​The third album of Blue and Broke will entertain you from start to finish, and beyond.  Made with love and skills, surprises included.  Night Shadows grows with time!

Cherry Red and Esoteric put together some fifty tracks on three CDs, showing what ‘underground ’music meant in Britain in the year 1969, when a new generation of musicians took over, soaking up completely unrelated influences such as jazz, classical and folk. Call it ‘eclectic’, but ‘underground’ covers anything that wasn’t (or wasn’t intended to be) commercial, cheap or middle of the road, often put out on independent labels and to be performed in underground venues. The music was part of a social movement – think the underground press - as had been the case since the onset of ‘beat’ music played by long-haired musicians who had dropped the stage uniform and spoke their mind about the state of the nation rather than praising the moon in June.
What’s on the play-list then? Early tunes by newcomers Yes, hit-makers (Fleetwood Mac, Thunderclap Newman), lovely bands that would remain unsuccessful (Sunforest, Audience), idiosyncratic figures like Michael Chapman, folk (Fairport), jazz (Third Ear Band), blues (Taste), harder rock (Jody Grind) …. Quite an assembly. The term ‘underground’ is a bit too broad to my taste here, as I seem to remember ‘underground’ first and foremost meant alternative, mind-expanding, experimental, non-commercial, questioning all common values.
Have a look at the track-listing and decide for yourself.
Radio 68  will play choice tracks on Sunday 08 and Tuesday 10 August.

​The first EP from the Canadian band DEREV. You can hear the potential of both writers, so the listener can have faith in future work.

The Sorrows scored a hit with ‘Take A Heart’ in 1965, released a first LP of the same name and that was about it.Hit-wise. A year later, singer Don Fardon went for a solo career. Another year later, the band released the single that gave its title to this 4cd box set, suggesting they were a flashy Summer Of Love act, which they were not. Another LP followed in 1969, when pop music had turned into rock, but, again, it wasn’t to be.
Having listened to the 90+ tracks of this box set, the conclusion must be that The Sorrows were first and foremost a fantastic beat group, who used fuzzy guitars, speed and rhythm to excellent effect, think ‘Take A Heart’, ‘Let Me In’, ‘She’s Got the Action’ or ‘Teenage Letter’. It’s now called ‘freakbeat’, a term that didn’t exist at the time.
Naturally, this wonderful package yields many surprises, such as ‘Ypotron’, the theme they wrote for an Italian spy movie!
At any rate, fans of the band and good pop music will here find everything The Sorrows ever trust to vinyl, including a live show from 1980, Italian and German singles, forgotten tracks engineered by Joe Meek, an album that reached acetate status only, and so further. As usual, Cherry Red provides a nicely illustrated and informative booklet.
Radio 68  plays choice tracks on Sunday 01 and Tuesday 03 August.  

​A strong debut album from an unknown angle. Proof that there is still plenty of unknown talent hidden!

​Pollo O'Keary and band master the art of keeping her sound divergent and exciting. Polly creates a fusion of blues with swing, rhumba, funk and exciting blues rock. Her music reflects also the life of a modern blues woman. Handsome and highly recommended!

​When you can write and compose such beautiful poetry, you must be a very intelligent and strong woman Aafke Romeijn. Great!

​This third album is the next logical step in Gizelle Smith’s musical career. But on a personal level, I would have preferred that she remained more loyal to soul and funk. 

​Refreshing and catchy songs kicking a conscience.  Nice!  

​A debut album that fits perfectly with nostalgic soul lovers. Great to hear that sound again. And PM Warson is coming to the Netherlands in November for three shows.

​Always looking for new angles when compiling albums is no problem at all for the Koko-Mojo team. This 'Let's Go Latin' testifies to this, a collection of vocal groups characterized by harmonious singing. The heydays of these groups were from the mid-fifties to the early sixties. The 32 tracks on this album all date from this period. What immediately becomes clear is that the doo-wop genre lends itself extremely well to songs that create a 'Latin' atmosphere.
It is always surprising and fun to discover that an enormous amount of rhythm & blues en rock-‘n-roll solid music was recorded in the middle of the last century. This album that shines the spotlight on the vocal groups that released doo-wop in a latin version is another proof of that. Recommended!

​An outstanding album if you want to relive the soul atmosphere of the sixties and seventies. Alan proves that he’s a real good songwriter, musician and producer of that kind of songs!

​Let go your imagination or get in trance on experimental and cinematic sounds of Sonar Atmosfera.

