Territories: Worldwide no restrictions

Format Notes: 2023 first time vinyl reissue, 140g double vinyl, remastered audio with restored artwork


Track List:

A1 Emergency 9:35
A2 Beyond Games 8:20
--
B1 Where 12:09
B2 Vashkar 4:58
--
C1 Via The Spectrum Road 7:50
C2 Spectrum 9:52
--
D1 Sangria For Three 13:08
D2 Something Spiritual 5:38

Release Notes:

Miles Davis: "I could definitely hear right away that this was going to be one of the baddest motherfuckers who had ever played a set of drums.”

The Tony Williams Lifetime's Emergency! is a furious, stunning, seminal album. In 1969, it's explosive sound divided critics in both jazz and rock but is now rightly regarded as groundbreaking. A musical statement so bold and irreverent that it was revolutionary, it's one of the most important records you will ever hear. With Emergency!, provocative percussionist Tony Williams unified the most vital sounds of the era and galvanised the creation of jazz fusion. A sprawling double LP that shattered the boundaries between jazz and rock, it forged fresh frontiers by unleashing dense, courageous and fantastically mysterious music.

The group was founded by Tony Williams, a member of Miles Davis’ radical 1960s quintet, out of his desire to fuse the influences of modern jazz and rock music. To effectively meld the scorching bop of Coltrane with the raging rock of Hendrix, in the process crafting, as Mojo put it, "jazz-rock's equivalent of Are You Experienced?". The album's urgent title was profoundly significant for Williams: “It was an emergency for me to leave Miles and put that band together (...) and I wanted to play an emerging music that was my own." The band he formed was one hell of a power trio, comprising nothing but raw virtuosity: Williams's colossal drumming, John McLaughlin's pioneering, aggressive guitar playing and Larry Young's freeform organ work.

The album's sound is incredibly fierce and inordinately intense. Indeed, the group were famed for playing “louder than rock’n’roll”, as Herbie Hancock said of going to hear them live in 1969: "This is something new...It was exciting and very arresting. It snatched you. It yanked you out of your seat.” Ian Carr, of Nucleus, was equally impressed: "The only other comparable band that existed ...They were incredibly loud, but we liked what they were doing. Fundamentally they had a different approach from ours, with some very highly arranged things that featured Larry Young's organ blending with the guitar, as well as intricate passages where Tony doubled the melody on the drums."

Like all the very best records, Emergency! takes multiple listens for your brain and body to decipher everything going on, to truly process and appreciate the details that our senses are throwing at us. It's a mesmerising, rough sound yet the intuitive interplay of all 3 musicians is super-tight. The tunes are strung out and jamming but retain a tight rhythmic focus.

The incendiary title track immediately presents jazz-rock’s chaotic birth. After Williams's ominous snare-roll signals the brewing storm, the snarling band blasts its way through the gate in truly breathtaking fashion, fuzzed-up wahed-out guitar riffs vying for prominence with gnarled, insistent organ. Thrillingly, Williams manages to both acrobatically crash over every element of his drum kit while keeping the whole groove undeniably funky. "Beyond Games" is a gloriously volatile freeform, featuring Williams' bugged out vocals, whilst the 12-minute "Where" is another deep, wild jam. It's disorientating and humid with weird rhythms, abrupt vibe shifts and semi-classical lines running between guitar and organ. It's like nothing else you've ever heard, absolutely vital.

With the buoyant “Vashkar”, we begin to experience jazz-rock's many angles; imaginative melodics, taut dynamics and as torrent of searing heat. Perhaps the most economical track on Emergency!, it's the most instant. In a recent retrospective review in Pitchfork, Emergency! received a monumental 9.0 ranking. The writer Hank Shteamer correctly gushed: "Driven by a tumbling Williams pulse, the trio dances through the complex stop-start theme, ending each iteration with a dramatic full-band rest. Then, in the middle of McLaughlin’s scrambling solo, Williams starts playing an embryonic version of an extreme-metal blastbeat, alternating snare and bass in rapid succession while rising precipitously in volume, as Young joins in with shuddering note clusters. During Young’s solo, the organist seems to incite Williams to repeat the move with his increasingly frenzied lines, and soon all three musicians are hurtling toward a supernova climax." WOW!

