Audiophile Vinyl

Mojo Men
There Goes My Mind
Sundazed LP5569 180g vinyl mono/stereo

Though now a footnote to the San Francisco scene of the 1960s, never reaching the heights of the Airplane or Dead, the Mojo Men were inventive contemporaries of the equally undervalued Beau Brummels. Their shtick was lush sunshine pop recalling Spanky & Our Gang, The Peanut Butter Conspiracy and others. This LP’s tracks from four circa-1967-68 sessions completes a trio with two compilations on Sundazed. It’s also on CD.

Archie Bell & The Drells
The Albums 1968-1979
Robinsongs QROBIN5BX68 5CDs

Though best known for the oft-copied ‘Tighten Up’ – a perennial soul/funk/disco staple admired for a dazzling bass line and whucka-whucka guitar – Archie Bell & The Drells were prolific producers of dance music in the decade-plus that this covers. The five CDs here contain their complete canon of seven albums (though Bell later released a solo set) plus a CD of bonus tracks. It thus encompasses the Atlantic period and the later Gamble-Huff Philly Soul era, intriguing for musicologists who care to compare the sonic signatures. Super-tight stuff, especially the ballads. And it’s still hard to grasp that even R.E.M. covered ‘Tighten Up’.

The Beatles
1962-1966 and 1967-1970
Apple 0602455921000 6LPs 180g vinyl

Aka ‘the Red and the Blue’, the most famous Beatles best-ofs have been expanded and undergone the Giles Martin/AI process. Purists will prefer the originals, but some songs categorically benefit while others do not. ‘Blue’ is the first and hopefully only time ‘Now And Then’ appears on LP. If the vinyl is too costly, the 2CD sets [0602455920768 and 0602455920959] are sold separately, with the same tracks but in a different order.

Jethro Tull
Warchild II
Chrysalis 0190296762352 LP

Unused material forms this 11-track LP, all cuts recorded around the time of the original Warchild sessions, 1973-4. Only two of the songs appeared on that album, albeit in different form, while the remainder were later released on Nightcap, 20 Years Of Jethro Tull, Warchild 40th Anniversary Theatre Edition, and other anthologies. These are not scraps, and the Tull fanbase approves, so it really is an ideal companion to Warchild, remixed for vinyl by producer Steven Wilson.

Jim Capaldi
The Outside Years
Esoteric ECLEC42853 4CDs

While overshadowed by fellow Traffic members Winwood and Mason, songwriter/drummer Capaldi had a prolific 30-year solo career, working with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, George Harrison and other luminaries. This righteous coda contains his last two albums from 2001-4 (he died in 2005) with bonus cuts and two CDs of live recordings from 1993-2001, for a total of 35 mainly unreleased tracks. Superb prog rock, with Harrison, Winwood and Gary Moore among the guests.

Kim Wilde
Love Blonde: The RAK Years
Cherry Red PPOP4BOX 271 4CDs

Fourteen albums in 43 years isn’t exactly prolific, but the pop queen of the 1980s is touring as you read this, so a box set containing her first three plus bonus tracks is timely. The material within – especially the international hit ‘Kids In America’ – arguably constitutes her most celebrated period, but in retrospect she was as clever and talented as any of that decade’s singers, so don’t write this off as mere nostalgia. KW could show a certain Ms Swift a thing or two.

Mick Ralphs
On The Run: 1984-2013
HNE Recordings HNEBOX210 4CDs

Both glam rock and hard rock fans need to investigate this gathering of the Mott The Hoople/Bad Company guitarist’s solo albums. It starts with 1984’s Take This with ten bonus tracks; It’s All Good from 2001, which reunited him with Bad Company’s Simon Kirke and Boz Burrell; That’s Life two years later (with a 1970 demo of Bad Company’s ‘Can’t Get Enough’); and 2013’s I Should Know Better – Live At The Musician as the Mick Ralphs Blues Band. An underrated axe-master.