SEALED

OFFICIAL REISSUE //FULLY LICENSED

Best Italy continues to do a wonderful job of unearthing much-sought after gems and giving them the re-press they deserve. Lily Ann was a quintessential one hit wonder of Italo disco perfection that surfaced in 1984, and "Going Crazy" captures the mood of early 80s dance music perfectly. Adding value to the release beyond the fresh mastering job and high-end modern pressing, as well as the previously released vocal and instrumental we also get treated to a dub mix of "Going Crazy" to give you even more options for dropping this impeccable slice of Italian dance music history.

The latest dig from Best Record Italy's eternal mission to release the finest Roman musical manna features noted jazz man Pino Presti taking on Manu Dibango's eternal party jam "Soul Makossa". Presti's interpretation uses oodles of gleaming 80s synths in place of the original traditional instrumentation, but fear not as the iconic brass section remains a real-world force, and sounds mighty fresh with it. Following up that cover is a sumptuous version of "Ain't No Sunshine" which is aimed square at the heartstrings of the most Balearic cruisers. "I Call Your Name / Come Back To Me" gets even smoother, the vocals capturing Mediterranean getaway romance to perfection.

Once more scouring the annals of disco history for the hottest jams, Best look beyond Italy and snap up this much-vaunted slice of American funk from 1982. While second hand prices can get out of control, it's not hard to hear why this glittering prize from Jagg would be so coveted - it's got everything. Jazz-leaning slap bass, mean synthesizer chops and soaring vocals - "Take Time" is prime to set the party off, and no longer is it the preserve of wealthy collectors. Originally a single-sided affair, Best have done the right thing and filled the B-side up with an extended version to let that groove roll on even longer.

Best Record Italy take the time machine all the way back to 1979 to revisit the wonderful Italo-Disco delights of Adolf Stern, whose "More... I Like It" represents the strangest end of the genre as it was taking shape. With heavily processed vocals injecting some serious strangeness into the chirpy disco backdrop, it's the kind of track to turn heads without a doubt. "Twenty Seven" on the B-side is equally magical in its capturing of the era, with the more obvious surface elements underpinned by a truly intoxicating line in synth arpeggios. Once again Best comes up trumps refreshing the history of Italian music of all shapes and sizes.

Favorite Recordings proudly presents this new official reissue of ARIAN: A rare and underrated Disco album originally released in 1981 by PGP RTB label and fully recorded in New-York.Arian Kerliu was born in the small town of Macedonia, Dibra or Debar. Arian’s first recordings for a local radio stations were at the age of 14, appearing in almost every music festival in Ex-Yugoslavia. When he was 19, Arian came to New York City, working different jobs and studying music. His first music engagements were in various clubs throughout the city, playing guitar and singing. He then met with James Benjamin-Fish, well known bass-guitar player, with whom he formed the band ARIAN & FUNKY FAMILY, mainly performing in the best clubs of NYC at that time.Together, they came to an idea to record an album of their own. After travelling throughout the US, they got to know each other very well, and had connected with probably some of the best musicians you could find at that time. Thus they had Sinclair Acey arranging three songs and Hubert Eaves, as a writer of "Still Together", a beautiful ballad written in honor of his wife. By that time Hubert had gained two Grammy awards for Stephanie Mills’ albums. Kornelius Cambell also wrote and composed two songs of the album, which Sinclair Acey arranged. The album also contains a great cover of “Can’t Say Goodbye” by Bobby Caldwell, a song that Arian and James had interpreted almost every night when touring. And all of this completed with the background vocals of Tawatha Agee (Mtume), Shevill Alexander and Sybil Thomas (Raw Silk).Arian & Funky Family band was then invited in Yugoslavia for a European tour, including James, Kornelius and Stacey, but also others great musicians such as William "Spaceman" Patterson, Zane Mark, Steve Kroon, Trevor Gale, Alex Foster, or Reggie Marks, not forgetting Flame Braithwaite and Meli'sa Morgan on background vocals. Having the material of the 4 songs ready and finalized, the PGP RTB label from Belgrade offered them to release an album, with the idea to also adapt the songs with lyrics from the famous Croatian musician and writer Mario Mihaljevic.Today, Favorite Recordings is deeply honored to bring this brilliant LP back to life. In order to insure the best sound quality, the original tracklist has been dispatched on a double vinyl version, which should please all DJs and music collectors.

