The Reverend Horton Heat - Space Heater (USA 1998)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

This was one of those wonderful bonus finds that occasionally fall into your hands when collecting music. I was browsing in a pretty nondescript music store while on holiday several years ago when I spotted this baby for 5 bucks in a bin. I wasn't really there to buy any thing, but I had heard of Horton and for a fiver I thought it was worth the risk. This later day Punkabilly album is well polished, heavy enough and very well written enough to impress me considerably and the best find since a mate found Elvis Hitler in another bargain bin several years earlier. The Trio of "Lie Detector", Hello Mrs. Darkness" and "Jimbo Song" are the real highlights here, with Jimbo being an absolute punkabilly classic(check out all three tracks on this Roddus Sampler) while the rest of the record is still entertaining and pretty bloody impressive for a bargain bin find.

My rating 4/5

Fusion - Border Town (USA 1969)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Quite probably my favorite album found in that little bookshop that I mentioned in the previous post and most fortunately another one I have finally found on CD. This awesome late 60s showstopper is another fabulous Blues/Rock/Jazz/Fusion set with Beefheartian overtones, inflicted by the singer, who sounds a little like the captain himself. Every song is awesome, with no duds and plenty stylistic changes to keep it interesting. Stand out tracks include the wonderfully bluesy "Struttin' Down Mainstreet", which really sets the pace for the rest of the album, the very catchy "One More Hand" and the very Jazzy finale of "Erebus"

A Classic LP, still sounding fantastic after 40 odd years. Rating 5/5

Rock Workshop - The Very Last Time (UK 1971)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Many moons ago, I used to browse a small second hand book shop, nestled amongst a small group of other rundown shops in an outer suburb of the central city. This particular shop also had a fairly large collection of used vinyl, which was the main reason I went there. Back in those days, I was always on the lookout for obscure early 70s rock bands and occasionally I would find a real gem or two in this shop, this album being one of them. I parted company with this album, after much enjoyment, when I sold my vinyl collection back in 98' but was lucky enough to find a re-release on Cd a couple of years back.

Rock Workshop was a short lived project and this was their second and last LP. This exceptional record is a great mix of Funky, Soulful, Motown influenced Rock/Jazz fusion with some great guitar work, plenty of cool jazzy brass licks and plenty of variety to keep it interesting. A mix of uptempo rockin' funky tracks with some slower folk tinged numbers and cool soulful Male/Female vocals and a very impressive extended jam on the outstanding "Street War". A somewhat political album with anti war sentiments and what with the unlimited plethora of obscure 60s & 70s  Rock, Fusion and Prog albums posted on so many blogs in Internet land, a set that stands well above many of those rarities that I have managed to hear. One of several little masterpieces that I managed to discover in that little shop.

As with many re-issues, this Cd has several bonus tracks of live and demo tracks cut between the two albums, all previously unreleased. The first 3 bonus tracks feature the Manic Alex Harvey on Vocals, as he also sang on the first album(Which I haven't heard). These numbers are a lot more chaotic with some real free jazz blowing thrown in as well  and all are good but not as good as the original songs on this album. The rest of the bonus songs are interesting and ok but don't really add anything to the original album either. I Rate the original LP 5/5 and the CD release with extra tracks 4/5.

Joe Louis Walker - Blues Survivor (USA 1993)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Some years ago I stumbled across a brilliant compilation of contemporary Electric Blues (for an absolute bargain price) from the Verve Records "Gitanes" Imprint. This compilation is packed full of outstandingly well recorded  modern blues and has become a favorite over the preceding years. Slowly I have been collecting any Blues CDs that I come across supporting the "Gitanes" label from the mid 90s(although they have been not easy to find) and I find them to be stunningly produced examples of great contemporary blues, with this set from Joe Louis Walker is no exception.

A full band plays on this set, with some tracks with  brass section and choir. Joe's Guitar playing is wonderful and his singing and style of blues reminds me a bit of Stevie Ray Vaughn. The Overall sound is very polished and sounds very nice blasting out of the Cyrus. The songs are not outstanding but very strong and accomplished with a mix of upbeat numbers mixed with some slower numbers and some jazzy bits as well. A most enjoyable release which doesn't flag even after 60 minutes. Rating 4/5

Pearl Jam - Twenty -Tuesday 20th September 2011

An Uncle Roddus Movie Review

Mrs. Roddus, Bless her heart, spotted that this doco was being shown in town for one night only, and due to her new found love of Pearl Jam (since I took her to see them here in 2009) and her lust for Eddie Vedder, she paid for the tickets to go.

