1
Steve Hiett - Are These My Memories?
2
Steve Hiett - Walking Across The Field
3
Steve Hiett - Summer Stroll
4
Steve Hiett - It’s Raining Tomorrow
5
Steve Hiett - Dancing In July
6
Steve Hiett - Shadows Across The Path
7
Steve Hiett - Waiting By The Car
8
Steve Hiett - Kinda Knew Anna
9
Steve Hiett - Love That Bird
10
Steve Hiett - More Rain In The Woods
11
Steve Hiett - Coming Back Again
12
Steve Hiett - I Saw Your Car
Worldwide no exceptions
CD Format Notes:
Previously unreleased material from Steve’s private recordings, remastered from the original masters, digipack, 6 page photography book with liner notes, 2 bonus tracks not on the vinyl version
CD Track List:
1 : Are These My Memories?
2 : Walking Across The Field
3 : Summer Stroll
4 : It’s Raining Tomorrow
5 : Dancing In July
6 : Shadows Across The Path
7 : Waiting By The Car
8 : Kinda Knew Anna
9 : Love That Bird
10 : More Rain In The Woods
11 : Coming Back Again
12 : I Saw Your Car
Release Notes:
Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).
While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.
Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.
Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.
Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.
More
CD Format Notes:
Previously unreleased material from Steve’s private recordings, remastered from the original masters, digipack, 6 page photography book with liner notes, 2 bonus tracks not on the vinyl version
CD Track List:
1 : Are These My Memories?
2 : Walking Across The Field
3 : Summer Stroll
4 : It’s Raining Tomorrow
5 : Dancing In July
6 : Shadows Across The Path
7 : Waiting By The Car
8 : Kinda Knew Anna
9 : Love That Bird
10 : More Rain In The Woods
11 : Coming Back Again
12 : I Saw Your Car
Release Notes:
Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).
While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.
Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.
Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.
Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.
More
More records from Steve Hiett
1
Steve Hiett - Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2
Steve Hiett - Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3
Steve Hiett - By The Pool
4
Steve Hiett - Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5
Steve Hiett - In The Shade
6
Steve Hiett - Looking Across The Street
7
Steve Hiett - Long Distance Look
8
Steve Hiett - Hot Afternoon
9
Steve Hiett - Crying In The Sun
10
Steve Hiett - The Next Time
11
Steve Hiett - Miss B.B. Walks Away
12
Steve Hiett - Sleep Walk
13
Steve Hiett - Standing There
World excluding Japan
2024 repress
LP Format Notes:
First re-issue since its original release in Japan in 1983, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, gatefold sleeve, 16 page photography book with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
A2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
A3 : By The Pool
A4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
A5 : In The Shade
A6 : Looking Across The Street
A7 : Long Distance Look
B1 : Hot Afternoon
B2 : Crying In The Sun
B3 : The Next Time
B4 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
B5 : Sleep Walk
B6 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
2024 repress
LP Format Notes:
First re-issue since its original release in Japan in 1983, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, gatefold sleeve, 16 page photography book with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
A2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
A3 : By The Pool
A4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
A5 : In The Shade
A6 : Looking Across The Street
A7 : Long Distance Look
B1 : Hot Afternoon
B2 : Crying In The Sun
B3 : The Next Time
B4 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
B5 : Sleep Walk
B6 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
1
Steve Hiett - Are These My Memories?
2
Steve Hiett - Walking Across The Field
3
Steve Hiett - Summer Stroll
4
Steve Hiett - It’s Raining Tomorrow
5
Steve Hiett - Dancing In July
6
Steve Hiett - Shadows Across The Path
7
Steve Hiett - Waiting By The Car
8
Steve Hiett - Kinda Knew Anna
9
Steve Hiett - Love That Bird
10
Steve Hiett - More Rain In The Woods
202r4 repress
Worldwide no exceptions
LP Format Notes:
Previously unreleased material from Steve’s private recordings, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, 4 page photography insert with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Are These My Memories?
A2 : Walking Across The Field
A3 : Summer Stroll
A4 : It’s Raining Tomorrow
A5 : Dancing In July
B1 : Shadows Across The Path
B2 : Waiting By The Car
B3 : Kinda Knew Anna
B4 : Love That Bird
B5 : More Rain In The Woods
Release Notes:
Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).
While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.
Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.
Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.
Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.
More
Worldwide no exceptions
LP Format Notes:
Previously unreleased material from Steve’s private recordings, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, 4 page photography insert with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Are These My Memories?
A2 : Walking Across The Field
A3 : Summer Stroll
A4 : It’s Raining Tomorrow
A5 : Dancing In July
B1 : Shadows Across The Path
B2 : Waiting By The Car
B3 : Kinda Knew Anna
B4 : Love That Bird
B5 : More Rain In The Woods
Release Notes:
Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).
While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.
Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.
Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.
Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.
More
1
Steve Hiett - Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2
Steve Hiett - Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3
Steve Hiett - By The Pool
4
Steve Hiett - Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5
Steve Hiett - In The Shade
6
Steve Hiett - Looking Across The Street
7
Steve Hiett - Long Distance Look
8
Steve Hiett - Hot Afternoon
9
Steve Hiett - Crying In The Sun
10
Steve Hiett - The Next Time
11
Steve Hiett - Miss B.B. Walks Away
12
Steve Hiett - Sleep Walk
13
Steve Hiett - Standing There
World excluding Japan
CD Track List:
1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3 : By The Pool
4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5 : In The Shade
6 : Looking Across The Street
7 : Long Distance Look
8 : Hot Afternoon
9 : Crying In The Sun
10 : The Next Time
11 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
12 : Sleep Walk
13 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
CD Track List:
1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3 : By The Pool
4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5 : In The Shade
6 : Looking Across The Street
7 : Long Distance Look
8 : Hot Afternoon
9 : Crying In The Sun
10 : The Next Time
11 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
12 : Sleep Walk
13 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
More records from Be With Records / Efficient Space
1
Steve Hiett - Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2
Steve Hiett - Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3
Steve Hiett - By The Pool
4
Steve Hiett - Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5
Steve Hiett - In The Shade
6
Steve Hiett - Looking Across The Street
7
Steve Hiett - Long Distance Look
8
Steve Hiett - Hot Afternoon
9
Steve Hiett - Crying In The Sun
10
Steve Hiett - The Next Time
11
Steve Hiett - Miss B.B. Walks Away
12
Steve Hiett - Sleep Walk
13
Steve Hiett - Standing There
World excluding Japan
2024 repress
LP Format Notes:
First re-issue since its original release in Japan in 1983, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, gatefold sleeve, 16 page photography book with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
A2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
A3 : By The Pool
A4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
A5 : In The Shade
A6 : Looking Across The Street
A7 : Long Distance Look
B1 : Hot Afternoon
B2 : Crying In The Sun
B3 : The Next Time
B4 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
B5 : Sleep Walk
B6 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
2024 repress
LP Format Notes:
First re-issue since its original release in Japan in 1983, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, gatefold sleeve, 16 page photography book with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
A2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
A3 : By The Pool
A4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
A5 : In The Shade
A6 : Looking Across The Street
A7 : Long Distance Look
B1 : Hot Afternoon
B2 : Crying In The Sun
B3 : The Next Time
B4 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
B5 : Sleep Walk
B6 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
1
Steve Hiett - Are These My Memories?
2
Steve Hiett - Walking Across The Field
3
Steve Hiett - Summer Stroll
4
Steve Hiett - It’s Raining Tomorrow
5
Steve Hiett - Dancing In July
6
Steve Hiett - Shadows Across The Path
7
Steve Hiett - Waiting By The Car
8
Steve Hiett - Kinda Knew Anna
9
Steve Hiett - Love That Bird
10
Steve Hiett - More Rain In The Woods
202r4 repress
Worldwide no exceptions
LP Format Notes:
Previously unreleased material from Steve’s private recordings, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, 4 page photography insert with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Are These My Memories?
A2 : Walking Across The Field
A3 : Summer Stroll
A4 : It’s Raining Tomorrow
A5 : Dancing In July
B1 : Shadows Across The Path
B2 : Waiting By The Car
B3 : Kinda Knew Anna
B4 : Love That Bird
B5 : More Rain In The Woods
Release Notes:
Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).
While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.
Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.
Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.
Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.
More
Worldwide no exceptions
LP Format Notes:
Previously unreleased material from Steve’s private recordings, remastered from the original masters, 140g vinyl, 4 page photography insert with liner notes.
LP Track List:
A1 : Are These My Memories?
A2 : Walking Across The Field
A3 : Summer Stroll
A4 : It’s Raining Tomorrow
A5 : Dancing In July
B1 : Shadows Across The Path
B2 : Waiting By The Car
B3 : Kinda Knew Anna
B4 : Love That Bird
B5 : More Rain In The Woods
Release Notes:
Three emotional years in the making, Be With and Efficient Space finally present Steve Hiett’s Girls In The Grass. Pressed alongside the long awaited reissue of his one-shot masterpiece Down On The Road By The Beach, these ten balearic soul instrumentals are of equal necessity; unrivalled beauty rescued from the fashion photographer-guitarist’s Paris Tapes (1986-1997).
While recordings unintended for release should often be approached with caution, this is a rare case of unheard material being assembled as an indispensable and coherent piece. Girls In The Grass is something super special. The light and shadow that defines Hiett’s music is arguably more compelling here. It speaks to us in a language that feels profound, yet entirely comforting and familiar.
Girls In The Grass reintroduces Hiett’s languid electric blues boogie, crafted on Saturday afternoons with fellow art director Simon Kentish. Kentish would cook, pour some wine and then utilise his arsenal of technology. He’d dial up a chugging rhythm, together with some ambient pads or keyboard textures, and anchor the weightless gauze of Hiett’s six-stringed touch.
Hiett’s guitar sings with the same clean, crisp tone as Down On The Road, animated by a carefree weekend groove. Unlike his defining album which was boiled under pressure, these subsequent sessions have all the time in the world. The naïve melodies chart a missing link between Vini Reilly’s ventures into electronica and Booker T, sounding like sun-warped takes on wordless, fractured non-hits from his heroes The Beach Boys.
Remastered for public pleasure by Simon Francis, these private moments are adorned with Hiett’s singular photography and feature typically idiosyncratic liner notes from Mikey IQ Jones.
More
1
Steve Hiett - Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2
Steve Hiett - Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3
Steve Hiett - By The Pool
4
Steve Hiett - Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5
Steve Hiett - In The Shade
6
Steve Hiett - Looking Across The Street
7
Steve Hiett - Long Distance Look
8
Steve Hiett - Hot Afternoon
9
Steve Hiett - Crying In The Sun
10
Steve Hiett - The Next Time
11
Steve Hiett - Miss B.B. Walks Away
12
Steve Hiett - Sleep Walk
13
Steve Hiett - Standing There
World excluding Japan
CD Track List:
1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3 : By The Pool
4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5 : In The Shade
6 : Looking Across The Street
7 : Long Distance Look
8 : Hot Afternoon
9 : Crying In The Sun
10 : The Next Time
11 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
12 : Sleep Walk
13 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
CD Track List:
1 : Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach
2 : Never Find A Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)
3 : By The Pool
4 : Roll Over, Beethoven - Out Of The Beach
5 : In The Shade
6 : Looking Across The Street
7 : Long Distance Look
8 : Hot Afternoon
9 : Crying In The Sun
10 : The Next Time
11 : Miss B.B. Walks Away
12 : Sleep Walk
13 : Standing There
Release Notes:
For the first time since its inception 36 years ago, Steve Hiett’s elusive Down On The Road By The Beach is finally made available outside of Japan. Most recognized in the fashion sphere as an English photographer and graphic designer, Hiett‘s transportive audio portraits amplify his serpentine guitar to the infinite blue, recorded across Paris, Tokyo and New York with no coastline in sight. Now widely celebrated as a desert island disc, very little is actually known of its unfathomable genesis.
