Now-Again Records

Coming Later This Year: Stark Reality’s Complete Works Box Set

Later this year, we’ll be presenting the complete works of psychedelic jazz ensemble Stark Reality’s complete works as a box set. This will be the first time that all of Stark Reality’s music will be available on vinyl and CD. Included will be the entirety of their AJP-issued album The Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael’s Music Shop, their out-of-print 1969 (first issued on this label in 2003), and a series of unreleased tracks discovered by Porter Records’ Luke Mosling. Below he describes the discovery of these three crucial songs, which we are pleased to issue for the first time on Now-Again.

“While spending some time in Philadelphia in 2005, I had heard rumors from some of the old-school jazz musicians that drummer and music educator J. R. Mitchell (1937-2004), had a vast collection of reel to reel tapes that he had been recording and acquiring since the late 60’s of his own music and the music of his friends and colleagues. Some time latter I contacted the Mitchell estate and “yes” there were indeed boxes and boxes of tapes. A meeting was arranged for me to go through and archive the material during my next visit to Philly. As I was digging though one box of tapes after another, I came across a plain looking reel to reel tape box with the words “Stark Reality” written faintly in ball point pen. My jaw hit the floor at this unexpected but much welcomed find. MORE

Out Now – Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s Zamrock Classic “My Ancestors”

The Ngozi Family drummer’s fuzz-wrenched Zamrock classic. Released in conjunction with Shadoks. Limited LP Out NOW.

Late last year, we announced the first officially brokered reissue of Zamrock guitarist Paul Ngozi’s music when we posted the song “Jesus Christ” from The Ghetto album, which we released in conjunction with Germany’s Shadoks Music. Now, we’re happy to announce the first legit reissue of Ngozi Family drummer Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s My Ancestors, available now in limited edition LP form.

The late Zebby Tembo, as he was often referred to by his bandleader, recorded at least two albums under his own name, as well as a collaborative album with Ngozi and a handful of 45s. All are special, and feature the drummer’s straight-ahead thrust and throaty vocals amidst Ngozi’s constant fuzz guitar. Songs like “Fisherman,” posted for download below, make My Ancestors an essential buy for anyone interested in the depth of the Zamrock scene.

Zebby Tembo’s music will feature prominently in our Ngozi Family anthology, slated for release in 2013.

Download: Chrissy Zebby Tembo and Ngozi Family Band “Fisherman.”

Coming Soon – Expanded Rhythm Machine LP/CD.

Rhythm Machine’s mid 70s soul/funk opus expanded with previously unreleased tracks. Worldwide release date: 07.24.12

If you purchased our Soul-Cal anthology, you heard Rhythm Machine’s anthemic “Put A Smile On Time.” If you’re anything like us, you were smitten with this synth-lead, should-have-been-a-classic. In late July you’ll have the opportunity to dig into the band’s self titled album from whence that song came – expanded with three previously unreleased tracks, never before published photos like the ones you see here, and detailed liner notes. More information, product shots and a free download coming soon.

Oh, and if you haven’t signed up for our Now-Again Deluxe subscription service, now would be an opportune time: you’ll get our three latest albums upon subscribing, and get Rhythm Machine two weeks ahead of street date.

Out Now: Soul 7 7″ Box Set

Finally back in print – the 7” box set that Egon issued in 2003 as a companion piece to the essential Stones Throw deep funk anthology The Funky 16 Corners. Out NOW.

In 2000, deep funk anthologies were of the shoddy, bootleg variety: you know, the kind that featured new photos of models playing up the funk buffoonery of overgrown afros, bell bottoms and platform shoes. Then came the first fully licensed album of its kind – The Funky 16 Corners anthology, released on Stones Throw Records in 2001 – and, for the funk heroes and heroines that had recorded in the wake of James Brown in the 60s and 70s, everything changed. It’s not too much of a reach to say that companies like Numero Group, Jazzman Records, Light In The Attic – and their marvellous reissues from the past decade – might not have been had it not been for The Funky 16 Corners’ success.

In 2003, two years after The Funky 16 Corners’ release, Egon revisited the deal that sent him on the chase for licensing agreements in the first place: a box set of 7” singles that Traffic Entertainment Group’s president Joe Mansfield had sent him on. The result was Soul 7 – a 7” box set of seven seven inch singles from the 60s and 70s. Some had seen their songs featured on The Funky 16 Corners; some had been up for consideration, but hadn’t made the final cut.

Soul 7 was, as Egon wrote in his original liner notes, “a companion piece to The Funky 16 Corners… a chance to stretch out, and dig a lil’ deeper into the backgrounds and musical legacies of some of the pieces that define the genre that Keb Darge dubbed deep funk.” Almost ten years after Soul 7’s original release, the results of that investigation still sound fiery and fresh. Download an example – the key New Orleans funk of Ernie and The Top Notes Inc. – below.

Get: Soul 7 by subscribing to Now-Again Deluxe at Drip.fm
Download: Ernie and The Top Notes, Inc. “The Dap Walk.”

RIP – Vinnie Johnson (Stark Reality, Stanton Davis’ Ghetto Mysticism Drummer)

Phil Morrison, bassist of our favorite, impossible-to-describe jazz group Stark Reality, told us today that Vinnie Johnson, the band’s drummer, had passed away. We don’t have any further details at this time. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Vinnie’s family. He was one helluva drummer, and a cheerful, super guy. He will be missed.

Photo above by Jim Bourne, taken in 1970 on the back lot at Boston’s WGBH, for use on the Stark Reality’s AJP-issued LP.