things and time will tell.

Sade – Promise In Tokyo: Nakano Sunplaza, Tokyo, Japan - 11th May 1986 Wardour – Wardour-194 2 x CD, Limited Edition, Numbered, Unofficial Release, Japan, 2016 info Sade in Japan part 2: A Japanese bootleg double CD that I somehow ran into featuring a nice soundboard recording of the group's May, 1986 concert in Tokyo. I doubt I have to motivate this... as someone commented on the last post, could you ever really get too much? My two cents: This is the kind of bootleg that justifies the existence of bootlegs. My life is just a little bit better for having listened to it. Sade gets associated with romantic songs, but there's always been a dark, brooding side to a lot of their songs. I think part of the appeal comes from the way that voice can be so beautiful and at the same time so heavy , if that makes any sense. That said, to my ears, there's just a little more joy to some of the live performance on this album than on the studio versions I'm so familiar with. It broug...

Sade – The Remix Deluxe Epic – ESCA 5700 CD, Mini-Album, Compilation, Special Edition, Stereo Japan, Jun 2, 1993 info A CD this time, but a fairly rare one (around these parts anyway) with a couple buried treasures. A five track EP, apparently pulled together to promote a 1993 Japanese tour, Sade's The Remix Deluxe  was a Japan only release following up the previous year's  Love Deluxe album. Only one of the tracks was pulled from their then currently LP though, instead compiling together a handful of nice remixes and B sides onto a single disc. It's Sade. Do I really need to say anything else to make you want to listen? The disc opens with two remixes that had been released on vinyl singles the year before. First, Nellee Hooper adds a drum loop and ups the funk a bit on Feel No Pain . Sade's prayer for the strugglers of the Thatcher years is turned into something you could play late at night while you bring things down a little after a hop hop set in the club. (That...

Prince Alla – Stone Freedom Sounds – no cat. # (B.B. 88 X-A & B.B. 88 X-B matrix) Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Jamaica, 1976 info As noisy as it is, this single is still one of the most treasured records buried in my crates- Stone  by roots singer Prince Alla. I'll keep it short this time, but if you don't already know it and have even a slight interest in reggae or dub, please give this one a try. Prince Alla's original on the A side is powerful. His always excellent vocals were at the height of their powers delivering the dread lyrics, a Rastaman's reminder of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and a warning to oppressors that Daniel's prophecy of a "great stone, come to mash down Rome" was on the way. The song was produced by Bertram Brown  in 1976 for his Greenwich Farm based Freedom Sounds label. The Soul Syndicate band played the backing rhythm, as noteworthy as Alla's singing. It features a beautiful and memorable organ line that will stick with you as...