Acclaimed label Light in the Attic proudly partners with River Road, Zurich Avenue, and Roadside Attractions to release Dreamin’ Wild Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The film follows the real-life story of brothers Donnie & Joe Emerson, whose teenage dreams of rock stardom suddenly came true 30 years later. The soundtrack blends vintage recordings by Donnie & Joe (including the cult favorite “Baby”) with exclusive new performances by Donnie Emerson, Nancy Sophia Emerson, and actor Noah Jupe, plus original score selections by composer Leopold Ross (Black Mirror, A Million Little Pieces).

Jupe, who portrays a young Donnie Emerson, re-recorded several of the duo’s classic songs for the film, including their debut single, “Thoughts in My Mind.” The wistful ballad, which was written and recorded while the brothers were still in high school, was originally released in 1977 on their own Enterprise & Co. label.

The soundtrack also includes “When A Dream Is Beautiful,” a new song by husband-and-wife duo Donnie Emerson and Nancy Sophia Emerson, and recorded in Nashville by the film’s music producer and multi-GRAMMY® winner Dave Cobb.

A true story of love and redemption, Dreamin’ Wild centers around Donnie Emerson (Affleck/Jupe), a middle-aged singer-songwriter who learns that a record label is interested in reissuing the album that he and his brother recorded as teens in rural Washington State. Suddenly, the Emerson brothers find themselves thrust into the spotlight, as their 30-year-old album is hailed as a lost masterpiece. While the album’s rediscovery brings hopes of second chances, it also unearths long-buried emotions as Donnie, his wife Nancy (Deschanel), brother Joe (Goggins/Grazer), and father Don Sr. (Bridges) come to terms with the past and their newly found fame.

Named for the brothers’ 1979 debut album, Dreamin’ Wild is a River Road – Innisfree Production, produced by Academy Award®-winner Jim Burke, Academy® and Emmy®-nominee Pohlad, Kim Roth, Viviana Vezzani, and Karl Spoerri. Casey Affleck served as executive producer, alongside Emmy®-nominee Christa Workman, Dan Clifton, Steven Snyder, and Tobias Gutzwiller.

TRACK LISTING

Good Time - Donnie & Joe Emerson
Kids To School - Leopold Ross
Baby - Donnie & Joe Emerson
Donnie Rehearsal Tape - Donnie Emerson & Leopold Ross
Dream Full Of Dreams - Donnie & Joe Emerson
NY Times Montage - Leopold Ross
China Grove - Noah Jupe
Thoughts In My Mind - Noah Jupe
Tender Is The Night - Donnie Emerson
Don't Go Lovin' Nobody Else - Donnie & Joe Emerson
Rehearsal Freakout - Leopold Ross
Give Me A Chance - Noah Jupe
Photoshoot - Leopold Ross
When A Dream Is Beautiful - Donnie Emerson & Nancy Sophia Emerson

In the 1970s, Betty Davis defied genre and gender by pushing her voice to extremes and embracing the erotic. She articulated a kind of pre-punk, funk-blues fusion that had yet to be normalized in mainstream music – a style that few musicians have come close to replicating. As one of the first Black women to write, arrange, and produce her own albums, Betty was a visionary who disregarded industry boundaries and constraints. Raw, unapologetic and in full control, Betty paved the way for generations of future artists who said “funk you” to the music industry and social norms.

In 1979, when Davis entered an L.A. studio to record her fifth and final album, she was reeling from a series of setbacks. Three years earlier, after recording her fourth album, Is It Love Or Desire, Davis was dropped from her label and the LP was subsequently shelved. In 1978, her beloved band Funk House went their separate ways. Looking for a fresh start, Davis relocated to Hollywood to focus on songwriting. Before long, British manager Simon Lait (Toni Basil), offered to fund her next project.

With renewed vigor, Davis reunited with former Funk House guitarist Carlos Morales and brought together industry veterans like fusion drummer Alphonse Mouzon and session bassist Chuck Rainey. Old friends Anita and Bonnie Pointer (The Pointer Sisters) and Patryce “Choc’let” Banks joined Davis on vocals, as did Motown legend Martha Reeves. The resulting album, Crashin’ From Passion, was her most musically diverse, blending elements of reggae and calypso (“I’ve Danced Before”), jazz (“Hangin’ Out in Hollywood,” “Tell Me a Few Things”), dark synth-pop (“She’s a Woman”), and even disco (“All I Do Is Think of You”). Equally exploratory are Davis’ vocals, as she trades in her signature sass and snarls for more nuanced stylings.
Among the album’s few funk tracks is “Quintessence of Hip,” in which Davis hails musicians like Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder, and John Coltrane, while deftly integrating elements of their work. The song also offers a moment of stark vulnerability, as she sings, “Isn’t rich? Isn’t it queer? Losing my timing so late in my career.” It would prove to be a prophetic line in the months to follow.

The mixing process was mired by artistic differences and then cut short, amid the death of Davis’ beloved father. Bereft and exasperated, Davis returned home for the funeral, setting into motion her retirement from the music industry. Crashin’ From Passion, meanwhile, would be shelved for 15 years and licensed for a CD-only release, without Davis’ consent, in the ‘90s. This 2023 edition of the album, made with Davis’ full approval and cooperation, marks its first official release and first time ever on vinyl. The package was designed by GRAMMY®-winning artist, Masaki Koike, while the album cover features an incredible shot of Betty captured in London in the mid-1970s by renowned photographer Kate Simon.

Crashin’ From Passion was remastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters and pressed on vinyl at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI). The accompanying booklet includes a treasure trove of rare photos from the era, plus lyrics, and new liner notes by writer, ethnomusicologist, and Betty’s close friend, Danielle Maggio, who integrates interviews that she conducted with Davis, marking her last ever interviews.

TRACK LISTING

Quintessence Of Hip
She's A Woman
No Good At Falling In Love
Tell Me A Few Things
I've Danced Before
You Make Me Feel So Good
I Need A Whole Lot Of Love
Hangin' Out In Hollywood
All I Do Is Think Of You
Crashin' From Passion
You Take Me For Granted

* First ever reissue of this groundbreaking ambient work.
* Produced in full cooperation with Yoshimura’s estate.
* Unseen original handwritten track notes by Yoshimura.

Barely known outside of his home country during his lifetime, the late Japanese ambient music pioneer Hiroshi Yoshimura has seen his global stature rise steadily in the past few years. The 2017 reissue of his lauded debut, Music For Nine Post Cards, along with a slow building cult internet following has helped ignite a renaissance in his acclaimed body of work, much of which has never been released outside of Japan. Known for his sound design and environmental music, Yoshimura worked on a number of commissions following the 1982 release of Music For Nine Post Cards, including works for museums, galleries, public spaces, TV shows, video art, fashion shows, and even a cosmetics company.

Originally released in 1986, GREEN is one of Hiroshi Yoshimura’s most well-loved recordings and a favorite of the artist himself. Recorded over the winter of 1985-86 at Yoshimura’s home studio, the compositions unfold at an unhurried pace, a stark contrast to the busy city life of Tokyo. As Yoshimura explained in the original liner notes, the album title in the context of this body of work is not meant to be seen as a color, but is rather used to convey “the comfortable scenery of the natural cycle known as GREEN”—which perfectly encapsulates the soothing and warm sounds contained on the album, although it was created utilizing Yamaha FM synthesizers, known for their crisp digital tones.

This edition marks the first reissue of the highly sought-after and impossible to find album. It features the original mix preferred by Yoshimura himself, previously available only on the initial Japanese vinyl release (a limited edition remixed version of the album, with added sound effects, was released on CD in the US). Additionally, this release is the first in our ongoing series, WATER COPY, focusing on the works of Hiroshi Yoshimura.

Light in the Attic continues to celebrate the influential career of singer, actress, activist, and icon Nancy Sinatra with a captivating new collection, Keep Walkin’: Singles, Demos & Rarities 1965-1978. Exploring the lesser-known gems from Sinatra’s rich catalog through 25 B-sides, rare singles, covers, demos, and previously-unreleased recordings, Keep Walkin’ was remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin and available in a variety of formats, including vinyl, CD, 8-track, and digital.

The 2-LP set, pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), is presented in an expanded gatefold jacket and accompanied by a 24-page booklet (also included in the CD edition as a 40-page booklet), featuring an array of photos from the artist’s personal collection, as well as a new in-depth Q&A with Sinatra, conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer, Hunter Lea. The booklet also contains a fascinating interview with keyboardist Don Randi (The Wrecking Crew), who recently spoke to Lea about his hit-filled career and his 50 years of work with Nancy. In addition to the classic black vinyl pressing, a selection of colorful variants can be found exclusively at NancySinatra.com, LightInTheAttic.net, independent record stores, and select online retailers, while limited-edition merchandise, including apparel, accessories, and more are also available at Nancy’s Bootique at NancySinatra.com.

Keep Walkin’: Singles, Demos & Rarities 1965-1978 serves as a companion to the widely-acclaimed 2021 career-spanning retrospective, Start Walkin’ 1965-1976, and marks the latest release in LITA’s ongoing Nancy Sinatra Archival Series, a partnership with the legendary artist, which honors her musical legacy through lovingly curated reissues (including her 1966 debut, Boots and the 1968 classic, Nancy & Lee), limited-edition merch, and other special releases.

More on Keep Walkin’: Singles, Demos & Rarities 1965-1978:
In 1965, 25-year-old Nancy Sinatra scored her first No.1 hit with “These Boots are Made for Walkin’,” a bold anthem for female empowerment. Brazen, sassy, and utterly infectious, it was a reintroduction of sorts for the eldest daughter of Frank Sinatra, who had been struggling to find a spotlight of her own amid a changing musical landscape. Suddenly, audiences who had initially brushed off Sinatra as too demure or out-of-touch were paying attention. Written and produced by Oklahoma-born songsmith Lee Hazlewood (with swaggering instrumentals, courtesy of Billy Strange and The Wrecking Crew), the song launched the singer’s career, as well as one of music’s most unlikely, yet compelling, creative partnerships.

Over the next decade, Sinatra continued to notch multiple hits on both sides of the Atlantic, including “Sugar Town,” “How Does That Grab You, Darlin?,” and a haunting rendition of the Sonny Bono-penned “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” The singer also paired up with Hazlewood for a series of popular duets (“Summer Wine,” “Jackson,” and “Some Velvet Morning”) and collaborative albums. In between best-selling LPs like Boots (1966), How Does That Grab You (1966), and Nancy & Lee (1968), Sinatra performed the theme song to the 1967 James Bond film, You Only Live Twice, and collaborated with her father on the global chart-topper, “Somethin’ Stupid.”

While these career landmarks are well-documented in the annals of pop culture history, however, much of Sinatra’s catalog remains sorely overlooked. As Keep Walkin’ co-producer Hunter Lea explains, “With the changing taste of the record-buying public in the late 1960s and the counterculture taking over, artists like Nancy Sinatra weren’t in the mainstream as they once were.” Despite that fact, “[Sinatra] kept working, recording, and performing at a voracious pace.”

Lea continues, “This compilation is a celebration of some of the many glorious recordings that may have been overlooked, forgotten, or never even released at the time. The obscurity of some of these recordings doesn’t mask the genius, brilliance, and effort that went into them; on the contrary, it’s incredible to learn that some of the lost gems are just as rich as the national treasures.”

Among the highlights is the spritely opener “The City Never Sleeps at Night,” which served as the B-Side to “These Boots Were Made for Walkin’.” Overshadowed by the colossal success of its A-side, it’s no surprise that the cinematic tune never had its proper due. Yet, Lea reveals, Hazlewood initially intended to make it the focus single. Another long-lost B-side is “The Last of the Secret Agents?,” which was paired with the Top 10 hit, “How Does That Grab You, Darlin’?” The playful song, written by Hazlewood, served as the theme to the 1966 comedy of the same name, in which Sinatra co-starred alongside Marty Allen and Steve Rossi.

Keep Walkin’ also features several choice A-sides that were never included on albums and were overlooked for one reason or another. Among them is 1966’s “In Our Time,” a rebellious anthem for ‘60s youth, which references drug culture and women’s liberation, among other topics. Speaking to the Hazlewood-penned track, Sinatra recalls, “That was a fun song. Lee was starting to do his ‘anti’ stuff. He was cynical and it showed in his writing at some point.” But, despite the themes of the song, Nancy laments that she was never embraced by the counterculture. “[drugs] knocked me out of the picture completely. I was so far removed from the hip people in those days. I think they probably made fun of my stuff.” Another stylistic departure for both artists is “Love Eyes,” a bluesy, soulful single from 1966. The song, Nancy shares, is “one of my favorites. I think what helped Lee’s writing at that point was the bigger sound.… I really love it. I think it holds up to this day.” She adds that her dreamy vocal performance was inspired by early female R&B stars like Ruth Brown and LaVern Baker.

The collection also features several outstanding covers, including a previously-unreleased rendition of the Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil classic, “I Just Can’t Help Believing” (a hit for both B.J. Thomas and Elvis Presley). This 1978 recording, reimagined as a duet, marked one of Sinatra’s brief reunions with Hazlewood, following his abrupt move to Sweden not long after 1972’s Nancy & Lee Again. Another choice track finds Nancy interpreting Neil Diamond’s “Glory Road.” Released as a single in 1971, it features one of the singer’s most cherished vocal performances. “After I worked on my voice and improved as a performer and as a singer, I embraced Neil Diamond. Anything I did by Neil Diamond, to me, is my best work.”

Nancy also looks back fondly on her moving rendition of Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine,” released in 1973 as the B-side to “Sugar Me.” The recording (which features particularly lush orchestral arrangements by Billy Strange) reunited Nancy with another close collaborator, Jimmy Bowen, who produced the singer in the early ‘60s and later introduced her to Hazlewood. “I love Jimmy,” she declares. “The records we did early on…had a depth to them that I appreciated. He heard me and saw me in a different light; he saw me as a much more serious performer, which I appreciated.”

Listeners will also be delighted to hear a pair of previously-unreleased demos: “Something Pretty” (the 1968 country hit, made famous by Wynn Stewart) and the theme to the 1965 Richard Rogers/Stephen Sondheim musical, Do I Hear a Waltz?, both of which were intended for a self-described “disco” record. Despite the two catchy takes featured on Keep Walkin’, Sinatra calls the shelved album “A disaster. I called it the disco fiasco!”

