As the core member of the 13th Floor Elevators and an undisputed pioneer of psychedelic rock, the ’60s were thrilling times for Erickson. His band riding high in their native Texas and beyond, the howling single ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ was his calling card, but Erickson’s ‘60s ended in the stuff of nightmares. Under sharp scrutiny by the authorities due to the band’s well-expounded fondness for psychedelic drugs, Erickson was found with a single joint on his person. Pleading not guilty by reason of insanity to avoid prison, he was sent to the Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane, where he was ‘treated’ with electroconvulsive therapy and Thorazine treatment. Erickson pulled through his three and a half years at Rusk, and even put together a band while incarcerated. The Missing Links contained Roky plus two murderers and a rapist. Released from the institution in 1974, Roky found his legend had grown while he’d been away – not least because ‘You’re Gonna Miss Me’ was included on 1972’s Nuggets compilation.


He formed a band, the Aliens, and set about honing a hard rock sound that placed the psychedelic garage blues of the Elevators firmly in the last decade. Though it was produced at a time when Roky was struggling to cope with drugs and life on the outside, he hit form on his first post Elevators album-proper, 1981’s The Evil One. Produced over a period of two years by Stu Cook, from Creedence Clearwater Revival, it’s a masterful collection of songs about zombies, demons, vampires and, yes, even the ‘Creature With The Atom Brain’. These tracks, inspired by schlock sci-fi and horror movies and colored by Roky’s distinctive, high-pitched vocal and squealing guitar, are among the maverick performer’s best. At the time, Roky explained the album this way: “It’s gonna go back to the ferocious kind of rock ‘n’ roll of the Kinks, the Who and the Yardbirds. It’s the kind of music that makes you wish you were playing it or listening to it for the first time ‘way back when.’” But the record would not reach the mass audience of those bands, its success hampered by erratic release schedules and disastrously awkward press interviews. A year after its release, Erickson would become convinced that a Martian had inhabited his body. He would soon become obsessed with mail, and take to taping it, unopened, to his bedroom walls. Many of Erickson’s demons were yet to show their faces. But the B-movie demons he exorcised on this record gave us one of hard rock’s strangest, most inventive albums.

TRACK LISTING

1. Two Headed Dog,
2. I Walked With A Zombie,
3. Night Of The Vampire,
4. It's A Cold Night For Alligators,
5. Mine Mine Mind,
6. Sputnik,
7. White Faces,
8. I Think Of Demons,
9. Creature With The Atom Brain,
10. The Wind And More,
11. Don't Shake Me Lucifer,
12. Bloody Hammer,
13. Stand For The Fire Demon,
14. Click Your Fingers,
15. If You Have Ghosts

Limited edition 7" series on "smokey grey" vinyl with custom LITA juke-box style sleeve in a poly bag with custom die-cut sticker.

Other artists in the series include Iggy Pop & Zig Zags covering Betty Davis, Mark Lanegan covering Karen Dalton, and Sweet Tea (feat. Alex Maas of the Black Angels & Erika Wennerstrom of the Heartless Bastards) covering Wendy Rene. More releases in the series to be announced.

For the 10 Year Anniversary 45's Series, Gold Leaves record a hazy take on Lee Hazlewood's "Won't You Tell Your Dreams." Found on the flip side is Hazlewood's version, which was originally included on his solo album Requiem For An Almost Lady, released in 1971 on his label LHI.

A-side is produced by Gold Leaves, engineered by Chris Early, and recorded in Seattle in September 2012.

B-side features Lee's original version as remastered by John Baldwin for our recent compilation Lee Hazlewood - The LHI Years: Singles, Nudes, & Backsides (1968-71).

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
Won't You Tell Your Dreams - Gold Leaves

Side B:
Won't You Tell Your Dreams - Lee Hazlewood

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

A1 Â

“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

With his handlebar moustache and booming baritone, Lee Hazlewood was one of the defining stars of the late ‘60s. Though he’s perhaps best known for his work with Nancy Sinatra (including writing mega-hit “These Boots Are Made For Walking”), Hazlewood did stunning work away from that particular glamour queen and found latter day champions in Beck, Sonic Youth, and Jarvis Cocker. Light In The Attic are kicking off the excavation of the Lee Hazlewood archives with this anthology, Singles, Nudes & Backsides, collecting the best of Lee’s solo songs and duets from his LHI (Lee Hazlewood Industries) imprint.

As a true legend of the great American songbook and a rebellious pioneer who left behind a lengthy trail of echo laden pop masterpieces, Lee’s influence continues to reverberate today. Between 1968-71, Hazlewood not only released his finest solo work, but produced numerous artists on LHI. From acid-folk and country-rock to pop-psych and soul, LHI issued dozens of long forgotten 45s and LPs. This series will include material from LHI (re-mastered for the first time from the original analog tapes), along with Lee’s output for other labels, rarities, unreleased gems, and the films of Torbjörn Axelman.

