Now-Again Records

Essential 90s Memphis Rap On Vinyl

BUY THE COLLECTION AT BANDCAMP» MEMPHIS RAP – THE NOW-AGAIN BANDCAMP

We have reissued eight essential albums from the ’90s Memphis Rap scene, each licensed directly from the artists. These albums were originally released on rare tapes, only distributed in and around Memphis. This is the first time they appear on LP; each album is pressed on limited edition colored vinyl, and comes in an OBI wrapped jacket that contains an oversized 12 page book that details the historical precedent, genesis and arc of this important American musical scene. This series follows the sold-out box set The Story of Memphis Rap.

Lil’ Ced – Playin’ By The Rules (1995), MC Money & Gangsta Gold – Da Hard Ov Frayser (1995),Shawty Pimp & MC Spade – Vol. 2 (1994), Skinny Pimp’s Vol.1 (1993), Carmike’s – Comin’ At Yo Ass (1994) and R.A.N.’s – Gotta Be Lyrical (1993) Gangsta Blac’s – Breakin Da Law (1994) and Gimisum Family’s – Gimisum Family (1994) are all out now. MORE

Rapture: Lost Indianapolis Sweet Soul Album Issued At Last

The lost album by Rodney Stepp’s Rapture ensemble. Unreleased Sweet Soul and Disco Funk from mid-70s Indianapolis, featuring members of Amnesty, Midnight Star, and The Spinners.

Rapture’s story told in great detail in liner notes written by Naptown historian Kyle Long.

BUY THE LP NOW AT BANDCAMP» Rapture – Rapture

A photo in Rodney Stepp’s scrapbook sums this period in his life in music. It’s 1974, The Spinners were headliners at the “Zaire 74” music festival, a sideshow to Muhammad Ali’s fabled “Rumble in the Jungle” fight with George Foreman. Among the faded snapshots, there’s a picture of Stepp backstage posing arm in arm with Ali; another image shows The Greatest seated at Stepp’s Fender Rhodes alongside vocalist Etta James.

It was all a dream for this Naptown wunderkind, who had previously recorded for Herb Miller’s LAMP Records as the Diplomatics and had issued the sweet soul killer “Young Girl” as Jazzie Cazzie and the Eight Sounds on a rare Knaptown 45. (These recordings have been documented on the Now-Again LAMP anthology and our Loving On The Flipside compilation.) But as exciting as his rise out of those local status was, as exciting as it was to headline festivals and arenas and appear on late night talk shows, Stepp grew restless with the mechanical routine of being a sideman. MORE

Deep Dayton Disco Soul: Record Player’s Unreleased Album Out Now

Unreleased disco and boogie from Dayton, Ohio’s Record Player: their full album, recorded in the late ‘70s, and unreleased until now. Contains oversized booklet detailing the Record Player’s story and the history of the Ohio music scenes that allowed for their rise.

BUY THE LP NOW AT BANDCAMP» Record Player – Free Your Mind

In 1979, Record Player privately pressed and issued a solitary 45 on their Gem City Records imprint in Dayton, Ohio. Though they had recorded a host of other songs, and were on the verge of signing to a major label, their trajectory stalled and the band splintered by the early 1980s. In the early 2000s, Record Player principle Charles Jackson surfaced with their unreleased songs. To date, only two Record Player songs have been reissued, as part of Now-Again’s long-running Soul Cal series. Now, the entirety of their oeuvre is presented here as Free Your Mind, and their story detailed in words by Bret Sjerven in the oversized booklet contained within. MORE

SoCal Soul, Psych, Funk and Folk: The Complete Lennan Records Discography

Streaming Everywhere Now: The Complete Lennan Records Discography

Over twenty years ago, when we went to reissue Lil’ Lavair and the Fabulous Jade’s funk masterpiece “Cold Heat,” we had one source for the audio: a CD-R that the Scottish collector and DJ Keb Darge had given Egon. At the time, Egon had only heard the group’s A-side, “I’ll Be So Happy,” once, at Keb’s Deep Funk night in London, where he played the Northen Soul classic as a favor to our erstwhile founder. He’d owned the record for years, but never really rated the track. And it was in that Deep Funk era in which Lil’ Lavair’s fortunes changed, and with them, those of Leonard Wojtowicz and his small Southern California concern, Lennan Records. MORE

Salty Dog’s Solitary Zamrock Album – The Definitive Reissue

The definitive reissue of a Zamrock masterpiece, ranging from hard psych to wistful folk. Contains bonus track “Sunday Morning Sunshine,” never before on LP.

BUY THE LP NOW AT BANDCAMP» Salty Dog

Salty Dog’s solitary Zamrock album, custom-pressed for the band by the South African Teal record company’s Zambezi subsidiary is one of the more difficult Zamrock records to find clean; in our years of searching and friendship with the late Norman Muntemba, the band’s leader, we’ve only come across two. Now, the album has been restored and remastered – and expanded – in this definitive reissue, done in conjunction with the Salt Dog’s bandmembers’ heirs. MORE