The laconic "Via the Spectrum Road", a brilliant pop-psych tune, was sampled by Showbiz & AG on their classic debut LP. It oscillates between a tranquil funk groove and strutting improv interludes. The pyrotechnic jam "Spectrum" wakes things up again with pure, molten jazz lava and crazy soloing from all involved. A breathtaking, kaleidoscopic 13-minute cycle through ferocious noise, "Sangria For Three" is a sublimely frenetic detonation of distilled (acid) jazz rock. To quote Shteamer again, "Don’t let the track’s breezy title fool you: As much as, say, “Sister Ray” the year before or “Fun House” the year after, this is punk before punk." Closer "Something Spiritual" finishes this jaw-dropping set with a driving, unrelenting heavy guitar and organ freakout, backed high in the mix by Williams's untamed funk before unsettled dissonance rides us out.

Listeners will be struck by the timelessness of Emergency!; dank, trance-inducing voodoo jazz that's intellectually challenging at the same time as viscerally thrilling. The blurred cover photo, whereby the convulsing vibrations of this sonic apocalypse ensure it looks exactly as the record sounds - out of focus - has been delicately restored at Be With HQ. Mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis and cut by Cicely Ralston for Alchemy at AIR Studios, the magnificent grit and spontaneity remains dizzyingly intact. If you're a jazz fusion fan and don't already have this, consider ownership of this record as an Emergency!
More

Territories: Worldwide no restrictions

Format Notes: Part of Tele Music Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl


Track List:

A1 Prétexte Pour Indicatifs 3:29
A2 Purgatoire Mood (Interlude) 0:25
A3 Purgatoire Mood 1 3:55
A4 Purgatoire Mood 2 4:12
A5 Christophus Colombus 3:57
A6 Bass In Love 2:39

B1 Sing Song Bass 2:31
B2 Petit Moujik De Nuit 2:57
B3 Kermesse Non Héroique 13:15

Release Notes:

Guy Pedersen's magical Maxi Music, originally released on cult Parisian library label tele Music in 1972, is psyche-rock and jazz-funk gold. It's a vital Pederson outing, oscillating between the rough and the smooth, but always with those hypnotic grooves. It's a start-to-finish winner, yet the final 13-minute-long opus will blow minds. Trust!

Stirring opener, "Prétexte Pour Indicatifs" is so mighty, it was covered by Keith Mansfield on "Hot Property" from Big Business/Wind Of Change on KPM. It's a track in 4 deliberate parts, the first a rapid tour de force, the second and third presenting organ-and-wah-wah-drenched slo-mo funk workouts and the fourth a return to the frenetic energy of the opening bars. Phew, pretty sensational. "Purgatoire Mood (Interlude)" is a beautiful segue into the stunning horn-laced, swift-paced aggressive jazzy excellence of "Purgatoire Mood 1" and the more poetic "Purgatoire Mood 2". Fast-paced funk beats and dramatic interplay!

"Christophus Colombus" is another song with multiple sections; the intro a rapid wah-wah-enhanced psych-rock statement that truly thrills before settling into a more steady yet no-less unrelenting guitar-funk showcase with wordless vocals and, later, reflective guitar and piano in gorgeous harmony. Closing out this electrifying side, the elegant "Bass In Love" is a soft'n'sultry slo-mo funk instrumental, as rough cello, jazzy piano and salacious, breathy vocals combine to create the scent of lingering heat to pretty rousing effect.

Ushering in Side B, "Sing Song Bass" is a slow starter but, once the drums kick in brilliantly, we're treated to a deeply melodic, propulsive, organ-flute-piano-bass gem - it's truly memorable and absolutely fantastic. The wonky, delirious psych-pop of "Petit Moujik De Nuit" is a curiously compelling number but it serves, for us at least, only as the pre-curser to the phenomenal closing track. An absolute beast that totally slays all before it!

Yes, despite Maxi Music being that rarest of library records - a record that can stand up on its own from front to back - it really does contain that *one* absolute killer track. And Peterson saved the best until last. The real highlight - can you imagine there's better?! - is the blazing psych-rock funky burner that is the infamous 13 minute thriller "Kermesse Non Héroique". Containing a wicked flute solo it genuinely sounds like something off the first Dungen album. Yes, that good. What a way to go out!

The audio for Maxi Music has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.