See the sleeve: surrounded by nude girls, each wearing a fake moustache, Hazlewood wears a suit, ever-so-slightly awkwardly playing the role of the ‘60s playboy. Just like the picture, the songs present a man conflicted; he’s the tender-hearted romantic, the broken-hearted loser and the rugged cowboy, all in one. It’s there in the western swing of “Califia (Stone Rider)”, the loneliness of ”The Bed” and the bleak beauty of ”If It’s Monday Morning.” Hazlewood’s tremulous voice was made for duets (indeed, he wrote ”Some Velvet Morning”, one of the greatest of all time); here, Suzi Jane Hokom, Ann-Margret and Nina Lizell play counterpart to his manly tones.

In the wonderful liner notes, written by British journalist Wyndham Wallace, the writer describes his friend Hazlewood as “a curmudgeonly, unpredictable sort at the best of times, as impatient with his own talent as he is with other people.” The Hazlewood Wallace knew was puzzled by the growing interest in him in the last two decades of his life, which was ended by cancer at age 78. That late flurry of interest saw him perform at the Royal Festival Hall in 1999, his first ever solo performance in the UK.

A natural wanderer, Lee lived a big life, fighting in the Korean War, working as a radio DJ in Phoenix, Arizona, setting up Viv Records in the ‘50s, working as a big-shot LA producer in the ‘60s, signing Phil Spector to his Trey Records label and prematurely announcing retirement in the wake of the mid-‘60s British invasion. He didn’t: Nancy Sinatra came along, the hits started flowing and he continued producing characterful solo albums into the ‘70s, which saw his move to Sweden. By 2007, Hazlewood was living in Vegas, and begrudgingly enjoying that flurry of latter-day interest in his work. This landmark compilation promises to create many more converts.

TRACK LISTING

1. Califia (Stone Rider) - Featuring Suzi Jane Hokom
2. The Bed
3. Sleep In The Grass - Featuring Ann-Margret
4. Leather And Lace - Featuring Nina Lizell
5. If It's Monday Morning
6. The Night Before
7. Bye Babe
8. Victims Of The Night - Featuring Ann-Margret
9. Chico - Featuring Ann-Margret
10. Hey Cowboy - Featuring Nina Lizell
11. No Train To Stockholm
12. Won't You Tell Your Dreams
13. Nobody Like You - Featuring Suzi Jane Hokom
14. Trouble Maker
15. What's More I Don't Need Her
16. Come On Home To Me
17. I Just Learned To Run

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)

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. The CD edition comes housed in a 7”x7” hardcover book (featuring 64-pages) and the two-disc vinyl set is presented in a gatefold jacket (featuring a 24-page booklet), with special color editions available exclusively at NancySinatra.com, LightInTheAttic.net, and independent record stores.

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

“My dad loved people. He was an activist for Black people, but also an activist for human rights. I don’t care what color you are, my dad was kind to you. He wanted the word ‘love’ out there: the self-love message, the world-love message. Anything good he knew, he wanted to let everyone know about it.” – Keesha Frierson Followers of our output might have a pang of recognition on reading the name, Frierson. That was the surname of Wendy Rene, whose work was collected into the 2012 LITA anthology After Laughter Comes Tears, and indeed, Johnnie Frierson is Wendy’s brother – a fellow member of her mid-’60s Stax four-piece The Drapels.

But Have You Been Good To Yourself will come as a surprise to anyone expecting more of the beat-driven R&B Johnnie and his sibling produced – including that compilation’s much-sampled title track. A mix of spoken word and gospel songs laid down direct to cassette, these ultra-rare home recordings draw from Johnnie’s religious upbringing and his history in the music business, which was interrupted in 1970 when he was sent to fight in Vietnam. Cratedigger Jameson Sweiger found Have You Been Good To Yourself and a companion album, Real Education, released under the name Khafele Ojore Ajanaku in a Memphis thrift store, but it was noticeably Frierson’s work. They hadn’t made it far – they would originally have been sold at corner stores and music festivals in the Memphis area, where Frierson continued to perform and host a gospel radio show, all the while working as a mechanic, laborer and teacher. The seven songs on Have You Been Good To Yourself are overtly religious; some, such as “Out Here On Your Word,” are strident and faithful; others, like the self-questioning “Have You Been Good To Yourself,” are more meditative. They reflect the difficult situation that Frierson was in when recording, shell-shocked from his time in the military and grieving the untimely death of his son. “He was really trying to find his way,” remembers Frierson’s daughter Keesha in Andria Lisle’s liner notes. “And writing and making music were a way out for him.” Remastered and released professionally for the first time, the message spread by Frierson– who passed away in 2010 – remains undimmed.