A career devotee of Brian Wilson’s ground breaking harmonies, Hiett shot The Beach Boys for Rolling Stone - as well as The Doors, Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix (in one of his final performances at the 1970 Isle Of Wight Festival) - while establishing himself as a fashion photographer. Decamping to Paris in 1972, he began what would become 20-year collaborations with Vogue Paris and Marie Claire, printing his signature warm, saturated and vibrantly hued snapshots.
In 1982, representatives from Tokyo’s Galerie Watari visited him to propose a solo exhibition. Asking if he could insert a 7” of original music into the back of the exhibition catalogue, Hiett laid down ‘Blue Beach - Welcome To Your Beach’ in a Parisian radio station, playing all of the instruments himself, and two more cuts in New York with Yoko Ono, The Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan hired-gun Elliot Randall. Once dispatched, the phone began ringing off the hook with requests for him to fly to Tokyo. Assuming these long-distance callers were wanting him to check proofs for the book, it wasn’t until he arrived that he discovered CBS/Sony had facilitated an entire album. Heitt hastily gripped some petty cash, bought a guitar and retreated to his hotel room to start writing.
Entering the studio the following day, he was further surprised by a waiting room of session players known as Moonriders - one of Japan’s most acclaimed rock bands of the 1980s. Intimidated by their indecipherable sheet music, Hiett suggested Randall join them and with money being no object for major labels at the time, his wingman was on the next plane out of New York to finalise the high production indulgence. Near-ambient arrangements that float in a space between The Durutti Column, Steve Cropper and Ashra, Down On The Road By The Beach also crowns Hiett the master of recontextualization with his zero-gravity blues visions of Roll Over Beethoven, Santo & Johnny’s Sleep Walk and the 1967 Eddie Floyd soul hit Never Found A Girl.
Produced in coordination between Be With, Efficient Space and the artist, this definitive reissue is restored from original masters with vivid reproductions of the Down On The Road By The Beach exhibition catalogue, intended to accompany its original release, and extensive liner notes penned by fellow Steve Hiett obsessive Mikey IQ Jones.
More
Customers who bought this also bought this
1
Alan Tew - The Rub (2:27)
2
Alan Tew - Money Runner (2:15)
3
Alan Tew - White Elephant Walk (1:24)
4
Alan Tew - White Elephant Walk (Link) (0:07)
5
Alan Tew - Walking Link (0:18)
6
Alan Tew - Master Plan (3:26)
7
Alan Tew - Night Watch (2:12)
8
Alan Tew - The Fence (Version A) (1:49)
9
Alan Tew - The Fence (Version B) (2:11)
10
Alan Tew - Surveillance (1:33)
11
Alan Tew - Total Silence (1:26)
12
Alan Tew - Eyes (0:47)
13
Alan Tew - Drama Backcloth (1a) (1:38)
14
Alan Tew - Drama Backcloth (1b) (0:17)
15
Alan Tew - Drama Backcloth (2) (0:59)
16
Alan Tew - Drama Backcloth (3) (0:17)
17
Alan Tew - Drama Backcloth (4) (0:24)
18
Alan Tew - Scenechange (1) (0:17)
19
Alan Tew - Scenechange (2a) (0:10)
20
Alan Tew - Scenechange (2b) (0:24)
21
Alan Tew - Scenechange (2c) (0:25)
22
Alan Tew - Scenechange (3a) (0:17)
23
Alan Tew - Scenechange (3b) (0:17)
24
Alan Tew - Scenechange (4) (0:15)
25
Alan Tew - Scenechange (5) (0:21)
26
Alan Tew - Scenechange (6a) (0:25)
27
Alan Tew - Scenechange (6b) (0:21)
28
Alan Tew - Scenechange (7) (0:10)
29
Alan Tew - Scenechange (8a) (0:12)
30
Alan Tew - Scenechange (8b) (0:30)
31
Alan Tew - Scenechange (9) (0:51)
32
Alan Tew - Brass Statement (0:05)
33
Alan Tew - Final Statement (0:47)
Territories: Worldwide no restrictions
Format Notes:
Part of Be With x KPM Library Reissue Campaign, 2024 first time vinyl reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 The Rub 2:27
A2 Money Runner 2:15
A3 White Elephant Walk 1:24
A4 White Elephant Walk (Link) 0:07
A5 Walking Link 0:18
A6 Master Plan 3:26
A7 Night Watch 2:12
A8 The Fence (Version A) 1:49
A9 The Fence (Version B) 2:11
A10 Surveillance 1:33
B1 Total Silence 1:26
B2 Eyes 0:47
B3 Drama Backcloth (1a) 1:38
B4 Drama Backcloth (1b) 0:17
B5 Drama Backcloth (2) 0:59
B6 Drama Backcloth (3) 0:17
B7 Drama Backcloth (4) 0:24
B8 Scenechange (1) 0:17
B9 Scenechange (2a) 0:10
B10 Scenechange (2b) 0:24
B11 Scenechange (2c) 0:25
B12 Scenechange (3a) 0:17
B13 Scenechange (3b) 0:17
B14 Scenechange (4) 0:15
B15 Scenechange (5) 0:21
B16 Scenechange (6a) 0:25
B17 Scenechange (6b) 0:21
B18 Scenechange (7) 0:10
B19 Scenechange (8a) 0:12
B20 Scenechange (8b) 0:30
B21 Scenechange (9) 0:51
B22 Brass Statement 0:05
B23 Final Statement 0:47
It's the pair you've all been waiting for! FINALLY!
Alan Tew's Drama Suite Part II. What can we really say? Honestly? We guess the first thing that strikes you is how clean the drums are. Almost impossibly slick but dripping so, so heavy with the neck-snapping funk you'd expect from perhaps the most sought-after library funk set of them all! The cheapest on Discogs is, currently, £1300+. Now's your chance to remedy that. If you know, you know. And we think you know...
"The Rub" is a cool, low-slung heavy-funk roller with relaxed brass and alto flute phrases. Up next, "Money Runner" is another edgy funk glider, its easy-tempo moving in harmony with slinky rhythmic riffs and featuring a seemingly ad-libbed electric piano solo. Strutting along after, "White Elephant Walk" is another laconic, deeply stoned walking theme with electric piano and alto flutes. There follows a couple of brief "walking" links before the brilliantly tense "Master Plan" slowly builds. Expectancy grows to the main theme around a minute in and then a melodic theme builds slightly to the 3 minute mark before floating down gradually and elegantly to its climax. It's utterly fantastic. The smoky, after-hours "Night Watch" is a slow, cool gem featuring alto flutes and synths.
Now we're talking, "The Fence (a)" is just sensational and worth buying this album all on its own. It's likely the reason you're here, anyway. Another impossibly funky, slow and easy tempo with a bass riff to die for, dramatic guitar with gorgeous electric piano and alto flute phrases. It was sampled for "Action Satisfaction" by J5, way way back. "The Fence (b)" is a slower, more deliberate version of the previous heater, but it's no less essential. Indeed, it's absolutely jaw-drooping. Closing out this remarkable side, "Surveillance" is another horizontal masterpiece of relaxed yet dramatic jazz-funk. Vibes ad-lib in centre section and give you an idea of how Roy Ayers making library funk in the mid-late 70s might've sounded. Sensational.
Flip over for "Total Silence", a near-beatless and understated scene-setter featuring neat interplay of guitar and synthesizer themes over bass and hi-hats. The slow "Eyes" follows, a brief gem with subdued electric piano solo and a light climax. The fantastic "Drama Backcloth (1a)" is up next, a repetitive piano and bass refrain with guitar figures over the top. Its creeping crime-funk vibe was pilfered for "Outta Town Shit" by Ghostface Killah in 2006. "Drama Backcloth (1b)" is a short, subdued version without the guitar figure. "Drama Backcloth (2)" features an expectant, background marimba figure over light rhythm whilst the cool "Drama Backcloth (3)" centres around a relaxed riff and the angular "Drama Backcloth (4)" presents eerie progressions with piano interjections. It's decidedly non-rhythmic!
We're then onto 14 (!) different half-minute "Scenechanges", all jazzy and funky, some cool and dramatic, some slow and rhythmic. All ace and groove-fuelled. The aptly-titled "Final Statement" closes proceedings, a slow, pensive theme on guitar joined by cool brass and a solo trumpet to its climax.
As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Drama Suite Part II comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. We're not quite sure what else to say about this landmark record, other than, GET IT! More
Format Notes:
Part of Be With x KPM Library Reissue Campaign, 2024 first time vinyl reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 The Rub 2:27
A2 Money Runner 2:15
A3 White Elephant Walk 1:24
A4 White Elephant Walk (Link) 0:07
A5 Walking Link 0:18
A6 Master Plan 3:26
A7 Night Watch 2:12
A8 The Fence (Version A) 1:49
A9 The Fence (Version B) 2:11
A10 Surveillance 1:33
B1 Total Silence 1:26
B2 Eyes 0:47
B3 Drama Backcloth (1a) 1:38
B4 Drama Backcloth (1b) 0:17
B5 Drama Backcloth (2) 0:59
B6 Drama Backcloth (3) 0:17
B7 Drama Backcloth (4) 0:24
B8 Scenechange (1) 0:17
B9 Scenechange (2a) 0:10
B10 Scenechange (2b) 0:24
B11 Scenechange (2c) 0:25
B12 Scenechange (3a) 0:17
B13 Scenechange (3b) 0:17
B14 Scenechange (4) 0:15
B15 Scenechange (5) 0:21
B16 Scenechange (6a) 0:25
B17 Scenechange (6b) 0:21
B18 Scenechange (7) 0:10
B19 Scenechange (8a) 0:12
B20 Scenechange (8b) 0:30
B21 Scenechange (9) 0:51
B22 Brass Statement 0:05
B23 Final Statement 0:47
It's the pair you've all been waiting for! FINALLY!
Alan Tew's Drama Suite Part II. What can we really say? Honestly? We guess the first thing that strikes you is how clean the drums are. Almost impossibly slick but dripping so, so heavy with the neck-snapping funk you'd expect from perhaps the most sought-after library funk set of them all! The cheapest on Discogs is, currently, £1300+. Now's your chance to remedy that. If you know, you know. And we think you know...