​In one word: sublimely!

​The warm voice of Amparo Sanchez and her stimulating dance songs invites us all to enjoy a tropical life.

​Labilia Srl, is a cultural company engaged in musical productions, events and training where Pugno is, in addition to being a musician, also the artistic director and coordinator of the musical projects. For the release 'Resized' multi-instrumentalist Maurizio Pugno found his soulmates in Raffo Barbi (vocals), Franz Piombino (bass), Alex Fiorucci (keyboards) and drummer Riccardo Fiorucci. The traditional Negro folk protest song 'Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around' is a catchy opening song. It is an African American civil rights song that was once recorded by, among others. Joan Baez, The Staples Singers and Eartha Kitt. The eleven tracks are a range of sounds that reflect into the contemporary blues musical experience. Besides some original Pugno songs we also find a lot of cover versions. But those songs are not played indiscriminately.
No, every song gets its own interpretation. And that is something that we find so handsome in this release. Th record 'Resized' is an out-of-scale blues album by an equally out-of-scale blues band. Highly recommended…!

​With regard to the 'Ten Commandments of Rock 'n' Roll', we are over halfway with 'Be Faithful, Let's Jump The Broomstick', also the sixth commandment. This means something like 'let's live together and stay faithful'. Love therefore radiates from the 30 tracks, carefully composed by Mark Armstrong.
Volume 6 of 'The Ten Commandments Of Rock 'n' Roll' again contains excellent rock 'n' roll and rocking rhythm & blues. August 6 is the release date of volume 7, which is titled ‘Be Empathic, She's A Flirt.’ We are already looking forward to it and keep an eye on this site for the review.

​This wonderful compilation of Yacht soul brings covers by black artists of West Coast pop & rock tracks. It’s a wonderful album from Too Slow To Disco, that goes beyond racial boundaries. Music is a universal thing!

​This is the brand new album by smooth jazz saxophonist Greg Chambers. It will certainly appeal to lovers of smooth sax. Highly recommended!

​With this album we are once again in the 'Koko-Mojo Original' series. The compiler is still Little Victor aka 'The Mojo Man' and again he selected 28 great tracks. The title is taken from the song that doo-wop group The Flamingos recorded for the Checker label in 1956. Whether you can also call the other 27 tracks 'shilly' is up to you, but they are fun in any case.
'Shilly Dilly' contains 28 super rhythm & blues tracks in various forms from the heydays of the genre, some of which even contain a good dose of humor. Successful compilation!

​Surprisingly fine album from this unknown Irish band. A must have for every folkrock fan.  Enchanted by the songs Crystal Ball and Somebody, my player won’t stop repeating.

​With Barry Etris’ quirky but very good version of Cliff Richard's 'The Young Ones', the last track on the first volume, we were halfway through the party. We now immediately start jumping on volume 2 with 'Jump Rock and Roll' by The Marvels , who recorded it for the ABC label in 1956. This second volume is also the last in this miniseries. Again, it serves 30 songs for jumping, rockin’ 'n' rollin’, strollin' and boppin'. Songs that can again be situated in the period 1956-1963, say 'the golden years' for the most diverse forms of rock 'n' roll.
‘Summertime Scorchers, vol. 1 and 2' are the perfect soundtrack for an awesome, sun-drenched beach party, although these two compilations can certainly also make your garden party unforgettable.

Time to give the Hungarian band Omega credit.  Some say its a masterpiece op progrock. Working is for sure worth listening. The blend of pop, rock, space and prog didn’t really work in the West, but was very important for Hungary.

​This debut album from jazz singer Rebecca Angel contains a variety of musical styles, such as pop, jazz, soul, classical and Brazilian music. And Rebecca knows it all! A very nice introduction to her softly singing, and I hope we get to hear more from her!

​Apparently there are still a lot of recordings of female African-American singers gathering dust. A shame, because as once again appears from volume 7 in the 'Rock And Roll Vixens' series, there are a lot of gems in between. Gems of singers who are hardly known to us or even not at all. After all, at the time of these recordings, from the early fifties to roughly the mid sixties, most of those recordings did not reach Europe. Fortunately, they now reach us through carefully curated collectors like this one. It is also not all lesser known ladies who adorn this album.
'Rock and Roll Vixens' is a series that is full of great female rocking rhythm & blues. As this volume shows again, a series that certainly deserves a place in the record collection of every fan of authentic, awesome and dynamic rhythm & blues by Afro-American singers from the middle of the last century.