TRACK LISTING

1. Have You Been Good To Yourself
2. Heavenly Father, You've Been Good
3. Miracles
4. Out Here On Your Word
5. You Were Sent To This World
6. Woke Up This Morning
7. Trust In The Lord

Brand new liner notes with French/English lyrics, insightful and telling interview with Jane B on the Jane/Serge record, as well as original renderings of the images that made the couple so notorious
Without a doubt, Serge Gainsbourg is agent provacateur and Gallic soul brother #1. His sensual work is championed by all in the know and still resonates quite frankly in these sexually exaggerated times. Building on the North American re-introduction to the maestro’s work with 1971’s masterpiece concept album Histoire de Melody Nelson, Light In The Attic Records is thrilled to announce their follow-up Gainsbourg reissue. 1969’s Jane Brikin/Serge Gainsbourg (often referred to as Je t’aime… Moi, Non Plus).

Recorded as a series of duets and solo performances, with lover, actress, and model Birkin, the pair’s chemistry-enhanced collaboration was thrust about the record-buying public to much shock and horror, but indeed found global success. The disc quickly shot its cigarette brandishing author and fresh-faced vocalist into the international spotlight; and although the lead-off single “Je T’aime” and it’s seductive purrs reached top slot in the UK charts, no one other than the Pope branded the tune offensive and blasphemous. Ever the conversationalist, Gainsbourg wittily replied, “we couldn’t have gotten a better PR man!” Indeed Serge, indeed.

TRACK LISTING

Je T'Aime... Moi, Non Plus
L'Anamour
Orang Outan
Sous Le Soleil Exactement
18 - 39
69 Ann
Jane B
Elisa
Le Canari Est Sur Le Balcon
Les Sucettes, Manon,

“I Pity the Country,” is an unparalleled statement on the greed and hate created by humankind, recorded in 1971 and still unfortunately needed today. “It’s like the reason you’re supposed to make music,” said Kurt Vile about the song to MOJO Magazine in 2015.

How did you first experience the poetry, music, and film of Willie Dunn?

In a Montreal coffeehouse during the mid-1960s? On a CBC Indian Magazine broadcast with host Johnny Yesno? At a Toronto record store or Native Friendship Centre at the turn of the 1970s? Waiting outside of the Mohawk Nation Longhouse? Maybe in your parent’s record collection on the Rez? A White Roots of Peace gathering? Pow wow? The Mariposa Folk Festival? Or was it that Save James Bay Benefit back in ‘73? On a good friend’s stereo? Sitting around a crackling campfire? How about an old NFB film reel or VHS tape in high school? Or while attending Manitou College? A German concert hall in the 1980s? Maybe a direct action protest on the colonial streets of Canada? Busking in Ottawa during the 1990s? College radio? At Willie’s celebration of life service in 2013 alongside Alanis Obomsawin and Willy Mitchell? LITA’s Grammy-nominated Native North America (Vol. 1) compilation or the very anthology you hold in your hands?
There should be no judgment for coming to things when you do. All that’s important is remaining open to life-changing messages such as these…

With “Charlie,” Willie was the first to deliver the devastating story of Chanie Wenjack and the Canadian residential school system to the music community, nearly 50 years before the much-celebrated Secret Path, yet ignored outside of Indian Country and the folk festival circuit. Dunn’s film technique, featured in 1968’s The Ballad of Crowfoot (NFB), predates the “Ken Burns effect” to great effect. Are you catching the drift? Willie Dunn was not only a trailblazing leader in his time, but well ahead of the curve, simply without the PR push and big money backing of major label players.

“He was our Leonard Cohen,” said singer-songwriter Eric Landry about his musical hero. The only difference is that Willie refused to play the Hollywood showbiz game. In talent, he is Cohen, Dylan, and Cash rolled into one and along with Buffy Sainte-Marie, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, and A. Paul Ortega, brought a new set of perspectives and realities to the folk music tradition. Willie spoke directly to his people and Mother Earth through his creations, not only from experience but by examining his roots and connecting with the world in which he lived. We are humbled to help honor Willie Dunn. May he never be forgotten… PEACE

TRACK LISTING

The Ballad Of Crowfoot
Peruvian Dream (Part 1)
Charlie
Broker
I Pity The Country
Crazy Horse
Louis Riel
School Days
The Carver
O Canada!
Down By The Stream (Starlight Maiden)
Rattling Along The Freight Train (To The Spirit Land)
Pontiac
The Pacific
Nova Scotia
The Dreamer
Sonnet 33 And 55 / Friendship Dance
Wounded Lake
Métis Red River Song
Son Of The Sun
The Lovenant Chain
Bear And Fish

