The Red Flags are songwriter Keith Mouland (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica, whistling) and K.C. (Harry) O’ Shea (upright bass, accordion, piano) here they bring us a very classy collection of Americana/alt. country that stands it fairly and squarely against most others of its ilk. The songs are stories of life, try and listen to ‘Down Across he Border’ to hear them at their best. Very good.

Graham Radley

Excellent new CD from Candido after a too long five year absence, vocally some of the smoothness has gone but developed a rawer edge which fires the music onto the dance floor. His reputation as a songwriter has led to his material being covered by Isaac Delgado, Los Van Van, Oscar D’Leon while his reputation as an improviser means he can rip it up on tracks like ‘El Granmy’. Very Good

Graham Radley

Quite chilled and melodic with varied influences that move from west to East via African and reggae touches along the way. I especially like his version of ‘Road’ the Nick Drake track which here features viola and piano from Brendan and works really well. Worth checking.

Graham Radley

From Trenchtown in the dancehall days this has six tracks each from Ranking Dread (two featuring Horace Andy) & Massive Dread recorded at Channel one and mixed at King Tubbys with Sly & Robbie providing the rhythm. Two rudeboys with both of them meeting untimely deaths so this is a reminder both of how good things were and how much we missed.

Graham Radley

Terrific CD this, fast and hard from the streets and clubs of Brooklyn, Spanish Harlem and the Bronx with dance floor attitude. There can be no better way to start things off than Eddie Palmieri and ‘L Que Traigo Es Sabroso II’ with tracks following in hot pusuit from Wayne Gorbea, Los Soneros Del Barrio, Jimmy Delgado, Chino Nunez, Chico Alvarez, Jimmy Bosch, George Delgado, Las Estrellas Cobo, Ricky Gonzalez and ending with Joe Quijano & his Conjunto Cachana winding things down with ‘I Get a Kick Out Of You’ Excellent.

Graham Radley

Eleven tracks that start with French film star Sandrine Kiberlan and ends with Canada’s Wailin’ Jennys. A nice mixture, with the acoustic approach being the common thread and demonstrating the superb range of female voices out there, the release is timed to tie in with International Women’s Day. This range and quality is illustrated nicely by Kaissa from Cameroon and the equally delightful Mona from Algeria who shows another side to her from the more often heard rap. Good collection.

Graham Radley

Artists from Denmark, USA, Canada, Puerto Rico, Sweden, Germany, Australia, France & UK. The feel is laid back beats inspired on a jazzy tip but that only paints part of the picture, a couple of tracks that illustrate things best are the Kid Loco remix of Thievery Corporation’s ‘Until The Morning’ and K-OS with ‘Crabbuckit’. Like it!

Graham Radley

Recorded in Sao Paulo last year this is Richard Galliano’s first studio album since 2001’s ‘Face To Face’. There is of course a very strong Latin American influence but the jazz (he’s played with Chet Baker, Michel Petrucciani and Jan Garbarek amongst many top jazz names) and classical references that have featured so prominently in his evolving career are woven within too by this excellent musician. Re-released at the same time is a remastered version of 1992’s ‘Solo’ a tribute to Astor Piazzolla who was in a coma at the time of the recording. Both are full of textures, passion and superb music.

Graham Radley

Another great double CD from Manteca which covers recorded and live recordings from in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Astor Piazzolla revolutionised Argentinean tango but in the process made himself a lot of enemies within his own country, it wasn’t until later in his career that his work was honoured there. It’s estimated he wrote over 3,000 pieces of this new tango (tango nuevo) with jazz and classical mixing into the traditional tango ‘a music for the head – as well as for the soul’. Magic.

Graham Radley

The Voice of Egypt and indeed a legend, whose recording career began in the 1920’s and by the 1940’s had elevated her to true stardom. Her “Thursday Night is Oum Kalsoum Night” radio show was a huge success which lasted until shortly before her death in 1975. This double CD contains 18 tracks over two CDs covering two hours of superb music.

Graham Radley