if there's a better compiler than Bob Stanley out there, I'd sure like to know...

Thanks Tim.

London A To Z is great grey sky listening. The blurb on the John & Beverley Martyn track unpleasantly flippant if you've listened to the Andrew Hickey podcast ep on the artists tho.

A friend recently gifted me Tribal Rites on CD. It’s excellent, particularly the second half. As I’m currently working on a project with the veteran DJ Greg Wilson, I told him about it and he was v.excited by the track listing, particularly for the Sons Of Robin Stone track. So that’s a strong expert endorsement for you there!

Man I've been slack on catching up on the various comps in general. Had missed London A To Z for instance.

Meantime, the other day I'm shopping in Amoeba and I noticed these two comps from him that I had missed completely! (Which of course I bought immediately.)

https://acerecords.co.uk/folk-funk-beyond-the-arrangements-of-john-cameron

https://acerecords.co.uk/incident-at-a-free-festival-1

The latter one is in series with English Weather and Occasional Rain, this time being 1972.

Next up is a Cafe Exil sequel:

https://acerecords.co.uk/fantastic-voyage-1

Plus a really interesting one to me, a Lou Christie comp focusing on 1967. (I keep being very surprised at how Christie barely factors into wider 60s retrospections -- was he too much of a flash in the pan in the end?)

https://acerecords.co.uk/gypsy-bells-columbia-recordings-1967

Thanks for the head's up, Ned! I too have lost track of these comps, which is a shame because I almost invariably enjoy the hell out of them.

I own 76 In The Shade, Occasional Rain, Three Day Week, English Weather (my fave), Paris In the Spring, Tears of Technology, and State of the Union. Aside from this latest batch, are there any other crucial ones I'm missing, aside from Cafe Exil (which I can never seem to find)?

Having gotten them all I can't be truly objective but per the new John Cameron one, gotta give credit to his very interesting producer/arranger overview choices -- the Thom Bell and Norman Whitfield comps arguably work in more familiar territory but they're solid overviews (Bell's own thoughts in the liners are great), but the Robert Kirby one was really striking, a way to open up a view into a lot of 70s UK folk-and-related work I wouldn't have really assayed otherwise.

Meantime I've just now noticed that that 'A Taste Of' series he did for Sainsbury's, which I thought was vinyl only, did have at least some CD issues as well so I may have to start tracking those down.

They sure are coming in thick and fast these days. My hometown record store always has a great compilation section, and when I was just back for the holidays I picked up the Cameron and Free Festival ones, as well as Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night. Still on the hunt for London A-Z and the Latin Freestyle one. Also got the new Bobby Gillespie weepy ballad comp, also on Ace.

Meantime I've just now noticed that that 'A Taste Of' series he did for Sainsbury's, which I thought was vinyl only, did have at least some CD issues as well so I may have to start tracking those down.

― Ned Raggett, Saturday, December 30, 2023 6:14 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Curious. I've never seen the CDs (and only fleetingly saw the vinyl) despite shopping in Sainsbury's regularly. I don't recall the track listings for the ones I saw being that interesting??

(I might be being unfair/grumpy in that assessment).

"Cafe Exil" is my favorite comp of the last number of years, such a great ride. Very excited about the sequel even if its tracks are far more familiar than CE.

The Sainsburys releases were basically "here's a basic ass selection with a few hidden gems snuck in", which is honestly very fair considering the target audience (it ain't us). Would still have picked them up if they had them at my local ofc.

Sounds a reasonable assessment.

"Fell From The Sun" is decent though shocked to discover that One Dove's Fallen wasn't as good as I remember (at least in the version on here).

Compiling some tracks recently [the ones on the Tarwater thread] and being a bit indecisive on the track-listing, I found myself wondering "What would Bob Stanley do??"

"Fantastic Voyage" is another top tier compilation, lives up to the title!

Here's the next one: Thom Bell - Didn't I Blow Your Mind? The Sound Of Philadelphia Soul 1969 - 1983

https://acerecords.co.uk/thom-bell-didnt-i-blow-your-mind-the-sound-of-philadelphia-soul-1969-1983

That’s…weird. He already did a Thom Bell comp a few years back! Hell it’s linked on that page. Is this a complementary set?

This is the sequel to “Ready Or Not”, Ace’s first acclaimed compilation of the late Thom Bell’s productions and arrangements.

Clarity!