2023 REPRESS EDITION - 100% ORIGINAL PACKAGING

1 180g LP + gatefold + inner 12 pages color exercise book (X RATED)

A brand new selection of unreleased musics composed by the great Alain Goraguer, know for his works with Serge Gainsbourg and Boris Vian for movies from the golden age of french pornography, brought together on a collector vinyl, object of all the desires

Vital Sales Points:

Eight never released before tracks composed by Alain Goraguer, orchestrator and composer of an impressive number of monumental french pop songs, from Boris Vian to Serge Gainsbourg, and well known by hip-hop fans and sampling lovers for his cult soundtrack for The Fantastic Planet.

Tracks saved from oblivion and fully restored, from the soundtracks of these evocative titles : Swinging Couple Cruise, Private Nurses, Right of the First Night and A Foreign Girl in Paris

Comes with a 12 pages color X-Rated Excercise book, with the classics : coloring, points to link and carvings, with a gallery of characters to carve and to layout of the included locations, to elaborate your own orgy, with any outside help ! Designed by famous french illustrateor Erwann Terrier.

Project funded through a crowfuding campaign in july 2018 that reached 700% of ist initial goal
https://www.kisskissbankbank.com/en/projects/alain-goraguer-musique-classee-x

Tracklist LP

A1 Marie-Jeanne astique le pont CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (5.41)

A2 Post Scriptum Post Coïtum CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (8.29)

A3 Annie a le vent en croupe CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (3.27)

B1 Kikumi, paravent et par derrière INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (3.54)

B2 Partenaires particulières pour parties fines. INFIRMIERES A TOUT FAIRE (2.07)

B3 Go Go Go Reggae CROISIERE POUR COUPLES EN CHALEUR (4.49)

B4 Birgit et le mâle du pays LA PETITE ETRANGERE (3.23)

B5 Juliette, décoincée dans l'ascenseur LE DROIT DE CUISSAGE (2.19)

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Nonexclusive Release - Exportrights Only, 2LP in gatefold sleeve with CD included. EAN: 5060525433566

Cut from original masters. Original packaging, beautifully and precisely reproduced to the Original Standards. Original year of release: 1998


Tracklisting:

A1. Ann Peebles – Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness
A2. O.V. Wright – Let’s Straighten It Out
A3. The Charmels – As Long As I Got Yoy
A4. David Porter – I’m Afraid The Masquerade Is Over

B1. Willie Mitchell – Groovin’
B2. Al Green – You Ought To Be With Me
B3. Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell – You’re All I Need To Get By
B4. The Emotions – If You Think It (You May As Well Do It)
B5. Bob James – Nautilus

C1. Al Green – Gotta Find A New World
C2. Syl Johnson – Could I Be Falling In Love
C3. Donny Hathaway – Little Ghetto Boy (Live)
C4. Syl Johnson – Could I Be Falling In Love
C5. Wendy Rene – After Laughter (Come Tears)
C6. Lyn Collins – Ain’t No Sunshine

D1. Syl Johnson – Is It Because I’m Back
D2. The Dramatics – In The Rain
D3. Gladys Knight & The Pips – The Way We Were
D4. O.V. Wright – Motherless Child
D5. Booker T. And The MGs – Children Don’t Get Away
D6. Barry White – Mellow Mood (Part 1)

Short Info:

Legendary Deep Soul French compilation(s) featuring many Soul classics, sometimes forgotten, which have been sampled countless times by some of the biggest Hip-Hop acts.
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Territories: Worldwide no restrictions

Format Notes: First time vinyl release, 140g vinyl

Track List:

A1 Dance In The Dust
A2 Amber Whispers
A3 Where Were We
A4 The Lights Of Kinshasa
A5 Pictures Of You

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B1 Serendipity For Two
B2 Smiles By The Millions
B3 Higher Still
B4 Oriental
B5 Days To Wonder
B6 Dawn Of Europa
B7 Crystal Falls
B8 Purple Lines


Release Notes:

Synth pioneer and musical polymath, Wally Badarou is a genius. But you know that already. A vinyl version of his majestic Colors Of Silence has been craved by the Balearic cognoscenti ever since its low-key 2001 release. Indeed, when we first started work on Be With, we asked some pals with exquisite taste what their dream release would be. We asked Balearic legend Moonboots and, without hesitation, he said Colors Of Silence by Wally Badarou. We didn't know Wally had made this album. And most still don't. But that's about to change.

Colors Of Silence is ostensibly a new age album. As ever though, Wally's sophisticated synth textures and expressive keyboard runs are so full of character, so full of life, that this work of art transcends any easy genre categorisation. It's simply stunning, throughout. It sounds like A.r.t. Wilson or Suzanne Kraft, with traces of CFCF and Jonny Nash. But it was made a good decade earlier than the work of these modern giants. Sometimes, it doesn't seem far from some Larry Heard albums.