Offering additional insight into Sinatra’s career is music director, songwriter, and keyboardist, Don Randi. A member of the hallowed Wrecking Crew collective, Randi was one of the most prolific session musicians of the ‘60s and ‘70s with hundreds of credits to his name, including The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations,” Linda Ronstadt’s “Different Drum,” and “These Boots are Made For Walkin’” – his first recording with Sinatra. For the next fifty years, he would be a fixture at her sessions and live shows. He also appears on nearly every track in this collection.

Speaking to Lea, Randi delves deep into his time with Sinatra, with a palpable admiration for the singer. “She was easy to work with,” he shares. “She was always wonderful to musicians; nobody even comes close.” The keyboardist, who met Sinatra through Hazlewood, also recalls the magic of that partnership. “I always liked working with Nancy & Lee. They had something very special that they could get out of each other. It was a good team.”

He continues, “Sinatra stood up for herself [around Lee]…He could be so cantankerous…but that’s Lee…. [Nancy] saw through it. She was so lovely and helpful to him a number of times when he really needed someone to talk to.” That said, Randi also appreciates the power of Sinatra’s solo performances. “I never thought she really needed [Hazlewood},” he reveals. “I thought her shows were just as well with everybody else; they were excellent.”

After stepping back from the industry in the ‘70s to focus on her young family, Sinatra returned to the spotlight in the mid-90s, releasing a string of new albums, including the star-studded Nancy Sinatra, which paired the artist with some of her biggest fans, including Morrissey, U2, Calexico, and Sonic Youth. Since then, Nancy’s legacy has only continued to grow. In more recent years, her impact has been recognized by the likes of Pitchfork, NPR, and Rolling Stone, while in 2020, “Boots” was inducted into the GRAMMY® Hall of Fame. Today, Sinatra remains a force in the industry, as new generations discover her influential catalog, which boasts nearly 20 studio albums and dozens of charting singles.

TRACK LISTING

The City Never Sleeps At Night
The Last Of The Secret Agents
My Baby Cried All Night Long
Shades
In Our Time
Love Eyes
Rockin' Rock And Roll (1st TIME ON VINYL)
This Town
Tony Rome
100 Years
See The Little Children
Something Pretty (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
Do I Hear A Waltz (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
Drummer Man
Zodiac Blues (1st TIME ON VINYL)
Highway Song
Are You Growing Tired Of My Love
Flowers In The Rain
Glory Road
Ain't No Sunshine
Easy Evil (1st TIME ON VINYL)
Sugar Me
Kinky Love
Dolly And Hawkeye
I Just Can't Help Believing - Nancy Sinatra And Lee Hazlewood (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)

Counting their early years in the scuzz-rock band Spinout, whose sole self-titled release came out in 1991 on Delicious Vinyl, guitarist Mark Lightcap, bassist Richie Lee, and drummer Steve Hadley played together for a total of 15 years. They disbanded in July 2001, when Lee committed suicide in the garage next to the house where the trio practiced. Afterwards, Rolling Stone ran a short obituary saying Acetone’s albums were “well received” but “failed to make any waves.” It was the first and only time they were featured in the national music press.

Between 1993 and 2001 the trio released two LPs and an EP on Vernon Yard—a Virgin subsidiary—and two LPs on Vapor, the L.A.-based label founded by Neil Young and manager Elliott Roberts. In that span, they were selected to tour with Oasis, Mazzy Star, The Verve, and Spiritualized. Against a rising tide of post-Nirvana grunge and slipshod indie rock, Acetone tapped into a timeless Southern California groove by fusing elements of psychedelia, surf, and country.

They rehearsed endlessly in an empty bedroom in northeast Los Angeles, recording hours of music onto cassettes that were subsequently stuffed into shoeboxes and left in a shed behind the drummer’s house. Those tapes are being released for the first time in this anthology, which also includes highlights from Acetone’s official releases. Taken together, the songs form a companion soundtrack to Sam Sweet’s book, which maps the character of Los Angeles as a place through the lens of these three unique characters bonded by music.

“I think our music is all about moods and feeling but hopefully it will get as weird as it possibly can,” said Richie Lee in 1997. “We want things to get weird in the way that you could hear an Acetone song and know that no one else in the world could make that kind of music but us.”

* First time band anthology.
* Includes 9 unreleased tracks.
* Audio restored and remastered from original tapes.
* Liner notes by Sam Sweet.

“Acetone are one of my all time favorite bands. Their music is still as electrifying and beautiful now as it was back then.” – Hope Sandoval (Mazzy Star)

“A lovely mix of what would it be like if Dick Dale and Neil Young played with Isaac Hayes and The Velvet Underground. A seminal American band.” – Richard Ashcroft (The Verve).

TRACK LISTING

1. Shaker
2. All The Time
3. Louise
4. Return From The Ice
5. How Sweet I Roamed
6. Germs
7. Shore Power
8. Always Late
9. Things Are Gonna Be Alright (demo)
10. Midnight Cowboy
11. Chew
12. Too Much Time
13. Vibrato
14. Pico
15. Stray (demo)
16. Smokey

One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.

There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year while Millie Jackson wasn’t “Feelin’ Bitchy” until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the decade.

Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ‘60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix — personally inspiring the classic album ’Bitches Brew.’

But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.

In 1973, Davis would finally kick off her cosmic career with an amazingly progressive hard funk and sweet soul self-titled debut. Davis showcased her fiercely unique talent and features such gems as “If I’m In Luck I Might Get Picked Up” and “Game Is My Middle Name.” The album Betty Davis was recorded with Sly & The Family Stone’s rhythm section, sharply produced by Sly Stone drummer Greg Errico, and featured backing vocals from Sylvester and the Pointer Sisters.

TRACK LISTING

If I'm In Luck I Might Get Picked Up 
Walkin Up The Road 
Anti Love Song 
Your Man My Man
Ooh Yea 
Steppin In Her I. Miller Shoes 
Game Is My Middle Name 
In The Meantime

One can hardly imagine the genre-busting, culture-crossing musical magic of Outkast, Prince, Erykah Badu, Rick James, The Roots, or even the early Red Hot Chili Peppers without the influence of R&B pioneer Betty Davis. Her style of raw and revelatory punk-funk defies any notions that women can’t be visionaries in the worlds of rock and pop. In recent years, rappers from Ice Cube to Talib Kweli to Ludacris have rhymed over her intensely strong but sensual music.

There is one testimonial about Betty Davis that is universal: she was a woman ahead of her time. In our contemporary moment, this may not be as self-evident as it was thirty years ago – we live in an age that’s been profoundly changed by flamboyant flaunting of female sexuality: from Parlet to Madonna, Lil Kim to Kelis. Yet, back in 1973 when Betty Davis first showed up in her silver go-go boots, dazzling smile and towering Afro, who could you possibly have compared her to? Marva Whitney had the voice but not the independence. Labelle wouldn’t get sexy with their “Lady Marmalade” for another year while Millie Jackson wasn’t Feelin’ Bitchy until 1977. Even Tina Turner, the most obvious predecessor to Betty’s fierce style wasn’t completely out of Ike’s shadow until later in the decade.

Ms. Davis’s unique story, still sadly mostly unknown, is unlike any other in popular music. Betty wrote the song “Uptown” for the Chambers Brothers before marrying Miles Davis in the late ’60s, influencing him with psychedelic rock, and introducing him to Jimi Hendrix - personally inspiring the classic album 'Bitches Brew'.

But her songwriting ability was way ahead of its time as well. Betty not only wrote every song she ever recorded and produced every album after her first, but the young woman penned the tunes that got The Commodores signed to Motown. The Detroit label soon came calling, pitching a Motown songwriting deal, which Betty turned down. Motown wanted to own everything. Heading to the UK, Marc Bolan of T. Rex urged the creative dynamo to start writing for herself. A common thread throughout Betty’s career would be her unbending Do-It-Yourself ethic, which made her quickly turn down anyone who didn’t fit with the vision. She would eventually say no to Eric Clapton as her album producer, seeing him as too banal.

Her 1974 sophomore album 'They Say I’m Different' features a worthy-of-framing futuristic cover challenging David Bowie’s science fiction funk with real rocking soul-fire, kicked off with the savagely sexual “Shoo-B-Doop and Cop Him” (later sampled by Ice Cube). Her follow up is full of classic cuts like “Don’t Call Her No Tramp” and the hilarious, hard, deep funk of “He Was A Big Freak.”

TRACK LISTING

Shoo-B-Doop And Cop Him 
He Was A Big Freak 
Your Mama Wants Ya Back
Don't Call Her No Tramp 
Git In There 
They Say I'm Different 
70's Blues 
Special People

Betty Davis was a musical maverick with vision. Image, substance, sex, and grit combined with a badass band that could deliver the funk bed backbone to the sultry music between the sheets. After cutting two notorious discs for the Just Sunshine label (Betty Davis and They Say I’m Different), and Nasty Gal for Island Records, Davis went to work on her most personal and expressive record yet. After capturing 10 hard-hitting tracks in 1976 at the remote Studio In The Country (Louisiana), a creative difference with her then label caused the platter to be unexpectedly shelved. Davis would cut one final album and soon retreat from the music business, completely disappearing from the public eye.

Is It Love Or Desire is a little-known gem in the Davis catalog. Mastered from the original tapes, and untouched for over 30 years, this release features detailed liner notes, the originally intended artwork housed in a lavishly packaged digipak, rare photos, archival material, and recent interviews with Davis and her skin-tight band Funk House.

Never bootlegged, never released, never heard until now, the secret story of this lost album will finally enter the history books and cement this bold soul sisters contributions to music and popular culture. Its time to get down…

TRACK LISTING

Is It Love Or Desire
Whorey Angel
It's So Good
Crashin' From Passion
When Romance Says Goodbye
Bottom Of The Barrel
Stars Starve
You Know
Let's Get Personal
Bar Hoppin'
For My Man

Light in the Attic Records is proud to present the next installment of the Nancy Sinatra Archival Series with the first ever reissue of the classic 1972 album Nancy & Lee Again. Recorded during a 1972 reunion between Nancy and the enigmatic Hazlewood, the album contains some of the pair’s most enduring and ambitious duets including the epic ”Arkansas Coal (Suite),” the sensual “Paris Summer” and the incredibly powerful Dolly Parton-penned “Down From Dover.” Equal parts daring, psychedelic, cinematic, and sweet, Nancy & Lee Again reveals with each track a timeless, natural chemistry between two artists who would remain influential for generations to come.

The vinyl LP, pressed at Record Technology, Inc. (RTI), is presented in an expanded gatefold jacket and is accompanied by a 20-page booklet, featuring an array of photos from the legendary singer, actress, and activist’s personal collection, as well as in-depth Q&A with Nancy Sinatra, conducted by the reissue’s GRAMMY®-nominated co-producer, Hunter Lea (also available in the CD package). All formats have been beautifully designed by Darryl Norsen of D. Norsen Design, and include two bonus tracks, “Machine Gun Kelly” (first time on vinyl) and the previously unreleased “Think I’m Coming Down.” 

TRACK LISTING

Arkansas Coal (Suite),
Big Red Balloon,
Friendship Train,
Paris Summer,
Congratulations,
Down From Dover, Did You Ever?,
Tippy Toes,
Back On The Road,
Got It Together,
Machine Gun Kelly (bonus Track, First Time On Vinyl),
Think I'm Coming Down (bonus Track, Previously Unreleased)

Karen Dalton’s 1971 album, In My Own Time, stands as a true masterpiece by one of music’s most mysterious, enigmatic, and enduringly influential artists. Celebrating the album’s 50th anniversary, Light in the Attic is honored to present a newly remastered (2021) edition of the album on LP, CD, cassette, and 8-Track.

All audio has been newly remastered by Dave Cooley, while lacquers were cut by Phil Rodriguez at Elysian Masters.

A newly expanded booklet—featuring rarely seen photos, liner notes from musician and writer Lenny Kaye, and contributions from Nick Cave and Devendra Banhart—rounds out the CD (32-pgs) and LP (20-pgs) packages.
The Oklahoma-raised Karen Dalton (1937-1993) brought a range of influences to her work. As Lenny Kaye writes in the liner notes, one can hear “the jazz of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, the immersion of Nina Simone, the Appalachian keen of Jean Ritchie, [and] the R&B and country that had to seep in as she made her way to New York."

Armed with a long-necked banjo and a 12-stringed guitar, Dalton set herself apart from her peers with her distinctive, world-weary vocals. In the early ‘60s, she became a fixture in the Greenwich Village folk scene, interpreting traditional material, blues standards, and the songs of her contemporaries, including Tim Hardin, Fred Neil, and Richard Tucker, whom she later married. Bob Dylan, meanwhile, was instantly taken with her artistry. “My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton,” he recalled in Chronicles: Volume One (Simon & Schuster, 2004). “Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday and played the guitar like Jimmy Reed.”

Those who knew Dalton understood that she was not interested in bowing to the whims of the record industry. On stage, she rarely interacted with audience members. In the studio, she was equally as uncomfortable with the recording process. Her 1969 debut, It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best, reissued by Light in the Attic in 2009, was captured on the sly when Dalton assumed that she was rehearsing songs. When Woodstock co-promoter Michael Lang approached Dalton about recording a follow-up for his new imprint, Just Sunshine, she was dubious, to say the least. The album would have to be made on her own terms, in her own time. That turned out to be a six-month period at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, NY.

Producing the album was bassist Harvey Brooks, who played alongside Dalton on It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best. Brooks, who prided himself on being “simple, solid and supportive,” understood Dalton’s process, but was also willing to offer gentle encouragement, and challenge the artist to push her creative bounds. “I tried to present her with a flexible situation,” he told Kaye. “I left the decisions to her, to determine the tempo, feel. She was very quiet, and I brought all of it to her; if she needed more, I’d present options. Everyone was sensitive to her. She was the leader.”

Dalton, who rarely performed her own compositions, selected a range of material to interpret—from traditionals like “Katie Cruel” and “Same Old Man” to Paul Butterfield’s “In My Own Dream” and Richard Tucker’s “Are You Leaving For The Country.” She also expanded upon her typical repertoire, peppering in such R&B hits as “When a Man Loves a Woman” and “How Sweet It Is.” In a departure from her previous LP, Dalton’s new recording offered fuller, more pop-forward arrangements, featuring a slew of talented studio musicians.

