Various Artists - Forge Your Own Chains

Re-issue. American gospel, paranoiac soul, loner folk, East-Nigerian fuzz, Thai rock, Iranian ballads and more... Deluxe gatefold jacket containing extensive and detailed liner notes and annotation by Egon, rare photos and other ephemera! This compilation introduces a new direction for Now-Again Records and its owner, Stones Throw Records GM, A&R and producer Egon. With the same detailed, no-stone-unturned approach he used for Deep Funk (The Funky 16 Corners, Cold Heat), he tackles beat-heavy global psychedelia with Forge Your Own Chains. “Those of us birthed into record collecting by the Hip Hop midwife revered Jimi Hendrix as well as James Brown. We searched for albums by Mulatu Astatke and Power of Zeus with the same fervor,” Egon writes in his introduction to the comp. Forge Your Own Chains showcases music from all corners of the world: Colombia, Nigeria, Sweden, South Korea, Thailand and Iran. The focus – in keeping with Now-Again’s tradition – is on melody, driving rhythms and accessibility. Not one song is included on this compilation because it is from a “rare” album. Certainly, many of these songs do spring from albums that exchange hands for many thousands of dollars and many of these songs have never seen reissue. But these songs are all beautiful in their own right and work to form a coherent album. Psychedelic records, long the mainstay of older, grizzled collectors and seemingly quaint, are, in the hands of Egon and those of his generation, giving up new ghosts. And, with comps like Forge Your Own Chains, inspiring new investigations into our not so distant (and still very much alive) musical past. Deluxe gatefold jacket containing extensive and detailed liner notes and annotation by Egon, rare photos and other ephemera. Now-Again’s Foray Into Funky Psychedelia American gospel, paranoiac soul, loner folk, East-Nigerian fuzz, Thai rock, Iranian ballads and more… 

Tracks : A1. Top Drawer – Song Of A Sinner A2. Sensational Saints – How Great Thou Art A3. 12. Ofege – It’s Not Easy B1. East Of Underground – Smiling Faces Sometimes B2. D. R. Hooker – Forge Your Own Chains B3. Shin Jung Hyun & The Men feat. Jang Hyun – Twilight B4. Kourosh Yaghmaei – Hajm-E Khaali C1. T. Zchiew & The Johnny – Let Your ife Be Free C2. The Strangers – Two To Make A Pair C3. Damon – Don’t You Feel Me C4. Ellison – Strawberry Rain C5. Morly Grey – Who Can I Say You Are? D1. Shadrack Chameleon – Don’t Let It Get You Down D2. Ana Y Jaime – Nina Nana D3. Baby Grandmothers – Somebody’s Calling My Name.