"The Rub" is a cool, low-slung heavy-funk roller with relaxed brass and alto flute phrases. Up next, "Money Runner" is another edgy funk glider, its easy-tempo moving in harmony with slinky rhythmic riffs and featuring a seemingly ad-libbed electric piano solo. Strutting along after, "White Elephant Walk" is another laconic, deeply stoned walking theme with electric piano and alto flutes. There follows a couple of brief "walking" links before the brilliantly tense "Master Plan" slowly builds. Expectancy grows to the main theme around a minute in and then a melodic theme builds slightly to the 3 minute mark before floating down gradually and elegantly to its climax. It's utterly fantastic. The smoky, after-hours "Night Watch" is a slow, cool gem featuring alto flutes and synths.
Now we're talking, "The Fence (a)" is just sensational and worth buying this album all on its own. It's likely the reason you're here, anyway. Another impossibly funky, slow and easy tempo with a bass riff to die for, dramatic guitar with gorgeous electric piano and alto flute phrases. It was sampled for "Action Satisfaction" by J5, way way back. "The Fence (b)" is a slower, more deliberate version of the previous heater, but it's no less essential. Indeed, it's absolutely jaw-drooping. Closing out this remarkable side, "Surveillance" is another horizontal masterpiece of relaxed yet dramatic jazz-funk. Vibes ad-lib in centre section and give you an idea of how Roy Ayers making library funk in the mid-late 70s might've sounded. Sensational.
Flip over for "Total Silence", a near-beatless and understated scene-setter featuring neat interplay of guitar and synthesizer themes over bass and hi-hats. The slow "Eyes" follows, a brief gem with subdued electric piano solo and a light climax. The fantastic "Drama Backcloth (1a)" is up next, a repetitive piano and bass refrain with guitar figures over the top. Its creeping crime-funk vibe was pilfered for "Outta Town Shit" by Ghostface Killah in 2006. "Drama Backcloth (1b)" is a short, subdued version without the guitar figure. "Drama Backcloth (2)" features an expectant, background marimba figure over light rhythm whilst the cool "Drama Backcloth (3)" centres around a relaxed riff and the angular "Drama Backcloth (4)" presents eerie progressions with piano interjections. It's decidedly non-rhythmic!
We're then onto 14 (!) different half-minute "Scenechanges", all jazzy and funky, some cool and dramatic, some slow and rhythmic. All ace and groove-fuelled. The aptly-titled "Final Statement" closes proceedings, a slow, pensive theme on guitar joined by cool brass and a solo trumpet to its climax.
As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Drama Suite Part II comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. We're not quite sure what else to say about this landmark record, other than, GET IT! More
1
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Long Version) (2:26)
2
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Short Version) (1:31)
3
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 1) (0:08)
4
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 2a)(0:06)
5
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 2b) (0:16)
6
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 2c) (0:16)
7
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 3) (0:10)
8
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 4a) (0:06)
9
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 4b) (0:15)
10
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 4c) (0:15)
11
Alan Tew - Helicop (2:54)
12
Alan Tew - The Big One (Prelude) (1:26)
13
Alan Tew - The Big One (4:05)
14
Alan Tew - Headlights (1:09)
15
Alan Tew - The Burn (1:05)
16
Alan Tew - Bust Up (a) (0:14)
17
Alan Tew - Bust Up (b) (0:13)
18
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Slow Version) (2:07)
19
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Interlude) (1:47)
20
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 5a) (0:12)
21
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 5b) (0:29)
22
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 6a) (0:11)
23
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 6b) (0:32)
24
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 7a) (0:19)
25
Alan Tew - The Detectives (Link 7b) (0:13)
26
Alan Tew - The Build Up (5:57)
27
Alan Tew - Snout (1:04)
28
Alan Tew - The Prowler (2:02)
Territories: Worldwide no restrictions
Format Notes: Part of Be With x KPM Library Reissue Campaign, 2024 first time vinyl reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 The Detectives (Long Version) 2:26
A2 The Detectives (Short Version) 1:31
A3 The Detectives (Link 1) 0:08
A4 The Detectives (Link 2a) 0:06
A5 The Detectives (Link 2b) 0:16
A6 The Detectives (Link 2c) 0:16
A7 The Detectives (Link 3) 0:10
A8 The Detectives (Link 4a) 0:06
A9 The Detectives (Link 4b) 0:15
A10 The Detectives (Link 4c) 0:15
A11 Helicop 2:54
A12 The Big One (Prelude) 1:26
A13 The Big One 4:05
A14 Headlights 1:09
A15 The Burn 1:05
A16 Bust Up (a) 0:14
A17 Bust Up (b) 0:13
B1 The Detectives (Slow Version) 2:07
B2 The Detectives (Interlude) 1:47
B3 The Detectives (Link 5a) 0:12
B4 The Detectives (Link 5b) 0:29
B5 The Detectives (Link 6a) 0:11
B6 The Detectives (Link 6b) 0:32
B7 The Detectives (Link 7a) 0:19
B8 The Detectives (Link 7b) 0:13
B9 The Build Up 5:57
B10 Snout 1:04
B11 The Prowler 2:02
Release Notes:
It's the pair you've all been waiting for! FINALLY!
Alan Tew's driving jazz-rock, sleuth-funk masterpiece, Drama Suite Part I is finally reissued to sate your appetites for arguably the very best library two-parter in existence. If you don’t know, get to know. Originally released in 1976 but wonderfully timeless, Drama Suite Part I is at the top of every library funk collectors' list. It's easy to see why...
Racing out the gate, the gritty crime funk of "The Detectives" makes for a thrilling, wild ride. A dramatic action theme, it's packed with strident playing and bags of attitude. There follows 10 (ten!) drama-tinged, horn-heavy, wah-wah-laced, conga-enhanced, synth-riddled links for neat segues and maximum funk fever. "Helicop" is another fast paced and energetic dramatic action background with great breaks and horns. "The Big One (Prelude)" has an ace bassline and creeps along superbly to create expectation and contains an amazing rolling piano loop that just stops you dead in your tracks. It's all building to "The Big One", a driving, dramatic, full-band action with fantastic funk breaks, heavy horns and *that* piano refrain. It was sampled by Jay-Z, and you can't really blame him, can you? The brief, tense "Headlights" and (even briefer) burner "The Burn" add some - you guessed it - deep drama over insistent rhythms to close out Side A.
Flip over for "The Detectives (Slow Version)", a relaxed, thoughtful version featuring synths. You might recognise it as being sampled by Domo Genesis and Evidence for "Tallulah" from their brilliant collaboration a few years ago. "The Detectives (Interlude)" is another slow, pensive version featuring electric piano and a trombone solo in the centre section. There follows 6 further links, Detectives versions essentially, with guitars, electric pianos, flugelhorns - all very cool and relaxed rhythms. The strutting majesty of big-time highlight "The Build Up" is next. It's a medium-slow drama background with occasional light statements of The Detectives theme peppered throughout. Nice. The fantastically-titled "Snout" is a slow, tense background theme which features a repetitive guitar figure with alto flutes over the top. The tense, stabby funk of "The Prowler" rounds out proceedings, with nervous figures over a slow, insistent cymbal beat.
As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Drama Suite Part I comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. We're not quite sure what else to say about this landmark record, other than, GET IT! More
Format Notes: Part of Be With x KPM Library Reissue Campaign, 2024 first time vinyl reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 The Detectives (Long Version) 2:26
A2 The Detectives (Short Version) 1:31
A3 The Detectives (Link 1) 0:08
A4 The Detectives (Link 2a) 0:06
A5 The Detectives (Link 2b) 0:16
A6 The Detectives (Link 2c) 0:16
A7 The Detectives (Link 3) 0:10
A8 The Detectives (Link 4a) 0:06
A9 The Detectives (Link 4b) 0:15
A10 The Detectives (Link 4c) 0:15
A11 Helicop 2:54
A12 The Big One (Prelude) 1:26
A13 The Big One 4:05
A14 Headlights 1:09
A15 The Burn 1:05
A16 Bust Up (a) 0:14
A17 Bust Up (b) 0:13
B1 The Detectives (Slow Version) 2:07
B2 The Detectives (Interlude) 1:47
B3 The Detectives (Link 5a) 0:12
B4 The Detectives (Link 5b) 0:29
B5 The Detectives (Link 6a) 0:11
B6 The Detectives (Link 6b) 0:32
B7 The Detectives (Link 7a) 0:19
B8 The Detectives (Link 7b) 0:13
B9 The Build Up 5:57
B10 Snout 1:04
B11 The Prowler 2:02
Release Notes:
It's the pair you've all been waiting for! FINALLY!
Alan Tew's driving jazz-rock, sleuth-funk masterpiece, Drama Suite Part I is finally reissued to sate your appetites for arguably the very best library two-parter in existence. If you don’t know, get to know. Originally released in 1976 but wonderfully timeless, Drama Suite Part I is at the top of every library funk collectors' list. It's easy to see why...
Racing out the gate, the gritty crime funk of "The Detectives" makes for a thrilling, wild ride. A dramatic action theme, it's packed with strident playing and bags of attitude. There follows 10 (ten!) drama-tinged, horn-heavy, wah-wah-laced, conga-enhanced, synth-riddled links for neat segues and maximum funk fever. "Helicop" is another fast paced and energetic dramatic action background with great breaks and horns. "The Big One (Prelude)" has an ace bassline and creeps along superbly to create expectation and contains an amazing rolling piano loop that just stops you dead in your tracks. It's all building to "The Big One", a driving, dramatic, full-band action with fantastic funk breaks, heavy horns and *that* piano refrain. It was sampled by Jay-Z, and you can't really blame him, can you? The brief, tense "Headlights" and (even briefer) burner "The Burn" add some - you guessed it - deep drama over insistent rhythms to close out Side A.
Flip over for "The Detectives (Slow Version)", a relaxed, thoughtful version featuring synths. You might recognise it as being sampled by Domo Genesis and Evidence for "Tallulah" from their brilliant collaboration a few years ago. "The Detectives (Interlude)" is another slow, pensive version featuring electric piano and a trombone solo in the centre section. There follows 6 further links, Detectives versions essentially, with guitars, electric pianos, flugelhorns - all very cool and relaxed rhythms. The strutting majesty of big-time highlight "The Build Up" is next. It's a medium-slow drama background with occasional light statements of The Detectives theme peppered throughout. Nice. The fantastically-titled "Snout" is a slow, tense background theme which features a repetitive guitar figure with alto flutes over the top. The tense, stabby funk of "The Prowler" rounds out proceedings, with nervous figures over a slow, insistent cymbal beat.