While ‘70s audiences may not have been ready for Dalton’s music, a new generation was about to discover her work. In the decades following her death, a slew of artists would name Karen Dalton as an influence, including Lucinda Williams, Joanna Newsom, Nick Cave, Angel Olsen, Devendra Banhart, Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, and Adele. In the recent acclaimed film documentary Karen Dalton: In My Own Time, Cave muses on Dalton’s unique appeal: “There’s a sort of demand made upon the listener,” he explains. “Whether you like it or not, you have to enter her world. And it’s a despairing world.” Peter Walker, who also appears in the film, elaborates on this idea: “If she can feel a certain way in her music and play it in such a way that you feel that way, then that’s really the most magical thing [one] can do.” He adds, “She had a deep and profound and loving soul…you can hear it in her music.”

TRACK LISTING

Something On Your Mind
When A Man Loves A Woman
In My Own Dream
Katie Cruel
How Sweet It Is
In A Station
Take Me
Same Old Man
One Night Of Love
Are You Leaving For The Country
Something On Your Mind (alternate Take)
In My Own Dream (alternate Take)
Katie Cruel (alternate Take)
One Night Of Love - Live At Beat Club, Germany, April 21, 1971
Take Me - Live At Beat Club, Germany, April 21, 1971
Something On Your Mind - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971
Blues On The Ceiling - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971
Are You Leaving For The Country - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971
One Night Of Love - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971

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

The unbelievably prolific Haruomi Hosono is one of the major architects of modern Japanese pop music. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of music and boundless curiosity for new sounds, Hosono is the auteur of his own idiosyncratic musical world, putting his unmistakable stamp on hundreds of recordings as an artist, session player, songwriter and producer. Born and raised in central Tokyo, his adolescent obsession with American pop culture informed his early forays into country music, which he would revisit later in his career. Hosono made his professional debut in 1969 as a member of Apryl Fool, whose heavy psychedelia was somewhat at odds with his influences, which leaned towards the rootsy sounds of Moby Grape and Buffalo Springfield. The latter was one of the main inspirations for his next group, Happy End, whose unique blend of West Coast sounds with Japanese lyrics proved to be highly influential over the course of three albums. After the band’s amicable break up in 1973, Hosono began his solo career with Hosono House, an intimate slice of Japanese Americana recorded inside a rented house with recording gear squeezed into its tiny bedroom. Hosono’s solo career would take many twists and turns from this point forward, with forays into exotica, electronic, ambient, and techno, culminating in the massive success of techno pop group Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO).

Released in September 1978, a mere two months before YMO’s debut, Cochin Moon is a clear precursor to the groundbreaking synth and sequencerdominated sounds that would come to define the iconic trio. Credited to Hosono and Pop Art legend Tadanori Yokoo (who created the cover art), Cochin Moon is a fictional soundtrack to a journey into unknown worlds, inspired by Hosono and Yokoo’s trip to India. Initially the album was to be a kind of ethnographic musical document, using found sounds and field recordings made by Hosono himself. Instead, after Yokoo introduced Hosono to the sounds of Kraftwerk and krautrock during the trip, Cochin Moon became something much stranger. Created almost entirely on synthesizers and sequencers with the help of future YMO collaborators Ryuichi Sakamoto and Hideki Matsutake, the music on the album is the perfect encapsulation of Hosono’s concept of “sightseeing music,” transporting the listener to an exotic place that may or may not exist. This highly sought-after album sees its firstever official release outside of Japan.

Admired by artists ranging from Van Dyke Parks to Mac DeMarco, Hosono continues to forge ahead as he heads into his fifth decade as a musician. With the re-release of his key albums for the first time outside of Japan, his genius will be discovered by a whole new generation of fans around the world.

TRACK LISTING

1. "Ground Floor···Triangle Circuit On The Sea-Forest" 
2. "Upper Floor···Moving Triangle" 
3. "Roof Garden···Revel Attack" 
4. "Hepatitis" 
5. "Hum Ghar Sajan" 
6. "Madam Consul General Of Madras" 

If God had a disco, the DJ would be playing California gospel-soul group The Supreme Jubilees. “We won’t have to cry no more,” the tuxedo-clad group would sing, in high, angelic vocals over smooth grooves. “It’ll all be over.” Prepare to dance and contemplate death all at the same time.

A band of brothers and cousins, the group was founded from two familes: brothers Joe and Dave Kingsby plus Dave’s son David Kingsby Jr., and keyboardist Leonard Sanders plus his brothers Phillips (drummer), Tim (bassist), and Melvin (tenor). The Sanders clan grew up singing together in the Witness of Jesus Christ church in Fresno CA, where dad Marion was pastor. Guitarist Larry Price–who belonged to neither family–completed the line-up that recorded the group’s first–and, prophetically, only–album, It’ll All Be Over.

Released in 1980 on the group’s own S&K (Sanders & Kingsby) label, It’ll All Be Over pinpoints a fatalistic mood exemplified by the title. Its lyrics drawn from the Old Testament, its sound from the church by way of the disco, and it’s a feel captured by the album cover–a low, orange sun setting over the Pacific ocean. It is, as Jessica Hundley observes in the brand new liner notes, “both apocalyptic and seductive.”

Making the album was not easy. Sessions began in Trac Record Co, a country and western studio in Fresno, CA, where the engineer was so put out by the group’s requests for heavier bass in the mix, he stopped the session and kicked them out. They left with four songs–one side of the album–and the record was completed at Sierra Recording Studio in Visalia, CA. Leonard Sanders reported having a spiritual encounter in his sleep while in Visalia; the next day he recorded his part of the album’s title track in a single take.

After the LP was pressed, the group took their music on tour, first in California, where they played with acts including the Gospel Keynotes, The Jackson Southernaires, and the Mighty Clouds of Joy, and then on an ill-fated trip to Texas. A follow-up album was planned for 1981, but it never materialized; having slept sometimes a dozen to a room in Texas, the men in the band were reluctant to leave jobs, wives, and kids for the hardship of the road. The group simply fizzled out, even if the friendships never did.

A copy of the album sold to a fan on that Texan tour made its way to a San Antonio record store, where it was discovered nearly three decades later by collector David Haffner (Friends of Sound). He managed to track down the Kingsby-Sanders clan at a Fourth Of July barbeque in Fresno in 2004. And he eventually introduced the group to Light In The Attic Records, which now presents the album, restored, remastered, and available to the public for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

1. It’ll All Be Over
2. Do You Believe
3. Thank You Lord
4. I Am On The Lord’s
5. You Don’t Know
6. Standing In The Need Of Prayer
7. Got A Right
8. We’ll Understand
9. Stop Today

These are fighting times, people. We are surrounded by grit, spit, and bloody war, but in the distance moving forward is The Black Angels. Passover, The Black Angels debut album, speaks of real-life horrors, death, and destruction with doses of love, sex, and healing. Don’t lose track, these are caring times as well.

Formed in 2004 and hailing from the mescaline-infused outskirts of Austin, Texas, this gang of musical misfits has been on the road non-stop since their birth, performing at such renowned venues as Sin-e, Middle East, and Spaceland. In early 2006, the band’s self-titled debut EP was dubbed highly recommended in Spin Magazine while receiving heavy radio airplay on such influential stations as KEXP and BBC Radio 1 by Zane Lowe.

Growing in spades since their EP, Passover showcases a band on the make. Spiraling upwards to the skies with the enemy straight on their trail, “The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven” sees The Black Angels reaching high and stretching out with trance-inducing guitar lines from Christian Bland, Nate Ryan’s filthy medical dumpster bass, and the grizzly preacher vox of lead shaman Alex Maas. “Black Grease” is a bluesy monster full of swagger propelled by the primitive beat of drummer Stephanie Bailey and the mourning drone of organist Jennifer Raines.

10-songs deep, Passover has come again. Reflecting and questioning the intergenerational psychosis of American social life that surrounds us, The Black Angels put forth their answers in song. It’s a “Call To Arms” for those ready to join the good fight, a rock ‘n’ roll salvation during the times we need it the most. As Maas bellows on “Young Man Dead,” “Fire for the hills, pick up speed, and let’s go…”

TRACK LISTING

Young Men Dead
The First Vietnamese War
The Sniper At The Gates Of Heaven
The Prodigal Sun
Black Grease
Manipulation
Empire
Better Off Alone
Bloodhounds On My Trail
Call To Arms

Light in the Attic’s Pacific Breeze series has supplied the world’s growing legions of Japanese music fans with an expertly curated selection of the most sought-after City Pop recordings—the mesmerizing and nebulous genre of Japanese bubble-era music of the ‘70s-’80s that encompasses AOR, R&B, jazz fusion, funk, boogie and disco. These familiar sounds are spun through the unique lens of optimistic, cosmopolitan fantasy colored by Japan’s affluence at the time. Much of the music has previously been nearly impossible to acquire outside of Japan and continues to captivate listeners with its unique blend of groove-laden escapism, even birthing wholly new genres such as Vaporwave.

Pacific Breeze 3: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1975-1987 marks the latest chapter in the famed series and features holy grails plus under-the-radar rarities. The collection bursts at the seams to reveal some of the greatest Japanese tracks ever laid to tape, pushing towards the edge of City Pop to reveal glimmers of the next waves of styles to spring forth from the country’s creative minds. The appearance of Pizzicato Five hint at the emergence of Shibuya-kei while the influence of hip hop and electro as an emerging global trend are also evident here through the prevalence of heavier programmed drum beats on tracks such as “Heartbeat” by Miho Fujiwara.

This volume of Pacific Breeze, like its predecessors, is a female-forward offering with many tracks being voiced by women who would become household names in Japan as actresses and pop idols. Their songs here subvert the norm and brim with an innovative spirit that shatters gender roles in favor of sonic transcendence. Techno-pop classics from Susan, Miharu Koshi and Chiemi Manabe sit alongside sublime funk from Atsuko Nina and Naomi Akimoto while Teresa Noda slides into the mix with a sultry reggae jam. The genre span is stretched wider with hypnotic jazz fusion by Parachute and Hiroyuki Namba, a synthesizer fantasy from Osamu Shoji, and magnetic pop by Makoto Matsushita and Chu Kosaka.

Although not front and center, the visionary members of Yellow Magic Orchestra are still very present on Pacific Breeze 3, with Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Yukihiro Takahashi taking up producer and musician roles on many of these tracks. Pacific Breeze 3 serves up a captivating musical journey that adds an essential chapter to the iconic compilation series.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another instalment in the hugely popular Pacific Breeze franchise here, coming *just* in time for the first light of spring. Collecting another suite of lesser-heard Japanese boogie & City Pop, AOR and jazz-fusion records, perfectly sequenced and presented. You can't go wrong with a Light In The Attic comp, and this is one of their best.

TRACK LISTING

Naomi Akimoto - Bewitched (are You Leaving Soon)
Atsuko Nina - Tonkachi
Miho Fujiwara - Heartbeat
Miharu Koshi - Scandal Night
Chu Kosaka - Shirakechimauze
Teresa Noda - Tropical Love
Makoto Matsushita - Business Man Pt. 1
Susan - Ah! Soka
Yukako Hayase - Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino
Parachute - Kowloon Daily
Hiroyuki Namba - Tropical Exposition (who Done It? Version)
Pizzicato Five - Boy Meets Girl
Mari Iijima - Love Sick
1986 Omega Tribe - Cosmic Love
Osamu Shoji - Pub Casablanca
Chiemi Manabe – Untotooku

Compiled by Andy Cabic (Vetiver), Zach Cowie (DJ & music supervisor) and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), "Pacific Breeze" documents Japan’s blast into the stratosphere. By the 1960s, the nation had achieved a postwar miracle, soaring to become the world’s second largest economy. Thriving tech exports sent The Rising Sun over the moon. Its pocket cassette players, bleeping video games, and gleaming cars boomed worldwide, wooing pleasure points and pumping Japanese pockets full of yen.

Japan’s financial buoyancy also permeated its popular culture, birthing an audio analog called City Pop. This new sound arose in the mid ’70s and ruled through the ’80s, channeling the country’s contemporary psyche. It was sophisticated music mirroring Japan’s punch-drunk prosperity. City Pop epitomized the era, providing a soundtrack for emerging urbanites. An optimistic spirit buzzed through the music in neon-bathed, gauzy tableaus coated with groove-heavy strokes.

"Pacific Breeze" is an expertly compiled collection of choice cuts that range from silky smooth grooves to innovative techno pop bangers and everything in between. Long-revered by crate diggers and adventurous music heads, this music has never been released outside of Japan until now. Including key artists like Taeko Ohnuki and Minako Yoshida, as well as cult favorites Hitomi Tohyama and Hiroshi Sato, the long-awaited release also features newly commissioned cover painting by Tokyo-based artist Hiroshi Nagai, whose iconic images of resort living have graced the covers of many classic City Pop albums of the 1980s.

Many of the key City Pop players evolved from the Japanese New Music scene of the early ’70s, as heard on Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Even a Tree Can Shed Tears: Japanese Folk & Rock 1969-1973, the first release of the ongoing Japan Archival Series. In fact, you could say City Pop set sail with a champagne smash from Happy End, the freakishly talented subversives who included amongst their ranks Haruomi Hosono and Shigeru Suzuki, both featured on this compilation. As Michael K. Bourdaghs noted in his book, Sayonara Amerika, Sayonara Nippon, this music was, “Deconstructing the line between imitation and authenticity.” Some of the best City Pop teeters in this zone—easy listening with mutant exotica, tilted techno-pop, and steamy boogie bubbling beneath the gloss.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: If like me, Ryan Horsebeach, Piccadilly supply teacher Michael and mailorder Sil, you've had your head turned by the sounds of Japan, you'll be giddy at the arrival of this LITA compiled collection of City Pop gems. Featuring a who's who of 80s Japan, and their best moments no less, this is sunkissed tropical synth pop with a heavy helping of Japanese soul. Sophisticated music from the future past, presented in typically lavish fashion from the mighty Light In The Attic.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Say Who - Tomoko Soryo
2. Kusuri Wo Takusan - Taeko Ohnuki
3. Midnight Driver - Minako Yoshida
4. Subterranean Futari Bocci - Nanako Sato
5. Sports Men - Haruomi Hosono
6. Coffee Rumba - Izumi Kobayashi
7. In My Jungle - F.O.E.
8. Sun Bathing - Akira Inoue, Hiroshi Sato, Masataka Matsutoya
9. Say Goodbye - Hiroshi Satoh
10. Drip Dry Eyes - Yukihiro Takahashi
11. Bamboo Vender - Masayoshi Takanaka
12. Lady Pink Panther - Shigeru Suzuki
13. Mykonos No Hanayome - Haruomi Hosono, Takahiko Ishikawa, Masataka Matsutoya
14. L.A. Night - Yasuko Agawa
15. Exotic Yokogao - Hitomi Tohyama
16. Machibouke - Tazumi Toyoshima

Light in the Attic Records, in cooperation with Laurie Anderson, proudly announces the inaugural title in their ongoing Lou Reed Archive Series: Words & Music, May 1965.