Pretty much par for the course as far as band docos go, with plenty of rare and original footage of the band early in their career and indeed footage from the previous band (Mother Love Bone) that two of the founding members were in back in the late 80s. Some good concert footage and although pretty egocentric towards the bands success, it was pleasing to see them paying tribute to the debt owed Nirvana and Kurt Cobain for leading the way for this type of music to crossover. An enjoyable film, if somewhat predictable and ending just in time with its two hour length, before it became too long. Fans of the band will enjoy it, fanatics of the band will have already seen a fair bit of the footage and know the story. Rating 3.5/5

VA - Nigeria Special - Modern Highlife Afro sounds and Nigerian Blues 1970-76 (Strut 2007)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Here it is, the last of the Afro compilations that I have on CD(for Now) and another excellent Strut release, with this volume being a double to help dissipate the large quantity of totally brilliant Afro-centric music they have unearthed.  I still have another couple of these Nigeria Special collections on the hard drive, but I think that this one is the best of the series, full of sublime tunes with unforgettable melodies and a real mix of different styles, not just all heavy Afrofunk.

Time and laziness prevents me from ranting on in more detail about the awesome quality of this set and anyway, the music speaks for its self. For those who dig this sort of music and want to explore some more, then I highly recommend this release and rate it 5/5.

Well that about wraps up the all the Afro comps that I have on CD for the moment. More on the way in the near future(I hope).

VA - Nigeria Rock Special - Psychedelic Afro Rock And Fuzz Funk In 1970s Nigeria

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Back to Nigeria again as I take a breather from the Rugby World Cup, being held here, with another quick review of yet another African compilation, this being the 2nd to last of my recent CD purchases of these excellent 70s Afro music collections.

This set is one I didn't have on my hard drive, but I picked it up at a local music store last Christmas, along with the "Ghana Special" and  "World Ends" comps which I posted about earlier.There are several volumes to the Nigeria Special Series which are compiled and released on the wonderful Soundways Label.

As the title suggests, this set is more rooted in Rock than the usual Funk that we normally groove to with these comps, but that don't mean that this stuff don't make ya want to shake ya bootie. The Hygrades "In The Jungle" is a magnificent Afro-Psych extravaganza with some truly awesome Psychedelic sounding guitar pyrotechnics and there are plenty of other class groups here like Ofo The Black Company, Mono Mono and the Funkees, which have been featured on the Voodoo funk Playlists.

After a very enjoyable set with plenty of wonderful guitaring, this disc closes with the monumental Afro-Psych Classic "Chant To Mother Earth", which must be heard to be believed.

A great collection keeping up the very high standards of the Soundways catalogue, gets a rating of 4.5/5.

VA - Ghana Sounds Vol 2 - Afrobeat, Funk And Fusion in 70s Ghana (Soundways 2004)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Still on planet Afro Groove with another totally mind blowing Soundways release and so looking forward to getting my hands on a physical copy of Vol 1 as well. With my collection of these Afrofunk CDs growing rapidly and several more awaiting more moolah to purchase, these Reviews are really just mini rants from me about how utterly fantastic this music is and how much it just blows my mind and that every one should be grooving to this wonderful music.

Of course this second volume of Ghana Sounds goes a long way to showing that Ghana was just as capable of producing this outstanding music as was Nigeria at the time, and this mighty comp is just stuffed full of non-stop funkadelic, Afrodelic, jazzadelic, grooveadelic and beatadelic muse to feed your feet and your soul.

Another 5/5. Dig It!

VA - The Danque!! - A Compilation Of West African Funk (Afrodisiac 2003)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Yet another Afrofunk Comp recently arrived from Amazon and one which I had found on some blog a while back. When I first found this particular comp(and another which I have yet to obtain on CD) I thought they were actually original collections from the actual time at which the music herein was originally recorded. I now know that this is a more contemporary release and judging from the packaging and lack of liner notes and band information, a budget release as well. Although not quite of the awesomely high standard  as the Strut and Soundways releases, this is still a very very good collection of Afrofunky groovieness. Definitely a bit more heavy on the funk angle with the African influences a little more subtle but still discernible to give the music that exotic feel.

