Record Store Day Summer 2021

Their first studio venture since 1986’s Dangerous Game. Alongside the unique vocal prowess and range of star frontman and founding member Graham Bonnet, Born Innocent also features fellow founding members Jimmy Waldo and Gary Shea. And from the classic album art, featuring the mighty rock itself, Born Innocent is a journey into the sort of heavy, melodic and supremely articulated hard rock that is a cornerstone of the likes of Rainbow and the Michael Schenker Group, territory Alcatrazz successfully strode in the ‘80s before going on hiatus.

Born Innocent was produced by Jimmy Waldo with Giles Lavery and mixed and mastered by Andy Haller and features many former stars from Graham's long career. Guest appearances include Chris Impellitteri, who wrote the music and played all guitars on the arpeggio-powered “Born Innocent”, with Bonnet’s vocals soaring to old-school heights, as did Bob Kulick for the majestic “I Am The King”. Virtuoso Japanese guitar maestro Nozomu Wakai similarly wrote and played guitars on the double-kick steel-plated Irish warrior ode “Finn McCool”, while the six-string legend that is Steve Vai wrote “Dirty Like The City”, with Bonnet once again powerfully hitting notes that are beyond the business of most humans.

As fans will immediately hear, Alcatrazz are back doing what only they can do with Born Innocent, delivering quality hard rock with genuine storyteller lyrics, virtuoso performances and an added layer of modern ‘heavy’ that underscores the melodic excellence. Don’t miss out on this piece of rock history.

Born Innocent/Polar Bear/ Finn McCool/We Still Remember/London 1666/Dirty Like the City/I Am the King/Something That I Am Missing/Paper Flags/The Wound Is Open/Body Beautiful/Warth Lane/For Tony

In 2009, Brian Cross (aka B+) organized a series of live events at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex in Los Angeles. The Timeless series captured the lasting impact of several artists on the world of hip-hop and beyond. Live, fully orchestrated performances by Ethiopia’s Mulatu Astatke and Brazil's Arthur Verocai bookended the incredible Suite For Ma Dukes, a tribute to James "Dilla" Yancey, by Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.

On Mochilla Presents: Timeless Arthur Verocai the Brazilian composer/arrange leads a full orchestra through his self-titled 1972 release. The result was stunning. Having just witnessed the show captured on this recording MF DOOM remarked "A true master conductor. Just as incredible live as recorded" with Madlib saying "I could listen to this music every day for the rest of my life."

Mochilla’s Timeless series reignites for RSD Drops 2021 housed in full color gatefold jackets with the vinyl housed in printed inner sleeves.

A Side 1. Karina 2. Sylvia 3. Dedicada a ela 4. Velho Parente

B Side 1. Presente Grego 2. O Mapa 3. Pelas Sombras 4. Caboclo 5. Seriado 6. Filhos

C Side 1. Queimadas 2. Balada 45 3. Sucuri 4. Flying to LA

D Side 1. O Tempo e o vento 2. Isabel 3. Bis 4. Na Boca Do Sol

After the release of the Beat Farmers’ successful 1985 debut album Tales Of The New West, the band did a tour of the UK and Europe and while there recorded a six song EP originally only released in the UK, and never on vinyl in the US. Glad ’N' Greasy features the original members of this alt-country band that was an influence on many bands and artists in the much larger Americana movement that followed.  Many consider the six songs on Glad ’N’ Greasy to be the Beat Farmers’ finest hour.  The reissue comes in a gatefold jacket with photos and notes written by the band.

Side 1: 1. “Powderfinger” 2. “Death Train” 3. “Beat Generation”

Side 2: 1. “Glad ‘N’ Greasy” 2. “Delayed Reaction” 3. “Big Rock Candy Mountain”

Bobo Jenkins’ first recordings came out on the Chess, Fortune and Boxer labels in the 1950s. This 12 song LP compiles his 1970s output of incredibly raw and stripped-down blues. The tracks were recorded using a revolving door of Detroit musicians during late night/all night sessions in Bobo’s makeshift Detroit recording studio/record shop and were originally released on his own Big Star Records. It would come as no surprise to find out that bands like The Cramps and The Gories had copies of these singles in their collections.

RSD DROPS 2021 LIMITED EDITION 1500 RELEASE ON PURPLE SPLATTER COLORED VINYL

A1 New 44 Blues A2 I Love That Woman A3 First Left Home A4 Shake Em On Down A5 Here I Am A Fool In Love Again A6 Watergate Blues

B1 If You Were The Only Woman B2 Share Cropper Blues B3 Trying To Get You Off My Mind B4 I Sure Got To Leave Your Town B5 You Will Never Understand B6 24 Years

A remastered version of his legendary album on double black vinyl, with five previously released bonus tracks, and an etched Side Four. 

Del Casher may not be a household name, but you’ve undoubtedly heard his music. He was a member of the famous Wrecking Crew, played on Lawrence Welk, recorded Frank Zappa’s first demo, and even backed Elvis Presley on film. His inventions include the Wah-Wah pedal and the Ecco-Fonic, influencing the development of electric guitar playing. In 1978, Casher was impressed by Bill Conti's top selling score for Rocky, and set out to make an album with original compositions of disco and jazz/funk inspired by the film. With a series of tunes written, he gathered some of the top studio players in Hollywood including Billy Preston, Stan Worth, and members of Johnny Carson's Tonight Show band. The working title for this album in the making was called “Music Inspired By Rocky And Other Compositions”. A film company who had acquired the rights to Sylvester Stallone's 1970 debut "The Party At Kitty And Stud's" heard the music and immediately recognized it as the perfect fit for their rebranded “Italian Stallion” film release. Though the score was never released outside of the film, it generated lots of interest in the early 2000’s when the internet became a widespread phenomenon, and fans began recording the audio off of the film themselves. The soundtrack for Italian Stallion stands on its own as a musical masterpiece. Over 40 years later, with the help of ORG Music, Del Casher dug up his original master tapes and assembled a record’s worth of material for the soundtrack’s first ever release. Italian Stallion will make its long overdue debut with a vinyl pressing, exclusively for RSD 2021.