“To hear a tape containing their earliest demos, recorded on May 11, 1965, and locked away until now, is to hear traces of things rarely associated with The Velvet Underground: blues and folk, earthy and traditional, uncertain and hesitant… yet bristling with that rusty, caustic, Lou Reed spirit. It is a revelation.” – Will Hodgkinson, MOJO'.

Released in tandem with the late artist’s 80th birthday celebrations, the album offers an extraordinary, unvarnished, and plainly poignant insight into one of America’s true poet-songwriters. Capturing Reed in his formative years, this previously unreleased collection of songs—penned by a young Lou Reed, recorded to tape with the help of future bandmate John Cale, and mailed to himself as a “poor man’s copyright”—remained sealed in its original envelope and unopened for nearly 50 years. Its contents embody some of the most vital, groundbreaking contributions to American popular music committed to tape in the 20th century. Through examination of these songs rooted firmly in the folk tradition, we see clearly Lou’s lasting influence on the development of modern American music – from punk to art-rock and everything in between. A true time capsule, these recordings not only memorialize the nascent sparks of what would become the seeds of the incredibly influential Velvet Underground; they also cement Reed as a true observer with an innate talent for synthesizing and distilling the world around him into pure sonic poetry.

Featuring contributions from Reed’s future bandmate, John Cale, Words & Music, May 1965 presents in their entirety the earliest-known recordings of such historic songs as “Heroin,” “I’m Waiting for the Man,” and “Pale Blue Eyes”—all of which Reed would eventually record and make indelibly influential with the Velvet Underground. Also included are several more previously-unreleased compositions that offer additional insight into Reed’s creative process and early influences. Produced by Laurie Anderson, Don Fleming, Jason Stern, Hal Willner, and Matt Sullivan, the album features newly-remastered audio from the original tape by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer, John Baldwin. Rounding out the package are new liner notes from acclaimed journalist and author, Greil Marcus, plus in-depth archival notes from Don Fleming and Jason Stern, who oversee the Lou Reed Archive, while the release has been designed by multi-GRAMMY®-winning artist Masaki Koike.

● All tracks previously unreleased.
● Produced in partnership with Laurie Anderson and the Lou Reed Archive.
● Inaugural release in Light in the Attic’s Lou Reed Archive Series.
● Features the earliest-known recordings of “I’m Waiting for the Man,” “Pale Blue Eyes" and “Heroin" as made famous by The Velvet Underground.
● Includes seven unheard Lou Reed compositions.
● Remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin.
● Package designed by multi-GRAMMY®-winning artist Masaki Koike.
● Vinyl pressed at RTI.
● LP available on Standard Black Wax plus a Special Limited Color Edition.
● LP & CD include booklets featuring lyrics, archival photos, and liner notes by Greil Marcus, Don Fleming and Jason Stern (LP: 20-pgs, CD: 60-pgs)
● CD & Cassette include six unheard tracks recorded between 1958 and 1964, including early demos, a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” and a doo-wop serenade recorded in ‘58 when the legendary singer-songwriter was just sixteen-years-old

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: This is an amazing find and incredible document of one of the greatest song writers of the 20th century. Lou Reed's widow Laurie Anderson feels these home recordings need to be preserved and though Lou had just hooked up with John Cale there is none of their arty explosive, scuzz and sleaze here; these are just pure songs, surprisingly in the folk idiom (though this is 1965 and it's just an acoustic guitar so it clearly makes sense), simply laid down as works in progress. If you're a Lou Reed fan, (and who isn't?), this is a must!

TRACK LISTING

I'm Waiting For The Man - May 1965 Demo
Men Of Good Fortune - May 1965 Demo
Heroin - May 1965 Demo
Too Late - May 1965 Demo
Buttercup Song - May 1965 Demo
Walk Alone - May 1965 Demo
Buzz Buzz Buzz - May 1965 Demo
Pale Blue Eyes - May 1965 Demo
Stockpile - May 1965 Demo
Wrap Your Troubles In Dreams - May 1965 Demo
I'm Waiting For The Man - May 1965 Alternate Version (CD/Cassette Only)
Gee Whiz - 1958 Rehearsal (CD/Cassette Only)
Baby, Let Me Follow You Down - 1963/64 Home Recording (CD/Cassette Only)
Michael, Row The Boat Ashore - 1963/64 Home Recording (CD/Cassette Only)
Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Partial) - 1963/64 Home Recording (CD/Cassette Only)
W & X, Y, Z Blues - 1963/64 Home Recording (CD/Cassette Only)
Lou's 12-Bar Instrumental - 1963/64 Home Recording (CD/Cassette Only)

Earl McGrath was the ultimate ’70s jet setter, an art collector and comic bon vivant who stumbled into the record business between legendary parties in New York and LA and discovered Daryl Hall and John Oates and then Jim Carroll. Atlantic founder Ahmet Ertegun gave Earl his own label, Clean Records, in 1970; Mick Jagger hired him to run Rolling Stones Records in 1977.

Friend to Joan Didion, Andy Warhol, and a galaxy of luminaries, Earl was an inveterate tastemaker. Actor Harrison Ford, who before Star Wars fame was Earl’s handyman and pot dealer, called him “the last of a breed, one of the last great gentlemen and bohemians.”

After Earl died in 2016, journalist Joe Hagan, author of the critically-acclaimed Sticky Fingers, the biography of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner, discovered a trove of rare and unheard tapes in Earl’s apartment in New York—literally inside his closet. “I asked for a step ladder and the first box I pulled off the shelf was a master tape of Some Girls, the Stones album,” says Hagan.

Now Light in the Attic Records proudly presents Earl’s Closet, a double album of the treasures discovered inside, including unheard music by Daryl Hall and John Oates, David Johansen, Terry Allen, Delbert McClinton, Warhol “Superstar” Ultra Violet, Detroit sax legend Norma Jean Bell, Jim Carroll and an eclectic cast of undiscovered artists who once vied for fame and glory—folk, rock, country, funk and R&B gems that virtually no one has heard in decades. Whether it’s the almost-famous power pop of Shadow from Detroit, or the Delfonics-style soul of the Blood Brothers Six, Earl’s Closet retraces the dreams of artists who once sent demos to Earl McGrath. Longtime Light in the Attic-affiliated reissue producer Pat Thomas assisted Hagan in tracking down the artists and finalizing the paperwork.

At once an archival mixtape, a secret history and a journey into the heart of an era, Earl’s Closet features a deep booklet of documents, images and ephemera from Earl’s archive, expansive liner notes by Joe Hagan, who tracked down and interviewed the artists, and astonishing photographs by Earl’s late wife, the Italian countess Camilla Pecci-Blunt McGrath.

TRACK LISTING

Two More Bottles Of Wine – Delbert & Glen
Baby Come Closer – Daryl Hall And John Oates
Gonna California – Terry Allen
Only Yourself To Lose - Kazoo Singers
Christopher – Michael Mccarty
Dixie Darling – Jim Hurt
California – Mark Rodney
Killer - Country (fondiler & Snow)
Dry In The Sun – Daryl Hall And John Oates
Oh La La - Shadow
Cocaine Cowboy – Terry Allen
How Do You Do (children Of The Most High) – Ultra Violet
Invisible Lady – Johnny Angel (johnny Angelino)
I See My Days Go By - Shadow
Where Have All The Flowers Gone? – Blood Brothers Six
Salt Showers – Len And Betsy Greene
Holy Commotion – Paul Potash
Sail Away - Jabor
Funky But Chic – David Johansen
Just Look-ah What You'll Be Missing – Norma Jean Bell
Tension – The Jim Carroll Band
Waiting For Me – Little Whisper And The Rumors

● Definitive edition of Karen Dalton’s 1971 Masterpiece. Non-Returnable.
● Two 180-gram, 45 RPM LPs cut from new 2021 transfers and pressed at RTI, featuring bonus tracks from the original album sessions
● 12” 180-gram, 45 RPM EP: Live at The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival (May 1971), newly remastered (2021) and previously unreleased in any format. B-side includes a beautiful etching of Karen, illustrated by renowned artist Jess Rotter.
● Previously unreleased 7” single: Live at Beat Club, Germany (April 1971)
● Repro of 1971 French edition 7” single: Something On Your Mind b/w One Night Of Love
● Both 7” singles pressed at Third Man Pressing and housed in old-style tip-on jackets
● 20-page booklet featuring unseen photos and liner notes by Lenny Kaye, plus contributions from Nick Cave and Devendra Banhart
● Replica Playbill for Montreux performance
● CD of all tracks
● Housed in a special, expanded trifold jacket
● Limited to 2,000 sequentially foil numbered copies worldwide
● Includes a 18”x24” fold-out movie poster of the acclaimed documentary film Karen Dalton: In My Own Time, illustrated by artist Matt McCormick

Karen Dalton’s 1971 album, In My Own Time, stands as a true masterpiece by one of music’s most mysterious, enigmatic, and enduringly influential artists. Light in the Attic is honored to celebrate the 50th anniversary of In My Own Time with the definitive edition of this monumental classic.
Featuring Dalton’s interpretations of songs like “Are You Leaving for the Country,” “When a Man Loves a Woman,” “Katie Cruel,” and her posthumously recognized signature performance, “Something On Your Mind,” will be available in a variety of formats, including a bonus-filled, 50th anniversary Super Deluxe Edition, which expands exponentially upon Light in the Attic’s 2006 reissue of the album, co-produced by Nicholas Hill.

The 50th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Edition features the newly remastered (2021) In My Own Time album, presented on three sides of 45-RPM, 180-gram vinyl pressed at Record Technology Inc. (RTI), with the fourth side showcasing alternate takes from the album sessions. The Super Deluxe package also includes the previously unreleased audio from her rare, captivating performance, Live at The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1st, 1971. This is the first time this audio has been made available in any physical format — presented on 180-gram 12-inch vinyl, pressed at Third Man Record Pressing, and featuring a stunning etching of Dalton by acclaimed artist Jess Rotter on the B-Side. Accompanying the bonus record is a replica playbill from The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, 1971, meticulously arranged and compiled from vintage source material by Darryl Norsen. In addition to the bonus 12”, the set contains a CD of all tracks included in the package and two 7-inch singles, featuring previously-unreleased live recordings captured at Germany’s Beat Club in 1971, both pressed at Third Man Record Pressing and housed in tip-on jackets. All audio has been newly remastered by Dave Cooley, while lacquers were cut by Phil Rodriguez at Elysian Masters. A 20-page booklet—featuring rarely seen photos, liner notes from musician and writer Lenny Kaye, and contributions from Nick Cave and Devendra Banhart—rounds out the package, which comes housed in a special trifold jacket, individually foil-stamped and numbered in a strictly limited worldwide edition of 2,000 copies.

The 50th Anniversary Super-Deluxe Edition also includes an 18”x24” fold-out movie poster of the acclaimed documentary film Karen Dalton: In My Own Time, illustrated by artist Matt McCormick. Directed by Robert Yapkowitz and Richard Peete and executive produced by Light in the Attic, Wim Wenders and Delmore Recording Society, the film chronicles the life, music, and legacy of Dalton and features interviews with family, friends, collaborators, and a variety of artists, including Peter Walker, Nick Cave, and country singer Lacy J. Dalton. Angel Olsen lends her voice to the film as the principle narrator, reading aloud from Dalton’s personal journal.

The Oklahoma-raised Karen Dalton (1937-1993) brought a range of influences to her work. As Lenny Kaye writes in the liner notes, one can hear “the jazz of Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday, the immersion of Nina Simone, the Appalachian keen of Jean Ritchie, [and] the R&B and country that had to seep in as she made her way to New York."

Armed with a long-necked banjo and a 12-stringed guitar, Dalton set herself apart from her peers with her distinctive, world-weary vocals. In the early ‘60s, she became a fixture in the Greenwich Village folk scene, interpreting traditional material, blues standards, and the songs of her contemporaries, including Tim Hardin, Fred Neil, and Richard Tucker, whom she later married. Bob Dylan, meanwhile, was instantly taken with her artistry. “My favorite singer in the place was Karen Dalton,” he recalled in Chronicles: Volume One (Simon & Schuster, 2004). “Karen had a voice like Billie Holiday and played the guitar like Jimmy Reed.”

Those who knew Dalton understood that she was not interested in bowing to the whims of the record industry. On stage, she rarely interacted with audience members. In the studio, she was equally as uncomfortable with the recording process. Her 1969 debut, It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best, reissued by Light in the Attic in 2009, was captured on the sly when Dalton assumed that she was rehearsing songs. When Woodstock co-promoter Michael Lang approached Dalton about recording a follow-up for his new imprint, Just Sunshine, she was dubious, to say the least. The album would have to be made on her own terms, in her own time. That turned out to be a six-month period at Bearsville Studios in Woodstock, NY.

Producing the album was bassist Harvey Brooks, who played alongside Dalton on It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going To Love You The Best. Brooks, who prided himself on being “simple, solid and supportive,” understood Dalton’s process, but was also willing to offer gentle encouragement, and challenge the artist to push her creative bounds. “I tried to present her with a flexible situation,” he told Kaye. “I left the decisions to her, to determine the tempo, feel. She was very quiet, and I brought all of it to her; if she needed more, I’d present options. Everyone was sensitive to her. She was the leader.”

Dalton, who rarely performed her own compositions, selected a range of material to interpret—from traditionals like “Katie Cruel” and “Same Old Man” to Paul Butterfield’s “In My Own Dream” and Richard Tucker’s “Are You Leaving For The Country.” She also expanded upon her typical repertoire, peppering in such R&B hits as “When a Man Loves a Woman” and “How Sweet It Is.” In a departure from her previous LP, Dalton’s new recording offered fuller, more pop-forward arrangements, featuring a slew of talented studio musicians.

