The Fat Angel Sings

This 3CD Deluxe Edition of Reg King’s self-titled solo album from 1971 containing all his solo recordings. Featuring musicians from The Action / Mighty Baby and Blossom Toes / B.B. Blunder. Original copies of this cult classic album now fetch three figure sums.

Reg King was one of the UK’s greatest soul singers whose recordings with The Action made him a mod legend. This Deluxe Edition proves that Reg King wasn’t just a great singer but a great songwriter too.

Disc 1 includes a newly mastered version of the album itself that follows the original United Artists vinyl release track list, including the eight-minutes-plus version of ‘Savannah’ that has never been on CD before as well as reinstating the children talking at the end of ‘Gone Away’.

The album includes the Reg King and B.B. Blunder single ‘Little Boy’ previously recorded by Reg’s old group The Action. Also featured on Disc 1 is a planned but unreleased second single – an alternative version of album highlight ‘You Go Have Yourself A Good Time’, featuring B.B. Blunder backing Reg rather than Mighty Baby as on the album and the non album track ‘Nobody Knows Where We Are’.

Disc 2 includes earlier 1969 demos where Reg is backed by his former bandmates from The Action and bridging sound-wise The Action’s psychedelic ‘Rolled Gold’ era and Reg’s solo album.

Disc 3 features album demos and out-takes including early 1969 recordings of four album tracks featuring The Action and an out-take of ‘10,000 Miles’, where Reg is backed by Mighty Baby.

Sleeve notes by MOJO magazine’s Lois Wilson draw on new interviews with guitarist Brian Godding and drummer Roger Powell.

Since 1992, the collective around David Christian has been stoically producing unique noise pop. Comet Gain are Comet Gain, a band in which the Swell Maps and the Undertones shake hands in the Wigan Casino. Admittedly, a skewed picture. But as with every outstanding band, one fails to describe the sound of Comet Gain. You just have to hear it.

When the Corona shit hit the fan in 2020, David Christian, who now lives in the beautiful south of France, had the leisure to dig through the considerable Comet Gain archive and presented the astonished Comet Gain community with new compilations of outtakes, demos, live recordings and simply forgotten and never released hits every Bandcamp Friday. “The Misfit Jukebox” is now a compilation of these compilations, the toppermost of the poppermost from a hitherto unseen or unheard part of the CG universe. First time on LP and CD.

An indie blend of shoegaze and New York underground post-punk from The Woods! Combining the songwriting expertise of songwriters like Syd Barrett with the musical stylings of Fairport Convention, this folky ‘90s pop is often defined as – undefinable. Includes their 1985 single! The Woods are often associated with New York’s post-punk scene, a designation that may ring true in the sense of their DIY ethic but in a musical sense is far too simplistic. The band is as informed by the harmonies of 70s British folk music as they are by the droning minimalism of the Velvet Underground. Their pop sensibilities run deep, and their noisier and experimental moments seem to be rooted more in the desire for artistic dramatic effect than anything that could be considered punk.

Predominantly known as the musical genesis of eventual home 4-track folk pioneer Linda Smith, The Woods’ organically experimental blend of folk style and pop sensibilities epitomize 80s NYC underground music – Included here is their lone 1985 single plus a full album’s worth of previously unreleased recordings and a booklet filled with liner notes and ephemera.

The complexity of their harmonies and penchant for melody are really what sets the band apart. In a sense, the band epitomizes 1980s New York underground music, so much so that one could easily see them slotted next to the likes of Sonic Youth, Lydia Lunch, or even Laurie Anderson. This, however, was not The Woods’ reality. While they were indeed in New York, the group never quite felt they were part of New York or anything that could be defined as a New York scene. In a strange way this could have been somewhat because of the band’s greatest strength, their undefinable sound.

The record and its subtle punk momentum, jangle pop sensibilities, and hint of droning dissonance found the attention of local DJs, papers like The Village Voice, and college radio stations, including Yale University’s WYBC. “Miracles Tonight,” the single’s A side, is marked by its rather sunny vocal arrangements and propelled by a looping bass groove, worthy of an Andy Rourke comparison, that locks in tightly with the drums.

The record’s flipside, “Love Me Again This Summer,” comes across as both a revelling folk song and a lamenting dirge. It’s both anthemic and sombre, somehow holding a space in which The Association and The Velvet Underground could exist in the same place. The production is sparse, but it’s exactly what the band’s sound required, room enough for the layers of music and vocals to both coalesce and stand on their own. This collection is mainly comprised of songs written for a full length album that never was. The vinyl portion is bookended by the two tracks from the band’s single on Justine, and it also contains compositions in various stages of development.

Double LP reissue of Air Miami’s lost-classic 1995 album, “Me. Me. Me”. Remastered from original 2” tapes and now including 3 extra tracks. This one time pressing comes on coloured vinyl and in a gatefold sleeve. Almost three decades after its release, Air Miami’s first and only studio album, “Me. Me. Me.”, is finally being reissued.

Made up of Unrest’s Mark Robinson and Bridget Cross, Air Miami formed shortly after the D.C. indie rock mainstay’s demise in 1995, and together with drummer Gabriel Stout and producer Guy Fixsen (The Breeders, My Bloody Valentine, Stereolab), they travelled to their namesake land of Miami to record the entirety of “Me. Me. Me”. over the month of May at the famed Criteria Studios; a place where James Brown, Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC and countless more have recorded classic works. The album was then mixed at a studio in London where labelmates Lush were recording their 1996 LP “Lovelife” at the same time.