More

Territories: Worldwide no restrictions

Format Notes: Part of Tele Music Reissue Campaign, 2023 first time reissue, 140g vinyl

Track List:

A1 Rock Extra 3:00
A2 Slowrama 2:10
A3 Latin Pop Sound 3:30
A4 Morning Melody 1:12
A5 Islam Blues 0:55
A6 Phasing Drums N° 1 1:10
A7 Phasing Drums N° 2 1:16
A8 Phasing Drums N° 3 1:25

B1 Pacific Rock 2:25
B2 Quasimodo Pop 3:16
B3 Carmel Beach 3:25
B4 Auto Moto Rallye 1:32
B5 V.S.O.P Rock 2:10
B6 Rythmiques N° 1 0:53
B7 Rythmiques N° 2 0:45
B8 Rythmiques N° 3 0:53


Release Notes:

A Tele Music CLASSIC from 1972, Pierre-Alain Dahan's Continental Pop Sound is of those library albums with something for everyone. Breaks? Check. Fuzz guitar? Check. Slower, jazzy stuff? Double check. It's a stunning collection of psychedelic rock, soulful funk and retro pop stylings that's currently going for over £200 on Discogs. And with good reason. French drummer, percussionist and composer Pierre-Alain Dahan was a key member of the legendary Arpadys, Disco & Co, Voyage, Tumblack (with Wally Badarou and Sauveur Mallia) and Jef Gilson Septet. So, you know this Be With reissue is nailed on essential.

Skip the by-numbers opener "Rock Extra" and head straight to the deeeeeep, minimalist groove of "Slowrama", a humid masterclass in low-slung, creeping crime funk with weighty breaks and beefy bass complimented by hypnotic wah-wah and warm electric piano. Sensational. It was sampled by Prince Po in 2004 for his "Love Thang" track. The galloping "Latin Pop Sound" is a percussive, Santana-esque tour de force featuring fantastic guitar shreds over a bassline to die for. "Morning Melody" is a lightweight amble whereas the brief but deliciously psych-rock heavy "Islam Blues" is a must for your mixes when requiring short segue tracks. The A-Side closes out with "Phasing Drums N° 1, 2 & 3", all completely ace. For us, N° 3 is the pick of the bunch, with particularly slooooow and deliberate drums underpinned by a droning, sinister organ. Hip-hop, before hip-hop, no less.

The genuine monster "Pacific Rock" blasts out the gate to usher in Side B, a thrilling and unrelenting pop-rock instrumental that really drives. "Quasimodo Pop" contains great slow mo funk breaks and scratchy guitars that alternate with pretty heavy riffing to create a compelling base track. "Carmel Beach" is as beautiful as the location it's named after, as insouciant guitars glide over super slo-mo beats and dramatic organ before it breaks down to a laconic, reflective electric piano showcase. Sumptuous. "Auto Moto Rallye" is a brief driving funk gem, as you might expect, complete with revved up guitars tuned and played to emulate the irresistible sound of growling race cars.

The upbeat, piano-led rock stomper "V.S.O.P Rock" is all well and good but, what you might really be here for is the trio of tracks that ensure the LP ends on an almighty high. The three most famous tracks “Rythmiques 1, 2 & 3” all come complete with *ultra*-dope breaks. N° 2 is probably our favourite, with the shuffling bassline and breaks combo augmented by the wonderful cowbell. Though on any other day, it could be N° 3! This album is often considered as the “baby brother” to Tele Music's Rythmiques, and this triptych is all the proof you need. Outstanding.

One of the very best French drummers ever, Pierre-Alain Dahan began his career at the Blue Note in Paris with Sonny Stitt, Dexter Gordon and Daniel Humair. Some start, eh?! He also participated in the recording of Serge Gainsbourg's cult album 'La Ballade de Melody Nelson' before going on to make countless KILLER library funk records and be a key member in the legendary Arpadys, Disco & Co, Voyage, Tumblack (with Wally Badarou, Sauveur Mallia et al), Jef Gilson Septet (alongside Henri Texier) and many more. Some pedigree.

The audio for Continental Pop Sound has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis, ensuring this release sounds better than ever. Cicely Balston's expert skills have made sure nothing is lost in the cut whilst the original, iconic Tele Music house sleeve has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.
More