Review: Athens Of The North continues to do God's work with another superb soul reissue. This one came originally from Waycross, Georgia and has been fully and officially licenced from original Ace in the Hole band member Michael George and Tim Gillans. The A-side 'What About Love' is the up tempo opener with plenty of spaced out and soaring melodies and a gorgeously steamy vocal up top next to the equal sultry sax notes. Flip it over and you will find 'Dream of a lady' which is equally killer but takes a slower and more downtempo tup though still with nice floating synths. It's a great yin to the A-side yang.
Review: Like many of the killer cuts reissued by Athens of the North, Ethel Agee, Preston Scarber and Reverend Dorosco Scarber's 'Travelling Home' was original released in tiny numbers as a private-press 45 sometime in the early 1970s. Agee wrote the track and played electric organ, with her brothers providing the vocals and local musicians' the funk-fuelled rhythm section. It still sounds great all these years on, delivering an authentically righteous, harmonious and beautifully played gospel soul treat. Over on the flip you'll find original flip-side 'I Like To Recommend The Lord', a piano-laden chunk of eyes-closed gospel blues that shuffles along at a lower tempo. Like the A-side, it features immaculate group harmony vocals.
Review: Back in June, a copy of Akira Freeze's hitherto unknown single 'Tell Me Baby' appeared on an online auction site and ended up selling for well over $2,000. It sparked Athens of the North boss Euan Fryer into action, as he tracked down the rights to the record in order to reissue it. Little information exists about the record, but we can confirm that it is utterly beguiling. A-side 'Tell Me Baby' is superb, with slick, soulful lead vocals rising above squelchy synth-bass, spacey chords, luscious electronic melodies, twinkling keyboard solos and unfussy drums. Flipside 'I Remember', an even more intergalactic-sounding affair, is arguably even better, making this a very desirable 45.
Review: Destination Youngstown Ohio, 1973: A young troupe of musicians gain local notoriety through their on-point covers and originals. While they never make it past the local legend status, they did record one 45" on a very limited run... And here it is. "Well Good" is a slinky slab of sizzling Hammond-led funk that builds with the help of some interesting time signature switches and electrified guitar. Think Booker T crossed with Shuggie Otis. "Bells" shows the band's softer side as they lay down some slow burning, soulful harmonic heaven that's made all the more poignant by the fact that the band didn't continue recording. Fittingly, this reissue is highly limited too.
Review: The story of this one revolves around San Diego native Anthony "Antone" Williams. He was one day alone in a studio, messing about with the gear and before he knew he it lay down the haunting rhythm that underpins the tune now presented here by the good folks at Athens of the North. It's a sinister, restless one that got released as a hugely limited 7" on Unity Records with otherworldly soul production and a pained vocal up top. Post punk soul, some call it, and that's a fitting descriptor. A remix appears on the flip but the allure of the original is hard to beat.
Review: The Bobby Hamilton Quintet Unlimited changed paid homage to the Greek gods in the mid 70s with this unique one-off offering. "Ecology" is a sweet, rolling soul slice with glistening guitars and a velvet almost Sun-Ra style jazz aesthetic. "Anubis" is more of a driving, evocative Troubleman-style groove with vocals that build and gather momentum around each other with an almost gospel-like sensation. Powerful... As always from Athens Of The North.
Review: In early 2019, Athens of the North put out a new edition of an obscure, private press modern soul album from 1976 by People's Pleasure with Alive & Well, an alias of a band better known for their 'World Full of People' 45 as Everyday People. This "45" boasts two tasty cuts from that set. On the A-side you'll find 'Dreaming Our Lives Away', a heady crossover soul/funk tune whose reverb-laden female vocals, punchy horn lines and tactile grooves should appeal to all serious '70s soul heads. Over on the flip you'll find starry-eyed, loved-up slow jam 'A Feeling Inside', a no less potent but far more laidback affair.
Review: We also heard from Andrew Wasylyk late last year when he offered up his second LP for the esteemed Clay Pipe Music label. Now it is to Edinburgh's Athens of the North for Parallel Light, another collection of sumptuous ambient sounds that are so much more than just background music. The album is actually an alternate mix of his 2020 long player Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation so offers a different perspective with plenty of moving spiritual-jazz and neo-classical sounds that help paint alluring musical landscapes.
