SHARP-FLAT

JOHN PHILLIPS - Songs of Gentleness 1972-1976 (Sampler)

A sampler of previously unreleased songs recorded in 1972 and 1976 by singer-songwriter John Phillips of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). This compilation prepares the way for the release of the collected works of John Phillips, in which three previously unreleased albums are presented with the album John (1969) as a 4LP box set with a 16-page booklet entitled Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976.

* 1972-1976 SAMPLER on Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube *

Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 is a 4LP box set that casts John Phillips of Rhodesia as the last great outsider folk discovery of the 20th century. The set resurrects Phillips' beguiling debut John for the very first time since its inaugural South African release in 1969 and unveils three new albums of previously unreleased works from the 1970s. Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 presents every surviving recording by this hitherto mysterious Southern African musician.

Born in 1945, John Phillips was the first child of an English couple living in India. The Phillips family went on to settle in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1957. A sensitive and bookish teenager coming of age in the 1960s, Phillips embraced the bohemian world of literature and song and studiously evolved into a proficient guitarist and skilled songwriter. After a brief period working as a journalist in Zambia, he relocated to South Africa to pursue music and recorded John for the independent RPM label in Johannesburg. With no international distribution, the album couldn't reach its niche audience at the time but is a worthy companion to contemporaneous cult folk classics from the Anglosphere like Nick Drake's Five Leaves Left and Linda Perhacs' Parallelograms.

While confronting depression, substance abuse and gender dysphoria in the 1970s, Phillips remained a passionate and prolific songwriter and studio sessions from 1972 and 1976 document the breadth of his talent and the depth of his soul. Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 details his remarkable story with guidance from his brother Gordon Phillips and input from late musical collaborator John Oakley-Smith (creator of the album Matinees on Saturdays) in a booklet featuring archival photographs and drawings. John Phillips retreated into a life of isolation over the course of the 1980s and died of cancer in England in 1995. These gentle songs are his enduring gift to the world.

4LP BOX SET WILL INCLUDE:

JPS169 John Phillips – John (1969) • First Reissue Vinyl LP

JPS272 John Phillips – John 1972 • First Edition Vinyl LP

JPS376 John Phillips – John 1976 • First Edition Vinyl LP

JPS476 John Phillips – Demos (1976) • First Edition Vinyl LP

Deluxe Clamshell Box

Deluxe Tip-On Jackets

Large Format 16-Page Booklet

COMPANION RELEASE (AVAILABLE IN BUNDLE OR SEPARATELY):

John Oakley-Smith – Matinees on Saturdays (1976) • First Reissue Vinyl LP

RELEASE DATE TBD

SF15 // WITCH - Movin' On

Sourced from the analog master tapes for the first time, Sharp-Flat presents the WITCH disco albums as you've never heard them before in sleeves that replicate the original album artwork.

Over the course of the 1970s, WITCH delivered an impressive run of garage, rock and prog releases. By 1980, the band was ready for a new chapter. Shuffling their lineup and relocating to Zimbabwe, they undertook their mythical transformation into an African R&B, soul and funk powerhouse. With access to a state of the art recording studio in Harare, WITCH produced two exquisite albums from 1980 to 1984.

With crisp beats, funky bass, swirling synths and tight horns, 1980's Movin' On was a sharp departure from the group's Zamrock roots and made no bones about the fact that the WITCH was ready to embrace the sound and spirit of a new decade. Trading lead vocals with founding member Chris Mbewe are newcomers Christine Jackson and Stanford Tembo, making for a well rounded set that combines dance floor burners with mid-tempo boogie grooves. A carefully crafted, great sounding album from a seasoned ensemble, Movin' On is an African pop classic.

Vocals - CHRISTINE JACKSON

Vocals - STANFORD TEMBO

Guitar & Vocal - CHRIS MBEWE

Guitar - EMMANUEL MAKULU

Fender Bass - GEDEON MULENGA

Drums - PETER LUNGO

Piano, Strings & Synthesiser - PATRICK MWONDELA

Vocal Harmonies - SHADDICK BWALYA

Horns by Real Sound Horns

Brass Arrangements by Shaddick Bwalya

Produced by Shaddick Bwalya

Recorded at Shed Studios in Harare, Zimbabwe

Engineered by Bothwell Nyamhondera & Martin Norris

Remixed by Shaddick Bwalya, Bothwell Nyamhondera & Martin Norris

Special thanks to Eddie Manda (Master Jam)

Dedicated to David Daka

Audio Mastering by Noah Mintz

Artwork Restoration by Ash Pederick

Produced for Reissue by Calum MacNaughton

Reissue Cat. No. SF15

DIGITAL ALBUM

SF16 // WITCH - Kuomboka

Sourced from the analog master tapes for the first time, Sharp-Flat presents the WITCH disco albums as you've never heard them before in sleeves that replicate the original album artwork.

