Columbia Schallplatten & CDs

Review: This extra EP came as part of a follow-up box set released in the November of the same year that David Bowie released The Next Day, his post-ironic album that cemented the starman's return to the limelight after a mild heart attack in 2004. Almost a decade of recovery and recording went into the album; this tidbit of outtakes and rarities from the album features everything from a collaboration with Steve Reich and James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) to a new version of 'I'd Rather Be High'.

Review: Herbie Hancock has been responsible for many era-defining records over the years - "Rockit" being a particularly good example - but few of his compositions have been quite as game changing as "Chameleon". First featured on 1973 album "Head Hunters", the 15-minute epic was revolutionary in a number of ways, not least in its use of a killer 12-note bassline, "percussive" style guitar parts and loose-limbed funk beat. It remains one of the greatest jazz-funk moments of all time, as this timely reissue proves. This time round, it comes accompanied by another "Head Hunters" classic - Hancock's groovy, synth-laden re-recording of his own 1962 composition "Watermelon Man". Two stone cold classics for the price of one: what's not to like?

Review: Two out-and-out rarities from Hancock's Columbia-era output. Strictly the sole preserve of DJ promo back in 79/80, the clue is in the title 'special' disco remixes. Smooth, soulful and arranged with such style, every element of Herbie's essential ingredients is brought to the fore in its own time with its own space. "Stars In Your Eyes" swoons with a soulful ballad feel while "Saturday Night" pumps and jumps with party-pulling allure. Simply essential.

Review: Freddie Hubbard's 1979 version of 'Little Sunflower' is a soul-jazz classic. Since the full version of Hubbard's vocal re-make (the trumpeter first recorded an instrumental take in 1968) only ever appeared on a hard-to-find promo 12", this Record Store Day reissue should be an essential purchase. It remains a gentle, breezy and sunset-ready jazz-dance gem, with Hubbard's emotion-rich vocals and mazy trumpet solos riding Latin-tinged percussion, elastic double bass and some suitably jammed-out jazz pianos.

Review: By the time "Touch Me In The Morning" was mailed out to American DJs in 1979, Marlena Shaw has long since established herself as one of soul music's greatest voices. "Touch Me In The Morning" was merely a promo-only affair, remixed from the shorter "Take A Bite" album version - but it did become something of a dancefloor anthem in certain underground clubs. Here, the sought-after 12" is given a replica reissue, with the stomping, string-drenched title track being accompanied by exactly the same B-side cuts as the '79 pressing.