus

                                  Jim White gets around. When he’s not releasing his own critically acclaimed solo albums he splits his time producing records for other songwriters, exhibiting his visual art in galleries and museums across the USA & Europe and publishing award winning fiction. His sixth solo studio album, the bizarrely titled Waffles, Triangles & Jesus, is a mind-bending joy ride of sonic influences featuring a bevy of his hometown Athens’ roots musicians, plus west coast indie darlings Dead Rock West, and rock and roll maverick Holly Golightly.

                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                  Barry says: Here we get Jim white tackling at least two out of the three tropes associated with that there Americana (maybe triangles will be the next big thing). Whilst he may not be the first to tackle the subjects, he does it with a aplomb. Witty ruminations, catchy tunemongering and straight-out vibes. Excellent stuff.

                                  Mark Kozelek With Ben Boye And Jim White

                                  Mark Kozelek With Ben Boye And Jim White

                                    Recorded and mixed in San Francisco February through June of 2017.

                                    Words by Mark Kozelek. Music by Kozelek, Ben Boye and Jim White of Xylouris White, and most notably, Dirty Three with frequent Nick Cave collaborator, Warren Ellis. 

                                    TRACK LISTING

                                    House Cat
                                    Topo Gigio
                                    Fur Balls
                                    Los Margaritos
                                    Astronomy
                                    Blood Test
                                    Ashes
                                    February Rain
                                    The Black Butterfly
                                    The Robin Williams Tunnel

                                    "If you don't vote it's on you, not me," Jim James sings on his second solo album. It's an election-year entreaty geared towards too-pure leftoid lintheads, but the song is no screed, befitting a guy whose music usually turns inward. James floats his humidly ethereal soul mumble over seven minutes of a languid beat, cottony strings and chill organ bleat. Throughout Eternally Even, the My Morning Jacket mainman renders his change gospel with conversational grace, Bill Withers warmth, Sly Stone optimism and Neil Young conviction – less soap box pugilist than lazy-Sunday sage.

                                    The music recalls Aquarian soul, Nineties trip-hop and laser-gun funk: "True Nature" ties a find-your-mission message to a hazily coiled Blacksploitation groove; the loose flowing prettiness of "Here in Spirit" links today's battles to a history of struggle. The sonic spaciness can sometimes undercut James' less probing moments ("This world is war and blood when it could've been love," he observes on "We Ain't Getting Any Younger (Pt. 2.)" More often, the effect is charming. The gentlest moment is the title cut, in which his Kentucky coo cuddles against a track that's like Dark Side of the Moon as an astral doo-wop lovers prayer, reaching for a personal and social over-the-rainbow moment of Zen so sweetly visioned it feels like it's already unfolding –walking in the shadows, tripping towards the light. 



                                    STAFF COMMENTS

                                    Andy says: This record has the meandering, groovy, mellow and melancholic vibe of Marvin's masterpiece "Here, My Dear". Stoned, soulful, fuzzy songs bleed into one another to create a powerful meditation on the times (political and personal). It is a stunning record.

                                    TRACK LISTING

                                    1. Hide In Plain Sight
                                    2. Same Old Lie
                                    3. Here In Spirit
                                    4. The World's Smiling Now
                                    5. We Ain't Getting Any Younger Pt. 1
                                    6. We Ain't Getting Any Younger Pt. 2 [Explicit]
                                    7. True Nature
                                    8. In The Moment
                                    9. Eternally Even

                                    Icons Cards - Fatalities Series

                                    Jim Morrison - 1943-1971

                                      The Icons Fatalities Series features some of our late great heroes.

                                      Blank inside for your own message.

                                      Jim O'Rourke

                                      Bad Timing

                                        This is the album that put Jim firmly in the ranks of studio Meisters elite. Up until that point, Jim had used walls of noise / sound to create music, but with 'Bad Timing', he stepped back a little, stripped it all down and the arrangements became paramount.

                                        Jim O'Rourke

                                        The Visitor

                                          "The Visitor" is a seriously all-Jim O'Rourke affair - all the sounds you hear are Jim and Jim alone. This time you can't blame any of those session dudes and their bloodless line readings - the chill you're getting is a one-hundred percent O'Rourke effect. As a matter of fact, it might be more like two hundred percent — some of it is tracked so deep, it took two hundred tracks to hold it all. It doesn't sound like it though - to Jim's credit, the mix sounds very minimal, very straightforward - not like several hundred tracks at all. All the classic O'Rourke-isms are here: percolating banjos, smooth electric leads, organic, kicking drum sounds, the flickering of shakers to the left and right, mellow but ominous woodwinds, sounds that indicate 'vintage', sonic jokes and sonic tear-jerkers, all wrapped in spacious yet subtle left to right placement of everything in the picture. This is one one-track album everyone's gonna have to buy. However, "The Visitor" doesn't overstay its welcome. Get ready for redefinition - Jim O'Rourke is back.

                                          White Out With Jim O'Rourke

                                          Drunken Little Mass

                                            A collaboration between Lin Culbertson, Tom Surgal (Collectively White Out) and the esteemed Jim O'Rourke. The Contents of this album are totally improvised, recorded in one take, with no over dubs.


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