While ‘70s audiences may not have been ready for Dalton’s music, a new generation was about to discover her work. In the decades following her death, a slew of artists would name Karen Dalton as an influence, including Lucinda Williams, Joanna Newsom, Nick Cave, Angel Olsen, Devendra Banhart, Sharon Van Etten, Courtney Barnett, and Adele. In the recent acclaimed film documentary Karen Dalton: In My Own Time, Cave muses on Dalton’s unique appeal: “There’s a sort of demand made upon the listener,” he explains. “Whether you like it or not, you have to enter her world. And it’s a despairing world.” Peter Walker, who also appears in the film, elaborates on this idea: “If she can feel a certain way in her music and play it in such a way that you feel that way, then that’s really the most magical thing [one] can do.” He adds, “She had a deep and profound and loving soul…you can hear it in her music.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Something On Your Mind
2. When A Man Loves A Woman
3. In My Own Dream
4. Katie Cruel
5. How Sweet It Is
6. In A Station
7. Take Me
8. Same Old Man
9. One Night Of Love
10. Are You Leaving For The Country
11. Something On Your Mind (alternate Take)
12. In My Own Dream (alternate Take)
13. Katie Cruel (alternate Take)
14. One Night Of Love - Live At Beat Club, Germany, April 21, 1971
15. Take Me - Live At Beat Club, Germany, April 21, 1971
16. Something On Your Mind - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971
17. Blues On The Ceiling - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971
18. Are You Leaving For The Country - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971
19. One Night Of Love - Live At The Montreux Golden Rose Pop Festival, May 1, 1971

Recorded at Cosimo Matassa’s Jazz City Studio in New Orleans in the early ‘70s and then lost to the ages, "Another Side" is one of Leo Nocentelli’s most personal and definitive moments ever cut to tape. A mixture of funky folk and rootsy, raw emotion (think Bill Withers and James Taylor meeting Allen Toussaint at Link Wray’s Three Track Shack), this previously unheard album shines like the sun on a spring day on the New Orleans fairgrounds. Backing Nocentelli is an all-star line-up of New Orleans royalty, including Allen Toussaint (piano), James Black (drums), and both George Porter Jr. (bass) and Zigaboo Modeliste (drums) of The Meters. Deeply introspective, the album features nine original songs by Nocentelli, plus a soulful rendition of Elton John’s “Your Song.” Half a century later, these recordings sound just as fresh and engaging as the day they were recorded.

What makes Another Side even more extraordinary, however, is the fact that the album—which could have easily become a classic in the ‘70s singer-songwriter canon—sat untouched for decades; miraculously surviving the devastating blow of Hurricane Katrina, only to be found 2,000 miles away at a Southern California swap meet in 2018 by record collector Mike Nishita.
The album’s incredible journey is documented in the liner notes by Sam Sweet (New York Times, Los Angeles Times), who spoke with Nocentelli and Nishita about the recording process and re-discovery of the tapes. Sweet’s full notes appear in the release’s accompanying booklet alongside hand-written lyrics by Leo Nocentelli. The first pressing of the vinyl edition will feature gold-foil treatment on cover and spine. Rounding out the package are original designs and layout by the multi GRAMMY®–winning designer Masaki Koike.

While Nocentelli was embedded in New Orleans’ R&B scene, he was also deeply inspired by the late 1960’s and early 1970’s rising singer-songwriters, and soon found himself exploring sounds that were miles away from his band’s hard-edged funk riffs. Whenever he had downtime from session work and shows, Nocentelli spent much of 1971 recording his newly-found, reflective, diaristic songs at Matassa’s Jazz City studio. Backed by longtime Meters bandmate George Porter Jr. on bass, Nocentelli crafted the lineups for his sessions to match the tone of the material. When he needed a pianist, he’d call Toussaint. For percussion on the slower songs, he used drummer Zigaboo Modeliste, but many of the tracks featured James Black—a frequent collaborator of Toussaint’s and a member of Ellis Marsalis’ jazz group, whom Nocentelli recalls as an “unbelievable” musician.

The recording, which Nocentelli fondly refers to as his “country-and-western-album,” paints a picture of a young man yearning to find a sense of purpose. “I was going through some changes which were reflected in the songs that I wrote during that time,” he tells Sweet. Among them is the mid-tempo “Getting Nowhere,” in which he expresses a sense of frustration, as he watches others find success around him. Similarly, “Till I Get There” details a man who is struggling to persevere in his goals. In the soaring “Tell Me Why,” meanwhile, the singer contemplates the existence of God.

Other songs center around fictional characters. “Pretty Mittie,” for instance, is sung from the perspective of a farmer who longs to give up his arduous life for the city. “You’ve Become a Habit” is about a man who falls for a sex worker named Fancy. “Riverfront” is based on stories that singer Aaron Neville shared, about his days working on the New Orleans waterfront. Nocentelli also chose to perform one cover: Elton John’s breakthrough hit, “Your Song.” The guitarist made the recently-released ballad his own—infusing it with a loping, head-nodding cadence, ever so tastefully “funkdafied” in true New Orleans fashion.

By the time that the album was finished, The Meters were busier than ever. They had just signed a record deal with Warner Brothers and were now the official house band at Toussaint’s studio, Sea-Saint. There, they not only backed artists on Toussaint’s Sehorn label but had also become the go-to session musicians for every major artist that recorded in New Orleans. Rather than focus on a solo career, Nocentelli poured his energies into The Meters’ next album. Eventually, time moved on, as did Nocentelli, and he decided to store his unreleased solo album at Sea-Saint for safekeeping.
In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Sea-Saint was among its victims. While Toussaint (who passed away in 2015) had sold the hallowed studio in the mid-90s, hundreds of his archived recordings remained in the building. The new owner salvaged what he could from the flooded building, shipping everything to a storage facility in Southern California. Boxes of tapes sat there for more than a decade before moving to another unit, which foreclosed a year later. The contents were purchased in a blind auction and, days later, sold at a swap meet. The fact that record collector Mike Nishita just happened to be there was pure kismet.

Nishita, a DJ and brother to “Money Mark” Nishita (of Beastie Boys fame), recognized the Sea-Saint label on the boxes and purchased all 673 master tapes at the swap meet. He inspected the contents with his friend Mario Caldato Jr., the longtime audio engineer for the Beastie Boys. In addition to masters from Irma Thomas, Dr. John, Lee Dorsey, and Toussaint, there was a quarter-inch reel with Nocentelli’s name on it. As Caldato and Nishita played it back, they knew they had something special.

“There was nothing else like it,” writes Sweet. “An acoustic album by the greatest funk guitarist who ever lived. It was the tape Mike would play for people to show them how special the collection was. The best album in the vault was something nobody knew existed.”

Eventually, Nishita and Nocentelli connected, “He was so grateful, so sincere,” recalls Nishita. “I just kept thinking about how this music needs to be heard…Especially when you look at all the things that had to fall into place for these tapes to survive and be discovered this way.” As Nocentelli simply puts it, “Things happen for a reason, man.”

TRACK LISTING

Thinking Of The Day
Riverfront
I Want To Cry
Pretty Mittie
Give Me Back My Loving
Getting Nowhere
Till I Get There
You've Become A Habit
Tell Me Why
Your Song

Somewhere Between: Mutant Pop, Electronic Minimalism & Shadow Sounds of Japan 1980–1988 hovers vibe–wise between two distinct poles within Light In The Attic’s acclaimed Japan Archival Series—Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980–1990 and Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976–1986. All three albums showcase recordings produced during Japan’s soaring bubble economy of the 1980s, an era in which aesthetic visions and consumerism merged. Music echoed the nation’s prosperity and with financial abundance came the luxury to dream.

Sonically, Somewhere Between mines the midpoint between Kankyō Ongaku’s sparkling atmospherics and Pacific Breeze’s metropolitan boogie. The compilation encompasses ambient pop, underground electronics, liminal minimalism and shadow sounds—all descriptors emphasizing the hazy nature of the nebula. Out–of–focus rhythms wear ethereal accoutrements, ballads are shrouded in static, and angular drums snake skyward on transcendent tones. From the Avant–minimalism of Mkwaju Ensemble and Yoshio Ojima, to the leftfield techno-pop of Mishio Ogawa and Noriko Miyamoto (featuring members of YMO), and highlights from the groundbreaking Osaka underground label Vanity Records, these are blurry constellations defying collective categorization.

These tracks also exist in a space of transition when the major label grip on the Japanese recording market began to give way to the escalation of independents. Thanks to the idyllic economic climate and innovations in domestically–manufactured music gear, creators on the edges were empowered to focus on satisfying their artistic visions in the open headspace of home studios. While labels like Warner Music and Nippon Columbia explored new sounds through traditional channels, it was possible for Vanity, Balcony and other indie labels, not to mention self–released artists like Ojima and Naoki Asai, to publish their work via affordable media such as cassettes, 7" vinyl, and flexi–discs.

Expertly curated by Yosuke Kitazawa and Mark “Frosty” McNeill (dublab), Somewhere Between is a collection of music, much of it released for the first time outside Japan, that is bound more by energetic vibration than shared history, genre or scene. They are the sounds of transition and searching—a celebration of the freedom found in floating.

TRACK LISTING

Noriko Miyamoto - Arrows & Eyes
Mishio Ogawa - Hikari No Ito Kin No Ito
Yoshio Ojima - Days Man
Mkwaju Ensemble - Tira-Rin
R.N.A-ORGANISM - WEIMAR 22
Naoki Asai - Yakan Hikou
Takami Hasegawa - Koneko To Watashi
Mammy - Mizu No Naka No Himitsu
Dip In The Pool - Hasu No Enishi
Wha Ha Ha - Akatere
D-Day - Sweet Sultan
Perfect Mother - Dark Disco-Da·Da·Da·Da·Run
Neo Museum - Area
Sonoko - Wedding With God (À Nijinski)

The horse still bucks, the band still funks, and well…the fire still burns.

That’s right - Country Funk is back.

In the summer of 2012, a new sound blew in from the dusty desert. It was a sound difficult to pin down, to codify; a sound that, like some wild horse, resisted one’s grasp. But this was no trend, no flash-in-the-pan movement, no shotgun marriage of styles, no ma’am. This sound went back decades, back to the latter half of the 1960s and early 1970s when adventurous artists started to blend country hoedown harmony with the elation of gospel, the sexual thrust of the blues and a touch of inner-city grit. This was a new sound with a simple name: Country Funk.

Country Funk 1969-1975, first released in 2012 and co-produced by Zach Cowie, Patrick McCarthy and Matt Sullivan, brought together a disparate group of artists that were neither bound by geography nor a shared ideology, but connected through the simple feel of their songs. Country Funk is alternatively playful and melancholic, slow jammin’ and booty-shakin’. It’s a sound both studio slick and barroom raw, as evident in the artists featured on Volume I: Johnny Adams, Mac Davis, Dale Hawkins, Tony Joe White, Bobbie Gentry, Larry Jon Wilson, and many others. Just two years later, we chased Volume I with a new collection of songs for Country Funk 1967-1974 (LITA116, 2014). Volume II didn’t let up, dealing out all the loose-talking and lap-steel twangin’ one could handle. Heavy hitters like Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and J.J. Cale shared barstools with the lesser-known voices of Bill Wilson, Donnie Fritts and Thomas Jefferson Kaye.

With Country Funk Volume III1975-1982 (LITA194) we’re here to say there’s more funk left in the trunk yet. This time around, the jeans are tighter, the hair is bigger and the disco ball spins along to a country-synth beat. Produced and compiled by Jason Morgan (Bay Area DJ/collector) and Patrick McCarthy (co-producer/compiler of Volume I & II), the tracklist features regulars Dolly Parton, J.J. Cale, Larry Jon Wilson and Tony Joe White (whose track is released here for the first time) alongside new faces like Steven Soles, Gary & Sandy, Conway Twitty, Travis Wammack, Billy Swan, Rob Galbraith, Brian Hyland, and so many more. As the 1970s began to wane and the 1980s approached, the Country Funk pallet expanded to include disco beats, heavy Moog synth bass lines and more clavinet than you could shake a stick at. Volume III shows artists continuing to buck traditional country tropes and production while embracing modern soul, disco, and coked-up 80s synth-pop. This is the true soundtrack of the Urban Cowboy. Saddle up, partners.

TRACK LISTING

1. Steven Soles - Shake The Dust
2. J. J. Cale - Nobody But You
3. Conway Twitty - Night Fires
4. Eddie Rabbit - One And Only One
5. Jerry Reed - Rhythm And Blues
6. Dolly Parton - Sure Thing
7. Billy Swan - Oliver Swan
8. Rob Galbraith - I Got The Fever
9. Travis Wammack - Do Me
10. Larry Jon Wilson - I Betcha Heaven’s On A Dirt Road
11. Gary & Sandy - Gonna Let You Have It
12. Brian Hyland - Hale To The Man
13. Tony Joe White - Alone At Last
14. Ronnie Milsap - Get It Up
15. Delbert McClinton - Shot From The Saddle
16. Terri Gibbs - Rich Man
17. Dennis Linde - Down To The Station

Texan Roky Erickson was one of the true mind-blowing pioneers of psychedelic music. The original leader of the Austin-based 13th Floor Elevators formed in 1965, Erickson and band invented a brand new style of rock & roll, one that was slightly unhinged while it explored the consciousness-expanding influence of LSD on music. After three years, the group imploded with mental issues and legal challenges, ending with Erickson being incarcerated for several years in the Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Rusk, Texas. When he was released in the early ’70s the musician continued on his own trail, recording songs that had come to him in his far-flung cerebral wanderings. Erickson, who passed away May 31, 2019, is now celebrated on this 12-track tribute to one of the most original rockers ever.

The participants range the whole world of modern music, and each chose one of Erickson’s originals to stamp their own imprint on. They include Lucinda Williams, Billy F Gibbons, The Black Angels, Margo Price, Mosshart Sexton (Alison Mosshart & Charlie Sexton), Neko Case, Mark Lanegan & Lynn Castle, Jeff Tweedy, Gary Clark Jr & Eve Monsees, Ty Segall, Chelsea Wolfe, and Brogan Bentley. With the full support of the Roky Erickson estate, the album is produced by Bill Bentley, executive producer of the 1990 Roky Erickson tribute album Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye on Sire Records, with associate producers Matt Sullivan, co-founder/co-owner of Light in the Attic, and Wyatt Bentley.

