Now-Again Records

Various – Welcome To Zamrock! Vol. 2

Buy it here.

Tracklist:

Book/CD:

1. Crossbones Really (3:53)
2. Amanaz History of Man (3:03)
3. WITCH Strange Dream (3:17)
4. Rikki Ililonga Stop Dreaming Mr. D (3:31)
5. The Five Revolutions Poor Man (2:48)
6. Keith Mlevhu Love And Freedom (3:27)
7. Born Free Mad Man (2:38)
8. Dr. Footswitch Otenta (6:52)
9. Tinkles Mpundu (3:26)
10. Salty Dog See The Storm (3:44)
11. Fireballs Umwana Wakusanga Mung’anda (3:22)
12. Peace Umbwalwa Ne Chamba (7:08)
13. Oscillations Request To God (5:49)
14. Musi-O-Tunya Katonga (4:52)
15. Ngozi Family Hold On (4:02)
16. Chrissy Zebby Tembo I’m Not Made Of Iron (3:17)
17. Jesper Silya Lungu Hot Do (3:50)
18. Mike Nyoni SM (4:15)

LP:

A:
1. Crossbones Really (3:53)
2. Amanaz History of Man (3:03)
3. WITCH Strange Dream (3:17)
4. Rikki Ililonga Stop Dreaming Mr. D (3:31)
5. The Five Revolutions Poor Man (2:48)

B:
1. Keith Mlevhu Love And Freedom (3:27)
2. Born Free Mad Man (2:38)
3. Dr. Footswitch Otenta (6:52)
4. Tinkles Mpundu (3:26)
5. Salty Dog See The Storm (3:44)

C:
1. Fireballs Umwana Wakusanga Mung’anda (3:22)
2. Peace Umbwalwa Ne Chamba (7:08)
3. Oscillations Request To God (5:49)
4. Musi-O-Tunya Katonga (4:52)

D:
1. Ngozi Family Hold On (4:02)
2. Chrissy Zebby Tembo I’m Not Made Of Iron (3:17)
3. Jesper Silya Lungu Hot Do (3:50)
4. Mike Nyoni SM (4:15)

This compilation produced by Eothen Alapatt.
Liner notes by Eothen Alapatt and Leonard Koloko, with contributions by Chris A. Smith.

Restoration and remastering by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters, Los Angeles.
Art direction by Errol Richardson for Busy Monster, Toronto, Canada.

2LP, Hardcover Book with CD, Digital. 2017. NA 5148.

Various – Welcome To Zamrock! Vol. 1

Buy it here.

Tracklist:

Book/CD:
1. Ngozi Family Hi Babe (4:04)
2. Musi-O-Tunya Musi-O-Tunya (4:10)
3. WITCH You Better Know (Original Version) (3:30)
4. Blackfoot Running (3:52)
5. Dr. Footswitch Everyday Has Got A New Dream (2:35)
6. Chrissy Zebby Tembo Born Black (3:20)
7. Salty Dog Fast (4:52)
8. Teddy Chisi Funky Lady (3:56)
9. Crossbones Rain & Sunshine (4:37)
10. Born Free I Don’t Know (4:33)
11. The Five Revolutions Fwe Bena Zambia (4:24)
12. Amanaz Khala My Friend (Reverb Version) (3:28)
13. Ricky Banda Who’s That Guy (4:40)
14. Machine Gunners Changa Namwele (3:50)
15. Keith Mlevhu Dzikolino Ni Zambia (5:02)
16. Cosmos Zani Poverty (4:12)

LP:

A:
1. Ngozi Family Hi Babe (4:04)
2. Musi-O-Tunya Musi-O-Tunya (4:10)
3. WITCH You Better Know (Original Version) (3:30)
4. Blackfoot Running (3:52)

B:
1. Dr. Footswitch Everyday Has Got A New Dream (2:35)
2. Chrissy Zebby Tembo Born Black (3:20)
3. Salty Dog Fast (4:52)
4. Teddy Chisi Funky Lady (3:56)

C:
1. Crossbones Rain & Sunshine (4:37)
2. Born Free I Don’t Know (4:33)
3. The Five Revolutions Fwe Bena Zambia (4:24)
4. Amanaz Khala My Friend (Reverb Version) (3:28)

D:
1. Ricky Banda Who’s That Guy (4:40)
2. Machine Gunners Changa Namwele (3:50)
3. Keith Mlevhu Dzikolino Ni Zambia (5:02)
4. Cosmos Zani Poverty (4:12)

This compilation produced by Eothen Alapatt.
Liner notes by Eothen Alapatt and Leonard Koloko, with contributions by Chris A. Smith.