As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Drama Suite Part I comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. We're not quite sure what else to say about this landmark record, other than, GET IT! More
1
Barbara Moore - Hot Heels (2:50)
2
Barbara Moore - It's Gospel (2:49)
3
Barbara Moore - Steam Heat (2:59)
4
Barbara Moore - Fly Away (2:45)
5
Barbara Moore - His Name Was (2:35)
6
Barbara Moore - Swing Over (2:18)
7
Barbara Moore - Touch Of Warmth (2:40)
8
Barbara Moore - Voice Force Nine (2:13)
9
Barbara Moore - Very Fine Fellow (1:58)
10
Barbara Moore - Shades-Tones (3:27)
11
Barbara Moore - I'm Feather (2:09)
12
Barbara Moore - Drifting (2:24)
13
Barbara Moore - Take Off (1:58)
14
Barbara Moore - Fly Paradise (2:18)
Territories: Worldwide no restrictions
Format Notes: Part of Music De Wolfe Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 Hot Heels 2:50
A2 It's Gospel 2:49
A3 Steam Heat 2:59
A4 Fly Away 2:45
A5 His Name Was 2:35
A6 Swing Over 2:18
A7 Touch Of Warmth 2:40
B1 Voice Force Nine 2:13
B2 Very Fine Fellow 1:58
B3 Shades-Tones 3:27
B4 I'm Feather 2:09
B5 Drifting 2:24
B6 Take Off 1:58
B7 Fly Paradise 2:18
Release Notes:
Vocal Shades And Tones is a miraculous leftfield library classic from the genius mind of celebrated UK composer/singer/vocal arranger Barbara Moore. It's a heavenly groove-based blend of jazz, Latin, soft-psych, folk-funk and gospel soul. Recorded for the legendary Music De Wolfe in 1972, it's an audacious start-to-finish listen, as dizzying as it is dazzling. It's a perfect snapshot of a musical era, supported by Moore's glorious vocal arrangements. Widely regarded among collectors, DJs, and lounge/easy-listening acolytes as an absolute essential it is viewed as the holy grail by many production music heads, rarely appearing for sale and disappearing in a flash when it does. Indeed, originals now go for over £300 and it's easy to see why. Just one of the reasons why this fresh Be With reissue, part of a wider De Wolfe reissue campaign, is so utterly crucial.
Racing out the gate, the driving "Hot Heels" is a bright, sophisticated scat groove which sounds Brazilian, richly produced as if coming by the hand of Arthur Verocai. Yes, *that* good. It's followed by "It's Gospel" which is, er, a wonderfully slow and deeply soulful gospel treasure. The appropriately monikered "Steam Heat" is a darker, breathy gem, one for salacious crates and one of the record's most infamous tracks. "Fly Away" is pastoral West Coast soft rock, very much in conversation with John Cameron and Keith Mansfield's epochal KPM recording, Voices In Harmony. "His Name Was" is a stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks Beach Boys accapella church-organ stunner, whilst "Swing Over" is another carefree, richly produced sun-dappled smasher. The gentle Bossa and sunshine soul of the aptly-titled "Touch Of Warmth" closes out a virtually perfect A-Side.
The B-Side opens with the easy grace and dramatic build of "Voice Force Nine". The jaunty "Very Fine Fellow" may be the only track to slightly grate so we advise heading to the slower, moody "Shades-Tones", eminently more compelling with sparkling, hypnotic piano throughout, underpinning the gorgeous wordless vocals. Just beautiful. It was sampled by Redman for his Method Man-featuring "Do What Ya Feel" on the great Muddy Waters. We're back in Brazilian territory with the cool, uptempo "I'm Feather" before swooning to the warm, relaxed "Drifting", another total highlight which was famously sampled by Koushik on his legendary remix of Madvillain's "America's Most Blunted (Doom's Verse)". The penultimate track, "Take Off" is a bright, organ lounge groove before this remarkable set is rounded out by the beaty "Fly Paradise". It's so so good, it sounds like Rotary Connection fronted by The Mamas & the Papas. As noted in a recent Guardian article on Moore's life, "there is a plushness and electricity in the tight vocal harmonies that spring out, sung with the precision of cathedral choristers decades before Auto-Tune." Amen.
In the 1960s, Barbara Moore was a member of Top of the Pops’ resident vocal-harmony group, The Ladybirds and sang backing vocals for Dusty Springfield’s TV show. Her own outfit, the Barbara Moore Singers, were regulars on TOTP, singing with Jimi Hendrix when he performed "Hey Joe" live in Lime Grove Studios. An important detail for Moore was the shepherd’s pie she bought Hendrix when she found him alone, looking emaciated, near the BBC canteen. By 1970, she was working as a session singer for De Wolfe and, by 1972, was composing her own tracks for De Wolfe and working within their tight creative strictures. Each short track had to evoke an obvious mood and theme, with no significant key or tempo changes. Her response, this very album, managed to stay between the lines while cohering as an overarching artistic masterpiece.
The audio for Vocal Shades And Tones has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue. More
Format Notes: Part of Music De Wolfe Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 Hot Heels 2:50
A2 It's Gospel 2:49
A3 Steam Heat 2:59
A4 Fly Away 2:45
A5 His Name Was 2:35
A6 Swing Over 2:18
A7 Touch Of Warmth 2:40
B1 Voice Force Nine 2:13
B2 Very Fine Fellow 1:58
B3 Shades-Tones 3:27
B4 I'm Feather 2:09
B5 Drifting 2:24
B6 Take Off 1:58
B7 Fly Paradise 2:18
Release Notes:
Vocal Shades And Tones is a miraculous leftfield library classic from the genius mind of celebrated UK composer/singer/vocal arranger Barbara Moore. It's a heavenly groove-based blend of jazz, Latin, soft-psych, folk-funk and gospel soul. Recorded for the legendary Music De Wolfe in 1972, it's an audacious start-to-finish listen, as dizzying as it is dazzling. It's a perfect snapshot of a musical era, supported by Moore's glorious vocal arrangements. Widely regarded among collectors, DJs, and lounge/easy-listening acolytes as an absolute essential it is viewed as the holy grail by many production music heads, rarely appearing for sale and disappearing in a flash when it does. Indeed, originals now go for over £300 and it's easy to see why. Just one of the reasons why this fresh Be With reissue, part of a wider De Wolfe reissue campaign, is so utterly crucial.
Racing out the gate, the driving "Hot Heels" is a bright, sophisticated scat groove which sounds Brazilian, richly produced as if coming by the hand of Arthur Verocai. Yes, *that* good. It's followed by "It's Gospel" which is, er, a wonderfully slow and deeply soulful gospel treasure. The appropriately monikered "Steam Heat" is a darker, breathy gem, one for salacious crates and one of the record's most infamous tracks. "Fly Away" is pastoral West Coast soft rock, very much in conversation with John Cameron and Keith Mansfield's epochal KPM recording, Voices In Harmony. "His Name Was" is a stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks Beach Boys accapella church-organ stunner, whilst "Swing Over" is another carefree, richly produced sun-dappled smasher. The gentle Bossa and sunshine soul of the aptly-titled "Touch Of Warmth" closes out a virtually perfect A-Side.
The B-Side opens with the easy grace and dramatic build of "Voice Force Nine". The jaunty "Very Fine Fellow" may be the only track to slightly grate so we advise heading to the slower, moody "Shades-Tones", eminently more compelling with sparkling, hypnotic piano throughout, underpinning the gorgeous wordless vocals. Just beautiful. It was sampled by Redman for his Method Man-featuring "Do What Ya Feel" on the great Muddy Waters. We're back in Brazilian territory with the cool, uptempo "I'm Feather" before swooning to the warm, relaxed "Drifting", another total highlight which was famously sampled by Koushik on his legendary remix of Madvillain's "America's Most Blunted (Doom's Verse)". The penultimate track, "Take Off" is a bright, organ lounge groove before this remarkable set is rounded out by the beaty "Fly Paradise". It's so so good, it sounds like Rotary Connection fronted by The Mamas & the Papas. As noted in a recent Guardian article on Moore's life, "there is a plushness and electricity in the tight vocal harmonies that spring out, sung with the precision of cathedral choristers decades before Auto-Tune." Amen.
In the 1960s, Barbara Moore was a member of Top of the Pops’ resident vocal-harmony group, The Ladybirds and sang backing vocals for Dusty Springfield’s TV show. Her own outfit, the Barbara Moore Singers, were regulars on TOTP, singing with Jimi Hendrix when he performed "Hey Joe" live in Lime Grove Studios. An important detail for Moore was the shepherd’s pie she bought Hendrix when she found him alone, looking emaciated, near the BBC canteen. By 1970, she was working as a session singer for De Wolfe and, by 1972, was composing her own tracks for De Wolfe and working within their tight creative strictures. Each short track had to evoke an obvious mood and theme, with no significant key or tempo changes. Her response, this very album, managed to stay between the lines while cohering as an overarching artistic masterpiece.
The audio for Vocal Shades And Tones has been carefully remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue. More
1
Brian Bennett - Image (4:29)
2
Neil Richardson - The Little Orphan (2:27)
3
David Gold / Gordon Rees - Paradise Island (2:19)
4
David Gold / Gordon Rees - Forbidden Fruit (2:19)
5
David Gold / Gordon Rees - The Enchantress (2:56)
6
David Gold - Phenomena (2:41)
7
John Scott - Infinite Expanse (1:46)
8
John Scott - Static Objects (2:31)
9
John Fiddy - Metamorphosis (2:37)
10
Neil Richardson - Cubist Pictures (2:12)
11
Neil Richardson - Analysis (2:04)
12
Neil Richardson - Crystal Ball (2:38)
13
Steve Gray - Gliding Through Clouds (2:55)
Territories: Worldwide no restrictions
Format Notes: Part of Be With x KPM Library Reissue Campaign, 2024 first time vinyl reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 Brian Bennett – Image 4:29
A2 Neil Richardson – The Little Orphan 2:27
A3 David Gold / Gordon Rees – Paradise Island 2:19
A4 David Gold / Gordon Rees – Forbidden Fruit 2:19
A5 David Gold / Gordon Rees – The Enchantress 2:56
A6 David Gold – Phenomena 2:41
B1 John Scott – Infinite Expanse 1:46
B2 John Scott – Static Objects 2:31
B3 John Fiddy – Metamorphosis 2:37
B4 Neil Richardson – Cubist Pictures 2:12
B5 Neil Richardson – Analysis 2:04
B6 Neil Richardson – Crystal Ball 2:38
B7 Steve Gray – Gliding Through Clouds 2:55
Release Notes:
Impossible to find in the wild, KPM's Image is exactly that; this record paints extraordinary, hyper-vivid scenes with music, in the way only the library greats can. Originally released in 1974, Image is an absolutely stunning listen from start to finish, and arguably the most wanted KPM grail that's still not been reissued - until now! Just too good…
Worth the price of admission alone, and likely the reason you're all already drooling about this release, the mellow, dramatic beat of "Image", Brian Bennett's opener and title track, is a Jaylib-sampled firecracker. A reflective, scenic underscore which grows to full orchestra and ends as it begins - it's just beautiful. Next up, swoon to "The Little Orphan" by Neil Richardson featuring strings and harp. It's a deeply emotive, sweeping orchestral piece. Just straight gorgeous. It's followed by "Paradise Island", a lush, horizontal Balearic gem courtesy of Gordon Rees and David Gold; it'll send you into a blissful reverie with its elegant strings and gentle drums. From the same pair, "Forbidden Fruit" is, again, string-drenched but the strings are more insistent, stabbing even, and, with drums and Blaxploitation guitars high up in the mix, it's definitely a funkier proposition. "The Enchantress", again a Rees-Gold special, is a slower, groovy, synthy wonder. Closing out the A-Side, "Phenomena" is a mysterious gem, a Gold solo effort set at a breezier tempo with propulsive percussion and head nod, fast-paced breaks with ace keys.
