Now-Again Records

Bubbha Thomas & The Lightmen – Creative Music: The Complete Works Box Set

Bubbha Thomas – Revolutionary, spiritual jazz bandleader, drummer, and activist from Houston.

ON SALE NOW BUBBHA THOMAS & THE LIGHTMEN – CREATIVE MUSIC: THE COMPLETE WORKS BOX SET

Limited Quantity. Expected ship date – November 28th.

This is the definitive box set of Thomas’s four classic albums with his Lightmen band, each mastered from the original tapes, expanded with bonus tracks and alternate mixes.

Bubbha Thomas had toured America with R&B revues, served as a session musician for Peacock and Back Beat Records, and played straight ahead jazz with legends before the political and social upheaval of the late 1960s led him to a path first charted by Coltrane. His first set of self-issued albums predated the deep-set, maverick jazz issued by the likes of Tribe and Strata East and were a harbinger of best of the 1970s jazz underground. Over the course of the decade, he contributed to a collective voice of resistance to the musical and cultural status quo that is just beginning to be understood.

Each album comes with booklet, a download card for WAV files, and footage of live performances included. Album details below. MORE

David Axelrod speaks about “Songs of Experience” in 1969

A rare audio interview from 1969, recently surfaced, captures David Axelrod reflecting on his then-new album, the landmark Songs of Experience.

In 1969, David Axelrod was interviewed for Voices of Vista, a United States Peace Corps initiative that was pressed to vinyl and distributed to radio stations and recruitment centers. He spoke about the song “A Divine Image” and his album Songs of Innocence, and wondered about the music he would create in the future.

This video was edited by Bennett Piscitelli, with thanks to Kristof Indeherberge.

Legendary Composer/Arranger/Producer David Axelrod’s essential trilogy on Capitol Records – Song of Innocence (1968), Songs of Experience (1969), and Earth Rot (1970) – officially reissued this year on Now-Again. Earth Rot will see release on Black Friday Record Store Day.

PRE SALE »» DAVID AXELROD – EARTH ROT
ON SALE NOW »» DAVID AXELROD – SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
ON SALE NOW »» | DAVID AXELROD – SONG OF INNOCENCE

Don Randi on David Axelrod’s “Song of Experience” reissue – “This is Marvelous”

Above,Songs of Experience keyboardist and conductor Don Randi visits Now-Again’s Egon at producer Emile Haynie’s studio to approve an acetate cut of David Axelrod’s second album, taken directly from the master tapes he and Axelrod assembled 50 years ago.

Legendary composer/Arranger/Producer David Axelrod’s essential trilogy on Capitol Records – Song of Innocence (1968), Songs of Experience (1969), and Earth Rot (1970) – officially reissued this year on Now-Again. Songs of Experience is now available.

ON SALE NOW »» DAVID AXELROD – SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
ALSO AVAILABLE | DAVID AXELROD – SONG OF INNOCENCE

Songs of Experience (1969) is visionary composer/arranger/producer David Axelrod’s second album; it was recorded after the death of his beloved son Scott. Experience is an ominous affair, an album concerned with mortality and spirituality – the solitary, pastoral musings of William Blake set to the urban bombast of a full Los Angeles orchestra, with Wrecking Crew vets grounding the proceedings with dark funk.