Seasons They Change - The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk by Jeanette Leech

I'm sure you've all got exciting plans for your weekend - DJing, clubbing, watching bands, taking in Dancing On Ice. Me? I'll be finding a comfy chair and settling down with a copy of Seasons They Change - The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk by Jeanette Leech.

According to the write-up: 'In the late 60s and early 70s, the inherent weirdness of folk met switched-on psychedelic rock and gave birth to new, strange forms of acoustic-based avant garde music.'

Damn right it did. Yes, the Incredible String Band is here, but so are all the obscure acts who hardly got a mention in the NME of the day, let alone the annals of musical history since. Hey, it even throws in the modern-day equivalents, who just happen to have been inspired by the first wave. Yes, following the lines from past to present. 368 pages, some tasty photos and a big reading list at the end. What more could you want for £9.04?

Find out more about the book at the Amazon website

The Story of Northern Soul - a new book by David Nowell

With northern soul hype at an all-time high after the Soulboy movie, it's the perfect time to update a book on the subject of northern soul. That book goes by the name of The Story of Northern Soul by David Nowell.

Published by Portico and now on the shelves (virtual or otherwise), it's essentially an updated version of the long out of print Too Darn Soulful, kicking off with the emergence of sould music in the mod clubs of the 1960s, working its way through the northern scene as it developed, throwing in some anecdotes, photos and flyers plus, in this new version, a chapter covering developments and changes since 1999, when the original book was first published.

Amazon has it in stock, with this 330-page book selling right now for £7.67.

Find out more about the book at the Amazon website

Review: Soulboy (2010)

Can't say I'm one for northern soul nostalgia. Don't mind a chunk of the music from that particular scene, but I can do without the never ending desire to re-create the 'Wigan Casino years'. I'm sure it was a good night out, in fact I know it was as two older sisters of mine were regulars there. But they moved on - and maybe others should too. Although for some people, the Wigan nostalgia is a very profitable way of life, so that's hardly going to happen, is it?

Anyway, that nostalgia phobia is exactly the reason why I didn't go and see Soulboy at the cinema and the same reason why I've put off watching and reviewing the DVD that popped through the letter box on Christmas Eve. But after some delay, I bit the bullet and you know what? It's not so bad after all.

Review: Gainsbourg (2010)

It did the rounds at arthouse establishments last year, but as I live in multiplex city, it didn't make it 'round our way'. So here I am with a DVD of Gainsbourg for a first viewing. Is it the definite record of Serge Gainsbourg? We'll deal with that later.

But let's start with the movie itself. Directed by Joann Sfar and starring Eric Elmosnino as the man himself, it's effectively the edited highlights of Gainsbourg's life, from his earliest days as a Jewish/Russian refugee in Paris during the World War II, ending as he drives into the sunset with his final partner, Bambou, bizarrely the grand-daughter of General Friedrich Paulus of the German army on the Russian front. I'm guessing that's some kind of symmetry.

The Breaks - Original B Boy Street Funk & Block Party Classics gets a 15th anniversary reissue

Good news for anyone up for some old school soul and funk - The Breaks - Original B Boy Street Funk & Block Party Classics is getting a 15th anniversary reissue.

Yes, two CDs crammed with the finest original break-beats, some of which just aren't available anywhere else. The likes of The Champ by The Mohawks,  It's A New Day by Skull Snaps, Don’t Change Your Love by Five Stairsteps & Cubie, Bra and The Message from Cymande, Lowell Fulsom's Tramp, Funkadelic's Good Ole Music…you get the idea.

Also thrown in for the reissue are a number of later tracks which have since become highly collectable in break beat circles -  Liquid Liquid's Cavern (where Grandmaster Melle Mel's White Lines bass-line came from), Manzel's Space Funk, Taana Gardner's Heartbeat and Vaughan Mason's Jammin' Big Guitar for example. It's out on March 28th for £7 - full tracklisting over the page.

Find out more about the CD at the Amazon website