Edsel レコード& CD

Review: Scottish funk and r&b group The Average White Band had a fine series of disco and soul hits back in their heyday in the 1970s. As well as originals like their best known smash hit 'Pick Up the Pieces' they also served up superb covers like 'Let's Go Round Again.' AWB is their most successful album and it now turns a full half a centre old so gets a special reissue on Edsel across no fewer than 15 CDs. The album was number two for three weeks to Elton John's Greatest Hits upon release in 1974 and will no doubt do big numbers again all these years later.

Review: John Luongo is a Bostonian disco legend and although his contributions to the proliferation of the sound are more than noted within the industry, his recognition among regular old music fans seems, as his own estate puts it, "to have slipped through the cracks of dance history." Demon hopes to change all that with this new multi-format box set of his music, which aims to memorialize him as one of the most influential DJs and mixers of his day. Luongo's many credits include remixes of Jackie Moore's 'This Time Baby', 'Vertigo / Relight My Fire' by Dan Hartman and Patti Labelle's 'Music Is My Way Of Life'. Luongo also went on to establish a production career in his own right, and his legacy is more than cemented here. This box set compiles his most striking tracks in a 4xCD compilation, as well as many other trinkets and rarities including a 32-page booklet and an in-depth essay from Alexis Petridis.

Review: Belinda Carlisle undertook a huge world tour back in 2022 and 2023 and in the wake of that she has now dropped the second volume in a series of media book sets of her recordings. This instalment of Decades takes in all of the tracks off her four albums Real from 1993, A Woman And A Man from 1996, Voila from 2007 and Wilder Shores from 2017. As such there are plenty of her well known hits here from 'Big Scary Animal' to 'Lay Down Your Arms' to 'Always Breaking My Heart' as well as some covers of some well and lesser known French songs.

Review: While they might be best known for one mega-hit, Pete Burns' Dead Or Alive were much more than 'You Spin Me Round'. Emerging just ahead of the new romantics era, their embrace of synth-pop collided with an antagonistic spirit rooted in punk. Capped off with the flamboyant theatrics of Burns' voice and appearance, and you have one of the all-time greats of the era, amply celebrated on this singles collection which features some of the killer extended mixes and alternative versions that make their 12"s as essential as their LPs. At 180 tracks spread over 27 discs, there's a lot to chew on - much more than just a one-hit wonder.

Review: Electribe 101's 1990 debut album, Electribal Memories, is undoubtedly one of the strongest sets of the loved-up Balearic house era - a long-player firmly rooted in the Ecstasy experience, from the piano-sporting, wide-eyed tactility of house music of the period, to the after-hours, comedown-friendly downtempo soulfulness that the band's creative force and lead singer, Billie Ray Martin, was always so adept at delivering. This 'Deluxe Edition' expands the album across four CDs via a deep archive dive from dance music historian Bill Brewster. The DJ and author offers-up a wealth of released (and unreleased) club mixes, early versions and alternate takes, while the accompanying booklet features reflections from Billie-Ray Martin and an extensive essay from Pete Paphides.

Review: Juno Reactor are without much doubt, the most successful and important Goa and psy-trance related artist of the 90s. From 1993 to 2000, the band was in lock and step with the growing sound and scene across the world within trance music. This five-disc boxset gathers all five albums they made plus material they did for movies like Matrix and Mortal Kombat Annihilation. Composer, producer, musician and performer Ben Watkins is an essential innovator of modern electronic music. Over the course of nearly 30 years, Watkins has created a unique driving fusion of electronica, orchestral and global music executed on an epic & symphonic scale. Every trance and 90s electronic music fan should have this retrospect from this ground breaking act.

Review: Originally released in 2013 and celebrating its ten-year anniversary just a little late, Bloodsports was the sixth full-length and much needed return to form from London's glam-centric alt-rock staple Suede. Arriving more than a full decade after 2002's A New Morning, the LP marked the longest gap between projects from the group as issues stemming from addiction as well as the commercial underperformance of the aforementioned album led to a seven-year hiatus. Reuniting with longtime producer Ed Buller, for the first time since 1996's Coming Up, while re-enlisting former keyboardist Neil Codling who originally departed in 2001, the end result would be not only their most acclaimed work since their last outing with Buller but rejuvenate the Suede camp entirely, as we've since been treated to three more subsequent LPs, with the most recent, criminally underrated Autofiction lading in 2022.

Review: Although Salsoul Records and West End Records are more widely associated with the original New York Disco story, SAM Records - founded by Romania-born Sam Weiss in 1975 - also released a wealth of killer material during that era. This three-disc retrospective, which comes accompanied by detailed liner notes by the Guardian's Alexis Petridis, tells the story of the label via a mix of genuine disco anthems, early boogie gems, key 12" versions mixed by the likes of Shep Pettibone, John Jellybean' Benitez and Jonathan Fearing, and lesser-celebrated cult classics. All the label's key artists (think John Davis & The Monster Orchestra, K.I.D, Gary's Gang and Rhyze) are present, along with noted 'one-hit wonders' such as David McPherson, Mike & Brenda Sutton, Vicky D and Lucy Hawkins. A must-have for disco heads old and new!