A top Reissues and Archival Recordings chart is always going to a decent list, isn’t it? If it’s an old live recording by a favourite artist, or a gem of an album from decades ago given an immaculate spruce-up, then chances are that’s it’s going to be pretty good. Having said that, I’m bound to admit that there aren’t quite as many all-time classics on the 2023 list as there have been in some past years. That’s just the way it goes. Reissues from the golden era of reggae (say 1972-82) make a predictably strong showing, though, occupying eight out of the 20 places on the chart.
Right – without any further ado, let’s have a look at the lower half of the chart…
20. The Ducks – Flyin’ High
Neil Young and 3 of his mates playing live in small Californian venues in the summer of 1977. Note: Old Neil was also responsible for the Archival Turkey of the year, with his release of the “Somewhere Under the Rainbow” set from London 1973, on which the sound quality was so inexcusably bootleg-bad that all purchasers should’ve been offered an immediate refund.
19. Emahoy Tsegé-Mariam Ghébrou – Jerusalem
ETMG, as you probably know, was an Ethiopian nun who died earlier this year aged 99. She basically recorded one batch of ethio-jazz piano tunes in Germany in the 60s, and that’s it. This album, which goes under various names (such as “Piano Solo”), has been reissued umpteen times by different labels. It is absolutely unique and essential. The “Jerusalem” collection released this year is a few offcuts and outtakes that someone found down the back of the sofa. It is … how shall I put this … not as essential as the original album.
https://emahoytsegemariamgebru.bandcamp.com/album/jerusalem
18. Stephen Stills – Live at Berkeley 1971
In August 1971, Stills was more or less at his peak as a solo artist. He’s in good voice here, and Croz helps out on a couple of tracks.
17. Prince Lincoln Thompson & the Royal Rasses – God Sent Dub
In 1980, Chris Lane was given precisely 2 hours and 10 minutes of studio time to come up with a dub version of a Lincoln Thompson album. This is the result.
16. Rory Gallagher – All Around Man: Live in London
If you’re a fan of the hard rock style of Rory Gallagher’s later career, you’ll definitely go for this live recording. Personally, I prefer the man’s bluesier early solo years (say 1971 to 76).
15. Thomas Almqvist – Nyanser
Thomas Almqvist was a Swedish guitarist and songwriter in a jazzy vein. This album, from 1979, is generally regarded as his finest work, and it was nice to see it get a vinyl reissue this year.
https://www.bewithrecords.com/products/thomas-almqvist-nyanser-lp
14. Wizz Jones – Personal Best
Wizz Jones, now 84, has played with everyone on the UK folk/blues scene. In the twilight of his career, he’s chosen his 20 favourite tracks from his repertoire for this compilation.
13. Sound Dimension – Jamaica Soul Shake Volume 1
The Sound Dimension were Studio One’s house backing band. The shifting personnel included Jamaican musical legends such as Cedric “Im” Brooks, Horsemouth Wallace, Vin Gordon and Ernest Ranglin. On this Soul Jazz reissue there are 16 classic instrumentals.
12. Justin Hinds & the Dominoes – Showcase
This vinyl LP comes housed in the classic lo-fi sleeve of Peckings Record shop in Askew Road, west London. Each of the Dominoes’ songs, is followed, in the traditional ‘showcase’ style, by its accompanying dub or deejay cut. Some of these have been newly minted for this collection.
https://peckingsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/justin-hinds-showcase
11. Dennis Bovell – The 4th Street Albums Collection
Over the years, Dennis “Blackbeard” Bovell has gone by goodness knows how many pseudonyms. This 2CD set collects his four 1970s albums made under the 4th Street Orchestra moniker, plus a few bonus tracks thrown in. Good value, and consistently strong material.
Numbers 10 to 6 will be along a bit later today…
Wizz Jones released in December 2022, pedant over and out but thanks for reminding me about it
With you on the Stills and Blackbeard titles – I’m looking forward to seeing if the rest of your top choices contain any more that I’ve also acquired this year.
I didn’t buy the ETMG one, as I already had the Ethiopiques re-issue titled ‘Piano solo’ – but if you’ve put this bitsa one in your top 20 it sounds as if I might want to get it too, even if it is ‘not as essential’.
It’s been a healthy year for me in re-issue-land, buying up a quite a few gap-fillers. Several have been available for some time but I’d not spotted them until the last 12 months or so.
