Roy Ayers - He's Coming (1971)

1. He's a Superstar 5:35

2. He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother 4:04

3. Ain't Got Time 2:53

4. I Don't Know How to Love Him 4:02

5. He's Coming 6:20

6. We Live in Brooklyn Baby 3:43

7. Sweet Butterfly of Love 1:52

8. Sweet Tears 3:32

9. Fire Weaver 3:40

He's Coming captures Roy Ayers at the absolute top of his game, masterminding jazz-funk grooves as taut as a tightrope. Profoundly inspired by the Broadway musical Jesus Christ Superstar (and including a reading of the soundtrack's "I Don't Know How to Love Him"), the album is a deeply felt exploration of Ayers' spiritual and social beliefs, celebrating the life and rebirth of Jesus with "He's a Superstar" and its follow-up title cut before delivering the equally impassioned political manifesto "Ain't Got Time to Be Tired," a wake-up call for slumbering revolutionaries. Aided by an exemplary backing unit featuring saxophonist Sonny Fortune, bassist John Williams, keyboardist Harry Whitaker, and drummer Billy Cobham, Ayers channels the intensity of his message into his music, creating the most vibrant and textured music of his career to date. The atmospheric "We Live in Brooklyn, Baby" is an absolute masterpiece, a haunting hybrid of jazz, funk, and soul that exemplifies the Ayers aesthetic at its most far-reaching and inventive.
-AMG

A-

spotify

Mazedude - The American Album (2006)

Happy belated New Year! For the final day of Weaboo Week I'm uploading something that barely fits the theme at all... in fact, this tribute to American video game composers came about partially as a reaction to the abundance of tributes to Japanese composers being released at the time. This pretty much ended up being video game music week, huh? Oh well!

In the American Album, Mazedude (a.k.a. Chris Getman) remixes music from several American video games in a very wide array of styles. Due to his unusual choice of audio software, Mazedude's style has a distinct sample based sound to it which you'll probably either love or hate. A follow-up called American Pixels is due for release later this year. Pre-order it if you're so inclined and in the meantime you'll also get a bonus EP of progressive chiptune remixes.

Because this is one of my favourite albums ever, I also put together a 'companion' download filled with bonus items. Download that too if you'd like to hear the original compositions behind every remix on the album, pieces of music that served as stylistic inspiration for the remixes, unfinished 'sketches' for tracks that never made it onto the album, source files in .IT format for three of the songs... and more.

Download (320)
Download The American Album Companion