ace april cd releases

[Mike]

New Releases for APRIL 2004

from Ace Records

ROY ACUFF / Folk Songs + Hand-Clapping Gospel Songs - CDCHD 999

On most CDs that the Ace group of labels release, we have a reasonably good idea of how many copies they are likely to sell immediately, and how many they might go on to sell in their catalogue lifetime. More often that not - happily, much more often than not - we're nigh on spot-on in our assessments, give or take a handful of copies. more

THE UK SUE LABEL STORY - CDCHD 1001

As Britain stumbled from the grey torpor of the 1950s into the brash glare of the soon-to-be swinging 60s, Guy Stevens' red and yellow Sue label became a talisman for the hippest kids on the block, a marker for the growing divide between the pop mainstream and the burgeoning R&B/Soul underground. more

DION / 70s: From Acoustic To The Wall Of Sound - CDCHD 1002

Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie has proclaimed Dion's "Born To Be With You" to be one of the greatest records ever made, Spiritualized's "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" album was made in its shadow and James Walsh from Starsailor recently took over a whole page of the NME to explain why Dion DiMucci's 70s recordings show him as the "greatest singer that ever lived" It is this music and more that is captured in "Dion: 70s". more

THE LATER JIN SINGLES: The Promised Land - CDCHD 1004

The date was 2 May 1979. The location Was Floyd's Record Shop at Ville Platte in Louisiana's prairie country. Floyd was Floyd Soileau, owner of the Jin, Swallow and Maison de Soul record labels. I was in the company of John Broven (compiler of this release) who was researching his book 'South To Louisiana' and who had set up an interview with Floyd. I was there to take photographs for potential use in the book. more

NEWBEATS / Bread & Butter + Big Beat Sounds Of - CDCHD 1006

Fans of the kind of in-your-face pop created by those such as the 4 Seasons and Lou Christie will go ape for this stomping screechfest from Nashville's finest falsetto merchants. Those with a taste for white quasi-Motown won't go far wrong either. And Newbeats die-hards? Well, they'll be in hog heaven! more

OSCAR BROWN Jr / Kicks! The Best Of - CDBGPD 159

The drum cracks and the voice enters. "Breaking up big rocks on the chain gang breaking rocks and serving my time" It's an electrifying start to an album, never mind a career. Here's Oscar! more

NORTHWEST BATTLE OF THE BANDS #4 - CDWIKD 243

A fourth volume I hear you say? No, this latest round in Big Beat's well-received Northwest Battle Of The Bands series is not a desperate barrel-scrape but rather, solidly in the rocking tradition of our previous volumes. In fact, this latest instalment is quite possibly the best yet, with another cavalcade of stone classics, more

JOHN FAHEY / The Best Of Vol 2: 1964-1983 - CDTAK 8916

In his book The People's Music (Pimlico, 2003), Ian MacDonald calls John Fahey the "Minstrel of the Mysterious". Guitarist Fahey was certainly unique, a creative force who spent most of his musical 'career' in a seemingly endless, and timeless, meditation on the primitive folk process: deconstructing the sounds and techniques of early country blues and synthesising them into his very own distinctive guitar style (complete with very audible string slides, hammer-ons, chokes and pull-offs). more