Over the course of the 1970s, WITCH delivered an impressive run of garage, rock and prog releases. By 1980, the band was ready to embrace the exciting dance sounds of a new era. Shuffling their lineup and relocating to Zimbabwe, they undertook their mythical transformation into an African R&B, soul and funk powerhouse. With access to a state of the art recording studio in Harare, WITCH produced two exquisite recordings during their disco years.

A full-throttle boogie outing, Kuomboka was issued in 1984 and features rising star Patrick Chisembele stepping in on lead vocals. Despite the album's modern vision for African pop, its title refers to a traditional migration ceremony practiced by the Lozi people of the Zambezi floodplains. The album documents a seasoned ensemble with an ambitious vision and is considered the group's sonic masterpiece.

Vocals - PATRICK CHISEMBELE

Guitar & Backing Vocals - CHRIS MBEWE

Guitar - EMMANUEL MAKULU

Fender Bass - GEDEON MULENGA

 Drums - PETER LUNGO

Synthesisers & Electric Piano - PATRICK MWONDELA

Backing Vocals & Percussion - SHADDICK BWALYA

GUEST MUSICIANS:

Brass by Real Sound Horns

Vocals - Abi Rusike & Benny Miller

Backing Vocals - Rusike Brothers

Produced by Shaddick Bwalya & Richard Nganga

Recorded at Shed Studios in Harare, Zimbabwe

Engineered by Steve Roskilly

Audio Mastering by Noah Mintz

Artwork Restoration by Ash Pederick

Produced for Reissue by Calum MacNaughton

Reissue Cat. No. SF16

DIGITAL ALBUM

SF14 // THE BROADWAY QUINTET - Amalume (Lekani Mowa)

Sharp-Flat Records presents the long-awaited restoration of The Broadway Quintet's cult classic Amalume (Lekani Mowa) – a hypnotic concoction of traditional Zambian sounds and jazz-rock grooves with a twist of 1970s African psychedelia.

Emerging to serve the entertainment needs of Zambia's United National Independence Party (UNIP) in the early 1960s, The Broadway Quintet gathered seasoned talent from Lusaka's best hotel bands to fashion its esteemed lineup. Starting as a quartet and later evolving into a quintet, the group's career spanned over twenty years as favourites on the cabaret circuit and boasted a myriad of prestigious collaborations.

The Broadway Quintet's jazz sensibilities set them apart from the rock sound that dominated the music landscape of the 1970s. Yet the formula behind Zamrock, fusing indigenous Zambian sounds with Western pop, shaped their one and only 1976 long-player. Featuring modern arrangements of traditional songs, Amalume blended congas with sax sounds, folk lyrics with electric keyboard shenanigans and show business staples with jazz guitar noodling. With its psychedelic fever dream illustrated cover*, it was an explosive package of "originality and electrifying beauty" as the album's liner notes rightly attested.

Released on the Zambezi label, Amalume joined an exceptional run of mid-1970s offerings alongside WITCH, Ricky Banda and Crossbones. Officially licensed, carefully restored and beautifully reproduced, Zambia's most requested reissue has finally returned for everybody to enjoy.

* Trevor Ford's harrowing artwork references the album's didactic title track with its warning against the perils of drinking alcohol.

Tony Maonde – Keyboards

Zacks Gwaze – Lead Guitar, Vocals

Simanga Tutani – Bass Guitar, Sax, Vocals

Timothy Sikova – Drums, Percussion, Vocals

Jonah Marumahoko – Congas, Rhythm Guitar, Vocals

Peter Bwalya – Trumpet on "Matteo" and "Nifyo Fine"

Produced and Arranged by The Broadway Quintet for Teal Record Company

Recorded at d.B Studios, Lusaka in 1976

Engineers: Graham Skinner, Nikki Ashley and Peter Musungilo

Cover Design by Trevor Ford and Gibson Tembo

Pictures by B. Nkunika

Audio Restoration and Remastering by Colin Young at See Why Audio

Restoration copy sourced courtesy Sudeep Menon

Artwork Restoration by Ash Pederick

Produced for Reissue by Calum MacNaughton

Original Cat. No. ZTZ 4

Reissue Cat. No. SF14

DIGITAL ALBUM

Original Liner Notes:

They hail from such old-time groups as The Rhokana Melodies, The Crooners, De Black Evening Follies and The City Quads. It was the UNIP National Band of 1962 that brought the boys together. And they’re still together 14 years later!

Tony Maonde, Zacks Gwaze, Timothy Sikova, Jonah Marumahoko, Simanga Tutani – individually, musicians of rare talent; together, The Broadway Quintet, polished night-club performers of Lusaka’s Hotel Intercontinental.

But, beneath their public image there runs, like the mighty Zambezi, a creative force that explodes with originality and electrifying beauty.