Review: Andrew Wasylyk completes a trio of beautiful albums with this latest reoccur don 'Athens of the North'. Across all of the music, he has concerned himself with unearthing, reshaping and conveying the rugged landscapes of Eastern Scotland with lush instrumental music that shimmers inventively. The influence of greats like David Axelrod, Alice Coltrane and Mark Hollis looms large, but never to the detriment of Wasylyk's own exquisite playing. Light often shines through his mellifluous piano chords and dreamy wind sounds. There are subtle spiritual elements and hints of library music also colouring this most accomplished of works.
Through The Field Beyond The Trees Lies The Ocean (1:58)
Greendrive #2 (5:32)
Journey To Inchcape (3:33)
(Welter) In The Haar (2:32)
Dreamt The Breakers Spill (4:09)
Flight Of The Cormorant (5:30)
Westway Nocturne (4:40)
Mariner's Hymn (4:47)
Adrift Below A Constellation (4:24)
Unsurfacing (2:13)
Review: Athens of the North takes a surprise turn, briefly eschewing their usual funk, soul and jazz in favour of something far more visceral and musically intriguing. It comes from Scottish writer, producer and instrumentalist Andrew Mitchell under the Andrew Wasylyk alias, and it is the result of a commission from a historic house in Scotland to create new music for their restored, 19th century Erard Grecian harp. While that instrument is an ever present, it rarely dominates; instead, Mitchell has served up a joyously laidback and atmospheric collection of compositions that variously draw on Bob James style jazz-funk, British library music, Eno-style ambient movements, homemade field recordings, drowsy jazz, brass bands, modern classical and Gaelic folk. In a word: spellbinding.
B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition
Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***
Andrew Wasylyk completes a trio of beautiful albums with this latest reoccur don 'Athens of the North'. Across all of the music, he has concerned himself with unearthing, reshaping and conveying the rugged landscapes of Eastern Scotland with lush instrumental music that shimmers inventively. The influence of greats like David Axelrod, Alice Coltrane and Mark Hollis looms large, but never to the detriment of Wasylyk's own exquisite playing. Light often shines through his mellifluous piano chords and dreamy wind sounds. There are subtle spiritual elements and hints of library music also colouring this most accomplished of works.
B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition
A Further Look At Loss (0:44)
Last Sunbeans Of Childhood (2:34)
Fugitive Light Restless Water (2:45)
The Violet Hour (3:14)
Everywhere Something Sublime (3:56)
In Balgay Silhouettes (3:43)
Awoke In The Early Days Of A Better World (3:03)
(Half-light Of) The Cadmium Moon (3:09)
Black Bay Dream Minor (3:57)
Lost, Aglow (1:20)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***
We also heard from Andrew Wasylyk late last year when he offered up his second LP for the esteemed Clay Pipe Music label. Now it is to Edinburgh's Athens of the North for Parallel Light, another collection of sumptuous ambient sounds that are so much more than just background music. The album is actually an alternate mix of his 2020 long player Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation so offers a different perspective with plenty of moving spiritual-jazz and neo-classical sounds that help paint alluring musical landscapes.
Review: Top pianists, composers and musicians Greg Foat and Are Themen came together over a mutual appreciation for each other's music. This first collaborative album brings each artist's respective influences to a sublime collection of soundscapes that merge kosmische, jazz, vintage soundtrack vibes and ambient into escapist pieces of musical daydreaming. These are tracks that operate on a grande, expansive scale, elevate mind, body and soul and raise you up to the heavens on lush chords and mellifluous melodies using a mix of old synths and effects pedals and an array of other musicians Whether this is jazz or ambient or modern classical, it doesn't get much better than this.
Review: Some dusty-fingered diggers may be familiar with "World Full Of People", an insanely rare and suitably sought-after 1976 7" by a little-known band called Everyday People. Most thought that was their only release; in fact, they also released a full-length the same year under the People's Pleasure alias. That album is apparently even harder to find, making this first ever vinyl reissue a must-have for fans of quality funk and soul. Much of the material sits somewhere between rubbery funk, jaunty jazz-funk and storming soul, with highlights including the laidback bliss of "Heavenly Feeling" (very Idris Muhammad), the righteous, horn-heavy "World Full of People" and the seductive, synth-laden slow jam "Fantasies and Dreams".
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