Flip over for "Infinite Expanse", John Scott's dramatic panorama adorned with proud, triumphant horns. Scott's "Static Objects" paints patient, pastoral scenes; there's a serenity and stillness to the proceedings. Next up, Be With favourite John Fiddy delivers shifting shapes and patterns with his wonderful "Metamorphosis", all wah wah, harps, dramatic percussion and strings. It's by turns billowy and blasting. "Cubist Pictures" follows, Neil Richardson's brilliant nebulous, fragmentary piece. Better yet, Richardson's gorgeous, beatless "Analysis" follows, and it's an orchestral beauty featuring cello, harps and woodwind. It's no exaggeration to describe this as transcendental. His "Crystal Ball" presents more static scenes with cello, twinkling percussion and strings, before Steve Gray's fantastically-titled softly-ace "Gliding Through Clouds" closes out this remarkable set.
As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Image comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. More
Format Notes: Part of Be With x KPM Library Reissue Campaign, 2024 first time vinyl reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 Brian Bennett – Image 4:29
A2 Neil Richardson – The Little Orphan 2:27
A3 David Gold / Gordon Rees – Paradise Island 2:19
A4 David Gold / Gordon Rees – Forbidden Fruit 2:19
A5 David Gold / Gordon Rees – The Enchantress 2:56
A6 David Gold – Phenomena 2:41
B1 John Scott – Infinite Expanse 1:46
B2 John Scott – Static Objects 2:31
B3 John Fiddy – Metamorphosis 2:37
B4 Neil Richardson – Cubist Pictures 2:12
B5 Neil Richardson – Analysis 2:04
B6 Neil Richardson – Crystal Ball 2:38
B7 Steve Gray – Gliding Through Clouds 2:55
Release Notes:
Impossible to find in the wild, KPM's Image is exactly that; this record paints extraordinary, hyper-vivid scenes with music, in the way only the library greats can. Originally released in 1974, Image is an absolutely stunning listen from start to finish, and arguably the most wanted KPM grail that's still not been reissued - until now! Just too good…
Worth the price of admission alone, and likely the reason you're all already drooling about this release, the mellow, dramatic beat of "Image", Brian Bennett's opener and title track, is a Jaylib-sampled firecracker. A reflective, scenic underscore which grows to full orchestra and ends as it begins - it's just beautiful. Next up, swoon to "The Little Orphan" by Neil Richardson featuring strings and harp. It's a deeply emotive, sweeping orchestral piece. Just straight gorgeous. It's followed by "Paradise Island", a lush, horizontal Balearic gem courtesy of Gordon Rees and David Gold; it'll send you into a blissful reverie with its elegant strings and gentle drums. From the same pair, "Forbidden Fruit" is, again, string-drenched but the strings are more insistent, stabbing even, and, with drums and Blaxploitation guitars high up in the mix, it's definitely a funkier proposition. "The Enchantress", again a Rees-Gold special, is a slower, groovy, synthy wonder. Closing out the A-Side, "Phenomena" is a mysterious gem, a Gold solo effort set at a breezier tempo with propulsive percussion and head nod, fast-paced breaks with ace keys.
Flip over for "Infinite Expanse", John Scott's dramatic panorama adorned with proud, triumphant horns. Scott's "Static Objects" paints patient, pastoral scenes; there's a serenity and stillness to the proceedings. Next up, Be With favourite John Fiddy delivers shifting shapes and patterns with his wonderful "Metamorphosis", all wah wah, harps, dramatic percussion and strings. It's by turns billowy and blasting. "Cubist Pictures" follows, Neil Richardson's brilliant nebulous, fragmentary piece. Better yet, Richardson's gorgeous, beatless "Analysis" follows, and it's an orchestral beauty featuring cello, harps and woodwind. It's no exaggeration to describe this as transcendental. His "Crystal Ball" presents more static scenes with cello, twinkling percussion and strings, before Steve Gray's fantastically-titled softly-ace "Gliding Through Clouds" closes out this remarkable set.
As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Image comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity. More
1
Vecchio - Megaton (5:01)
2
Vecchio - Renegade (5:05)
3
Vecchio - Facade (3:18)
4
Vecchio - Chabati (3:11)
5
Vecchio - Green Hell (6:41)
6
Vecchio - Boss (3:55)
7
Vecchio - Nsambei (4:00)
8
Vecchio - Waboco (3:29)
9
Vecchio - Cult (4:37)
10
Vecchio - Ngoma-ku (7:04)
Territories: Worldwide no restrictions
Format Notes:
Part of Music De Wolfe Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
SIDE ONE
Megaton 5:01
Renegade 5:05
Facade 3:18
Chabati 3:11
Green Hell 6:41
---
SIDE TWO
Boss 3:55
Nsambei 4:00
Waboco 3:29
Cult 4:37
Ngoma-ku 7:04
Release Notes:
Vecchio's Afro-Rock is one big horn-heavy, bass-blasting, Latin groove funk-rock party. Only now, you're all invited because this, ladies and gentleman, is officially...a grail no more. With copies currently starting at 400 Euros for an original, this beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With's fresh campaign with Music De Wolfe, is well overdue. A magnificent and somewhat obscure library set that's just a total, cohesive joy from start to finish, this here is the soundtrack to all your smokin' summer BBQs and communal cookouts.
Afro-Rock is the debut album by Argentine keyboardist Luis Vecchio. Recorded for the sound library label De Wolfe, the album is frequently mentioned in hushed reverence among the beat digger DJ collecting crowd. It features fiery brass charts, funky bass lines, fluttering flute, choppy organ and additional hand tribal percussion. The band let loose too and jam hard; yet there's a certain thread of solidity that runs throughout, the tracks just belong together, not disparate sound and rhythm experiments like some library records; this is just straight up, no messin', consistent funk-rock FIRE! Hips will sway, heads will nod to the steady vibes. It's insanely good.
The humid, building funk of the appropriately titled "Megaton" is a dramatic explosion of swirling, dazzling organ lines, ferocious beats and heavy horns throughout. It just don't stop. The tempo slows slightly for the deep and deeply addictive "Renegade". It's all heavy jazz horn refrains, always triumphant, coupled with devastating percussive breakdowns and killer guitar riffing. It's an insistent organ-led juggernaut. The frenetic "Facade", up next, is no less driving, horns high up in the mix over rattling percussion and brilliant organs lines. Just sensational. The bright "Chabati" is another glorious extension of the optimistic Vecchio sound, the organs wilder than ever before. The moody "Green Hell" is a real highlight and closes out the A-Side with some outrageously funky refrains - be it horns, organ or guitars - and is complimented by gorgeous flute work that galvanises the piece, elevating it to downright heavenly status.
Knowing full well that he's on to a surefire thing, Vecchio opens the flipside in much the same vein. Indeed, "Boss" is yet another uptempo highlight, a sensual orgy of proud horns, hand percussion and melodic flute playing over driving organ and guitars. It's followed by "Nsambei", which is rightly adored for its briefly open drum break, fantastically propulsive percussion breakdowns throughout and the jazzy, loose organ and guitar shreds. The bright "Waboco" ups the tempo and the pressure, hanging on one hell of a guitar hook and infectious horn refrain. Perhaps foreseeing how this album would come to be viewed, the aptly-titled "Cult" is possibly the finest song on the record. Which is saying something, because this record is insanely good. Riding a steady, confident organ groove straight out the gate, the kinda melancholic flute line over the top serves as a beautiful counterpoint which the horns often come in and imitate/riff off. Goddamn this is so so good, it needs to be played everywhere. The overwhelmingly mighty 7-minute jam "Ngoma-ku" rounds out this quite staggering record brilliantly in its heavy, mid-tempo blues with countless extended solos.
The audio for Afro Rock has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue. More
Format Notes:
Part of Music De Wolfe Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl
Track List:
SIDE ONE
Megaton 5:01
Renegade 5:05
Facade 3:18
Chabati 3:11
Green Hell 6:41
---
SIDE TWO
Boss 3:55
Nsambei 4:00
Waboco 3:29
Cult 4:37
Ngoma-ku 7:04
Release Notes:
Vecchio's Afro-Rock is one big horn-heavy, bass-blasting, Latin groove funk-rock party. Only now, you're all invited because this, ladies and gentleman, is officially...a grail no more. With copies currently starting at 400 Euros for an original, this beautifully presented reissue, part of Be With's fresh campaign with Music De Wolfe, is well overdue. A magnificent and somewhat obscure library set that's just a total, cohesive joy from start to finish, this here is the soundtrack to all your smokin' summer BBQs and communal cookouts.
Afro-Rock is the debut album by Argentine keyboardist Luis Vecchio. Recorded for the sound library label De Wolfe, the album is frequently mentioned in hushed reverence among the beat digger DJ collecting crowd. It features fiery brass charts, funky bass lines, fluttering flute, choppy organ and additional hand tribal percussion. The band let loose too and jam hard; yet there's a certain thread of solidity that runs throughout, the tracks just belong together, not disparate sound and rhythm experiments like some library records; this is just straight up, no messin', consistent funk-rock FIRE! Hips will sway, heads will nod to the steady vibes. It's insanely good.
The humid, building funk of the appropriately titled "Megaton" is a dramatic explosion of swirling, dazzling organ lines, ferocious beats and heavy horns throughout. It just don't stop. The tempo slows slightly for the deep and deeply addictive "Renegade". It's all heavy jazz horn refrains, always triumphant, coupled with devastating percussive breakdowns and killer guitar riffing. It's an insistent organ-led juggernaut. The frenetic "Facade", up next, is no less driving, horns high up in the mix over rattling percussion and brilliant organs lines. Just sensational. The bright "Chabati" is another glorious extension of the optimistic Vecchio sound, the organs wilder than ever before. The moody "Green Hell" is a real highlight and closes out the A-Side with some outrageously funky refrains - be it horns, organ or guitars - and is complimented by gorgeous flute work that galvanises the piece, elevating it to downright heavenly status.
Knowing full well that he's on to a surefire thing, Vecchio opens the flipside in much the same vein. Indeed, "Boss" is yet another uptempo highlight, a sensual orgy of proud horns, hand percussion and melodic flute playing over driving organ and guitars. It's followed by "Nsambei", which is rightly adored for its briefly open drum break, fantastically propulsive percussion breakdowns throughout and the jazzy, loose organ and guitar shreds. The bright "Waboco" ups the tempo and the pressure, hanging on one hell of a guitar hook and infectious horn refrain. Perhaps foreseeing how this album would come to be viewed, the aptly-titled "Cult" is possibly the finest song on the record. Which is saying something, because this record is insanely good. Riding a steady, confident organ groove straight out the gate, the kinda melancholic flute line over the top serves as a beautiful counterpoint which the horns often come in and imitate/riff off. Goddamn this is so so good, it needs to be played everywhere. The overwhelmingly mighty 7-minute jam "Ngoma-ku" rounds out this quite staggering record brilliantly in its heavy, mid-tempo blues with countless extended solos.