From vocal compositions like “Mr. Music” and “Change Your Mind” through the more traditional “Jiye Manguwe” and title-track “Amalume”, The Broadway Quintet move into instrumentals of the brilliance and vitality of “Matteo” and “Nifyo Fine”.

To The Broadway Quintet we say, “Thanks for a fantastic LP”.

SF12 // ROCKART - House

Mystical, minimal house offering hailing from South Africa in the mid-2000s courtesy of Cape Town indie labels Sharp-Flat and Roastin' Records.

RockArt was a hybrid-electro performance art project that emerged during a golden age for electronic music in the Cape, the post-Y2K scene spurred by the maverick African Dope record label that marked the rise of cult outsiders Felix Laband and Tudor Watkins Jones. Harnessing the combined powers of seasoned jazz musicians Hilton Schilder and Alex van Heerden, RockArt cooked up a signature futurist formula laced with musical bows and voice samples that was unmistakably indigenous. Intended as a companion to the group's Future Cape album of 2006, House was conceived as a long-form soundscape of tribal electronica that could stand alone on its own merits but also provide a backdrop for live instrumental improvisation. The project was shelved following the untimely death of Alex van Heerden in 2009 but emerges from Hilton Schilder's archive as a reminder of the duo's profound collaborative alchemy.

Running at 28 minutes over two sides of a 12-inch maxi cut at 45RPM, House is available as a boutique vinyl offering with a psychedelic art sleeve pressed in a first edition of 300 copies.

Created by Hilton Schilder and Alex van Heerden

Album Artwork by Hilton Schilder

Layout by Rouleaux van der Merwe

DIGITAL ALBUM

SF11 // MOVEMENT IN THE CITY - S-T

In the wake of a 2020 edition of Movement in the City's second album Black Teardrops (1981), Sharp-Flat Records returns with a prequel by way of a reissue of the band's self-titled debut from 1979.

As the 1970s were drawing to a close, the epic Black Disco studio project with its signature pairing of drum machine and organ had run its course. After delivering a killer trilogy of cosmic lounge outings dating back to 1975, the group yearned for funkier grooves and the core trio of composer Pops Mohamed on organ with Basil Coetzee on tenor sax and Sipho Gumede on bass decided to hire a drummer and rebrand as Movement in the City. In contrast with the New Age detachment of Black Disco, Movement in the City was conceptually grounded in the bleak social realism depicted on its photographic album covers and leaned into the vivid sensibilities of library music from the era. Blending Cape jazz with funk and soul, the group's output evokes a soundtrack for South African city life at the outset of the 1980s while nodding allegorically to the subterranean movements that were in the course of shaking the cage for political change.

With its cast of jazz fusion all-stars, Movement in the City is the manifesto of a band in transition - a bold and slick first offering that delivers a modern South African sound capable of both the funky exuberances of "Mister Lucky" as well as the down-home pathos of "Blue Sunday." Restored from its original tape masters and released in partnership with As-Shams Archive and Pops Mohamed, this rare artefact of South African jazz history is back in print for the very first time since its original 1979 release.

Organ, Electric Piano, Piano – Pops Mohamed

Saxophones – Basil Coetzee

Bass – Sipho Gumede

Drums – Gilbert Matthews

Bass on "Blue Sunday" – Peter Odendaal

Drums on "Blue Sunday" – Monty Weber

All Tracks Composed by Pops Mohamed

Produced by Rashid Vally

Original Release 1979

Sharp-Flat Reissue 2022

DIGITAL SINGLE

SF13 // OSCILLATIONS - Away Too Long

Imagine yourself in northern Zambia, in the copper mining town of Kitwe, a guest in the home of Zamrock musician Victor Kunda Kasoma. The living room is dark and the silhouette of the Oscillations guitarist is etched against drawn curtains. Fingers fumble, cable jacks click and the air fills with static hum. Victor meanders through a handful of new and original compositions, presenting them vulnerable and naked on his electric guitar interspersed with casual commentary and witty asides. Some ideas are fully fledged while others are shapeshifting sketches, some guitar sounds are clean while others are bathed in mind-boggling effects, but the tone and technique is unmistakable. It's around 40 years since Victor recorded I Can See It Come yet his guitar fingerprint is easily detected.

Away Too Long (2022) is a snapshot of a veteran guitarist who overcame polio as a young man to pursue a career in music, a glimpse into the musical heart and soul of a now older and wiser Victor Kunda Kasoma in his 60s. The works that make up this EP are solo guitar demos literally recorded in a garage adjacent to Victor's home in Kitwe in 2016. As with all demos, the intention was to seek collaboration and support to flesh out the skeletal ideas in a studio environment. While this remains a hope, we share these humble offerings as ripples in the still ocean of dreams.

