Norman Connors - Take It To The Limit (Arista - 1980)/Norman Connors - Mr. C (Arista - 1981)

I discovered Norman Connors work thanks to an article in Waxpoetics. I bougth on vinyl Romantic Journey, You Are My Starship, This is Your Life and decided to collect his entire discography. I've found Take It To The Limit and Mr. C on this budget two albums on one CD re-issue. In the sleeve notes, Ralph Tee charaterized those two albums as his personnal Norman Connors favourites. I would share that opinion for Take It To The Limit, a wonderful disco soul record with only scorchers and no fillers that matches Salsoul or Roy Ayers best releases of the time. I'll be a bit more reserved about Mr. C, that makes the funk speak and is still a winner but less good than the other albums aforementioned.

 Download => Norman Connors - Take It To The Limit/Mr.C

La Guêpe - Volume 2 (Pulp Flavor Recordings - 1999)

This excellent compilation gathers 17 French library tracks recorded during the 70'sunder the influence of soul, jazz and funk. Breaks heads will consequently find plenty to sample in that groovy banquet. among Roger Roger, Jacky Giordano, Bernard Estardy, Janko Nilovic or even Philippe Sarde works. The tracklisting is a who's who of French library maestro. There are some curiosities as well, like my personnal favorite, Afro-Disiac, an hypnotic afro track made by Uele Kalabubu & Sa Tribu and that can be found on the LP Afroground, a pretty rare but good piece of wax I'll probably post one day. Pulp Flavor Recordings was created by the same guys that were later behind the excellent labels Dare -Dare and Vadim Music that closed last spring. A pretty damn shame if you ask me. So, one of your only last chance to get your dusty hands on their music if you don't want to dig is on this blog.

 Download => La Guêpe - Volume 2

The Smoke - ... It's Smoke Time (Metronome - 1967)

With their name and the psyche cover of their sole album, The Smoke have everything to attract the paraphanelia occasional user. Hailing from Yorkshire, they started as a band in 1965 goign by the name of The Shots. After a first 7" released on Columbia failed, they considered going a psychedelic road, starting by changing their moniker. Now you had to call them The Smoke. Their next 7", My Friend Jack b/w We Can Take It got banned on British waves for LSL references but charted quite well throughout Western Europe, especially in Germany where was released ... It's Smoke Time LP. The Smoke then got managed by Chris Blackwell, released tracks under a new name, Chords and never made it. In 1974, they called it quit, taking regular jobs as session musicians. That's more or less the complete story of The Smoke. So what's about their music? Was it any good? The answer is a definitive yes: their freaky psyche beat sound is based on strong songwriting habilities and tight musicianship that make them ahead of the average psyche pack of the time. My Frienf Jack is catchy enough to be whistled under the shower and was even given a cheesy disco treatment by Boney M in 1980. I have posted the 1993 Repertoire repress that comes with not less than 14 bonus tracks and among them the sides released as The Shots and Five Chords.

 Download => The Smoke - ... It's Smoke Time