991.com Sleevenotes : A Blog about Collecting Rare Vinyl 7", 12" & LP Records, CDs, Memorabilia & Music

Riding The Latin Dance Wave

Being a collector of Latin artists, Joe Bataan, Ricardo Marerro & Sabu to labels such as Disco Fuentes and Arieto, means this four-part documentary is a bit of a treat for me.

Latin Music USA on the BBC takes you through the history of the Afro-Cuban sound that swept America [40s-70s], attracting all-sorts from gangsters to the celebrities at the New York Palladium, it sheds light on the origins of salsa, mambo, rumba rhythms and their impact on the mainstream via the mean streets of Havana to their arrival in Spanish Harlem, plus crate diggers know how deadly a crisp Latin drum break is on vinyl. Get schooled!

R.I.P. John Dankworth

Tributes pour in for the British jazz legend

4AD 4-Pack

It's easy to fall in love with a record label. 4AD is such a label.

The Goth-lite qualities of your Cocteau Twins to your This Mortal Coils, bathed in a soft-focus, neo-psychedelia of the eighties, wrapped in Vaughan Oliver’s dreamlike imagery, the mystique and attraction was too good to resist. 4AD became a mark of quality.

Pressed exclusively in Canada, strictly promotional-only and limited to just 300 copies, this 4AD 4-CD Pack contains classic Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance and Lush albums with an otherwise unreleased Pixies live recording.

As ever, we’ve just the one copy locked away, patiently sitting in the dark, what with its colourful project text and gorgeous string-tied packaging; this really does deserve a good home

Bryan Ferry & Will Young On New Groove Armada Album...

GROOVE ARMADA 'Black Light' [Release Date 01/03/2010]

CD:   http://991.com/Buy/ProductInformation.aspx?StockNumber=497558

2LP:   http://991.com/Buy/ProductInformation.aspx?StockNumber=497560

Not many bands' sixth albums could be described as bold, brave, fresh, adventurous or representing a new creative peak. But Groove Armada's brilliant 'Black Light' is all of those things and more. Twelve years into a career as purveyors of top drawer dance music, Andy Cato and Tom Findlay have completely reinvented their sound, with thrilling results.

Thus, in a break with GA tradition, their band was brought into the studio early in the making of the 'Black Light', helping to bring authenticity to their new song-based sound. Andy and Tom also began their tortuous quest to find the guest vocalists who would eventually work with them on the album, scouring their music collections.

The very first song they made for the album was 'Warsaw', a dark, juddering, electro-rock monster that's one of several 'Black Light' tracks to feature vocals from Empire of the Sun's Nick Littlemore. As well as 'Warsaw', Littlemore's vocals drive the delicate, ethereal 'Fall Silent'; the brooding, menacing 'Not Forgotten'; and the emotion-heavy, 80s-tinged pop polemic that is 'Cards To Your Heart'.

SaintSaviour, the livewire front woman of electro-popsters RGBs has lent her crystalline vocals to the album's first single, the gorgeous, regret-tinged 'I Won't Kneel', as well the the defiant, punk-funk duet 'Paper Romance', on which she shares vocals with Ben Duffy from fast-rising dance-poppers Fenech Soler. St Saviour also appears on the deliciously driving, electro-skank 'Time & Space' alongside Jess Larabee from underground Brooklyn rockers She Keeps Bees, a band GA discovered on MySpace.

The yearning voice you'll hear on the stirring house lullaby 'History' belongs to pop superstar Will Young, a friend of Andy's since they bonded on nights out in Ibiza. And, having had Roxy Music's 'Love Is A Drug' on repeat for much of the recording session, it seemed only right to get the legendary Bryan Ferry to supply his first ever guest vocal to the softly intense 'Shameless'. "That track is totally worth the posh dinners we had to buy to persuade him," grins Tom.

Ladies Night at the Grammys

Beyoncé Knowles set a new record for a female solo artist by winning six of her ten nominations at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles last night, and no repeat Kanye West-Taylor Swift embarrassment. The BBC and The Guardian report.

fantastic PLASTIC...

  
GORILLAZ 'Plastic Beach' [Release Date 08/03/2010]

CD:   http://991.com/Buy/ProductInformation.aspx?StockNumber=497311

CD/DVD/ONLINE:   http://991.com/Buy/ProductInformation.aspx?StockNumber=497316

Gorillaz Are Back!!! The new album Plastic Beach is lead by a single 'Stylo' (featuring Mos Def and Bobby Womack) which will be available for download from January 26th. The song leaked online which was confirmed by Murdoc Niccals: "A leak! A leak! 'Plastic Beach' has sprung a leak! One of those Russian pirates has put a bullet hole in my island! My single's leaked! STYLO!"

Five years on from the release of 'Demon Days', Murdoc Niccals and co. are back. The band have taken up residence, recording on a secret floating island deep in the South Pacific, a Plastic Beach HQ, made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity. This 'Plastic Beach' is the furthest point from any landmass on Earth; the most deserted spot on the planet.

Plastic Beach is released on two physical formats. A STANDARD EDITION CD and an EXPERIENCE EDITION CD + DVD + Online Experience. This is a brand new format from EMI. Experience Edition albums give access to content and interactive components over time in an exclusive online area. This product is not to be called a Deluxe!  The Gorillaz Experience Edition (CD + DVD + Online Experience) includes:

* A stream of a Gorillaz performance

* The full version of the Plastic Beach game

* Exclusive access to wallpapers and screensavers

* 16 page ebooklet

* Exclusive access to the Gorillaz online experience (a special area of the Gorillaz website where all this content is unlocked)

new H.I.M album details confirmed...

H.I.M ‘Screamworks: Love In Theory And Practice’ [Release Date 08/02/2010]

CD:   http://991.com/Buy/ProductInformation.aspx?StockNumber=496725

2CD:   http://991.com/Buy/ProductInformation.aspx?StockNumber=496726

Long established as one of the world's biggest cult bands, 2010 sees the return of HIM's inimitable brand of brooding metallic romance with the February 8th release of their new album 'Screamworks: Love In Theory & Practice'.

Recorded at The Lair in Los Angeles, 'Screamworks: Love In Theory and Practice' retains HIM's gothic atmosphere but places a greater emphasis on the immediacy of the songs. New titles including 'Love, The Hardest Way', 'In The Arms of Rain', 'Ode To Solitude' and 'In Venere Veritas' focus on soaring, hook-laden choruses, gargantuan riffs and fluid solos. Produced by Matt Squire (Panic At The Disco, Taking Back Sunday, The Used) and mixed by Neal Avron (Linkin Park Fall Out Boy, Weezer), the album streamlines the quartet's finest attributes into their most accessible work to date. "In the past we used synthesizers to emulate real instruments - piano and strings and all that," says Ville Valo. "This time we wanted all the synths to sound like synths. It's a pretty Eighties album for us, and I love the Eighties because the Eighties, musically, was about melody and huge choruses. That's very essential for us."

The power and intensity of HIM's live performances is world renowned. Fronted by the effortlessly charismatic Ville Valo, HIM have headlined the Give It A Name festival and been third on the bill to Black Sabbath and Velvet Revolver at Download. In addition, they also made a guest appearance with Metallica at a gargantuan Wembley Stadium show. They return here in March for live dates.

The first Finnish band to earn an American Gold-certified album, HIM have hit the Top 20 of the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic. The band have also enjoyed two UK Top 10 hits in the shape of 'Solitary Man' and 'Wings of a Butterfly', as well as a further four Top 30 hits. They've also toured with bands including Metallica and Linkin Park.