I don't have too much else to say in detail about all these African compilations I am collecting except that all the ones I have so far are bursting at the seams with fantastic music, toe tappingly groovie with excellent vocal melodies to equal any classic western Pop and also loaded with brilliant funky jazzy brass instrumentation. I just love this music.

Overall, this compilation pretty well keeps up that standard and has no really weak tracks, and so will get a Roddus Rating of 4/5

VA - Nigeria 70 - Lagos Jump:Heavyweight Afrobeat, Highlife and Afro Funk (Strut 2009)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

The second volume of the awesome Strut Records Nigeria 70 series completes my purchase of this 3 volume set(with maybe more to come). As with the others, chock full of funky Afro classics and not a dud track to be found. Another essential disc of this wonderful music from the fertile music scene of 1970s Nigeria. Rating 4.5/5

The Mothers Of Invention - Weasels Ripped My Flesh (USA 1970)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

As I was working in my office the other day with my Ipod sitting on my desk still playing with the headphones attached, I happened to hear the most excellent "Directly From My Heart To You" seeping out of the phones. I decided that, as I had the time, I would dig out the offending album from which it came and give it a listen, as I hadn't heard it in quite a while.

In light of some of the Sun Ra and John Zorn I have been getting into lately, " Didja Get Any Onya", The opening track from this first period Mothers of Invention album fits quite well, with its free sounding Jazz madness and Avant-Garde leaning and other all round weirdness. A prime slab of Zappa weirdness. It then segues into something completely different with the aforementioned "Direct...", a Jean Luc Ponty violin led slow blues number which along with the brilliant psych rocker"My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama" are the two most normal sounding tracks from this disc.

Culled from both live and studio material recorded between 1967-1969, "Weasels..." is one of The Mothers albums that never really got a lot on my attention(apart from the two brilliant "Normal" songs mentioned above)due to the difficult experimental material that comprises most of this LP.

Listening now, later in life, with much more listening experience under my belt, I am able to appreciate this kind of music more(although I have always enjoyed much of Zappa's weirdness) and i must say that the opening track is a most enjoyable and classic peice of Zappa weirdness. After the interlude of "Direct...", track three resumes the Avant-free jazz style, sounding almost industrial in its manufacture and hits some of those brilliant 60s Zappa rhythms before getting even more bizarre with the vocal antics, but starts to loose the plot with the infamous piggy noises towards the end.

'Toads of the Short Forest" is a more conventional sounding instrumental with discernible melody and reminds me a bit of some of the stuff Zappa will do much later with his Sinclaver, before degenerating in to more Jazzy wackiness with impressive free sounding Sax. Another Zappa, Varese, Coleman hybred.

"Get A Little" is a pleasant shot number with Zappa presenting some nice guitar noodling over a good backing track. The "E.B.M.B" is a slower Jazz/Rock fusion type of instrumental with Vibes played in the beginning before descending into more avant territory and then oscillating between the two styles a bit . Pure Zappa and incomparable.

The next track is similar in style to the above mentioned "Toads..." for about 45 seconds before lapsing into some aimless sounding weirdness and then segueing into the aforementioned wonderful "my guitar...".

"Oh No!" is a sort of Zappa ballad with a kind of Doo-wop cum operatic vocal, an interesting little dittie.

"O.C.L.T" is one of those great Zappa guitar instrumentals with Frank letting rip on the strings for some nice pyrotechnics, a minor Zappa classic and we end this set with the title track consisting  of a minute and a half of wall of noise that would make Throbbing Gristle proud, recorded at the end of a concert, before Frank bids us all goodnight.

Not the best Mothers record from this period, but still a classic of of 60's freak rock and chock full of signature Zappa. My Rating 4/5

Salah Ragab & The Cairo Jazz Band - Egyptian Jazz [1968-73]

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

I'm on a roll here tonight and as I am listening to this album as I was typing in my last review, after downloading it for a listen from a link directing me to it from the blog where I got the last album from that  I reviewed.

A quick post to say that this album contains the three tracks that so impressed me off the previous post and that the rest of the material on this album maintains the quality of the other three. Have been most impressed with all that I have heard off this set and totally recommend it for an enjoyable listen to a bit of World Jazz.