Okey-dokey: I reckon it’s time to continue with the next tranche, namely numbers 10 to 6…
10. Glen Brown meets King Tubby – Big Dub
Probably the best known collection of collaboration tracks between producer Glenmore Brown and the Dub Originator King Tubby was the magnificent “Termination Dub” set put out by Blood & Fire back in 1996. It looks like Rocka Shacka Records from Japan managed to dig up a few more dub cuts from somewhere, and they’ve put them out on this set. Certainly worthwhile.
https://rockashacka.bandcamp.com/album/big-dub-glen-brown-and-king-tubby-lost-tapes
9. Grateful Dead – RFK Stadium, Washington D.C., 10 June 1973
So many hundreds of GD shows have been officially released, that archivist Dave Lemieux is now, inevitably, getting down to the non-Premier League material. This is a long show from my favourite GD year, 1973. The six tracks on disc two are all superbly played, and make the album as a whole worth hearing. The disc 4 encores with two blokes out of the Allman Brothers are also quite fun. The rest of the set is music that can be better heard elsewhere.
8. Allen Kwela – Black Beauty
Classic work of South African jazz from 1975, on which guitarist Allen Kwela is aided by legendary alto sax man Kippie Moeketsi.
https://matsulimusic.bandcamp.com/album/black-beauty
7. Ali Farka Touré – Voyageur
This is a posthumous collection of unreleased tracks from various sources, but it doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like a proper, brand new, high-quality studio album by the great man, Monsieur le Maire de Niafunké.
6. Herman Chin-Loy – Musicism Dub
One of Pressure Sounds’ signature compilations back in 2004 was Aquarius Rock: The Hip Reggae World Of Herman Chin-Loy, showing the breadth of Chin-Loy’s production work for so many great artists. Nineteen years later, the same label have followed this up with a dub-only compilation, which is also very fine. Rather ominously for us CD fans, Pressure Sounds chose to make this the first of their releases to be vinyl and download only…
https://pressuresounds.bandcamp.com/album/musicism-dub
Stay tuned for the splendiferous Top Five in due course…
Tubs is THE MAN.
Listen to Vulpes on this point.
That Ali Farka Toure album sounds like a real treat. Thanks for the tip.
I see Oumou Sangare sings on three tracks.
All the more reason to give it a listen.
Cheapskate that I am , I am, of course, listening to it on Spotify.
Aquarius Rock passed me by. I don’t recall ever seeing it. I will give it a listen and will download it if I like it. It is certainly the type of thing I would have bought on CD. I have loads of Pressure Sounds CDs.
Sound Dimension duly ordered – sucker for most things Soul Jazz/Sounds of the Universe.
Right – it’s time to unveil the five reissues or archival recordings that have really lit up the firmament for me this year…
5. The Guiding Star Orchestra – Natural Heights
Technically, I suppose this is more of a simple vinyl re-press than a reissue, but let’s not split hairs. It was made a few years ago by a bunch of Caribbean expats living in Denmark. I guarantee this is the best Danish reggae album you’ll ever hear!
https://guidingstarorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/natural-heights
4. John Coltrane & Eric Dolphy – Evenings at the Village Gate
In August 1961, the Village Gate club in New York wanted to know how the room performed, acoustically, so they strung one microphone up by the ceiling and recorded one concert. Luckily, they caught Trane and Dolphy on white hot form. The sound quality on this album isn’t perfect, but we should be glad it exists at all. Opens with a staggering version of “My Favourite Things”, which is worth the entry fee on its own.
3. Various Artists – As-Shams Archives Vol. 1 South African Jazz, Funk & Soul 1975-1982
Why is South African jazz of the 1970s so good? I don’t know – it just is. This is a compilation double LP showcasing 10 different artists’ work from an eight-year period. The music is an absolute joy. Phenomenal.
https://as-shams.bandcamp.com/album/as-shams-archive-vol-1-south-african-jazz-funk-soul-1975-1982
2. Michael Smith – Mi Cyaan Believe It
From 1982, this is one of the greatest dub poetry albums of all time, in which the Jamaican poet Mikey Smith is backed by the Dennis Bovell dub band. Production by Linton Kwesi Johnson. Online, I’ve been campaigning for its reissue for years, and in 2023 it finally happened (vinyl only – no CD). Tragically, Smith never made another record, as he was stoned to death in Jamaica the following year. “Mi Cyaan Believe It” stands as a mighty epitaph.