The audio for Afro Rock has been meticulously remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the records have been pressed to the highest possible standard at Record Industry in Holland. The original, iconic sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue. More
1
Bruce Brubaker - Music for Airports, 1/1 - 17:12
2
Bruce Brubaker - Music for Airports, 2/1 - 08:32
3
Bruce Brubaker - The Chill Air - 01:55
4
Bruce Brubaker - By This River - 03:31
5
Bruce Brubaker - Music for Airports, 2/2 - 06:07
6
Bruce Brubaker - Emerald and Stone - - 02:30
LP - Territory: WORLD EX France
Tracklist CD :
1_Music for Airports, 1/1 - 17:12
2_Music for Airports, 2/1 - 08:32
3_The Chill Air - 01:55
4_By This River - 03:31
5_Music for Airports, 2/2 - 06:07
6_Emerald and Stone - - 02:30
Short Info:
As Brian Eno famously said, "The studio is a musical instrument," Bruce Brubaker now says, "A musical instrument can be a studio."
'Eno Piano,' is a stunning reinterpretation by American pianist Bruce Brubaker of selected tracks from Brian Eno’s ambient masterpieces, including iconic Music for Airports as well as three original compositions venturing into his collaborations with Harold Budd, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius or Jon Hopkins.
In his explorations of minimalism, Bruce Brubaker makes connections to music old and new. In his album Codex, there was a dialogue between open-form music by Terry Riley and very early keyboard pieces written down by anonymous scribes in the 15th century, while Brubaker's performances of music by Philip Glass enabled the releases of the critically acclaim Glass Piano and his collaboration on Glassform with Max Cooper.
Brian Eno's music is equally a significant part of the repetition-based musical minimalism in the 20th century. Eno Piano acknowledges a deep artistic bond.
In 'Eno Piano', the piano, one of the first "synthesizers," becomes a new kind of fantastic resonating box — a supernatural synthesizer. The album is a compelling discovery, a rereading, reinterpretation, "re-production" of Brian Eno's music, from the hands of a visionary virtuoso. Sonically, the record is a combination of Bruce's piano playing, and piano sounds made using new electromagnetic "bows" that vibrate strings inside the piano creating drone notes.
The album represents a leap, into a new genre of post-ambient, post-piano piano music. Here, sound technology heightens artistic sensitivity, and the listener's presence in the moment. An instrument is reimagined, refashioned. The usual boundaries of time and sound loosen allowing the formation of a new 21st-century beauty.
More
Tracklist CD :
1_Music for Airports, 1/1 - 17:12
2_Music for Airports, 2/1 - 08:32
3_The Chill Air - 01:55
4_By This River - 03:31
5_Music for Airports, 2/2 - 06:07
6_Emerald and Stone - - 02:30
Short Info:
As Brian Eno famously said, "The studio is a musical instrument," Bruce Brubaker now says, "A musical instrument can be a studio."
'Eno Piano,' is a stunning reinterpretation by American pianist Bruce Brubaker of selected tracks from Brian Eno’s ambient masterpieces, including iconic Music for Airports as well as three original compositions venturing into his collaborations with Harold Budd, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius or Jon Hopkins.
In his explorations of minimalism, Bruce Brubaker makes connections to music old and new. In his album Codex, there was a dialogue between open-form music by Terry Riley and very early keyboard pieces written down by anonymous scribes in the 15th century, while Brubaker's performances of music by Philip Glass enabled the releases of the critically acclaim Glass Piano and his collaboration on Glassform with Max Cooper.
Brian Eno's music is equally a significant part of the repetition-based musical minimalism in the 20th century. Eno Piano acknowledges a deep artistic bond.
In 'Eno Piano', the piano, one of the first "synthesizers," becomes a new kind of fantastic resonating box — a supernatural synthesizer. The album is a compelling discovery, a rereading, reinterpretation, "re-production" of Brian Eno's music, from the hands of a visionary virtuoso. Sonically, the record is a combination of Bruce's piano playing, and piano sounds made using new electromagnetic "bows" that vibrate strings inside the piano creating drone notes.
The album represents a leap, into a new genre of post-ambient, post-piano piano music. Here, sound technology heightens artistic sensitivity, and the listener's presence in the moment. An instrument is reimagined, refashioned. The usual boundaries of time and sound loosen allowing the formation of a new 21st-century beauty.
More
Rights: Rights: World excluding FR
Format: 1 x 140 grs Black Vinyl , 3 mm spine sleeve with UV Gloss finish, black dust inner sleeve, front sticker
TRACKLIST
1. Le Riffifi brille en jaune
2. Elvis has left the building
3. Hypnose en bas de gamme
4. Fin du monde
5. Playitloudornotatall
6. Le retour de Black Sabata
7. Contortionne-toi toi-même
8. Solo de boxe en conserve
9. Concinacion
10. J'entends des voix qui ont mauvaise haleine
11. Ceci est un enregistrement magnétique
12. One ne mange pas la choucroute de Veronica
BASIC BIOG
"Boom Boom" is the follow up of 2015's "Traité de guitarres triolectiques à l'usage des portugaises ensablées" . Pascal Comelade and Lionel & Marie Liminana aka The Liminanas wrote& performed together another album.12 new songs,written by Pascal Comelade & Lionel Liminana. Featuring "solo" guitarists long time friends of Pascal Comelade : Ivan Telefunken (from Bel Canto Orquestra, also playing live with The Liminanas), Xarim Aresté & Lalo Lopez.
More
Format: 1 x 140 grs Black Vinyl , 3 mm spine sleeve with UV Gloss finish, black dust inner sleeve, front sticker
TRACKLIST
1. Le Riffifi brille en jaune
2. Elvis has left the building
3. Hypnose en bas de gamme
4. Fin du monde
5. Playitloudornotatall
6. Le retour de Black Sabata
7. Contortionne-toi toi-même
8. Solo de boxe en conserve
9. Concinacion
10. J'entends des voix qui ont mauvaise haleine
11. Ceci est un enregistrement magnétique
12. One ne mange pas la choucroute de Veronica
BASIC BIOG
"Boom Boom" is the follow up of 2015's "Traité de guitarres triolectiques à l'usage des portugaises ensablées" . Pascal Comelade and Lionel & Marie Liminana aka The Liminanas wrote& performed together another album.12 new songs,written by Pascal Comelade & Lionel Liminana. Featuring "solo" guitarists long time friends of Pascal Comelade : Ivan Telefunken (from Bel Canto Orquestra, also playing live with The Liminanas), Xarim Aresté & Lalo Lopez.
More
1
Bruce Brubaker - Music for Airports, 1/1 - 17:12
2
Bruce Brubaker - By This River - 03:31
3
Bruce Brubaker - The Chill Air - 01:55
4
Bruce Brubaker - Music for Airports, 2/1 - 08:32
5
Bruce Brubaker - Music for Airports, 2/2 - 06:07
6
Bruce Brubaker - Emerald and Stone - 02:30
LP - Territory: WORLD EX France
Tracklist LP :
A SIDE (23 minutes)
A1_Music for Airports, 1/1 - 17:12
A2_By This River - 03:31
A3_The Chill Air - 01:55
B SIDE (21.30 minutes)
B1_Music for Airports, 2/1 - 08:32
B2_Music for Airports, 2/2 - 06:07
B3_Emerald and Stone - 02:30
Short Info:
As Brian Eno famously said, "The studio is a musical instrument," Bruce Brubaker now says, "A musical instrument can be a studio."
'Eno Piano,' is a stunning reinterpretation by American pianist Bruce Brubaker of selected tracks from Brian Eno’s ambient masterpieces, including iconic Music for Airports as well as three original compositions venturing into his collaborations with Harold Budd, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius or Jon Hopkins.
In his explorations of minimalism, Bruce Brubaker makes connections to music old and new. In his album Codex, there was a dialogue between open-form music by Terry Riley and very early keyboard pieces written down by anonymous scribes in the 15th century, while Brubaker's performances of music by Philip Glass enabled the releases of the critically acclaim Glass Piano and his collaboration on Glassform with Max Cooper.
Brian Eno's music is equally a significant part of the repetition-based musical minimalism in the 20th century. Eno Piano acknowledges a deep artistic bond.
In 'Eno Piano', the piano, one of the first "synthesizers," becomes a new kind of fantastic resonating box — a supernatural synthesizer. The album is a compelling discovery, a rereading, reinterpretation, "re-production" of Brian Eno's music, from the hands of a visionary virtuoso. Sonically, the record is a combination of Bruce's piano playing, and piano sounds made using new electromagnetic "bows" that vibrate strings inside the piano creating drone notes.
The album represents a leap, into a new genre of post-ambient, post-piano piano music. Here, sound technology heightens artistic sensitivity, and the listener's presence in the moment. An instrument is reimagined, refashioned. The usual boundaries of time and sound loosen allowing the formation of a new 21st-century beauty.
More
Tracklist LP :
A SIDE (23 minutes)
A1_Music for Airports, 1/1 - 17:12
A2_By This River - 03:31
A3_The Chill Air - 01:55
B SIDE (21.30 minutes)
B1_Music for Airports, 2/1 - 08:32
B2_Music for Airports, 2/2 - 06:07
B3_Emerald and Stone - 02:30
Short Info:
As Brian Eno famously said, "The studio is a musical instrument," Bruce Brubaker now says, "A musical instrument can be a studio."
'Eno Piano,' is a stunning reinterpretation by American pianist Bruce Brubaker of selected tracks from Brian Eno’s ambient masterpieces, including iconic Music for Airports as well as three original compositions venturing into his collaborations with Harold Budd, Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius or Jon Hopkins.
In his explorations of minimalism, Bruce Brubaker makes connections to music old and new. In his album Codex, there was a dialogue between open-form music by Terry Riley and very early keyboard pieces written down by anonymous scribes in the 15th century, while Brubaker's performances of music by Philip Glass enabled the releases of the critically acclaim Glass Piano and his collaboration on Glassform with Max Cooper.
Brian Eno's music is equally a significant part of the repetition-based musical minimalism in the 20th century. Eno Piano acknowledges a deep artistic bond.
In 'Eno Piano', the piano, one of the first "synthesizers," becomes a new kind of fantastic resonating box — a supernatural synthesizer. The album is a compelling discovery, a rereading, reinterpretation, "re-production" of Brian Eno's music, from the hands of a visionary virtuoso. Sonically, the record is a combination of Bruce's piano playing, and piano sounds made using new electromagnetic "bows" that vibrate strings inside the piano creating drone notes.
The album represents a leap, into a new genre of post-ambient, post-piano piano music. Here, sound technology heightens artistic sensitivity, and the listener's presence in the moment. An instrument is reimagined, refashioned. The usual boundaries of time and sound loosen allowing the formation of a new 21st-century beauty.
