Buddy Guy & Junior Wells – Going Back To Acoustic – Pure Pleasure Records 180g Vinyl
“…These classic songs are matched by an impeccable re-master of the kind of recording which constantly reminds me exactly just why I own a turntable. Fantastic transparency, a jaw dropping presentation of rough hewed vocal dynamic shifts and the kind of inner details that scream ‘intimacy’ recreates the atmospheric roots of the Deep South – making this a must own record from a sonic perspective as well.” Recording = 9.5/10; Music = 9/10 – Reuben Parry, Hi-Fi+, Issue 45
Horace Tapscott Conducting The Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: The Call – Pure Pleasure Records
There are certain albums you hear something new every time you revisit the music and this is one of those albums. An important part of Afro-American history; the politics and art which surrounded the album. If you get a chance check out the film ‘Horace Tapscott, Musical Griot’, by filmmaker Barbara McCullough, or buy the book ‘Songs Of The Unsung’: The Musical & Social Journey of Horace Tapscott’
UK VIBE Mark Jones
Horace Tapscott: Dial ‘B’ For Barbra – 2 x LP Pure Pleasure Vinyl
“The best of pianist Horace Tapscott’s recordings for the tiny Nimbus label is this 1981 LP which features him in a sextet with trumpeter Reggie Bullen, altoist Gary Bias, tenor saxophonist Sabir Matteen, bassist Roberto Miranda and drummer Everett Brown, Jr. The group stretches out on a couple of Tapscott’s originals plus a 19½-minute version of Linda Hill’s”Dem Folks.” Although the music could be called avant-garde, its use of rhythms and repetition keep the results from being forbidding and the performances have a momentum of their own.”
Scott Yanow/AMG
Ike & Tina Turner – Feel Good – Pure Pleasure Records 180g Vinyl LP
“Feel Good” is quintessentially ’70s – the fuzztoned funk practically conjures up platform shoes and mile-wide collars – but it doesn’t belong to any one sound, it casually draws from Southern soul, James Brown funk, black pride, “Superfly” style and juke joint R&B, a sound that is uniquely identified with Ike & Tina. And while this contains no flat-out classics like “Nutbush City Limits” or “Proud Mary” as an album “Feel Good” undoubtedly ranks among their very best: it’s a non-stop party.
Pharoah Sanders : Live – Pure Pleasure Records 180g 2 LP Vinyl
Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Blacknuss
From its opening bars, with Bill Salter’s bass and Rahsaan’s flute passionately playing Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine”, you know this isn’t an ordinary Kirk album (were any of them?). As the string section, electric piano, percussion, and Cornel Dupree’s guitar slip in the back door, one can feel the deep soul groove Kirk is bringing to the jazz fore here.