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

“Di Doo Dah” is the first true solo album from British born actress, model, singer, mother, and French national treasure, Jane Birkin. Emerging as a creative and beatific force in London’s Swinging 60s, she met Parisian provocateur Serge Gainsbourg in 1968 on the film set of Slogan and birthed one of the most fantastic creative collaborations the world has ever known. After the 1969 duet album “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus” (LITA048) and the landmark “L’Histoire De Melody Nelson” (LITA040) Jane was ready for her own namesake debut. “Di Doo Dah” sees Birkin, Gainsbourg, and co-conspirator Jean-Claude Vannier (“L’Enfant Assassin Des Mouches”) meld Jane’s fragile vocals with jazz, rock, and lush orchestral textures: a perfect album for living and loving.

Light In The Attic’s definitive version of “Di Doo Dah” is available for the first time on 180-gram vinyl, with original artwork, unseen photographs, and extensive liner notes by renowned music journalist Andy Beta (Spin, The FADER). With full cooperation and insight from Birkin herself – not to mention French lyrics and English translations – this reissue truly allows listeners to delve into the album’s witty and frank world of sex, sin, voyeurism, motorcycles, Brighton, and banana boats. So what exactly does Di Doo Dah mean? “Nothing at all!” replied Birkin in a BBC interview from 1973. But this album is far from a throwaway, showing a maturity and musical understanding from all parties involved.

By the early 70s, this lady was already a mother and very much aware of traditional gender roles as well as the sexual revolution – clearly able to plumb the necessary emotional depths required to translate Serge’s madcap lyrics and songs. It is true that in Birkin, Serge had finally found his match and most transcendent muse. And although the couple eventually went their separate ways, they left us all whistling much more than “Zipp-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” in the process.

TRACK LISTING

1 Di Doo Dah
2 Help Cammionneur!
3 Encore Lui
4 Puisque Je Te Le Dis
5 Les Capotes Anglaises
6 Leur Plaisir Sans Moi
7 Mon Amour Baiser
8 Banana Boat
9 Kawasaki
10 La Cible Qui Bouge
11 La Baigneuse De Brighton
12 C'est La Vie Qui Veut Ca
13 La Decadanse
14 Les Langues De Chat

THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 27TH FROM 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

• 2020 Record Store Day / Black Friday Exclusive Release.
• Limited to 2,000 copies worldwide. Non-Returnable.
• Two classics recorded with The Wrecking Crew in 1967 and 1968
• Newly remastered from the original analog tapes
• First time on vinyl for “Tired Of Waiting For You”
• Produced by Lee Hazlewood and arranged by Billy Strange
• Pressed on color wax
• Pic sleeve with unseen photos

Light in the Attic Records is proud to honor the enduring legacy of singer, actress, activist, and cultural icon Nancy Sinatra, who recently entered her eighth decade and sixth as a world–wide household name and a force for positive cultural change both at home and abroad.
Limited edition 7” single featuring one of the 20th century’s greatest recordings, “Some Velvet Morning” on the A–side, while the flip includes a cover of the Kinks’ classic “Tired Of Waiting For You.”

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

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)

* 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.

The latest installment of Light In The Attic’s exclusive vinyl and digital singles series features Toronto’s BADBADNOTGOOD with Jonah Yano on vocals covering “Key To Love (Is Understanding),” originally recorded in 1982 by Milwaukee’s funk/soul pioneers Majestics. The newly recorded cover and the original version are available for streaming and on “Majestic Pink” 7” vinyl.
“As lovers of old soul, funk and rare recordings, ‘Key to Love’ has always been a song that has had an impact on our heart and ears,” BADBADNOTGOOD said. “We hope our version relays how special this song is and gives it some new listeners and a second life […] It’s an incredibly beautiful song that deserves to be heard, and we hope to play a small part in that.”

The original Majestics single is highly sought after by diggers and DJs worldwide not only for “Key To Love (Is Understanding) but also for ”Class A”, which is considered the first-ever rap recording to come out of Milwaukee.

“It is a pleasant surprise,” Donald Cooper of Majestics said upon hearing BADBADNOTGOOD’s version of the song. “They did a good job and it was well done with their own slight personal twist […] [it’s] an honor to be recognized."

The single follows Mac DeMarco’s cover of Haruomi Hosono’s “Honey Moon” in the series, which features artwork conceptualized by Los Angeles-based fine artist Robbie Simon. These tunes come on the heels of widely popular past entries in the series, including pop-auteur Ariel Pink with future-funk pioneer Dâm Funk covering Donnie & Joe Emerson’s eternal anthem “Baby,” the inimitable Mark Lanegan covering the melancholy folk of Karen Dalton, and the one-and-only Iggy Pop with the Zig Zags transforming Betty Davis’ dirty funk into a heavy Sabbath grind.