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell's friend Nathalie Delon asked Wally to provide music for the yoga DVD she was to release. Lack of time on both sides made them agree on using "quality demos" Wally had in his ideas bank. It's understandable why Colors Of Silence remains somewhat of a lost gem. As Wally explains: "Total lack of promotion made it an 'intimate' release, which was exactly what I was looking for: just a buzz-maker and time-buyer that would allow me to concentrate on the real thing as soon as I'd have time, which could also turn into a rare collecting item later, once the final versions made their way to success. You never know."

Over the years, Colors Of Silence has become a true cult record for the ambient/Balearic heads.

The beguiling but brief "Dance In The Dust" is the shuffling, hyper-percussive, hypnotic opener. It gives way to the deep serenity of "Amber Whispers". It's a gliding, divine, mini melodic masterpiece. It'll make you swoon in its extreme beauty. The bright and breezy "Where Were We" follows, a tropical, reggae-tinged bounce through the islands.

The uptempo groove is maintained on the keys-drizzled soca-funk of "The Lights Of Kinshasa" before Side A is rounded out with "Pictures Of You". It starts with stately, melancholic, unadorned piano and this alone would make for a beautiful song. But Wally always gives us that bit extra and he effortlessly introduces warm, dreamy pads and minimal, slo-mo percussion to augment a frankly stunning piece of work.

Ushering in Side B, Wally's mesmeric piano playing is to the fore again, in the intro to uber-chilled "Serendipity For Two". The playing becomes more mellifluous as the track progresses and adds warmth through exotic percussion, woodwind, sweeping synths and digi-drums. It has echoes of, er, Echoes. It segues seamlessly into the more propulsive, wavy "Smiles By The Millions". If you're not nodding and grinning along widely to the gently throbbing bassline underpinning this, we can't help you. The meditative "Higher Still" follows, cinematic in feel and ever so slightly sinister with the strings. It sounds particularly Badalamenti-esque, if you ask us.

That unmistakable, almost peculiar Badarou funk - so lyrical, so texturally rich and so rhythmically spacious - is all over "Oriental". Next up, "Days To Wonder" brings the serenity back, insistent yet melodic keys, as if played in a place of worship, coupled with birdsong, conjure a kind of instant nostalgia for halcyon days of youth. The contemplative "Dawn Of Europa" is a sombre, beatless, ambient journey whilst the glorious, too-brief "Crystal Falls" features soft percussion and sparkle before fully glistening with some gentle head-nod beats. Wally brings this incredible collection to a mellow, tender close with the graceful "Purple Lines".

There can be few artists more under-appreciated given their vast influence than Wally Badarou. His solo work practically defined the sound of the Balearic DJs of the 1980s, and thus the more sophisticated sound of dance culture thereafter. A synth specialist, Badarou was the long-time associate of Level 42. He was one of the Compass Point All Stars (with Sly and Robbie, Barry Reynolds, Mikey Chung and Uziah "Sticky" Thompson), the in-house recording team of Compass Point Studios responsible for a series of albums in the 1980s recorded by Grace Jones, Tom Tom Club, Mick Jagger, Black Uhuru, Gwen Guthrie, Jimmy Cliff and Gregory Isaacs. Badarou's keyboard playing could also be heard on albums by Robert Palmer, Marianne Faithfull, Herbie Hancock, M (Pop Muzik), Talking Heads, Manu Dibango and Miriam Makeba. He also produced Fela Kuti. Phew!

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. Special thanks must go to Apiento from Test Pressing who first introduced us to Wally and facilitated all those early zoom meetings. It couldn't have happened without his help. Not least on pulling the art together, too, which features striking original photography by Mads Perch. Benji Roebuck of Roebuck Press did his thing brilliantly in art working the whole package to completion. All in all: essential. More

Black vinyl pressing

About:
Best known for being Anderson .Paak's live band The Free Nationals have toured the world meeting countless artists who inspire them. While the amount of all the contemporary musicians who inspire them would take an anthology of box sets, they boiled it down to a handful to include on the album, all of whom lend their talents in spreading the funk. Free Nationals means The first people of America, Indigenous to the land before Columbus came. Staying Indigenous to the funk, The Free Nationals wanted to tribute their inspirations such as Stevie Wonder, B.B. King, Herbie Hancock, and Al Green by incorporating musicianship while pioneering musical euphoria for a new generation.

The album features friends they've met along their musical journey including the late Mac Miller, Syd, Anderson .Paak, Kali Uchis, T.I., JID, Westside Gunn, Conway, Chronixx, Daniel Caesar, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Kadhja Bonet, MIKNNA, Benny Sings, Callum Connor, T. Nava and Joyce Wrice. This pressing sees the album pressed on 180g Black Vinyl for the first time.