More
1
Wally Badarou - Dance In The Dust
2
Wally Badarou - Amber Whispers
3
Wally Badarou - Where Were We
4
Wally Badarou - The Lights Of Kinshasa
5
Wally Badarou - Pictures Of You
6
Wally Badarou - Serendipity For Two
7
Wally Badarou - Smiles By The Millions
8
Wally Badarou - Higher Still
9
Wally Badarou - Oriental
10
Wally Badarou - Days To Wonder
11
Wally Badarou - Dawn Of Europa
12
Wally Badarou - Crystal Falls
13
Wally Badarou - Purple Lines
Territories: Worldwide no restrictions
Format Notes: First time vinyl release, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 Dance In The Dust
A2 Amber Whispers
A3 Where Were We
A4 The Lights Of Kinshasa
A5 Pictures Of You
----
B1 Serendipity For Two
B2 Smiles By The Millions
B3 Higher Still
B4 Oriental
B5 Days To Wonder
B6 Dawn Of Europa
B7 Crystal Falls
B8 Purple Lines
Release Notes:
Synth pioneer and musical polymath, Wally Badarou is a genius. But you know that already. A vinyl version of his majestic Colors Of Silence has been craved by the Balearic cognoscenti ever since its low-key 2001 release. Indeed, when we first started work on Be With, we asked some pals with exquisite taste what their dream release would be. We asked Balearic legend Moonboots and, without hesitation, he said Colors Of Silence by Wally Badarou. We didn't know Wally had made this album. And most still don't. But that's about to change.
Colors Of Silence is ostensibly a new age album. As ever though, Wally's sophisticated synth textures and expressive keyboard runs are so full of character, so full of life, that this work of art transcends any easy genre categorisation. It's simply stunning, throughout. It sounds like A.r.t. Wilson or Suzanne Kraft, with traces of CFCF and Jonny Nash. But it was made a good decade earlier than the work of these modern giants. Sometimes, it doesn't seem far from some Larry Heard albums.
Island Records founder Chris Blackwell's friend Nathalie Delon asked Wally to provide music for the yoga DVD she was to release. Lack of time on both sides made them agree on using "quality demos" Wally had in his ideas bank. It's understandable why Colors Of Silence remains somewhat of a lost gem. As Wally explains: "Total lack of promotion made it an 'intimate' release, which was exactly what I was looking for: just a buzz-maker and time-buyer that would allow me to concentrate on the real thing as soon as I'd have time, which could also turn into a rare collecting item later, once the final versions made their way to success. You never know."
Over the years, Colors Of Silence has become a true cult record for the ambient/Balearic heads.
The beguiling but brief "Dance In The Dust" is the shuffling, hyper-percussive, hypnotic opener. It gives way to the deep serenity of "Amber Whispers". It's a gliding, divine, mini melodic masterpiece. It'll make you swoon in its extreme beauty. The bright and breezy "Where Were We" follows, a tropical, reggae-tinged bounce through the islands.
The uptempo groove is maintained on the keys-drizzled soca-funk of "The Lights Of Kinshasa" before Side A is rounded out with "Pictures Of You". It starts with stately, melancholic, unadorned piano and this alone would make for a beautiful song. But Wally always gives us that bit extra and he effortlessly introduces warm, dreamy pads and minimal, slo-mo percussion to augment a frankly stunning piece of work.
Ushering in Side B, Wally's mesmeric piano playing is to the fore again, in the intro to uber-chilled "Serendipity For Two". The playing becomes more mellifluous as the track progresses and adds warmth through exotic percussion, woodwind, sweeping synths and digi-drums. It has echoes of, er, Echoes. It segues seamlessly into the more propulsive, wavy "Smiles By The Millions". If you're not nodding and grinning along widely to the gently throbbing bassline underpinning this, we can't help you. The meditative "Higher Still" follows, cinematic in feel and ever so slightly sinister with the strings. It sounds particularly Badalamenti-esque, if you ask us.
That unmistakable, almost peculiar Badarou funk - so lyrical, so texturally rich and so rhythmically spacious - is all over "Oriental". Next up, "Days To Wonder" brings the serenity back, insistent yet melodic keys, as if played in a place of worship, coupled with birdsong, conjure a kind of instant nostalgia for halcyon days of youth. The contemplative "Dawn Of Europa" is a sombre, beatless, ambient journey whilst the glorious, too-brief "Crystal Falls" features soft percussion and sparkle before fully glistening with some gentle head-nod beats. Wally brings this incredible collection to a mellow, tender close with the graceful "Purple Lines".
There can be few artists more under-appreciated given their vast influence than Wally Badarou. His solo work practically defined the sound of the Balearic DJs of the 1980s, and thus the more sophisticated sound of dance culture thereafter. A synth specialist, Badarou was the long-time associate of Level 42. He was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a series of albums in the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba. He also produced Fela Kuti. Phew!
Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. Special thanks must go to Apiento from Test Pressing who first introduced us to Wally and facilitated all those early zoom meetings. It couldn't have happened without his help. Not least on pulling the art together, too, which features striking original photography by Mads Perch. Benji Roebuck of Roebuck Press did his thing brilliantly in art working the whole package to completion. All in all: essential. More
Format Notes: First time vinyl release, 140g vinyl
Track List:
A1 Dance In The Dust
A2 Amber Whispers
A3 Where Were We
A4 The Lights Of Kinshasa
A5 Pictures Of You
----
B1 Serendipity For Two
B2 Smiles By The Millions
B3 Higher Still
B4 Oriental
B5 Days To Wonder
B6 Dawn Of Europa
B7 Crystal Falls
B8 Purple Lines
Release Notes:
Synth pioneer and musical polymath, Wally Badarou is a genius. But you know that already. A vinyl version of his majestic Colors Of Silence has been craved by the Balearic cognoscenti ever since its low-key 2001 release. Indeed, when we first started work on Be With, we asked some pals with exquisite taste what their dream release would be. We asked Balearic legend Moonboots and, without hesitation, he said Colors Of Silence by Wally Badarou. We didn't know Wally had made this album. And most still don't. But that's about to change.
Colors Of Silence is ostensibly a new age album. As ever though, Wally's sophisticated synth textures and expressive keyboard runs are so full of character, so full of life, that this work of art transcends any easy genre categorisation. It's simply stunning, throughout. It sounds like A.r.t. Wilson or Suzanne Kraft, with traces of CFCF and Jonny Nash. But it was made a good decade earlier than the work of these modern giants. Sometimes, it doesn't seem far from some Larry Heard albums.
Island Records founder Chris Blackwell's friend Nathalie Delon asked Wally to provide music for the yoga DVD she was to release. Lack of time on both sides made them agree on using "quality demos" Wally had in his ideas bank. It's understandable why Colors Of Silence remains somewhat of a lost gem. As Wally explains: "Total lack of promotion made it an 'intimate' release, which was exactly what I was looking for: just a buzz-maker and time-buyer that would allow me to concentrate on the real thing as soon as I'd have time, which could also turn into a rare collecting item later, once the final versions made their way to success. You never know."
Over the years, Colors Of Silence has become a true cult record for the ambient/Balearic heads.
The beguiling but brief "Dance In The Dust" is the shuffling, hyper-percussive, hypnotic opener. It gives way to the deep serenity of "Amber Whispers". It's a gliding, divine, mini melodic masterpiece. It'll make you swoon in its extreme beauty. The bright and breezy "Where Were We" follows, a tropical, reggae-tinged bounce through the islands.
The uptempo groove is maintained on the keys-drizzled soca-funk of "The Lights Of Kinshasa" before Side A is rounded out with "Pictures Of You". It starts with stately, melancholic, unadorned piano and this alone would make for a beautiful song. But Wally always gives us that bit extra and he effortlessly introduces warm, dreamy pads and minimal, slo-mo percussion to augment a frankly stunning piece of work.
Ushering in Side B, Wally's mesmeric piano playing is to the fore again, in the intro to uber-chilled "Serendipity For Two". The playing becomes more mellifluous as the track progresses and adds warmth through exotic percussion, woodwind, sweeping synths and digi-drums. It has echoes of, er, Echoes. It segues seamlessly into the more propulsive, wavy "Smiles By The Millions". If you're not nodding and grinning along widely to the gently throbbing bassline underpinning this, we can't help you. The meditative "Higher Still" follows, cinematic in feel and ever so slightly sinister with the strings. It sounds particularly Badalamenti-esque, if you ask us.
That unmistakable, almost peculiar Badarou funk - so lyrical, so texturally rich and so rhythmically spacious - is all over "Oriental". Next up, "Days To Wonder" brings the serenity back, insistent yet melodic keys, as if played in a place of worship, coupled with birdsong, conjure a kind of instant nostalgia for halcyon days of youth. The contemplative "Dawn Of Europa" is a sombre, beatless, ambient journey whilst the glorious, too-brief "Crystal Falls" features soft percussion and sparkle before fully glistening with some gentle head-nod beats. Wally brings this incredible collection to a mellow, tender close with the graceful "Purple Lines".
There can be few artists more under-appreciated given their vast influence than Wally Badarou. His solo work practically defined the sound of the Balearic DJs of the 1980s, and thus the more sophisticated sound of dance culture thereafter. A synth specialist, Badarou was the long-time associate of Level 42. He was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a series of albums in the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba. He also produced Fela Kuti. Phew!
Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. Special thanks must go to Apiento from Test Pressing who first introduced us to Wally and facilitated all those early zoom meetings. It couldn't have happened without his help. Not least on pulling the art together, too, which features striking original photography by Mads Perch. Benji Roebuck of Roebuck Press did his thing brilliantly in art working the whole package to completion. All in all: essential. More
CD + DVD version, plus 16 pages Booklet, NTSC
Beautifully made Japanese CD (made on "SHM" material) and DVD , Limited One Time Edition of 3000.
Recorded live in August 2006 at the Metamorphose Open-Air Festival, Japan
Composed, performed and mixed by Manuel Göttsching, Last Available Copies are now released as MG ART Edition.
Since its initial release in 1981, Manuel Göttsching's masterwork 'E2-E4' has become a milestone in electronic music and the 2006 concert marks it´s first ever live performance that you can retrieve here on CD and DVD.
Total Time: #1: 62:38 (CD), #2: 69:32 (DVD)
More
Beautifully made Japanese CD (made on "SHM" material) and DVD , Limited One Time Edition of 3000.
Recorded live in August 2006 at the Metamorphose Open-Air Festival, Japan
Composed, performed and mixed by Manuel Göttsching, Last Available Copies are now released as MG ART Edition.
Since its initial release in 1981, Manuel Göttsching's masterwork 'E2-E4' has become a milestone in electronic music and the 2006 concert marks it´s first ever live performance that you can retrieve here on CD and DVD.
Total Time: #1: 62:38 (CD), #2: 69:32 (DVD)
More
1
Anenon - A01. Untitled Skies
2
Anenon - A02. Moons Melt Milk Light
3
Anenon - A03. Maine Piano
4
Anenon - A04. Night Painting I
5
Anenon - A05. A Million Birds II
6
Anenon - A06. As it is When it Appears
7
Anenon - B01. Champeix
8
Anenon - B02. Night Painting II
9
Anenon - B03. Hand Poetry
10
Anenon - B04. Endings (Solo)
11
Anenon - B05. Sightless Eyes (N16)
LP - Territory: WW Minus UK/Eire,Usa
1. ABOUT
- Limited Edition (500 copies worldwide)
- Transparent Clear vinyl
- Printed on heavyweight reverse board outer sleeve
- Double sided printed vinyl insert featuring liner notes by Brian Allen Simon
- Vinyl comes in black poly-lined protective bag
- Housed in a heavyweight PVC protective outer sleeve
- Hype front sticker
- Vinyl pressed at Optimal media GmbH
- Printed at Delga in the UK
2. GENRE/S: Ambient / Experimental / Jazz
3. TRACKLISTS: see next page
Please add track lists for all listed formats.