TRACK LISTING

Badbadnotgood - Key To Love 
The Majestics - Key To Love

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

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" 

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

Erasmo Carlos has no counterpart in the universe of Anglophone pop music that could begin to hint at his relevance, popularity and his complex relationship with the only Brazilian pop star more universally recognized than himself, Roberto Carlos. He may be a beloved pop star and household name in Brazil, but hardly because of the music found on the three albums reissued by Light In The Attic. While in retrospect they can be appreciated as some of his most creative, consistent and personal albums, they were also some of the least commercially successful and underappreciated of his long career, at least until recently. Embracing the artistic freedom of the global counterculture of the late sixties and early seventies, over the course of these three albums, Erasmo evolved from his bubblegum beginnings into a sophisticated seventies singer-songwriter. "Erasmo Carlos E Os Tremendões" (1970), "Carlos, ERASMO . . ." (1971) and "Sonhos E Memórias 1941-1972" (1972) collectively find this maturing teeny-bopper delivering a mix of world class psychedelic Rock, traditional Rock ‘N’ Roll, Soul, Funk, Folk, Bossa Nova, and Samba-Rock to an unsuspecting Brazilian audience.

"Sonhos E Memórias 1941-1972" is truly singular within Brazilian pop fusing rock, soul, jazz and singer-songwriter styles. It’s simultaneously rootsy, funky, modern and nostalgic. The lyrics are highly personal, searching for deeper meaning with lots of flower power imagery and language, while the music is tight, highly rhythmic, melodic and restrained in its delivery and effortless groove. Built around the future fusion trio Azymuth with keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami, drummer Ivan Conti aka “Mamão” and bassist Alex Malheiros, a majority of the album’s tunes make excellent use of this trio’s telepathic tightness, subtle funkiness, and melodic mastery. The album dabbles with a few different styles and rhythms, all telling Erasmo’s musical story be it Bossa Nova, Roots Rock, Hard Rock, ballads, and soulful grooves, but a certain sonic frequency or tempo alongside the autobiographical elements unite this masterwork.

TRACK LISTING

1. Largo Da 2ª Feira
2. Mané João
3. Bom Dia, Rock 'N’ Roll
4. Grilos
5. Minha Gente
6. Mundo Cão
7. Sorriso Dela
8. Sábado Morto
9. É Proibido Fumar
10. Vida Antiga
11. Meu Mar
12. Preciso Encontrar Um Amigo

The followup to Light In The Attic’s game-changing I Am The Center box set is finally here....

Three years in the making, The Microcosm: Visionary Music Of Continental Europe, 1970-1986 is the first major overview of key works from cosmically-taped in artists needing little introduction — Vangelis, Ash Ra Tempel, and Popol Vuh — and and unknown masterpieces by criminally overlooked heroes like Bernard Xolotl, Robert Julian Horky and Enno Velthuys...

Whereas I Am The Center called for a reconsideration of an entire maligned genre, The Microcosm requests nothing more than an open mind to consider this ambient, new age, neuzeit, prog, krautrock, cosmic, holistic stuff, whatever one calls it — as a pulsating movement unto itself, a mirror refracting the American new age scene in unexpected, electrifying ways, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt the universality of the timeless quest to express “the Ineffable” through music.

Drawing from major label budgets and homemade cassette distributed circumstances alike, The Microcosm demonstrates a depth of peace profound to behold, and clearly expands the boundaries. Lovingly conceived and lavishly presented by producer Douglas Mcgowan (Yoga Records) and liner notes contributor Jason Patrick Woodbury (Pitchfork, Aquarium Drunkard), The Microcosm features stunning cover paintings by Étienne Trouvelot, and labels by Finnish savant Aleksanda Ionowa.

STAFF COMMENTS

says: Chakras fully aligned after their expansive introduction to America's new age movement, 'I Am The Center', Light In The Attic hop across the pond to explore the cosmic vibrations and healing frequencies of Europe's spirit guides. Floating through German kosmische, Italian ambient and prog Français, '(The Microcosm)' resonates deep within your soul, courses through your body and opens your mind wider than an orgonite overdose.