Key Selling:
o Backing band for GRAMMY Winning artist, Anderson. Paak
o Album features: Daniel Caesar, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Kali Uchis, Mac Miller, Syd (of the internet), T.I., JID, Chronixx, Westside Gunn, Conway, Joyce Wrice, and more.
o Beauty & Essex single - 73M+ streams on Spotify
o TIME single - 80M+ streams on Spotify
o On Sight single - 19M+ Streams on Spotify
o Eternal Light - 56M streams on Spotify
o Shibuya - 14M streams on Spotify
o Beauty & Essex Video - 11M Views
o Consistently on tour and performing tracks with Anderson .Paak
o Artwork by Robert Beatty

Key Marketing:
o The band has placements on Spotify's Soul Lounge (830k likes) & Morning Rhythm playlists (320k likes)
o Digital ad campaign on Instagram, Facebook, Google
o Performed on NPR Tiny Desk in 2020
o A documentary focusing on the band was released in 2020
o The band will be performing with Red Hot Chili Peppers on select European dates in summer 2022
o Free Nationals will be supporting the release on social media
o Pressed on 180g Black Vinyl for the first time

Tracklist:
A1/1. Obituaries (feat. Shafiq Husayn)
A2/2. Beauty & Essex (w/ Daniel Caesar & Unknown Mortal Orchestra)
A3/3. On Sight (w/ JID, Kadhja Bonet, MIKNNA)
B1/4. Shibuya (w/ Syd)
B2/5. Apartment (feat. Benny Sings)
B3/6. Gidget (feat. Anderson .Paak)
C1/7. Rene (feat. Callum Connor)
C2/8. Time (w/ Kali Uchis & Mac Miller)
C3/9. Cut Me A Break (feat T.I.)
C4/10. Eternal Light (feat. Chronixx)
D1/11. Oslo (feat. Callum Connor & T. Nava)
D2/12. Lester Diamond
D3/13. The Rivington (feat. Conway, Westside Gunn, Joyce Wrice)
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Territories: Worldwide no restrictions

Format Notes:
2024 repress, 140g vinyl, includes “Pure Thought” bonus track from the original CD version, original picture sleeve and printed inner sleeves based on the original one.

Track List:

A* : Blood (1:08)
A1 : Bullies Of The Block (4:55)
A2 : Everything’s Everything (3:47)
A3 : Shammy’s (4:16)
A** : Heat Mizer (1:08)

B1 : Six Tray (4:39)
B2 : Danger (3:58)
B3 : Inner City Boundaries (4:39)
B* : Bomb Zombies (1:06)

C1 : Cornbread (4:21)
C2 : Way Cool (4:22)
C3 : Hot Potato (4:30)
C4 : Mary (3:45)
C5 : Park Bench People (4:59)

D1 : Heavyweights (6:11)
D* : Tolerate (1:01)
D2 : Respect Due (3:53)
D3 : Pure Thought (3:14)

Release Notes (Short Version):

Innercity Griots, the second album from Freestyle Fellowship, is perhaps *the* essential West Coast left-field rap album of the early ’90s. Released in 1993 on 4th & Broadway, it’s a towering, progressive hip-hop masterpiece that expanded rap’s boundaries through lyrical elevation and production innovation. Their talent was ahead of everybody else by light years. This is pure b-boy jazz.

The original single vinyl LP is now hideously scarce, and of course the sound suffers from not being officially released as a double. This Be With re-issue fixes both problems, and for completeness also includes “Pure Thought” from the CD version of the album. This incredible display of imaginative hip-hop sounds better than ever.

Freestyle Fellowship were some of the earliest technically dazzling rappers to come out of California. Mikah 9, P.E.A.C.E., Aceyalone and Self Jupiter - along with DJ Kiilu - forged their famed lyrical dexterity in the ultra-competitive crucible of the Good Life Cafe. Founded in Leimert Park, South Central LA in December 1989, this earthy health-food store and cafe was where the city’s finest microphone fiends would gather to showcase their freestyle skills at the Thursday night open-mic.

Innercity Griots has been described as the Rosetta Stone for rap styles. The group’s dense, vibrant wordplay and enviable interplay quickly earned the attention and respect of the city’s hip-hop underground. Frenetically trading acrobatic rhymes with agility and grace, the Fellowship used their voices as instruments like true virtuosos, spraying improvised raps like a Coltrane sax solo.

With the bulk of the album’s production handled by The Earthquake Brothers, and Bambawar, Daddy-O, and Edman taking over for some of the tracks, Innercity Griots dances between organic and programmed music, largely forgoing sampling and instead built around live jazz jams. The likes of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay” and Miles Davis’s “Black Comedy” were used more as templates for house band The Underground Railroad Band to spiral out from. As Pitchfork noted in their recent 9.0 review of this classic album, “Freestyle Fellowship embodied the style and spirit of jazz on a molecular level. They shared the effortless cool and tough countenance of the great bebop players from the ’50s without verging into jazz-rap parody. Their innate jazziness felt tangible and hard-earned”.

The unusual approach to the music was matched by the Fellowship’s lyrics. Eschewing the tired rap tropes of the time, this multifaceted album instead explores their ruminations on greed and homelessness, weed, sex, survival, insecurity and tribalism.

Remastered by Simon Francis for double vinyl and cut by Pete Norman, we hope this long-overdue re-issue of Innercity Griots satisfies the legions of fans that have since been bewitched by the majesty of this record. It should also introduce some new listeners to yet another overlooked classic.
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