The songs range from Erickson’s debut iconic original, “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” recorded when he was a member first in The Spades and then the 13th Floor Elevators during the early ‘60s in Austin, to some of Erickson’s later songs, like “If You Have Ghosts,” which heard him exploring some of the outer limits of the human psyche. Each new recording is a stunning modern take on the sound that Roky Erickson gave the world over a half-century of writing, recording and touring. No one has ever equaled those explorations.
This truly is the music of the spheres, as Erickson once sang about his sound, as seen through the eyes and ears of those who are united in their love and respect for a person who dedicated his life to rock & roll. Roky Erickson, through the trials and tribulations of a man both imbued with greatness and haunted by darkness, never quit in his quest to share with others what he heard and saw. As he sang on the 13th Floor Elevators last recording, “May the circle remain unbroken.”

TRACK LISTING

Billy F Gibbons - (I've Got) Levitation
Mosshart Sexton - Starry Eyes
Jeff Tweedy - For You (I'd Do Anything)
Lynn Castle & Mark Lanegan - Clear Night For Love
The Black Angels - Don't Fall Down
Neko Case - Be And Bring Me Home
Margo Price - Red Temple Prayer (Two-Headed Dog)
Gary Clark Jr. & Eve Monsees - Roller Coaster
Ty Segall - Night Of The Vampire
Lucinda Williams - You're Gonna Miss Me
Chelsea Wolfe - If You Have Ghosts
Brogan Bentley - May The Circle Remain Unbroken

“The definition of a hidden gem” – John Peel
“The world seems finally to be catching up to Leslie Winer, whose startling intelligence and singular vision shine through her copious recording life.” – Max Richter

“When I Hit You - You’ll Feel It” is a 16-track anthology that celebrates the extraordinary work of musician, poet, and author, Leslie Winer. Spanning Winer’s three-decade-long musical career: from her groundbreaking solo work in the early ‘90s to her latest inspired projects and featuring musical contributions from Jon Hassell, Helen Terry, Jah Wobble, Renegade Soundwave’s Karl Bonnie, and others; the collection also spotlights Winer’s diverse collaborations, and unearths previously-unreleased recordings.

Includes previously unreleased tracks, inspired collaborations, and material from Leslie’s groundbreaking 1990 solo debut, “Witch”.
Newly remastered by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin & includes a 24-page booklet featuring a new interview with Leslie and liner notes by acclaimed author, critic and compilation co-producer Wyndham Wallace, along with an essay by award-winning writer and scholar Louis Chude-Sokei.
Cover collage by renowned British artist Linder and design by designer Christopher Shannon.

Musician, poet, iconoclast, model, artist, enigma. Leslie Winer is many things.

Born to a teenage mother and sold for $10,000 in a black market adoption when she was just hours old, Winer has always lived an uncommon life. She grew up in Boston with a voracious appetite for music and the written word and embraced the city’s lively jazz and folk scene in the ‘70s. Moving to New York for art school, she gravitated towards a vibrant crowd of intellectuals, artists, and radical thinkers—or perhaps they gravitated towards her.
There, Winer formed an unlikely friendship with writer and artist William S. Burroughs and lived on-and-off with Jean-Michel Basquiat. In London, where Winer began her musical ventures in earnest, she was a regular at Leigh Bowery’s underground club Taboo, where she met many of her collaborators, including filmmaker John Maybury, Kevin Mooney (of Adam and the Ants), and Boy George, who once declared that Winer “might just be the coolest woman on the planet!”

Winer’s striking looks also attracted fashion designers and photographers. Throughout the early ‘80s, she was an in-demand model—appearing in campaigns for Valentino, Christian Dior, and Yohji Yamamoto, and serving as a muse for a young Jean-Paul Gaultier, who later dubbed Winer “the first androgynous model.” She posed for Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, and Pierre et Gilles, and graced the covers of The Face, French and Italian editions of Vogue, and Mademoiselle.

TRACK LISTING

1. When I Was Walt Whitman - Leslie Winer
2. N1 Ear - Leslie Winer
3. Tree - Leslie Winer
4. Personals - Jon Hassell And Bluescreen Featuring Leslie
5. Dream 1 - Leslie Winer
6. Dunderhead - Purity Supreme
7. The Boy Who Used 2 Whistle - Leslie Winer
8. Hold On Postcards - Leslie Winer
9. He Was - Leslie Winer
10. RoundUp Ready - Leslie Winer
11. Skin - Leslie Winer
12. Box - Leslie Winer
13. This Blank Action - Diamond Version Featuring Leslie Winer
14. Battle Porn - Leslie Winer
15. Woodshedded - Leslie Winer & Jay Glass Dubs
16. Fragment #2 - Leslie Winer & Mari G. Mooney

“The Black Angels bring the aura of mid-1966 the drilling guitars of early Velvet Underground shows, the raga inflections of late-show Fillmore jams, the acid-prayer stomp of Austin avatars the 13th Floor Elevators everywhere they go, including the levitations on their second album, Directions to See a Ghost. Mid-Eighties echoes of Spacemen 3 and the Jesus and Mary Chain also roll through the scoured-guitar sustain and Alex Maas’ rocker-monk incantations. But he knows what time it is. ’You say the Beatles stopped the war,” Maas sings in ‘Never/Ever.’ ‘They might’ve helped to find a cure/But it’s still not over.’ Even so, this medicine works wonders." – David Fricke, Rolling Stone

Last time we met The Black Angels, they were staring into the desert sun somewhere outside of Austin, Texas. Two years later, night has fallen and the spirits have come out. It’s time for The Black Angels to provide Directions On How To See A Ghost.

If you’re familiar with Passover, the band’s 2006 debut, you’ll know that The Black Angels’s music alone is enough to invoke spirits. There’s a name for the band’s sound; they call it ‘hypno-drone ’n roll’. It’s the sound of long nights on peyote, of dreams of a new world order, and of half-invented memories of the seamy side of ’60s psychedelia.

While the Iraq war is still a major influence on the band’s lyrics, there are new forces at work here, including Eugene Zamyatin’s dystopian novel We and in Christian Bland’s words “psychic information from the past and future.” See, The Black Angels really are in contact with ghosts.
“Civil War battlefields are prime spots for seeing ghosts,” says Bland. “One time at Kennesaw mountain in Georgia, I was climbing the mountain in the middle of June and it must have been close to 100 degrees, but in this one particular spot it was very cold. The hairs on my neck stood up and I knew something strange was happening. Then the wind whispered something like ‘retreat,’ and I did. I later learned that the spot where I was on the battlefield was known as ‘the dead angle’, the place where the fiercest fighting took place. The confederates ended up retreating from the mountain towards Peachtree Creek.”

The Black Angels formed in Austin, Texas, in 2004, comprising from six people (now five) from very different backgrounds. Singer/vocalist Christian Bland is the son of a Presbyterian Pastor and was raised in a devoutly religious household. Bassist / guitarist Nate Ryan was born on a cult compound and drummer Stephanie Bailey claims she’s a descendent of Davy Crocket. She and Alex Maas (vocals/guitar) believe a little girl in a red linen dress haunts the group’s home.

The band released Passover in 2006 to critical acclaim for both the album and the song “The First Vietnamese War”. Most of all, Passover established The Black Angels as a band with brains, balls and a strong message. And this time around, the message is there to read in a 16-page booklet that comes with the album.

“Our central theme is that people need to open up their minds and let everything come through, and to learn from past mistakes,” says Christian. “Only then will we understand the reality of this world and progress beyond where we are now as humans. We’ve built upon that theme with Directions to See a Ghost. We want people to study the booklet we are providing with the album in hopes that they will be able to relate each song to something in their life.”
_"War is Peace.

Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
Keep Music Evil."_

TRACK LISTING

You On The Run
Doves
Science Killer
Mission District
18 Years
Deer-ree-shee
Never/ever
Vikings
You In Color
The Return
Snake In The Grass

Light In The Attic Records is proud to present Nancy Sinatra: Start Walkin’ 1965-1976. The definitive new collection surveys Sinatra’s most prolific period over 1965-1976, including her revered collaborations with Lee Hazlewood, over 23 tracks.

Remastered from the original analog tapes by the GRAMMY®-nominated engineer John Baldwin, the collection is complemented by liner notes penned by Amanda Petrusich (author and music critic at The New Yorker), featuring insightful new interviews with Sinatra, as well as a Q&A with archivist and GRAMMY®-nominated reissue co-producer Hunter Lea. 

As the eldest daughter of Frank Sinatra, Nancy was born into the spotlight. At 19, she made her professional debut in front of millions of Americans, appearing alongside her father and Elvis Presley on the television special Welcome Home Elvis. Not long after, she released a series of singles. But those demure recordings didn’t reflect the real Nancy Sinatra – that Nancy would be re-introduced to the world just a few years later, thanks to an unlikely musical partnership with songwriter and producer Lee Hazlewood.

Nancy’s performance of Lee’s song “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” was a huge hit in 1966 and became her signature tune. The pair began a three year run of successful albums, duets and singles including “Sugar Town,” “Some Velvet Morning,” “Summer Wine,” “Sand,” “Jackson,” and the title track to the 1967 James Bond film “You Only Live Twice.”

Start Walkin’ explores Nancy’s recordings with Lee, her inspired collaborations with songwriter Mac Davis (“Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham”), producer Lenny Waronker (“Hook and Ladder”) and the “should’ve been hit” song with arranger/producer Billy Strange (“How Are Things In California.”)

Over the years, she has been cited as an influence by countless artists, including Sonic Youth, Morrissey, Calexico, U2, and Lana Del Rey. Her haunting song “Bang, Bang” gained a new legion of fans when it appeared in the opening credits of Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 film, Kill Bill Volume 1. Most recently, Sinatra’s contributions to the industry were further recognized by her peers, when “Boots” was inducted into the GRAMMY ® Hall of Fame. The honor, bestowed in January of 2020, recognizes “musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Bang Bang
2. These Boots Are Made For Walkin’
3. Sugar Town
4. So Long Babe
5. How Does That Grab You, Darlin’?
6. Friday’s Child
7. You Only Live Twice
8. Summer Wine
9. Some Velvet Morning
10. Lightning’s Girl
11. Sand
12. Lady Bird
13. Jackson
14. Happy
15. How Are Things In California
16. Hook And Ladder
17. Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham
18. Paris Summer
19. Arkansas Coal
20. Down From Dover
21. Kind Of A Woman
22. Machine Gun Kelly
23. (L’été Indien) Indian Summer

When The Shaggs’ Philosophy Of The World came out in 1969, some people couldn’t or wouldn’t understand it. But many musicians, including Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain, cited the Shaggs as a major influence. Heck, Zappa exclaimed they were “better than the Beatles!” NRBQ’s Terry Adams and Keith Spring were such fans, and after reissuing Philosophy in 1980 on their own Red Rooster label, Adams began work on a collection of recordings the Wiggin sisters had made in the years following their debut. The result was Shaggs’ Own Thing – a beguiling follow-up that reveals a more developed and mature sound while still retaining all of their homespun uniqueness.

“The songs were better and they were recorded better, so it naturally made a better album,” Dot Wiggin said shortly after the original release of Shaggs’ Own Thing in 1982. It’s a “natural, organic extension” of the utterly original sound that The Shaggs had created, intentionally or not, with Philosophy Of The World, as John DeAngelis writes in the new liner notes. While Dot Wiggins originals like “You’re Somethin’ Special To Me” and “My Cutie,” and covers of classic songs like “Yesterday Once More” reveal a maturity not displayed on the debut, the two versions of “Shaggs’ Own Thing” and the revisiting of “My Pal Foot Foot” show that The Shaggs lost none of their pure and honest charm over the years.

Remastered from the original tapes with liner notes by John DeAngelis, this reissue includes the bonus track “Love at First Sight,” first issued on the 1988 Red Rooster/Rounder Shaggs CD and appears on LP for the first time, plus three additional tracks on CD: “Sweet Maria” and “The Missouri Waltz,” first released by Light In The Attic as a limited-edition Record Store Day 45 in 2016, and the previously unreleased cover of the classic surf instrumental “Wipe Out.”

TRACK LISTING

You're Somethin' Special To Me
Wheels
Paper Roses
Shaggs' Own Thing (Musical Version)
Painful Memories
Gimme Dat Ding
My Cutie
Yesterday Once More
My Pal Foot Foot
I Love, Shaggs' Own Thing (Vocal Version)
Love At First Sight (Bonus Track)
Sweet Maria (Bonus Track)
Missouri Waltz (Missouri State Song) [Bonus Track]
Wipe Out (Bonus Track)

When Light In The Attic released Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976-1986 in 2019, it was the first collection of its kind to be released outside Japan. It proved to be just what music fans had been waiting for—a compilation of sought-after tracks that had been nearly impossible to obtain unless you were well-connected with dealers and collectors, or traveled regularly to the countless record stores in Japan. Pacific Breeze included Minako Yoshida, Taeko Ohnuki, Hiroshi Sato and Haruomi Hosono among other key players of ‘70s-’80s Japanese City Pop, the nebulous genre that encompassed an “amalgam of AOR, R&B, jazz fusion, funk, boogie and disco, all a touch dizzy with tropical euphoria,” as we described it the first time around.

With Pacific Breeze 2: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1972-1986 we dig deeper into those sounds of bubble-era Japan. From the proto-City Pop funk of Bread & Butter and Eiichi Ohtaki to the crate-digger favorites Eri Ohno and Piper, the latest entry in Light In The Attic’s Japan Archival Series brings another set of sought-after tunes, most of which have never before been available outside of Japan. Tomoko Aran and Anri, also included in this compilation, are just a few of the artists who have gained popularity in recent years thanks to Vaporwave, the meme-genre that heavily samples Japanese City Pop to create its particular aesthetic.

Pacific Breeze 2 once again feature the artwork of renowned Tokyo-based illustrator Hiroshi Nagai, whose iconic images of resort living have become synonymous with City Pop. Nagai’s urban tropical imagery is a perfect match for the expertly curated tunes, evoking a certain sense of nostalgia for the leisure lifestyles of ‘70s-’80s Tokyo, while simultaneously being perfectly in tune with the current zeitgeist.

STAFF COMMENTS

Ryan says: Light In The Attic return to the optimism and affluence of Japan’s City Pop era, digging a little deeper to find a wealth of sophisticated grooves largely unknown outside their homeland. Glistening with the sheen of a new technology, these tracks fused soul, funk and new wave influences into a pristine urban pop, perfectly suited to the heat and high rises of a modern Japan. Now you can savour the flavour of Eri Ohno or Yuji Toriyama while saving your air miles for a rainy day.