TRACK LISTING

1. Vangelis - Creation Du Monde
2. Ralph Lundsten - Bön 5 - Förlåt Oss Våra Skulder (Prayer 5 - Forgive Us Our Debts)
3. Ash Ra Tempel - Le Sourire Volé
4. Popol Vuh - Brüder Des Schattens - Söhne Des Lichts (abridged)
5. Ariel Kalma - Orguitar Soir
6. Bernard Xolotl - Cometary Wailing (Valley Plateau)
7. Peter Michael Hamel - Einklang
8. Francesco Messina - Untitled
9. Roedelius - Wenn Der Südwind Weht
10. Deutsche Wertarbeit - Der Grosse Atem
11. Robert Julian Horky - Dance For A Warrior
12. Karl Schaffner & Lothar Grimm - Caravan
13. Suzanne Doucet & Christian Buehner - Shivas Dance
14. Enno Velthuys - Morning Glory
15. Deuter - Spirales
16. Gigi Masin - Ship Beetel 

* Remastered from the original tapes
* Essay by “Punk Professor” Vivien Goldman, interviewing key players
* LP Includes download card for full album + 5 bonus tracks
* CD includes full album plus 5 bonus tracks

In the course of three albums, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, the rogue poet, artist, and singer-songwriter, travelled on a musical voyage from Manhattan (1979 debut 'Press Color') to The Bahamas (1981 follow-up 'Mambo Nassau') and apartheid South Africa (1984's 'Zulu Rock') - a controversial cultural boycott in protest of the nation's racially divided society.

One place Descloux had never visited was the pop charts, but that changed when “Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles? (Where Have The Gazelles Gone?)” - a reworking of a South African Shangaan disco hit - went all the way to the top spot in her native France, giving her a platform and a profile in the land she'd fled many years before. Recorded at Satbel Studios in Johannesburg, the album followed what her mentor Michel Esteban describes as "an extraordinary adventure" through eastern Africa following the footsteps of 19th century poet Rimbaud through Sudan, Ethiopia, the East Coast.

A socially conscious person, Descloux wanted to use her music to draw some attention to the situation in South Africa, even obliquely, but there were musical motivations too - she was tapping into a hot and little-heard dance music in the aforementioned Shangaan disco, Soweto jive and mbaqanga, the style Malcolm McLaren had mined for his mash-up hit "Duck Rock" a year before.

The music of South Africa seduced, subsumed, and molded Lizzy, who sounds surer and more swinging than ever before throughout 'Zulu Rock', but credit must also go to British producer Adam Kidron, then best known for his work with Scritti Politti, who joined Esteban and Descloux for the entire African journey. Lizzy and Adam’s was a battle of wills from the start, but his insistence on getting Lizzy to sing in a more conventional, tuneful way resulted in an emotional, ambitious, creative power struggle that delivered arguably her best vocals yet.

In Vivien Goldman's new liner notes for this reissue, Kidron says: “My first impression of Lizzy was that she couldn’t sing but that she had that crazy Madonna, Neneh Cherry, Nina Hagen attitude thing going on and a magical way with words — a marketer’s gift for getting to the essence of a feeling or idea.” And for once, on this album, the marketing did itself. 

TRACK LISTING

01. It’s All My Imagination
02. Abyssinia
03. Mais Où Sont Passées Les Gazelles?
04. Dolby Sisters Saliva Brothers
05. L’Éclipse
06. Les Dents De L'Amour
07. Wakwazulu Kwezizulu Rock
08. Momo On My Mind
09. I’m Liquor
10. Queen Of Overdub Kisses
11. Sun Jive
12. All The Same
13. Pénélope (French Version) (Bonus Track)*
14. Confidente De La Nuit (French Version) (Bonus Track)*
15. Cri (French Version) (Bonus Track)*
16. Tous Pareils (French Version) (Bonus Track)*
17. Wakwazulu Kwzizulu Rock (French Version) (Bonus Track)*
* Bonus Tracks Available On CD And LP Download Card

* 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

* Remastered from the original tapes
* Essay by “Punk Professor” Vivien Goldman, interviewing key players
* LP Includes download card for full album + 2 bonus tracks
* CD includes full album plus 2 bonus tracks

By the time poet, singer-songwriter, and artist Lizzy Mercier Descloux recorded 1984's 'Zulu Rock', she'd marked herself out as both a globe trotter with more passport stamps than Tintin and a musical innovator whose loose, arty spirit could be applied to styles as varied as no wave, Bavarian oompa and Soweto jive. She'd also established a tight-knit threesome with muse/former lover Michel Esteban and producer/on-off lover Adam Kidron, who all reunited to follow 'Zulu Rock' a surprise hit in her native France - with something that, once again, represented a complete about-turn.

The location, this time, was Rio De Janeiro, a suitably exotic location to follow their sojourn in Soweto given that Brazil had recently emerged from twenty years of dictatorship. But unlike 'Zulu Rock''s broad appropriation of the local sound, One For The Soul borrows very liberally from Brazilian culture. The aim, says Kidron, was to "reimagine the blues", but Lizzy’s musical essence was in flux. “A Word Is A Wah" meshes reggae with her beloved accordion, “Women Don't Like Me” is wild, new wave pop, and she even wanders into soul territory, with whispery lounge versions of Al Green's “Simply Beautiful”. Most notable is the album's foray into jazz, and the fact that Chet Baker, the master jazz trumpeter, blew his last on “Fog Horn Blues” and the sensuous “Off Off Pleasure”.

