New Release of the Week: Neal Francis - Return to Zero

Sound Records favourite Neal Francis returns with his first full-length studio album in four years.

Late 2023’s ‘Francis Comes Alive’ live release whetted the appetite for new stuff from him, and now he delivers.

The latest album from Francis, Return To Zero, emerged from a kind of visionary fever dream.

Facing countless moments of creative frustration eventually gave the album its title. ‘I was cutting a lot of the vocals at home,’ Francis explains. ‘Every time I needed to start over I’d press this button that says “RTZ”, which stands for Return To Zero.

‘I was doing take after take but no matter how frustrated I got, I just told myself to remain calm and take inventory, and then begin again.’

The album is a mix of timeless rock and roll, and ’70s-era funk, soul and disco.

Sound Pick: Grace Jones - Nightclubbing

In a career of myriad highlights, Nightclubbing remains the high water mark of Grace Jones's imperial years with Island Records.

It is indisputably the album on which her musical legacy rests, and rightly considered one of the greatest albums of all time.

A sophisticated melee of sound, blending post-punk cool with a hot Caribbean vibe and a catwalk Studio 54 sensibility, it's a perfect example of artist and musicians working in complete accord.

It contains the all-time Grace classics in ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’, ‘Walking In The Rain’, ‘Demolition Man’ (written by Sting) and of course the Bowie / Iggy Pop-penned title track.

There is magic in every groove. In keeping with its reputation as one of the best sonically sounding albums of the '80s and for the first time since its debut on CD in 1987, Nightclubbing has been comprehensively remastered using the latest studio technology.