Victor is both delighted and amused that his 1978 album I Can See It Come has developed cult status among global psych diggers. While the idea of recording another album is a thrilling prospect, he's also just getting on with living life in the present. Like so many musicians, Victor's world was turned upside down during the pandemic. He emerged in 2022 with a new calling, taking on a volunteer position at a community school in a remote village in Mpongwe in the Copperbelt Province. Just as Victor was guided into music by a beloved teacher as a young boy, he's now helping a new generation of Zambian guitarists find their little wings.

Composer • Guitar • Vocals – Victor Kunda Kasoma

Recorded in Kitwe, Zambia in 2016

Produced and Recorded by Calum MacNaughton

Mixing and Mastering by Richard Vossgatter

DIGITAL EP

KK04 // SYD KITCHEN - Across

An atmospheric, spiritual solo guitar outing themed around the four elements. If there was ever any doubt about Syd Kitchen's mastery of the acoustic guitar, this offering certainly puts the matter to rest.

Original Cat. No. NOBUD003

2022 Syd Kitchen Digital Archive Cat. No. KK04

DIGITAL ALBUM

SF10 // MASHABE BAND - Mandela

Despite notable forays into the global sounds of rock and disco, the local heart and soul of Zambian popular music in the 20th century lies in the Kalindula sound. With it’s ceremonial tribal roots on homespun guitars, traditional double bass and percussion, Kalindula evolved into a modern, electric sound over the course of the Zamrock years in the 1970s and lived it’s golden age as Zambia’s most popular groove in the 1980s. There to document the prodigious outpouring of creativity was Zambia Music Parlour, the independent outfit that had launched the likes of WITCH, Ngozi Family and Amanaz a decade earlier. One of the label’s principal Kalindula talents was the Mashabe Band, led by songwriter James Chisenga. Deeply Afrocentric with a name that refers to mystical spirits, the Mashabe Band often performed in traditional dress with body paint. Of the band’s three albums and numerous singles issued by ZMPL, Mandela from 1987, named to honour the political prisoner who would go on to lead South Africa’s first democratic administration in 1994, is the group’s most compelling point of entry and an excellent primer for the Kalindula style as a whole. Restored from the master tape vault of the Zambia Music Parlour label, Sharp-Flat presents an essential slice of Zambian music history from a period ripe for investigation and rediscovery. Complex African rhythms with crisp electric amplification and tribal roots presentation, the Mashabe Band formula is mesmerising and infectious.

Composed by Mashabe Band

Recorded at dB Studios, Lusaka

Recording Engineer: Peter Musungilo

Producer: B.D. Nyati

Director: E.G. Khuzwayo

Original Release 1987 • Reissue 2022

DIGITAL ALBUM

WIT4-5 // WITCH - The Disco Singles

By the end of the 1970s, WITCH was a Zambian music institution. Active since 1972, they had survived the Zamrock years and left an impressive garage, psych and prog discography in their wake. But at the outset of the 1980s, the band was ready to embrace the modern sounds of a new era. Undertaking personnel changes and relocating to Zimbabwe, they were primed by the independence celebrations of their neighbouring country to undertake their mythical transformation into an African disco powerhouse.

With access to a state of the art recording studio in Harare, WITCH produced two exquisite albums in the early 1980s. Appearing in 1980, Movin' On was preceded by the single "My Desire," which featured new member Christine Jackson on lead vocals. With an upfront funky bass-line, falsetto backing vocals, swirling synths and tight horns, it was a searing hot disco offering that made no bones about the fact that the WITCH was ready to get down. Composer/vocalist Stanford Tembo's mid-tempo burner "You Are My Sunshine" was the perfect fit for the flip.

Documenting the band's drift from disco into boogie, WITCH's final album Kuomboka was released in 1983 without an accompanying single. New lead vocalist Patrick Chisembele injected youthful energy and a modern soul edge, most notably on "Erotic Delight" with its crisp drums, slinky keys and intoxicating bass groove. Pop reggae was also within the album's stylistic purview by way of the closer "Jah Let the Sunshine" as well as "Change of a Feeling," the flip side of a recently discovered single that wasn't originally released.

Mastered from the original analog tapes for the very first time, SHARP-FLAT brings you the WITCH DISCO SINGLES as you've never heard them before. From Movin' On, WIT 4 presents a single edit of "My Desire" backed with "You Are My Sunshine." From the Kuomboka sessions, WIT 5 presents a single edit of "Erotic Delight" backed with "Change of a Feeling," an unheard WITCH track released for the very first time in 2021. Joining the Rebel Disco Series in the wake of "Freedom Fighter" from early 2021, both releases are available as vinyl 7-inch singles in a regular black edition with a psychedelic African print sleeve as well as limited blue (WIT 4) and pink (WIT 5) editions of 100 copies each.