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Black Friday, Coloured Vinyl
Coolaid is an album by Snoop Dogg, released in 2022. The album is a Black Friday, Coloured Vinyl hip-hop 2-LP.

Reanimation is an album by Linkin Park, released in 2016. The album is a rock 2-LP.

Jazz
One of the great live jazz albums, this 1960 collection features the famous title track and a superb four-piece band including Jim Hall on guitar.

Youngblood is an album by Five Seconds Of Summer, released in 2018.

Blue Note’s been digging deep in the vaults and turned up one long-forgotten gem in Common Touch , a joint production between the former husband-and-wife team of Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott.

Ms. Scott has always been a vastly underrated organ player who crafted her own light and airy sound out of some dead-serious blues. She was also a much better-suited partner to her ex-husband’s deep, rich and individual tenor than even Jimmy Smith.

There’s clearly an unmistakable emotional telepathy here. The Turrentines recorded on more than a dozen occasions throughout the 60s for a variety of labels (Blue Note, Prestige, Impulse and Atlantic); the best of which is Turrentine’s Let It Go (Impulse) and Never Let Me Go (Blue Note) and Scott’s Blue Flames , The Soul Is Willing , Soul Shoutin and this late entry from 1968, Common Touch.

What makes this different is the addition of the agile guitarist Jimmy Ponder (like Turrentine, a Pittsburgh native) and a markedly funkier edge — nothing Turrentine, Scott, Ponder, bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Idris Muhammed couldn’t do in their sleep. Common Touch rocks with a funky groove that is catchy and thoughtful all at once. “Buster Brown” simmers at a boil without condescending or collapsing. Ms. Scott’s hot “Boogaloo,” featured on last year’s The Lost Grooves compilation from Blue Note, works some sparkling interplay into a hip-grinding groove.

And just when you think no jazz could loosen up Dylan’s “Blowin in the Wind,” listen to how funky it gets here. A bonus is the addition of a long, sizzling blues recorded by more or less the same group earlier in the year, “Ain’t No Way” (from a from May 1968 session that was eventually featured as the title cut to an album released under Turrentine’s name in 1981).

The joy of this zesty release is the chemistry of the rhythm section and the ideal combination of the tenor player, his former wife and the guitarist from his hometown. Good tunes, great playing and talented players make this a real winner. Kudos to Blue Note for its active interest in bringing back this music. Even though popular opinion in jazz circles seems to deny it, the Blue Note legacy includes some first-class music after Alfred Lion sold the label to Liberty in 1967. Common Touch is a great example.

High Quality
Charlie Hunter’s 1995 Blue Note debut Bing Bing Bing! was a groove-heavy tour-de-force that marked the arrival of a virtuosic guitarist whose unique concept on his 8-string guitar produced music that was both impressive and irrepressible. Hunter’s trio laid down a program of originals plus an unforgettable cover of Nirvana’s “Come As You Are.” This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Currents is an album by Tame Impala, released in 2015. Currents includes a.o. the following tracks: “Let It Happen”, “The Moment”, “Disciples”, “’cause I’m A Man” and more. The album is a rock 2-LP.

High Quality
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is an album by Elton John, released in 2014. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road includes a.o. the following tracks: “Funeral For A Friend/ Love Lies Bleeding”, “Bennie And The Jets”, “Sweet Painted Lady”, “The Ballad Of Danny Bailey (1909-1934)” and more. The album is a High Quality pop 2-LP.

Jova Beach Party is an album by Jovanotti, released in 2019. Jova Beach Party includes a.o. the following tracks: “Prima Che Diventi Giorno”, “Nuova Era”, “Vado”, “Fiesta” and more.