Side A
01. Untitled Skies
02. Moons Melt Milk Light
03. Maine Piano
04. Night Painting I
05. A Million Birds II
06. As it is When it Appears
Side B
01. Champeix
02. Night Painting II
03. Hand Poetry
04. Endings (Solo)
05. Sightless Eyes (N16)
4. SHORT INFO:
Anenon's tenor saxophone breathes an emotive contemplation on loss, meshed with sustained piano and field recordings. 'Moons Melt Milk Light' is a hyper-personal statement contained in a visceral beauty.
LA native Anenon returns with a highly anticipated new album 'Moons Melt Milk Light' on Tonal Union, bearing his most personal, expressive, and arresting works to date. Anenon is the ongoing solo studio and live project of Brian Allen Simon, whom since 2010 has released multiple albums and EPs to critical acclaim, including the highly revered 'Tongue' (2018) and 'Petrol' (2016).
'Moons Melt Milk Light' is direct, efficient, and unwavering in its immediacy. Anenon departs from the electronics of previous works, and embarks on a reductive, almost entirely acoustic approach consisting of piano, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and field recordings. All of the music was improvised with everything recorded as either a first or second take with no edits. Any layering happened fast and in the moment, and yet the sonic architecture of the whole feels both planned and refined.
"I feel a kinetic and messy honesty that doesn't exist in any of the other music I've ever made. There is also a sense of being settled, of calm. There is no faking it here."
Full Press Release here: Click here
5. VITAL SALES POINTS:
- PR + Radio campaign by Five Worlds PR (UK) / Dense PR + Radio campaign (EU)
Anenon - Previous Press / Quotes
"Anenon straddles the line between esoteric and accessible with ease and grace, a trait attributable to Simon's self-taught style" - Pitchfork, Tongue (2018)
"Anenon creates a world built from the snug comfort of rain and the quiet joy that comes from solitude." - Pitchfork, Tongue (2018)
"Anenon straddles the line between esoteric and accessible with ease and grace, a trait attributable to Simon's self-taught style" - Pitchfork, Petrol (2016)
"Petrol finds the artist coming into his own, interpreting his life experience into sublime electro-acoustic music." - RA, Petrol (2016)
"Campana," "Pure" and "Verso" are all exceptional. In its own way, each is exquisitely played and a pleasure to take in. - Exclaim, Tongue (2018)
"The first few listens don't disclose the full complexities of Simon's work - it remains semi-horizontal and distant, like a tired shrug. But after several repeats, the circular motifs begin to, if not get under the skin, then at least claw at it a bit" - The Wire, Tongue (2018)
"There's velocity and suspense in equal proportion" - The Wire, Petrol (2016)
"There's velocity and suspense in equal proportion, a sense of expansion that evokes the metropolitan area's sprawl." - The Wire, Petrol (2016)
"Skittering strings and spectral sax luxuriate in gossamer textures" - The Wire, Petrol (2016)
More
1. ABOUT
- Limited Edition (500 copies worldwide)
- Transparent Clear vinyl
- Printed on heavyweight reverse board outer sleeve
- Double sided printed vinyl insert featuring liner notes by Brian Allen Simon
- Vinyl comes in black poly-lined protective bag
- Housed in a heavyweight PVC protective outer sleeve
- Hype front sticker
- Vinyl pressed at Optimal media GmbH
- Printed at Delga in the UK
2. GENRE/S: Ambient / Experimental / Jazz
3. TRACKLISTS: see next page
Please add track lists for all listed formats.
Side A
01. Untitled Skies
02. Moons Melt Milk Light
03. Maine Piano
04. Night Painting I
05. A Million Birds II
06. As it is When it Appears
Side B
01. Champeix
02. Night Painting II
03. Hand Poetry
04. Endings (Solo)
05. Sightless Eyes (N16)
4. SHORT INFO:
Anenon's tenor saxophone breathes an emotive contemplation on loss, meshed with sustained piano and field recordings. 'Moons Melt Milk Light' is a hyper-personal statement contained in a visceral beauty.
LA native Anenon returns with a highly anticipated new album 'Moons Melt Milk Light' on Tonal Union, bearing his most personal, expressive, and arresting works to date. Anenon is the ongoing solo studio and live project of Brian Allen Simon, whom since 2010 has released multiple albums and EPs to critical acclaim, including the highly revered 'Tongue' (2018) and 'Petrol' (2016).
'Moons Melt Milk Light' is direct, efficient, and unwavering in its immediacy. Anenon departs from the electronics of previous works, and embarks on a reductive, almost entirely acoustic approach consisting of piano, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and field recordings. All of the music was improvised with everything recorded as either a first or second take with no edits. Any layering happened fast and in the moment, and yet the sonic architecture of the whole feels both planned and refined.
"I feel a kinetic and messy honesty that doesn't exist in any of the other music I've ever made. There is also a sense of being settled, of calm. There is no faking it here."
Full Press Release here: Click here
5. VITAL SALES POINTS:
- PR + Radio campaign by Five Worlds PR (UK) / Dense PR + Radio campaign (EU)
Anenon - Previous Press / Quotes
"Anenon straddles the line between esoteric and accessible with ease and grace, a trait attributable to Simon's self-taught style" - Pitchfork, Tongue (2018)
"Anenon creates a world built from the snug comfort of rain and the quiet joy that comes from solitude." - Pitchfork, Tongue (2018)
"Anenon straddles the line between esoteric and accessible with ease and grace, a trait attributable to Simon's self-taught style" - Pitchfork, Petrol (2016)
"Petrol finds the artist coming into his own, interpreting his life experience into sublime electro-acoustic music." - RA, Petrol (2016)
"Campana," "Pure" and "Verso" are all exceptional. In its own way, each is exquisitely played and a pleasure to take in. - Exclaim, Tongue (2018)
"The first few listens don't disclose the full complexities of Simon's work - it remains semi-horizontal and distant, like a tired shrug. But after several repeats, the circular motifs begin to, if not get under the skin, then at least claw at it a bit" - The Wire, Tongue (2018)
"There's velocity and suspense in equal proportion" - The Wire, Petrol (2016)
"There's velocity and suspense in equal proportion, a sense of expansion that evokes the metropolitan area's sprawl." - The Wire, Petrol (2016)
"Skittering strings and spectral sax luxuriate in gossamer textures" - The Wire, Petrol (2016)
More
1
Ensamble Acústico - Cuando La Nostalgia Guia
2
Ensamble Acústico - Otoño del 83
3
Ensamble Acústico - Dis-solucion
4
Ensamble Acústico - Reposo De La Hierba
5
Ensamble Acústico - En Los Campos De Colonia
6
Ensamble Acústico - Fabula
7
Ensamble Acústico - A Ras De Cielo
8
Ensamble Acústico - Un Exceso De Luz
LP reissue of 1989 Perro Andaluz/Circe tape release
GENRE/S: Ambient/Balearic/Kraut/Electro
TRACKLISTS:
A1 Cuando La Nostalgia Guia
A2 Otoño del 83
A3 Dis-solucion
A4 Reposo De La Hierba
B1 En Los Campos De Colonia
B2 Fabula
B3 A Ras De Cielo
B4 Un Exceso De Luz
Ensamble Acústico was conceived in the early 1980s by Billy Pereyra and Eduardo Roland in Blancarena, a resort on the coast of the Río de la Plata, east of Colonia, Uruguay. In 1989, after only a few performances, the duo released their first and only album: a cassette of eight songs titled 'Un Exceso De Luz' ('An Excess of Light'), co-released by independent labels Perro Andaluz (Uruguay) and Circe (Argentina).
Despite being limited to just 500 copies the album was critically acclaimed and lauded as the first 'new age' project to come out of Uruguay. Yet lumping 'Un Exceso De Luz' into that most vast and heterogenous confluence of musical genres, akin to 'world music', dismisses the alchemical breakdown of minimalism with gestures of contemporary jazz, exemplified by the shifting harmonic figures of 'En Los Campos de Colonia' ('In the Fields of Colonia').
Pereyra and Roland sound strings in tandem, forming harmonic compositions that generate unexpected resonances. Together they build a climatic character that gives the sound of Ensamble Acústico its most distinctive seal, sharing more with the aesthetics of contemporary jazz than the nebulous new age label. The opening track 'Cuando la Nostalgia Guía' ('When Nostalgia Guides') raises not a question so much as a provocation that hints at its own temporal limitations - as an unfinished sentence. 'Reposo de la Hierba' ('Repose of the Grass') meanders through grassy fields before 'A Ras de Cielo' ('Flush With Sky') reveals the 'Exceso' of the title track. These are the great ungroundings of modernity that saw the heavens open and dissolve the celestial sublime, leaving us with a godless excess of space and time.
Perhaps 'new age' is a more fortuitous classification than we originally suspected. As Roland tells us, 'music is the expression of a new world'.
More
GENRE/S: Ambient/Balearic/Kraut/Electro
TRACKLISTS:
A1 Cuando La Nostalgia Guia
A2 Otoño del 83
A3 Dis-solucion
A4 Reposo De La Hierba
B1 En Los Campos De Colonia
B2 Fabula
B3 A Ras De Cielo
B4 Un Exceso De Luz
Ensamble Acústico was conceived in the early 1980s by Billy Pereyra and Eduardo Roland in Blancarena, a resort on the coast of the Río de la Plata, east of Colonia, Uruguay. In 1989, after only a few performances, the duo released their first and only album: a cassette of eight songs titled 'Un Exceso De Luz' ('An Excess of Light'), co-released by independent labels Perro Andaluz (Uruguay) and Circe (Argentina).
Despite being limited to just 500 copies the album was critically acclaimed and lauded as the first 'new age' project to come out of Uruguay. Yet lumping 'Un Exceso De Luz' into that most vast and heterogenous confluence of musical genres, akin to 'world music', dismisses the alchemical breakdown of minimalism with gestures of contemporary jazz, exemplified by the shifting harmonic figures of 'En Los Campos de Colonia' ('In the Fields of Colonia').
Pereyra and Roland sound strings in tandem, forming harmonic compositions that generate unexpected resonances. Together they build a climatic character that gives the sound of Ensamble Acústico its most distinctive seal, sharing more with the aesthetics of contemporary jazz than the nebulous new age label. The opening track 'Cuando la Nostalgia Guía' ('When Nostalgia Guides') raises not a question so much as a provocation that hints at its own temporal limitations - as an unfinished sentence. 'Reposo de la Hierba' ('Repose of the Grass') meanders through grassy fields before 'A Ras de Cielo' ('Flush With Sky') reveals the 'Exceso' of the title track. These are the great ungroundings of modernity that saw the heavens open and dissolve the celestial sublime, leaving us with a godless excess of space and time.
Perhaps 'new age' is a more fortuitous classification than we originally suspected. As Roland tells us, 'music is the expression of a new world'.
More