TRACK LISTING

1 Pink Shadow - Bread & Butter
2 Yubikiri - Eiichi Ohtaki
3 Vibration (Love Celebration) - Kimiko Kasai
4 Kindaichi Kosuke No Theme - The Mystery Kindaichi Band
5 Hidari Mune No Seiza - Tetsuji Hayashi BUY
6 Last Summer Whisper - Anri
7 Blind Curve - Momoko Kikuchi BUY
8 I'm In Love - Tomoko Aran
9 Kindaichi Kosuke Nishi E Iku - Yu Imai
10 Tokyo Taste - Sadistics
11 Hot Sand - Piper
12 Rainy Saturday Coffee Break - Junko Ohashi & Minoya Central Station
13 Skyfire - Eri Ohno
14 Kanpoo - Yumi Murata
15 Harumifutou - Kyoko Furuya
16 Bay/Sky Provincetown 1977 - Yuji Toriyama

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

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

Phoenix, Arizona 1955…a twenty-five year old disc jockey and fledgling songwriter, Lee Hazlewood, is trying to break into the music industry. He takes Greyhound bus trips to Los Angeles to pitch songs, only to be rejected each time. Undeterred, Lee starts a record label called Viv Records. Running the label out of his house, Lee finds the artists, writes the songs, produces the sessions, arranges the pressings of the records and handles distribution. Recently discovered tapes in the Viv Records archive yielded an unbelievable find, the earliest known recordings of Hazlewood singing his songs…Lee’s first demo! The mysterious and bountiful tapes featured Lee singing early unheard compositions and a complete first draft of his Trouble Is A Lonesome Town song cycle that would become his first official solo album in 1963.

Light in the Attic Records is proud to continue it’s Lee Hazlewood archival series with 400 Miles From L.A. 1955-56, a collection of previously unknown intimate recordings, never intended for release. Lee sings, plays guitar and even presses the record button on the tape machine. These are rural sketches and small town dreams, captured in an innocent time before the path ahead was clear.

These songs rewrite Lee’s recorded history, adding a new first chapter to his saga. For Hazlewood addicts, hearing these early tracks and the embryonic version of Trouble Is A Lonesome Town is akin to finding an early draft of the Old Testament.

“That’s beauty of Lee’s songwriting. It lives on. People will hear it for the first time, even though it’s fifty years old or whatever, if it’s good enough and strong enough, they’ll accept and like it as much as if it was just created. That’s the wonderful legacy that Lee has. It’s wonderful to look back and make all this early work available. To put “Boots” and all those other LHI songs into perspective. That it all started somewhere and this is where.” – Arizona Music Historian and record producer, John Dixon.

TRACK LISTING

Cross Country Bus
The Woman I Love
Five Thousand And One
Lonesome Day
A Lady Called Blues
Five More Miles To Folsom
Fort Worth
The Old Man And His Guitar
Peculiar Guy
Long Black Train
I Guess It’s Love
It’s An Actuality
Buying On Time
The Country Bus Tune
Long Black Train
Run Boy Run
Big Joe Slade
Son Of A Gun
Georgia Chain Gang
Look At That Woman
Peculiar Guy
The Railroad Song
Six Feet Of Chain
Trouble Is A Lonesome Town

"Cochin Moon" (コチンの月 Kochin no Tsuki) is Haruomi Hosono's fifth solo album. Initially intended as a collaboration with illustrator Tadanori Yokoo, who traveled to India alongside Hosono (as part of a group) for inspiration; Yokoo ended up only drawing the cover, having been the worst victim of an outburst of severe diarrhea amongst the group during the trip, rendering this as a Hosono solo album. Cochin Moon was conceptually written as the soundtrack of a non-existent Bollywood film, a trait inspired by the artists' trip. The album includes performances by Tin Pan Alley keyboardist Hiroshi Satō and Yellow Magic Orchestra members Ryuichi Sakamoto & Hideki Matsutake. Despite being Hosono's first completely electronic solo album (at the time YMO's debut was still being recorded, making this Hosono's first electronic album to be released), the exotica feel of Hosono's previous solo work is still present. The first half of the album (named after an Indian hotel that the group was in for the trip, a picture of the hotel's front appears in the back of the album's packaging) consists of three thematically themed songs, the second half of the album (and Hosono's keyboard performance) is credited to "Shuka Nishihara" (西原朱夏), a pseudonym Hosono created as a play on Hakushū Kitahara's pseudonym.

TRACK LISTING

1. "Ground Floor···Triangle Circuit On The Sea-Forest" 
2. "Upper Floor···Moving Triangle" 
3. "Roof Garden···Revel Attack" 
4. "Hepatitis" 
5. "Hum Ghar Sajan" 
6. "Madam Consul General Of Madras" 

The unbelievably prolific Haruomi Hosono is one of the major architects of modern Japanese pop music. With his encyclopedic knowledge of music and boundless curiosity for new sounds, Hosono is the auteur of his own idiosyncratic musical world, putting his unmistakable stamp on hundreds of recordings as an artist, session player, songwriter and producer.

Hosono House is debut solo album by Japanese musician Hosono, released on May 25, 1973. Besides Hosono, this album also features performances by the group "Caramel Mama" (featuring Hosono's fellow Happy End member Shigeru Suzuki). Hosono wanted to emulate The Band's Music from Big Pink and James Taylor's One Man Dog. With this album, recording equipment technology had evolved enough for domestic recordings of good quality to be feasible, and going to the center of the city to reach a recording studio was somewhat inconvenient. The album was recorded for five hours every afternoon in a 144 square foot large bedroom in Hosono's residence in Sayama, Japan (with a 16-track mixing console in his living room). The instruments were recorded unprocessed from the amplifiers in a small room, leading to the album's unique sound. Hosono continued to develop the tropical style of Hosono House in his following works, Tropical Dandy and Bon Voyage co..

TRACK LISTING

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Though most of the world may not know the songs of Lynn Castle, she is an artist whose work stretches across seven decades. Light In The Attic Records is very excited to continue its Lee Hazlewood Archive Series with Rose Colored Corner, a collection of intimate recordings Lynn Castle made with Jack Nitzsche in 1966 and her complete recorded output with Lee Hazlewood on LHI Records. For the first time ever Lynn is sharing recordings from her personal archive and telling her story.

In the 1960s Lynn became the first lady barber in LA just as long hair on men became hip. By day she was styling The Monkees, Boyce and Hart, Del Shannon, Sonny & Cher, the Byrds and countless others…by night she was writing songs. Despite lacking the desire to self promote and a crippling insecurity that made it hard to sing in front of anyone, her songs managed to bend the ears of such industry heavyweights as Phil Spector, Jack Nitzsche and Lee Hazlewood. “It was so hard to get me to sing,” explained Castle. “I had buried it so low, I didn’t think I was good at all. Lee heard my songs and thought I was fabulous. He said, ‘Oh my god, you’re really good! Let’s cut a record.’

Her sole 1967 45 “The Lady Barber" b/w "Rose Colored Corner,” released on Lee Hazlewood Industries is a slice of psychedelic pop heaven. A full length album was never completed, but her sparse demos with Jack Nitzsche give the listener a peek of what one might have sounded like. If you are familiar with Nitzsche’s mid-60s work with Tim Buckley, Bob Lind, and Buffalo Springfield…you can squint your ears and imagine her songs bejeweled with lush strings, finger cymbals, and delicate harpsichord. Instead, the songs remained unheard until now.

Just because her songs weren’t recognized at the time doesn’t diminish their magic. This music is meant to be found and heard. Though commercial success may remain elusive, sometimes strange premonitions are realized… “When I was young, making music in the ‘60s, I had this strange thought that one day I would be this old woman, and young people would come find me and tell me that my music meant something to them.” - Lynn Castle

TRACK LISTING

1. The Forest
2. I’m Getting Tired
3. New York
4. What In The World Would I Do
5. She Thinks She Feels
6. Rose Colored Corner
7. Lonesome Look-Out
8. The Stranger
9. The Puppet
10. Who Knows
11. The Lady Barber With Last Friday’s Fire
12. Rose Colored Corner With Last Friday’s Fire

* Remastered from the original tapes
* Essay by “Punk Professor” Vivien Goldman, interviewing key players
* LP Includes download card for full album + 6 bonus tracks
* CD includes full album plus 6 bonus tracks

By the time bohemian singer/poet/artist Lizzy Mercier Descloux recorded her fifth album, 1988's 'Suspense', she'd enjoyed a recording career that was as far from the clichés of music lore as is possible, flitting between genres, continents and collaborators, enjoying great success and equally great failure and even stealing the final breaths of master trumpeter Chet Baker for 1986's One For The Soul. When she came to make 'Suspense' she was, for the first time, working without her longtime muse, partner and manager Michel Esteban, with whom she'd first moved from their native France to New York, where it all began.

The pressure was on to repeat the success of “Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles”, a smash hit in France, and Descloux's label were keen to make a conventional artist of her, pairing her with John Brand, an in-vogue producer with a style geared to a big, shiny 1980s chart sound - an approach Lizzy had never experienced before, nor intended to.

In Vivien Goldman's new liner notes, Esteban notes that Suspense sounds "less Lizzy than the other records, less open," but in splitting herself into two – English and Francophone – the album has two personalities too; oddly, it shines a light on the real Descloux that her cultural experiments never did.

Though the initial aim was to make a folky, acoustic album, the pop sound suited the singer, and “A Room In New York” is as fine and sparky as AOR gets. But when early single “Gueule D’Amour/Cry of Love” stiffed, EMI lost confidence and buried the LP. Bound by her contract to the label, Descloux moved away from music and focused on painting. She eventually settled in Corsica, the French island, where she died, aged 48, of cancer. Descloux's musical career ended, therefore, with the aptly titled Suspense. It was only a matter of time before this furiously creative artist's work was re-evaluated, and with these deluxe reissues, that time is now.

TRACK LISTING

01 Gueule D’amour
02 Cape Desire
03 Salomé
04 Vroom, C’est La Voie Lacée
05 The Long Goodbye
06 2 Femmes À La Mer
07 L’heure Bleue
08 Once Upon A Time Out
09 Echec Et Mat
10 A Room In New York
11 Gypsy Flame (English Version) (Bonus Track)*
12 Lucky Strike Drive (English Version) (Bonus Track)*
13 Playtime 4:13 (English Version) (Bonus Track)*
14 Hurricane 4:26 (English Version) (Bonus Track)*
15 Calypso Moguls (7” Version) (Bonus Track)*
16 Calypso Moguls (Tender Dub) (Bonus Track)*
* Bonus Tracks Available On CD And LP Download Card

The mid-to-late '60s were strange days for Lee Hazlewood. Having struck gold as songwriter and vocal foil for Nancy Sinatra, he signed up to MGM as an artist in his own right, and between 1966 and 1968, produced three ambitious solo albums that were eclectic, idiosyncratic, and most of all, unpredictable.

It was a happy time for Lee; his music was hot on the charts, he was fully immersed in his collaboration with his muse, Suzi Jane Hokom.

The second of his MGM trilogy - 1967's peculiarly named Lee Hazlewoodism: Its Cause And Cure - took on countrified French ye-ye (“The Girls In Paris”), a tale of a young bullfighter built on Spanish guitar and choral cowboys (“Jose”), a string-drenched song about the passing of time (“The Old Man And His Guitar”), and a western epic about a Native American tribe (“The Nights”). And that was just the first four tracks. Elsewhere, the honky tonk madness of “Suzi Jane Is Back In Town,” the Byrds-like jangle of “In Our Time” and–in the bonus tracks–an instrumental named “Batman” confirm this to be one of Hazlewood's most far-ranging, far-out LPs ever.

It’s the result of two main factors: ambition–to top Phil Spector, primarily–and cash, which paid for orchestras, plush studios, and the inestimable talents of arranger Billy Strange. “I think the big sound of those records came out of the Spector thing,” says Hokom, in the new liner notes. “If you can have a big sound and you have money to burn… it was a flamboyancy.”

Released before the Nancy & Lee LP–a bona fide hit for Reprise Records–Hazlewoodism was a tougher nut to crack, a record that confused by combining po-faced delivery with unabashed comical touches. By 1967, Hazlewood had founded the LHI imprint, and was busy building his own empire–one we've been lovingly archiving for the past few years. We now present this missing link in the story, plus predecessor, The Very Special World Of Lee Hazlewood and follow-up, Something Special. Welcome to Hazlewood's magnificent–and mad–MGM years.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Girls In Paris
2. Jose
3. The Old Man And His Guitar
4. The Nights
5. I Am A Part
6. Home (I'm Home)
7. After Six
8. Suzi Jane Is Back In Town
9. In Our Time
10. Dark In My Heart
11. Lee Hazlewood's Woodchucks Frenesi*
12. Lee Hazlewood's Woodchucks Muchacho*
13. Lee Hazlewood's Woodchucks Batman*
* Bonus Track

The pantheon of performers known by but one name is full of superstars. Arthur - the nom de plume of singer-songwriter Arthur Lee Harper - is not one of them, but this gentle singer-songwriter and his wan, string-drenched, loved-up, psych-folk was probably never likely to be suitable for mass consumption.

Released on Lee Hazlewood's LHI label, the haunted Dreams And Images is the first of two albums from the Melbourne, Florida-born singer-songwriter. LHI was a broad church, taking in everything from soul to country, and Arthur found a home, a producer, and a champion in Hazlewood, who described him as "A man who will someday be a child again… A reason to cry and be unafraid… A bird with eighth-notes for wings."

Though his lonely, intimate music, shy demeanor, and stutter might not have suggested a man of great ambition, Arthur moved to Hollywood chasing the music industry dream. He suffered hardships to do so, living hand-to-mouth in a YMCA hostel with two like-minded individuals: Mark Lindsey Buckingham and Stephen John Kalinich, whose A World Of Peace Must Come has been reissued by Light In The Attic. "Arthur was a peace person. He was all about peace, love, and harmony," remembers Kalinich in the brand new, extensive liner notes for Dreams And Images. "He was a person that believed you could change the world. We thought we would be some of the ones to usher in peace."

While Kalinich and Buckingham were signed by the Beach Boys' Brother Records, Arthur allied with Hazlewood, having knocked on the door of the label's Sunset Boulevard HQ and auditioned on the spot. Entering the studio with Hazlewood, Donnie Owens, Tom Thacker, and arranger Don Randi, who brought baroque pop grandeur to the songs, Arthur let his music do the talking. "He stuttered and had a hard time getting his ideas out, so he would sing me the parts he had in mind,” remembers Randi.

