Following the massive hype behind Now-Again's reissue of the Stark Reality's impossible to find 1970 LP The Stark Reality Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop, and the album of previously unreleased sessions Roller Coaster Ride, comes this massive 6LP boxset! Now-Again has repackaged the first two LPs and included a whole new one of unreleased material. Far from scraping the bottom of the barrel, these new tracks sound right up there with what we have already heared from the Stark Reality. It's still pretty far from being out and out funk, but the grooves are more in the pocket and conventionally funk based. The band of Berklee College of Music alumni seems to have created a virtual jazz funk goldmine, one that continues to please and surprise us. Contains Discovers Hoagy Carmichael's Music Shop, Roller Coaster Ride, the bonus album of previously unreleased tracks, Acting, Thinking, Feeling, and special limited edition 7" of "Too Much Tenderness" b/w "Red Yellow Moonbeams Pt. 2." Includes 52 page booklet with never before seen photos, extensive liner notes and annotation.

• music label: Now-Again 2013

reviewed by Michu Meszaros 04/2013