Restoration and remastering by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters, Los Angeles.
Art direction by Errol Richardson for Busy Monster, Toronto, Canada.

2LP, Hardcover Book with CD, Digital. 2017. NA5147.

Announcing: Amanaz “Africa” Record Store Day 2015 Release

The Zamrock masterpiece’s definitive reissue. 2 LP, 2 CD set with both issued mixes of the album, extensive booklet. Official Record Store Day release – out now!

Buy at our webstore at rappcats.com.

Issued in 1975, this is the articulation of Zambia’s Zamrock ethos. While other albums – Rikki Ililonga’s Zambia, WITCH’s Lazy Bones!! – are competitors, it’s hard to best this album as it covers each major quadrant of the Zamrock whole: it came from the mines; its musicians were anti-colonial freedom fighters, it envelops Zambian folk music traditions, and it rocks – hard.

Africa was issued in two separate mixes and two separate presses in 1975: one version is dry, with the vocals and drums mixed loud, the other slathered in reverb, with the vocals and drums disappearing into the mix, and with the guitar solos mixed much louder. Africa’s master tapes are long lost, but we have restored both versions in new transfers from the absolute cleanest copies of this incredibly rare album and presented them both in a 2 LP/ 2 CD set. Also included in both formats: an extensive booklet containing an essay on the album and detailing the history of the Zamrock scene and this album, with notes from Amanaz’s Isaac Mpofu and Keith Kabwe and rare photos. Download card included with LP version.

Hear examples of both mixes of the album below, with Isaac Mpofu’s scorching “History of Man.”

Coming 08.26: Ngozi Family “Day of Judgement” – download a free MP3 now!

Coming this summer – proto-punk and garage Zamrock! The celebrated guitarist Paul Ngozi’s essential debut album. Featuring Chrissy Zebby Tembo. Hardbound casebook CD; ltd. deluxe LP edition contains bonus disc with rare 7″ tracks. Out 08.26 – download a free mp3 now!

We’ve been talking about an anthology centered around Zambian guitarist/vocalist Paul Ngozi for a while now. And – while we’re not there just yet, we’re announcing the issue of his masterwork. His debut album – issued under the name Ngozi Family – is important record: not just in the Zamrock genre, but in the global rock canon. Day of Judgement is an introduction to the most intense, raw and inimitable golden era Zamrock recorded, as it paved the way for a dozen Paul Ngozi and Ngozi Family releases (the most famous being drummer Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s My Ancestors) that straddled the line between funk and punk, of driving hard rock and Zambian folk melodies and rhythms.

Day of Judgement was released in 1976, the same year as other, now famous, Zamrock albums, from WITCH’s Lazy Bones!! to Rikki Ililonga’s Zambia to Musi-O-Tunya’s Give Love To Your Children, all reissued on Now-Again. But Day of Judgement sounds like none of its counterparts. Part of that stems from its frenzied primitivism, the Ngozi Family’s attempt to overcome a lack of musical acumen with sheer force of will.

That will allowed Paul Ngozi to overcome a humble upbringing to become the most unlikely combination: Zamrock’s most beloved star in its brief but now-well chronicled arc; the only musician to maintain his fame and recording prowess in the dark ages of the ’80s; an inspiration to not only aging but young Zambians — and now others, beyond Zambia’s borders.

But one cannot imagine Paul Ngozi without this album, a full-on aural assault that sounds as wild nearly forty years after its release as it must have sounded in the developing Zamrock landscape from which it emerged. We listen to this anachronistic yet prescient album now as a wholly original, completely unpredictable album in line with those from mavericks from across the world – from the Ramones to the Sex Pistols to Death. And, though it’s been over two decades since Paul Ngozi’s passing, his voice and vision still seem exciting, powerful, unique, unvarnished, new.

Day of Judgement will see release as a hardbound casebook CD and in LP form. A limited deluxe edition of the LP will contain a bonus disc which collects four songs from rare Ngozi Family 7″ singles, issued contemporaneously with Day of Judgement.

Day of Judgement will be available to our subscribers at Now-Again Deluxe two weeks prior to the album’s release date. Download a free MP3 from the album – the devastating “Hi Babe” – below.

Download: “Hi Babe”