Rating 4/5

Check it out here

Sun Ra - The Sun Ra Arkestra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt (Released 1999)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

Sticking with Sun Ra for the moment with this interesting and rare release of Ra and Arkestra playing in Egypt with a fellow called  Salah Ragab, the founder of Egypt's  first Jazz band and the one who invited Ra to Egypt to play and record. in 1983/4. The first 3 tracks on this release were recorded by Ra and The Arkestra, with the first two written by Ragab. Both these tracks fit the Arkestra well and are not bad with some good solos and interesting rhythms, although "Dawn" gets a bit tiresome, maybe goes on a bit too long. The 18 Minute live version of "Watusa", although most probably very impressive in the context of a RA live show, with all the costumes and dancing ect...also gets a bit tiresome on record, especially with the long solely percussive section.

The Two Tracks "Ramadan" and  "A Farewell Theme" are preformed by the very impressive Cairo Jazz Band and "Oriental Mood" is preformed by a smaller group led by Ragab. All three tracks are very good Jazz compositions and fit well with Sun Ra with the Egyptian feel of their rhythms, most impressive and for me and the highlight of this release. This disc closes with a chaotic free jazz workout by the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble which isn't too bad and allows me to give this an overall Roddus Rating of 3.5/5.

For more info and to listen to this set check it out Here

Sun Ra And His Arkestra - Jazz in Silhouette (USA 1958)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

A small diversion from  reviewing some of the recent CD arrivals, but staying with the Jazz stuff(especially what with all the Masada Stuff that has arrived(more on that later)) and staying with Sun Ra, as I have been inspired to listen to some more of his music after reviewing "Live at Montreux" recently(must do a shop on Amazon for more Ra soon) and not to mention some of the interesting rare Ra stuff on the Adventure-Equation Blog . 

"Jazz in Silhouette" is another of the records that I borrowed from the local public library about the same time as the Live album mentioned above and it made such a big impression on me that it was the first Ra CD that I purchased several years back. Probably one of my favorites of the early Arkestra's 50's Saturn big band Swing/Bop discs. The influence from Ra's time with Fletcher Henderson earlier on had a big influence on the music of these early releases and so the music on this excellent disc is a lot more conventional sounding Jazz swing than much of his later compositions.

"Enlightenment", "Saturn" and "Velvet" are all very strong and very enjoyable swing numbers with some good solos and very good melody's which make them sound like they should be Jazz Standards, although the Liner notes suggest this album was little noticed at the time. "Ancient Aiethopia" is a bit more exotic and experimental with its Egyptian sounding rhythms and was a taste of what was to come from Ra. The rest of the album continues on with some more excellent swinging numbers  to keep the toes tapping and the set closes with the wonderful  11 Minute Bop work out of "Blues At midnight"

I have always really enjoyed this set and it would easily make my all time top 20 Jazz albums and so I would rate it 5/5.

VA - Nigeria 70 - Sweet Times: Afro-Funk, Highlife and Ju Ju From 1970s Lagos (Strut 2011)

An Uncle Roddus Album Review

79 Minutes of pure awesomeness from the consistently fabulous Strut Records with this third volume of the Nigeria 70 series, which kicked off with the first volume 1(reviewed Here) back in 2001 and was one of the first Afro-Funk Comps in the latest re-discovery of this brilliant music.

All three volumes of this set have recently arrived in my post box for my listening pleasure and the music on this volume is still up there in quality even after all the other comps of this type of music from Strut, Soundways and Analogue Africa, just to mention a few that i have been enjoying. The shear wonderfulness of the tracks on offer here is still outstanding. I don't need to talk about what this music sounds like as the title goes a long way towards that end but of course this disc is crammed full of all the usual great African rythems, jazzy melodic brass playing and some wonderful vocal melody's,sounding all the more exotic for being sung in Native African langauges. The first few tracks are excellent examples of Highlife and Ju Ju but not so much Afro-Funk. Tracks four and five are mind blowers with their sublime grooves and vocals and things settle down again for the Overly long "...JU JU Music" of track 6, before going stratospheric with the awesomely funky "Unity in Africa", which could be one of the coolest tracks of the whole series. The first half of this compilation is more in the Highlife and Juju vein and gets more Afro-funky in the later stages.

Plenty of sleeve notes and bits if info about the artists helps makes this another well executed Strut release and the re-mastering is also excellent.Rating 5/5