Nearly thirty years on, this deluxe reissue sees the 1995 album expanded to include all sixteen tracks from the album sessions, three of which are new to the tracklist: ‘Warm Miami May’ (not on original LP), ‘Pucker’ (previously unreleased), and the full version of ‘See-Through Plastic’ (edited version only previously seen on the EP). The record also features singles ‘I Hate Milk’ and ‘Seabird,’ a track that found new life recently when covered by current 4AD artist Maria Somerville, her first release for the label and part of the label’s 40th anniversary compilation Bills and Aches and Blues.

Remastered from the original analogue tapes by Pete Weiss (whose recent remastering work includes Luna, Type O Negative, Morphine and Belly), “Me. Me. Me. (Deluxe Edition)” sees the album now spread over two LPs and cut at 45rpm. Pressed on Floridian-inspired aqua and orange vinyl its stunning artwork is housed in a gatefold sleeve with Hideaki Kodama’s ‘Girl B 1988’ photo still adorning the cover.

Fenne Lily’s “Big Picture“, a vivid exploration of her past two years, balances love, comfort, and claustrophobic feelings. Despite personal and global chaos, the album is her most cohesive, addressing fear, uncertainty, and liberation in an unexpectedly inspirational manner. Each song showcases her evolving understanding of love as a journey, not a discovery. “Big Picture’s” ten tracks, penned during a relationship, diverge from her past works centered on heartbreak, offering insights on love, self-reflection during closeness, and the obligations of being crucial in someone’s life.

UK-born but now New York-based artist Fenne Lily shared the tender and life-affirming lead ‘Lights Light Up’  from her album “Big Picture” this year. ‘Lights Light Up,’ a soothing,  prophetic and insightful account of love at its temporary best. Invested with Lily’s delicate yet enveloping vocal that wraps around you like a big hug. It’s paired with simmering guitars, muted percussion, and gently burnished and forgiving production. 

Written partially as a conversation, it vividly tracks the details of a burgeoning relationship and recognizes the transitory nature of any shared thing; the bittersweet truth that you can only walk hand in hand with someone as long as you’re going in the same direction. 

Fenne later expands on these themes with the release of “Big Picture (Expanded Edition)” featuring five bonus tracks including the beautifully evocative “Hollywood and Fears”

Though not a million miles away sonically from her 2017 debut album ‘Weighing Of The Heart’, Nabihah Iqbal’s second long player ‘Dreamer’ does sound like the London based musician, producer and DJ has taken on a new creative direction, deconstructing her trademark sound of electronic shoegaze and dreamy synth-pop into its core elements. While sounding more mature and confident than its predecessor, the record also shows more vulnerability, as if past struggles (among them stolen equipment and a family emergency during the pandemic) have left her visibly exposed. The ethereal, otherworldly opener “In Light” is followed by a catchy dream pop number, the aptly titled “Dreamer”, before “This World Couldn’t See Us” introduces more electronic elements and spoken vocals without interrupting the sonic theme of melancholy that is undisputedly making its mark throughout the entire the album.

‘Dreamer’ sounds like it was written by someone who feels just as at home at an intimate gig as at a rave, but it manages to combine Iqbal’s influences so effortlessly that the album flows and never strays from what it set out to do, despite featuring tracks as wildly different as the introspective, stripped back “Lilac Twilight”, the haunting, beatless “Sweet Emotion (Lost In Devotion)” and the anthemic, trance influenced “Sky River”; one of the songs on the album that showcases her love for dance music. Awash with ambient synth pads, reverb laden guitars, textured melodies and big beats, ‘Dreamer’ manages to please both stargazers and night-time ravers. A truly beautiful record by an artist who is at a creative peak in her career.

With a family connection between them, the Chicago indie bands Horsegirl and Lifeguard have always been close. We would expect that Horsegirl guitarist and vocalist Penelope Lowenstein and her brother, Lifeguard drummer Isaac Lowenstein, would have had similar musical experiences growing up.  The two bands are currently stablemates on Matador Records and they also are both enthusiastic about acknowledging their influences, such as when Lifeguard covered The Jam earlier this year. Now they have released a joint effort, covering The Stone Roses’ “I Wanna Be Adored.”

One of the many amazing things about The Stone Roses’ debut album is its certainty, right from this opening track. As soon as Mani’s bassline emerges from the sound soup at the start no doubt is broached. The Stone Roses do not want to become the biggest band in the world. They already are, but perhaps the world does not know it yet. Ian Brown and John Squire’s writing conceives of a world where there is no downside to being exalted, only how long it takes to be achieved.

1989 was a world without internet social media, the world was much less wary of the downsides of parasocial interactions. Perhaps it is natural then that Nora Cheng and Penelope Lowenstein’s vocals are much less enthusiastic about the chance of being virtually or actually followed by those who love their work. Overall the tone is darker than the original. The musicianship is excellent but there is no hiding that the bands do not have the certainty of their predecessors, as ready for the world of 2023 as the original was for its time.

The Black Delta Movement Hailing from Kingston-Upon-Hull, could be the most inspired psychedelic heavy blues rock band we’ve encountered for some time in the UK. “The album’s a love letter to the band and all the emotions that come with it,” explains Matt Burr, chief creative force behind both this album, “Recovery Effects”, and the outfit behind it. This time recruiting celebrated guitar slinger Barrie Cadogan, also known as the frontman in Little Barrie, he joins familiar faces in bassist Lewis Wharton and Tony Coote on drums, with legendary producer Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics) also stepping up.

The result is intoxicating, it’s gritty, it’s weird and at times space-y, it feels like you’ve stepped into a dive bar at the right time to experience something raw, deep, hypnotic, but constantly evolving and engaging. A record that does what records should.

The Black Delta Movement’s new album ‘Recovery Effects’, out April 14 on Fuzz Club