A mixture of things conspired to make sure few people heard Arthur, including a packed release schedule at LHI, followed by the withdrawal of their major label funding and a lack of foundation on which to market the album. After the 1970 follow-up album, Love Is The Revolution, Arthur bowed out of the business, immersing himself in Christianity, family, and a career working first as a rocket engineer and, latterly, a teacher. "I never stopped writing or recording," he later said. "I recorded in studios, friends’ houses, and live. I just recorded music with my friends or by myself when I felt inspired. For me, singing and songwriting is like breathing; I just do it."

On January 10th, 2002, Arthur’s wife Lora died in a car crash. He tragically passed away of a heart attack the same night. Now, with this reissue of his great, lost album, Arthur's fragile heart can finally be enjoyed by all.

* First ever LP reissue, first time on CD & Digital
* Produced by Lee Hazlewood
* Featuring three unreleased tracks
* In-depth liner notes by LHI Archive Series co-producer Hunter Lea with unseen archive photos
* All tracks newly remastered from the original tapes
* LP housed in deluxe Stoughton “Tip-On” gatefold jacket.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blue Museum
2. Children Once Were You
3. Sunshine Soldier
4. A Friend Of Mine
5. Open Up The Door
6. Dreams And Images
7. Pandora
8. Wintertime
9. Living Circa 1920
10. Valentine Gray
11. 1860 *
12. Coming Home *
13. Excursion 13*

*Previously Unreleased

Largely unheard, criminally undocumented, but at their core, utterly revolutionary, the recordings of the diverse North American Aboriginal community will finally take their rightful place in our collective history in the form of 'Native North America (Vol. 1): Aboriginal Folk, Rock, and Country 1966-1985'. An anthology of music that was once near-extinct and off-the-grid is now available for all to hear, in what is, without a doubt, Light In The Attic’s most ambitious and historically significant project in the label’s 12-year journey.

Native North America (Vol. 1) features music from the Indigenous peoples of Canada and the northern United States, recorded in the turbulent decades between 1966 to 1985. It represents the fusion of shifting global popular culture and a reawakening of Aboriginal spirituality and expression. The majority of this material has been widely unavailable for decades, hindered by lack of distribution or industry support and by limited mass media coverage, until now. You’ll hear Arctic garage rock from the Nunavik region of northern Quebec, melancholy Yup’ik folk from Alaska, and hushed country blues from the Wagmatcook First Nation reserve in Nova Scotia. You’ll hear echoes of Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Johnny Cash, and more among the songs, but injected with Native consciousness, storytelling, poetry, history, and ceremony.

The stories behind the music presented on Native North America (Vol. 1) range from standard rock-and-roll dreams to transcendental epiphanies. They have been collected with love and respect by Vancouver-based record archaeologist and curator Kevin “Sipreano” Howes in a 15-year quest to unearth the history that falls between the notes of this unique music. Tirelessly, Howes scoured obscure, remote areas for the original vinyl recordings and the artists who made them, going so far as to send messages in Inuktitut over community radio airwaves in hopes that these lost cultural heroes would resurface.

With cooperation and guidance from the artists, producers, family members, and behind the scenes players, Native North America (Vol. 1) sheds real light on the painful struggles and deep traditions of the greater Indigenous community and the significance of its music. The songs speak of joy and spirituality, but also tell of real tragedy and strife, like that of Algonquin/Mohawk artist Willy Mitchell, whose music career was sparked by a bullet to the head from the gun of a trigger-happy police officer, or those of Inuk singer-songwriter Willie Thrasher, who was robbed of his family and traditional Inuit culture by the residential school system.

Considering the financially motivated destruction of our environment, the conservative political landscape, and corporate bottom-line dominance, it’s bittersweet to report that the revolutionary songs featured on Native North America hold as much meaning today as when they were originally recorded. Dedicated to legendary Métis singer-songwriter and poet Willie Dunn, featured on the anthology but who sadly passed away during its making, Native North America (Vol. 1) is only the beginning. A companion set featuring a crucial selection of folk, rock, and country from the United States’ Lower 48 and Mexico is currently in production.

TRACK LISTING

1. Willie Dunn – I Pity The Country
2. John Angaiak – I'll Rock You To The Rhythm Of The Ocean
3. Sugluk – Fall Away
4. Sikumiut – Sikumiut
5. Willie Thrasher – Spirit Child
6. Willy Mitchell – Call Of The Moose
7. Lloyd Cheechoo – James Bay
8. Alexis Utatnaq – Maqaivvigivalauqtavut
9. Brian Davey – Dreams Of Ways
10. Morley Loon – N'Doheeno
11. Peter Frank – Little Feather
12. Ernest Monias – Tormented Soul
13. Eric Landry – Out Of The Blue
14. David Campbell – Sky-Man And The Moon
15. Willie Dunn – Son Of The Sun
16. Shingoose (poetry By Duke Redbird) – Silver River
17. Willy Mitchell And Desert River Band – Kill'n Your Mind
18. Philippe McKenzie – Mistashipu
19. Willie Thrasher – Old Man Carver
20. Lloyd Cheechoo – Winds Of Change
21. The Chieftones (Canada’s All Indian Band) – I Shouldn't Have Did What I Done
22. Sugluk – I Didn't Know
23. Lawrence Martin – I Got My Music
24. Gordon Dick – Siwash Rock
25. Willy Mitchell And Desert River Band – Birchbark Letter
26. William Tagoona – Anaanaga
27. Leland Bell – Messenger
28. Saddle Lake Drifting Cowboys – Modern Rock
29. Willie Thrasher – We Got To Take You Higher
30. Sikumiut – Utirumavunga
31. Sugluk – Ajuinnarasuarsunga
32. John Angaiak – Hey, Hey, Hey, Brother
33. Groupe Folklorique Montagnais – Tshekuan Mak Tshetutamak
34. Willie Dunn (featuring Jerry Saddleback) – Peruvian Dream

Remastered from the original stereo 1/4" tapes LP and CD feature expanded gatefold tip-on jackets and liner notes.

Light In The Attic and the legendary folk/blues/roots label Vanguard Records are proud to begin a series of collaborations under the umbrella Vanguard Vault.

The series will explore the vaults of Vanguard and see the reissuing of obscure nuggets, psychedelic weirdness and just some good old-fashioned seminal music.

Originally released in 1968 on Vanguard Records, Peter Walker’s album “Second Poem To Karmela” Or Gypsies Are Important was a ground breaking blend of folk, raga, psychedelia, Eastern and Modal sounds that has remained unsung for decades. While his debut album for Vanguard,Rainy Day Raga, has been reissued several times on LP and CD, this album (his sophomore effort), remains an obscure and hard to find vinyl relic. Until now..

Carefully re-mastered from the original tapes, guitar scholar Glenn Jones recently interviewed Peter Walker for hours and has written a book-deep essay for the CD and LP liner notes that detail Walker’s association with an incredible cross-section of 1960’s counter-culture icons including LSD guru Timothy Leary (Walker personally provided ‘the soundtrack’ to many a trip), he studied raga music with Ali Akbar Khan, and like his close friend Sandy Bull, Walker worked on a fusion of Western and Eastern sounds. Jim Pepper plays flute on Second Poem (he also recorded with The Fugs and Don Cherry), other accompaniment to Walker’s guitar, Sarod and Sitar playing includes violin, organ, tablas, and tamboura.

This is true “acid folk” as interesting, progressive, and memorable as fellow 1960’s world travelers Robbie Basho, Davy Graham, and the Incredible String Band.

TRACK LISTING

1. Second Song
2. I & Thou
3. Southwind
4. Tear
5. Barefoot
6. Gypsy Song
7. Circus Day
8. Blake Street
9. Socco Chico
10. Mixture

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

"A World Of Peace Must Come is his masterpiece. That was fantastic." - Brian Wilson
"'Be Still' is the only song I've ever heard that made me want to be a better person." - Brian Barr, The Seattle Weekly

"The only other artist as pure as him is Captain Beefheart." - Bill Bentley

Stephen John Kalinich was born in Endicott, New York and grew up in Binghamton. In his early teens, he stared writing poems and articles about World Peace. He first came to California around 1964, fell in love with it, and promptly transferred from Harper College in upstate New York to UCLA.

Kalinich found himself immersed in the vibrant anti-War culture of late 60’s California, often writing songs and poems against the War. He found a musical partner and kindred spirit in Mark Lindsey Buckingham. They cut a demo for a track called "Leaves of Grass," inspired by the famous Walt Whitman poem "Leaves Of Grass", and Kalinich started taking demos around.

In the mid 60s, it was either at Brother Records or while pumping gas that Kalinich first met the Beach Boys. He hit it off with Brian, Carl and Dennis right away. As the first artist signed to the Beach Boys new label Brother Records, Carl Wilson produced a record for him. His first songs that saw release were "Little Bird" and "Be Still," which he wrote with Dennis and were released on the Friends album. His relationship with Dennis would lead to a number of further collaborations and Kalinich / Dennis Wilson co-writes, including: 20/20 - "All I Want To Do," Hawthorne, CA - "A Time to Live in Dreams", Pacific Ocean Blue - "Rainbows," and Bambu - "Love Remember Me.”
A World of Peace Must Come was recorded at various LA studios and Brian's house in Bel-Air in 1969. The tapes were promptly lost, not to be heard again until our discovery of them in 2008. Following the CD-only reissue in that year, this is the first time this timeless snapshot of an era and an ethos will be available on vinyl for Record Store Day 2014.

* First ever anthology
* Remastered from original sources
* 2xLP housed in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with 20-pg book, and download card full full anthology
* Vinyl cut by John Golden and pressed at RTI
* CD housed in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with 48-pg book
* Scholarly liner notes by Punk In Africa director Keith Jones
* Unseen photos, flyers, and band ephemera

The South Africa of the late 1970s was neither the right place nor time to launch a mixed-race punk band. Yet, following the student-inspired Soweto Uprising of 1976, it was also exactly the right conditions to foster a band like National Wake, one formed in an underground commune, and one whose very name exists in protest at the divisive, racist apartheid regime. Never before collected together, Light In The Attic is set to release National Wake’s full body of work as Walk In Africa 1979-81.

Featured heavily in the Punk In Africa documentary, National Wake played punk, reggae and tropical funk, equally at home in the city’s rock underground and the township nightclub circuit. Ivan Kadey started the band with two brothers, Gary and Punka Khoza. The three were from different worlds –while Ivan was an outsider, a Jewish orphan born in the traditional Johannesburg immigrant neighborhood, Gary, Punka and their family were forcibly moved to the troubled township of Soweto under the apartheid regime. Later joined by guitarist Steve Moni, the whole band grew up against a backdrop of township unrest, social upheaval and suburban tedium that characterized apartheid-era South Africa.

National Wake released just one album, in 1981. It sold approximately 700 copies before being withdrawn under government pressure. The band subsequently disintegrated, but their influence could be traced in the racially mixed post-punk underground centered around Rockey Street in Johannesburg throughout the 1980s, their legacy transmitted through fanzines and underground cassette trading.

Sadly, Gary and Punka Khoza both passed away in their 40s. Kadey now works as an architect in Los Angeles, but his attention eventually turned back to the band as their legacy grew in the digital era, with the emergence of specialized music websites and Punk In Africa leading to their rediscovery. Czech State Radio memorably described the band as “perhaps the most dissident music scene of the 20th century: a multi-racial punk band in a fascist police state.”

In 2011, Kadey re-released the band’s self-titled album, but spoke about having more than 20 tracks that had never seen the light of day –until now. “All of these recordings put together they speak of the whole evolution of the band,” he has said. “From a sort of naive, almost belief that we could miraculously change everything to realizing what a struggle it was, and what the country was going through and what it would go through.”

TRACK LISTING

1. International News
2. It's All Right
3. Walk In Africa
4. Time And Place
5. Corner House Stone
6. Mercenaries
7. Wake Of The Nation
8. Supaman
9. Speed It Up
10. Beat Up The Lights
11. Black Punk Rockers
12. Stratocaster
13. Everybody
14. Vatsiketeni

Pacific Northwest isolation mixed with wide-eyed ambition, a strong sense of family and the gift of music proved to be quite the combination for teenage brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Originally released in 1979, Dreamin’ Wild is the sonic vision of the talented Emerson boys, recorded in a family built home studio in rural Washington State. Situated in the unlikely blink-and-you-missed-it town of Fruitland and far removed from the late 1970s punk movement and the larger disco boom, Donnie and Joe tilled their own musical soil, channeling bedroom pop jams, raw funk, and yacht rock.

Spurred on their high school’s music program, Donnie and Joe received a further push from their lifelong farmer father, who drew up a contract stating that he’d support his sons lofty ambitions with their very own recording studio as long as they focused on original material, sage advice for a man with zero experience in the music business. After taking out a second mortgage to help cover costs, Don Sr. also built his children a 300-capacity concert hall (dubbed Camp Jammin’) replete with ticket booth, stage, and fully functioning snack bar. The only problem was that the projected audience never quite materialized, despite a prime time TV profile entitled “The Rock And Roll Farmers” from nearby Spokane, Washington. Even the Emerson brother’s school pals were nonplussed at their privately pressed long player; hand distributed to local music stores, but not as far as Seattle, five hours away from their rural home. Somewhat rejected by the muted response, but never surrendering, both Donnie and Joe continued down a musical path and are still active as performers today.

This rare slice of bedroom-funk gets the usual Light In The Attic treatment with newly remastered audio, detailed liner notes, and expanded original album art with loads of photos from the Emerson’s collection. Be sure to also check out the short documentary Rock and Roll Farmers, premiering on LightInTheAttic.net.

“‘Baby’ has been a staple on just about every playlist / mixtape I’ve assembled in the past 3 years. It is nothing short of sublime.” - Ariel Pink.

Taking their title from an Annakonda's 45 (Wheedle was the mascot of Seattle's SuperSonics basketball team), Light In The Attic bring us 21 brilliant tracks of funk and soul from the Emerald City, including 18 original 60s / 70s grooves, and three 00s cuts inspired by them. DJ Mr Supreme searches out the rarities that vied for the attentions of KYAC Soul Radio, including original compositions and cover versions of "Hey Jude", "Cissy Strut", "Louie Louie" etc. With band names like The Ovetton Berry Trio, Black And White Affair, The Clarence Mack Express, Cold, Bold & Together and Cookin' Bag, you know you're in for a treat!