1. Joni Mitchell – Archives, Volume 3
Overpriced but undeniably magnificent 5CD collection of previously unreleased material from the For the Roses => Miles of Aisles => Hissing of Summer Lawns era. The words, the playing, the singing … it’s all simply sublime. She could do anything. Back in 1972-75, did people realise just how brilliant a songwriter Joni Mitchell was? I’m not sure that they did … but we certainly know now.
Right … well, that’s 2023 all nicely wrapped up. Next year, I look forward to more music … and of course more discussions about everything under the sun with the good people of this online parish.
//duco
I’ve also bemoaned the non-availability of ‘Mi Cyaan Believe It’ for yonks – I bought the original vinyl LP, and even though it’s barely over half an hour long, I’d happily buy a CD copy because it’s such a vital album in the UK reggae firmament. In fact, I did a needle drop from my own vinyl copy a couple of years ago and sent a copy to a few posters on here. Although I’m glad to hear that it’s available again on vinyl, I doubt that it would be much of an improvement, if any, on my treasured original Island copy. Lawwwwwd have mercy.
As-Shams Archives Vol. 1 South African Jazz, Funk & Soul 1975-1982, another one which went under my radar. It’s good, quite a lot of the tracks don’t sound particularly South African to me. Not that it matters of course, as long as they’re good.
“Back in 1972-75, did people realise just how brilliant a songwriter Joni Mitchell was? I’m not sure that they did.”
What? Ridiculous.
Have you thought this through @duco01? I was 21 in ’72 and had been able to recognise good music when I heard it for, ooh, about a decade.
I have to agree with you there @Peanuts Molloy.
From a very early stage in Joni’s career, fans were well aware that she was a major talent.
By the time of Blue in 1971, (if not before). she was, quite rightly ,beng hailed as one of the greatest singer-songwriters on the planet.
Ok, known and recognised to the sort of spotty yoof devouring the inkies 1972-75…… 😉
Us lot.
Blue was her biggest bit in the UK (number 3 in 1971) and sold a million copies in the US. She doubled those sales with Court And Spark, reaching number 2 in the US in 1974.
Blue was also number one on Spotify in 2021 on its 50th Anniversary.
I’m not so sure about that @retropath2.
Even before Blue, she’d written big international hits like Clouds and Both Sides Now, which had rapidly become standards.
In 1970 she was already Big at the Beeb!
Queening it on the Cash Show.
And cavorting with Mamma Cass
So that pesky man in the street probably did know bout her.
The billion dollar question here (as regards UK popularity) is perhaps:
Was Joni ever on TOTP?
Or indeed Crackerjack or Tiswas?`
Maybe she wasn’t so well-known after all?
I just checked. She vevar sppeared on the Badil Brush show either. A duet with that foxy funster! What a treat that would have been!
Ask any normal UK person of a certain age to name a Joni Mitchell song and I suspect Big Yellow Taxi will be mentioned. Maybe River also, but not sure too many others would come up
Good Point, Dai. Here in Sweden, River has become a real Yuletide Vladivostok and is often covered on Xmas s albums.
Bloody insane auto-corrrect!! I’ll try that again!
Good Point, Dai. Here in Sweden, River has become a real Yuletide standard and is often covered on Xmas albums.
As an example, here’s a gorgeous version of Älven (River in Swedish) by Kraja and Iiris Viljanen.
Talking of Foxy. Almost every English Student I met had a copy of Blue or The Hissing of Summer Lawns in her ‘bedsit’. That was 1977 onwards.
Just how many of these bedsits did you visit @Tiggerlion ?
Not enough. 😉
“the best Danish reggae album you’ll ever hear,” The Guiding Star Orchestra do sound excellent.
However, you might be interested to know that, if asked about the best Danish reggae ever, most Copenhagen reggae fans would probably name Natasja here.
The reason I know this is that she died in a car crash on Jamaica, only 32 years old, at the time of the Roskilde Festival in 2007. I was there in Denmark and her death was headline news.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natasja_Saad
Not only was she a singer and rapper! I’ve just leant that she was quite a successful jockey!
Tigger’s ”bedsitter visits” reminded me of this song.
Aprpriately, the young lady is from St Albans, just like DuCool!