Audiophile Vinyl

Stevie Nicks
Bella Donna
Mobile Fidelity UD1S 2-063 (One Step 2x45rpm LPs)

There’s no way that Nicks’ 1981 solo debut was going to feature anything less than the cream of contemporary musicians. While it’s impossible to ignore similarities to the Fleetwood Mac albums which preceded it, as she sang lead vocals on so many of their tracks and her voice is as distinctive as any, that would be a churlish criticism. This album’s saving grace? The vibe here is tempered by the presence of assorted Eagles and Heartbreakers, and the material is easily of the standard of the compositions she recorded with Fleetwood Mac. The standout track is the one she didn’t write, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell’s ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’. It’s a truly fabulous album. KK

Sound Quality: 90%

James Brown
Sex Machine
Mobile Fidelity MFSL 2-591 (2LPs)

Deliciously subtitled ‘Recorded Live At Home In Augusta, Georgia, With His Bad Self’, this may not be as worshipped as Live At The Apollo from 1962 or its 1967 sequel, but it’s no less intense. Dating from 1970 – I was blessed to see him that year – it finds Brown arguably at his peak, and the 13 cuts ooze so much energy that you suspect the crowd would have gone just as crazy even if it wasn’t his hometown audience. ‘Please, Please, Please’, ‘If I Ruled The World’, a killer medley filling Side 2 – this is a perfect illustration of why Brown remains the Godfather. It’s also on SACD [UDSACD 2295], which will please readers who bemoan the lack of soul on the format. KK

Sound Quality: 85%

Catalyst
Perception
Craft/Muse CR00848 (180g vinyl)

If you’ve been seduced by 1970s jazz/rock-fusion, whether as a recent convert (it’s a currently hot genre), or you’re a veteran who began with Miles, this is another of Craft’s essential ‘Jazz Dispensary’ finds. The band’s second album, from 1973, it stands out from other synth-led, heavy-on-the-electronics contemporaries thanks to the presence of Odean Pope on sax and flute, while the various guest percussionists augmenting the core quartet increased the funk. Though it wasn’t a huge success, it’s belatedly recognised as a real gem, and this deluxe reissue honours it by being cut from the original tapes by Kevin Gray, and pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI. KK

Sound Quality: 90%

Katie Spencer
What Love Is
Lightship Records LR-002 LP

When a Joni Mitchell album is reviewed on the opposite page, her presence proves daunting for a less-familiar musician performing in a similar vein. But being a singer-songwriter adept on guitar makes a likening inevitable – though Spencer is from Yorkshire and didn’t hone her craft in Laurel Canyon. More poignantly, the sound and intensity of her third album also recall another distaff singer from the 1960s, Judee Sill, so this falls naturally into their shared genre. What will direct its appeal to fans of a different school is that it’s categorically ‘British folk’, the nuances recalling Sandy Denny. This is simply a gorgeous album, a tonic in trying times. KK

Sound Quality: 85%