SIDE A
1. Italian Stallion Theme 2. Three Girls In A Whirl 3. Flexing 4. Outside Walk 5. Shower Her With Love 6. Waiting

SIDE B
1. Magic Mirror 2. Leaving For The Party 3. Dance Alone 4. Living The Highlife 5. Circle Dance 6. Cocktails For Two

Sometimes the demo recording of a song has a vibe that cannot be duplicated. Whether that first recording is a voice memo on your phone or half haphazardly recorded with one mic in the room, there’s an undeniable charm to these recordings. If you spend some time listening to them, when the “real” recording is made, many times one has a hard time letting go of the demo. The medical term for this is called “Demoitis”. On that note, Big Crown Records is proud to present Demoitis Vol. 1, a release that is easily a decade in the making.

The songwriting process can be cathartic, especially if you're trying to make sense of things in your life through the music. Lady Wray wrote and recorded the demo version of “Guilty” just days after her brother was incarcerated. The rawness of what she was going through will surely send a chill through the listener’s soul.

Some of these demos were recorded to pitch the music to the label or producer. Bobby Oroza’s “This Love” demo (originally called “Breaktru”) is him at home with an MPC, recording music to show to the guys at Timmion in hopes of working together. Brainstory’s version of “Breathe” also falls into this category. There are cases where someone writes a song for an artist and actually sings it as a reference for them to learn the tune. “Will I Get Off Easy” & “Regenerate” were both originally sung by Leon Michels for Lee Fields to learn and record them later. Of course no one can hold a candle to Mr Lee Fields’ vocals, but the El Michels versions of these are killers in their own right. Again, this is what this record is about, not better or worse, but enjoying all the steps in the process.

Paul Schalda from Paul & The Tall Trees sent us the demos to his sophomore album and they blew us away. When he got in the studio to make the record there was a strong sentiment of sticking close to the demos and trying to recapture that intimacy. On the other side of that coin some of these are a testament to the production. Liam Bailey’s “Don’t Blame NY” demo is something of a loose freestyle that comes across as a Jazz number. It is always interesting to see what twists and turns a song takes from inception to the finished version.

We hope you enjoy Demotis Vol. 1 as much as we do. It is a pleasure to share this stuff with the world. It is a great listen and we hope it inspires people to write and record more music with whatever means you have of doing so.

1. Lady Wray "Guilty", 2. El Michels Affair "Will I Get Off Easy", 3. Bobby Oroza "Breaktru", 4. Paul & The Tall Trees "Then We'll Wave", 5. Holy Hive "Blue Light", 6. Lee Fields & The Expressions "Lover Man", 7. Brainstory "The Promise of Grace (Interlude), 8. Brainstory "Peter Pan", 9. Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band "Round & Round", 10. The Shacks "For Real", 11. Lizette and Quevin "Grow Forever"

Rude Boy-Curious Post-Punk Lightning In A Bottle!

'...all of these songs are based on post-Marcusian cliches sophisticated enough to get the average rock fan thinking hard, and some of them are based on post-Marcusian ideas sophisticated enough to get the average post-Marcusian thinking hard. Sounds unmusical but it isn't that either--the singing is clever and impassioned, the punkish, futuristic reggae-synthesizer fusion often catchy and always apt.' - Robert Christgau

First ever LP reissue, on verduous green vinyl!

1. Product Perfect 2. Die In The West 3. Red, Green And Gold 4. Burning Down 5. Big John / Hanoi Annoys Me / Innocent 6. Citinite 7. Don’t Touch Me 8. Bike Boys 9. Fashion 10. Technofascist

Rap superstar Future continued to forge his own trailblazing path in hip-hop with the release of his fourth studio album, EVOL, led by the lone feature “Low Life,” a collaboration with The Weeknd. As a standout in a wave of projects, EVOL further cemented Future as the most dominant voice in rap, reaffirmed his notable influence on the genre as a whole, and takes place as one of the many jewels in the crown of Future’s evolving rap legacy. To commemorate five years of the record, EVOL arrives in limited edition translucent red + black smoke color viny as part of RSD Drops. 

Side A: 1. “Ain't No Time” 2. “In Her Mouth” 3. “Maybach” 4. “Xanny Family” 5. “Lil Haiti Baby” 6. “Photo Copied”

Side B: 1. “Seven Rings” 2. “Lie To Me” 3. “Program” 4. “Low Life” 5. “Fly Shit Only”

Legendary 1972 show at The Roundhouse, London from the Space Ritual era. Includes the original recording of Hawkwind’s hit single “Silver Machine”. It is the first time the whole show has been available on double vinyl. Bonus tracks include “Master Of The Universe” (Original 1972 LP Mix) and “Born To Go” (Original 1972 LP Mix).

Side 1 – 1. Announcement / Apology, 2. This Is Your Captain Speaking (Breakdown), 3. This Is Your Captain Speaking, 4. You Shouldn't Do That, 5. The Awakening

Side 2 – 1. Master Of The Universe, 2. Paranoia, 3. Earth Calling, 4. Silver Machine

Side 3 – 1. Welcome To The Future, 2. Born To Go, 3. Brainstorm (Jam), 4. End Announcement

Side 4 – Bonus Tracks: 1. Master Of The Universe (Original 1972 LP Mix), 2. Born To Go (Original 1972 LP Mix)