Jam Session At The Tower - Ray Anthony

Advantages: Wonderful material
Disadvantages: Not Who but Kinks now

...Part of the trouble with The Jam following their initial rise to fame seems to have stemmed from Weller’s love affair with a girl called Gill, whom he had met during the band’s first British tour. They moved into a flat together in London’s Baker Street, and Weller found himself losing the singlemindedness that had once taken his career from strength to strength. Seeing the writing on the wall, he moved back to his parents’ house in Woking - maintaining his relationship with Gill, which was to outlive The Jam - and began to concentrate on his music once more. Asa result, The Jam made a slow climb back to popularity with two hit singles, a cover of the Ray Davies song David Watts and Down In The Tube Station At Midnight. This angry and moving song - about a vicious racial attack - was released in October 1978, and scaled to number 15... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Cleverly written and beautifully crafted songs
Disadvantages: Not everyone's cup of tea, but then, what is?

...of alternate versions of songs from the album Disc 1. Disc 2 has the full album again but the mono mix is remastered from the original tapes, plus the mono mixes of 'Polly', 'Days' and 'Wonderboy', among others. There's the excellent honky-tonk 'Berkeley Mews' on there too, plus 'Mr Songbird' and another alternate mix from the album. Disc 3 is entitled further listening 1966 - 1969, and again has several alternate mixes of album songs, with added orchestration for example. There are several unused songs included, the most notable being 'Misty Water', 'Lavender Hill', and 'Rosemary Rose', and there are three selections from the Kinks BBC sessions dated between 1968 and 1970. In summary, I can quite clearly see why the album nosedived on it's release, but 37 years on it sounds really good, and demonstrates the thoughtful songwriting of Ray Davies... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: amazing horns and grooves - something for everyone
Disadvantages: none

...Seattle's Ticklejunk All Stars are all about the fusion - dance floor burners and live jazz, and no where is that more evident than their newest release The Future Funk Sessions. Producer Danny Massure makes a strong statement with his jazz-layered break beats, add along the Ticklejunk Horns, led by Seattle sax-man and horn arranger Mike Deasy Jr., and Executive producer DJ Phil Anthony and you get a spectrum of new funk rising from the rain soaked dance floors. Ticklejunk Records makes their first full length CD release, including re-mixes from Boca 45 and the All Good Funk Alliance. Add to that a gripping rap from underground MC Diverse out of Chicago and it is easy to see how this album has climbed into the #1 Jazz album on Seattle's KEXP radio. The sound is brought into even clearer light when you add the guitar stylings... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful