Laura Villa - Bossa Nova (Polydor - 1962)

Recently rediscovered thanks to rare groove reissue label Vadim Music, this little gem is one of the first bossa nova record ever recorded in Paris. Born in Italy, Laura Villa discovered bossa nova during a stay in Portugal. Back in Paris and signed to Polydor, she recorded this bossa nova album with the help of members of the Brazilian diaspora in Paris. Made of covers of Brazilian, and most notably Jobim, classics (Desafinado, Chega De Saudade, Corcovado, Samba De Uma Nota So) and original songs, nicely and originaly orchestrated, Bossa Nova has absolutely nothing to do with a kitsch easy listening experience. It's rather the kind of music you expect to hear in the club scenes of a Jean-Pierre Melville movie.

Download => Laura Villa - Bossa Nova

Sheila & B.Devotion - Spacer b/w Don't Go (Carrere - 1979)

Once an average teen 60's French pop singer, Sheila enjoyed a huge success in France until the end of the 70's, churning out middle of the road and unbearable shitty records, completely in the hands of her producer and her record label. Her only good career choice was to capitalize on the disco craze to try a come back and to choose recording with the kings of disco Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, then at the best of their inspiration. It's even a surprise to consider that those two geniuses accepted to work with Sheila. The story goes that they were looking for a European singer to break the European market. Sheila's label, Carrere, heard the story and proposed to the duo to produce an album for the fledging artist. Nile Rodgers and Benard Edwards accepted to the condition to have a complete freedom and the final say on the record. They locked Sheila in a studio and made her work The Chic Organization way. Sheila notoriously didn't like the result of the recording sessions but changed her mind when Spacer stormed the charts and still is her biggest hit to date. If The Chic Organization fans can go for the complete album, King Of The World, the two best cuts, Spacer and Don't Go, are on the 7'. Sheila's career never really recovered from this huge success and she felt back into mediocrity and low sales. Despite several liftings and several tries, she never really came back one more time.





Download => Sheila & B.Devotion - Spacer b/w Don't Go

Eighties Ladies - Ladies Of The 80s (Uno Melodic Records - 1980)

Eighties Ladies were a quintet lead by soul and disco queen Sylvia Striplin and produced by one of this blog all time favorite artist, king Roy Ayers. Ladies Of the 80s sounds in fact like an excellent Roy Ayers album but without Roy Ayers singing on it: brilliant jazz funk instrumentation, full of vibes, accentuated by pulsating disco and boogie beats, unforgettable breaks, infectious sunny choruses. The Eighties Ladies released only one album before disbanding. Only Sylvia Striplin continued recording for UMR, the classic Give Me Your Love. Ladies Of The 80s is so good and so coherent, like any soul album should be, it's hard to say which song really stands out. Turned On To You and I Knew That Love have a lot of times been pointed out by rare groove lovers. A Tribe Called Quest sampled Turned On To You for Butter, from The Low End Theory album, but it's pretty hard to guess the sample. Anyway, I thank Soul Jazz to have reissued this gem.









Download => Eighties Ladies - Ladies Of The 80s