Here comes the first vinyl release by French collective Parisian Soul, released on Denote Records.Denote Records is a label founded in 2001 by David Hachour and Florent Sabaton, following the success of their Disco/House band Oscar. From 1998 to 2005, their productions filled many international dancefloors and David H travelled all over the world to play alongside famous DJs such as Rainer Truby, Paul Johnson, Little Louie Vega, Shazz, Eva Gardner, Dj Cam, Carl Craig, Arnaud Rebotini (Blackstrobe), or Grand Master Flash to name just a few…Since 2005, David focused on his work as sound engineer and started working at the famous “Topmaster” recording studio. And in 2008 he launched the “ColorSOundStudio” with Florent. But after a few years, the duo decided to reactivate the Denote imprint in 2012, with various projects including artists such as Villanova, Andre Salmon, Chez Carmen, or Sleaz.In 2016, David formed Parisian Soul alongside Jérôme Lecailletel and Laurent Cohen, all connected by their love for Disco and Funk productions. Jerôme, who’s also part of the Oscar adventure, is a multi-instrumentist and composer, who have a long career as a studio musicians for many majors’ acts. As Laurent Cohen has been deejaying since 1985 for various radio and clubs, also working for famous Parisian records shop, Sound Records and Urban Music.On this first vinyl only release, the trio also combined the curiosity of digging, with the organic groove of live music and the requirements of high level mastering. Finely produced at the ColorSOund mastering studio, their 2 first reworks is a brilliant mix of their Funk, Disco and House influences, perfectly fit for killing the dancefloors.

Awesome Tapes From Africa continues to unearth must-hear gems for a wider audience with its reissue of South African bubblegum music stars Umoja's 1988 EP 707.Bubblegum music was defined by its call-and-response vocals and catchy synthesizer-led melodies. Helmed by 'Om' Alec Khaoli, who turned to the pure pop form as an escape from apartheid in the mid-80s, Umoja's EP 707 was a chart-topping, radio-friendly hit for the genre in 1988 that achieved double-platinum status.Umoja translates as 'oneness' or 'unity' in Swahili. 'Bubblegum music was about escape', explains Khaoli in the press release. 'If you had grown up in South Africa at the time, there was nothing more in your life than oppression. It was even in your dreams. Anything that was a way out was welcome 'When this music was playing everyone just wanted to dance, just have a good time.'

Liner notes insert with the full story of Hotline group.

Blue Note is pleased to announce the release of legendary Nigerian drummer Tony Allen's new EP: A Tribute to Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. The 4 titles featured in the EP provide a preview of his forthcoming first album for Blue Note (currently scheduled for release in autumn 2017) on which Tony Allen pays tribute to his longstanding idol, American jazz drummer Art Blakey. The EP's four titles and the other tracks that make up the album were recorded over three days in Paris at the Midilive studios, the former facility of the Vogue label. The sessions were done in live conditions that saw Tony Allen and his 8-piece band together in the same room, with the sound channeled through 12 separate mikes onto 2" tape via a Sony MCI-JH24 analogue multi-track recorder.Tony Allen and Art Blakey have so much in common that this project came into being almost naturally. For one thing, growing up in Lagos, if Tony hadn't listened to Art Blakey's recordings he might never have taken up drumming: Blakey's type of kit was much rarer than the traditional Nigerian percussion instruments played during that period. Another quality shared by the two musicians is the fact that both Art and Tony were sidemen before they were leaders of their own groups: Art Blakey founded his Jazz Messengers after playing alongside Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon or Thelonious Monk, and Tony Allen also only moved on to leading his own ensembles after playing in other bands, notably the Africa 70 orchestra founded by Fela Anikulapo Kuti. And both Allen and Blakey contributed to the birth of a brand-new music style: bebop and then hard bop in the case of Art Blakey, and the afro-beat style of Allen. Paris is also a link where the two musicians converge: Art Blakey recorded some of his best albums there (his live recordings at the Club St. Germain and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées for example), while Paris has been home to Tony Allen for some twenty years, and he still lives there with his family.But perhaps the most significant link between Blakey and Allen is Africa. Many consider Art Blakey to be the most African of the jazz drummers, and he made many long visits to that continent where he earned a new name — Blakey became known as Buhaina, an African resonance that would become part of his approach to drumming. Blakey was an inspired metronome, a musician with no interest in idle chitchat who avoided special effects in order to concentrate on the profound dynamics of rhythm. But he could create alchemy with his groups. You could say the same of Tony Allen, whose powerful sense of rhythm goes hand in hand with a taste for economy that resembles the "sublime elegance" found in the art of the haiku: behind the Nigerian's "stripped to the essentials" approach, there lies the will to encourage each musician to raise his playing to exceptional levels.Here, in the company of some of the finest instrumentalists in France (supervised by Vincent Taurelle of the A.L.B.E.R.T. trio, whose production credits include Tony's previous album Film of Life), Tony Allen handsomely comes full circle with his Tribute To Art Blakey, a fine demonstration of the bond between Africa and America.