Rio was to be the last great hurrah of Lizzy and Michel’s global recording adventures, and although work proceeded apace, the experience was often quite tense. "The sessions were tough work,” says Kidron, in the new liner notes by Vivien Goldman accompanying this deluxe reissue. “Lizzy never quite got singing, no matter how much she drank, and no matter how hard she tried. Chet was very much at the drug-ravaged end of his life and had very little stamina or dexterity left… but there is a deep, sad, lyrical tone to his performances on the album.”

So fraught were the sessions, it's a miracle that such a cohesive, sparky record emerged. The record-buying public did not agree, and as the album crashed and burned, so did the relationship between its three heroes. Lizzy was, for the first time, about to take on the world alone – and there was but one album left in her. 

TRACK LISTING

1 One For The Soul
2 Simply Beautiful
3 Fog Horn Blues
4 Women Don’t Like Me
5 My Funny Valentine
6 Sound Of Leblon Beach / Garden Of Alas
7 God-Spell Me Wrong
8 Off Off Pleasure
9 Long Voodoo Ago
10 Queen Of Overdub Kisses
11 A World Is A Whah
12 Scala Saga Samba
13 Love Streams
14 Let’s Get It On (Bonus Track) *
15 Bravado (Bonus Track) *
* Bonus Tracks 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

In 2012, Country Funk 1969-1975 (Volume I) gathered together songs from a genre with no name. It’s a genre created not from geography or shared ideology but a term applied retrospectively based solely on the feel of the songs: hip-swinging rhythms with bourbon on the breath. These were songs to make your cowboy boots itchy, written and performed by the likes of Bobbie Gentry, Johnny Jenkins and Link Wray. Songs that encompass the elation of gospel with the sexual thrust of the blues; country hoedown harmonies cut with inner city grit. Compiled from tracks dating from the late ‘60s to the mid ’70s, Country Funk is the sound of country music blending with sounds and scenes from coast to coast, white America’s heartland music blending with the melting pot as the nation assessed its identity in advance of its bicentennial year.

The good news for the people who fell in love with the first volume of Country Funk is this: there’s plenty more where that came from. Light In The Attic has followed up that first 16-track disc with a second volume, Country Funk Volume II 1967 – 1974, and a new set of loose-talking, lap steel-twanging tracks. On the single CD / 2xLP volume you’ll find household names like Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Kenny Rogers, Jackie DeShannon, JJ Cale, Bobby Darin and Dolly Parton. You’ll also find obscure artists like Bill Wilson, whose lost Ever Changing Minstrel album was produced by the feted Dylan producer Bob Johnston, and Thomas Jefferson Kaye, noted producer of Gene Clark’s opus No Other. Gene Clark’s here too, as half of Dillard & Clark, wringing raw emotion from The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down”.

All of the individuals featured have a story to tell, whether it’s that of the sidelined session musician, the fading star or the country upstart. There’s Donnie Fritts (“Sumpin’ Funky Goin’ On”), whose roots stretch back to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and who has played keyboard for Kris Kristofferson for decades. There’s Canadian group Great Speckled Bird, who joined Janis Joplin and more on 1970’s Festival Express tour. There’s Hoyt Axton, who along with singing the harmonica-sucking ode to “California Women”, also took a role in Gremlins. There’s Jim Ford, who Sly Stone once described as “the baddest white man on the planet”. And there’s Billy Swan, who kicks proceedings off with a soul-stirring organ, a lazy kickdrum and his rockabilly vocals echoing like a croon into the grand canyon.

Compiled and presented once again by the team behind Volume I (DJ and music supervisor Zach Cowie plus Light In The Attic’s Matt Sullivan and Patrick McCarthy), the release also includes a reunion of writer Jessica Hundley and Jess Rotter (original album/label artwork and new illustrations by) in the form of a comic book called “The Hot Dawgs".

It may be the genre that had no name, but there’s plenty of gas in the country funk trunk yet.

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.

Of all the great back catalogues in the history of rock, Bob Dylan’s is among the most covered, his acolytes ranging from The Byrds to Adele via Manfred Mann and Guns N’ Roses. But something tells us you won’t have heard anything quite like 'Dylan’s Gospel' by The Brothers and Sisters, a choir of Los Angeles session singers brought gloriously to the fore for a very special, one-off record.

Originally released in 1969 on Ode Records, this rare and sought-after album finds the California collective covering a clutch of Dylan classics in the era’s revolutionary gospel style. Produced by Lou Adler, soon to work his magic on Carole King’s mega-successful Tapestry, and arranged by Gene Page, noted for his work for Motown, the performers were largely unknown, but many went on to find great acclaim. Merry Clayton, the powerhouse singer best known for sparring with Mick Jagger on Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” (and star of the recent documentary 20 Feet from Stardom), appears here, as does Edna Wright of The Honeycones and Gloria Jones who recorded the original version of “Tainted Love” in 1965.
The cast of 27 singers also includes Ruby Johnson, Shirley Matthews, Clydie King, Patrice Holloway, Julia Tillman and more. The tracklist includes some of the best-loved Dylan songs from the singer songwriter’s most productive decade, including “Lay Lady Lay”, “All Along The Watchtower”, “My Back Pages” and “Just Like A Woman”.

The genesis of the project was Lou Adler, the music business visionary who staged the legendary Monterey International Pop Festival. He imagined a project that combined the songs of Dylan with L.A.‘s most sought after session singers, most of which began their singing in the Baptist churches of South Los Angeles. “Listening to Dylan’s songs, I felt there was a gospel-like feel to them, both spiritually and lyrically,” Adler says in the liner notes. “So those two ideas, to work with these singers and to explore that side of Dylan – came together.”

Recording sessions at Sound Recorders Studios in Hollywood were a four-day party, with food, drink and far more musicians than were ordered, many of the singers bringing along cousins, mothers, partners and more. Carole King came to hear, as did Peggy Lipton and Papa John Phillips. It was a rock ‘n’ roll version of a gospel church. “Lou just put on a big, crazy party,” remembers Edna Wright. “He had all these people together, all this raw talent. And we were there for nothing but the love of singing.”
Presented in this long-overdue reissue by Light In The Attic, this oft-overlooked album is a must for fans of Dylan. The word of Dylan has rarely sounded so stirring.

* 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

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 "UFO" The album 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 with 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). "UFO" is a slice of American pop music filtered from the murky depths of Los Angeles, by way of the deep south.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jerome
2. Plain As Your Eyes Can See
3. Roll Back The Time
4. Whistle Stop
5. Rosey
6. Highways
7. U.F.O.
8. So Natural
9. Johnny
10. Sandman

"Di Doo Dah" is the first true solo album from British born actress, model, singer, mother, and French national treasure, Jane Birkin. Emerging as a creative and beatific force in London's Swinging 60s, she met Parisian provocateur Serge Gainsbourg in 1968 on the film set of Slogan and birthed one of the most fantastic creative collaborations the world has ever known. After the 1969 duet album "Je T'Aime… Moi Non Plus" and the landmark "L'Histoire De Melody Nelson" Jane was ready for her own namesake debut. "Di Doo Dah" sees Birkin, Gainsbourg, and co-conspirator Jean-Claude Vannier ("L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches") meld Jane's fragile vocals with jazz, rock, and lush orchestral textures: a perfect album for living and loving.

So what exactly does "Di Doo Dah" mean? 'Nothing at all!' replied Birkin in a BBC interview from 1973. But this album is far from a throwaway, showing a maturity and musical understanding from all parties involved. By the early 70s, this lady was already a mother and very much aware of traditional gender roles as well as the sexual revolution - clearly able to plumb the necessary emotional depths required to translate Serge's madcap lyrics and songs. It is true that in Birkin, Serge had finally found his match and most transcendent muse. And although the couple eventually went their separate ways, they left us all whistling much more than "Zipp-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in the process.

After 7 years in the business with 49 titles under their belt - ranging from French provocateur Serge Gainsbourg to Detroit psych-soul master Six to Rodriguez - how does Light In The Attic celebrate its 50th release? By bringing you their pinnacle album to date...

Over 5 years in the making, and with the attention to detail and elaborate packaging the label is known for, LITA050 is none other than the never-before-released 1968-72 demos of Texas-born maverick songwriting legend Kris Kristofferson. With the outlaw highwayman's full blessing LITA presents Kristofferson's honest and upfront formative takes on the tunes that would eventually become part of the great American songbook. Since penning these numbers (many of which were written during the late-to-mid 60's while working as a janitor for Columbia Records in Nashville), over 500 artists including patron saint Johnny Cash, one time lover Janis Joplin, and coactor Bob Dylan (to name but three) have covered Kristofferson's material.

While we shouldn't forget his vast commercial accomplishments as an award winning recording artist and actor in more than 70 films (working under Martin Scorsese and Sam Peckinpah) , it's these soul-stirring demos that laid the groundwork for his rough and tumble creative journey.

First time ever available (with full approval from Kris Kristofferson), includes 60 page full colour booklet with testimonials from Dennis Hopper and Merle Haggard. Unseen photos, archival material, original Kris-penned lyrics.

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!