Bob James, All Around The Town (1981)
I’ve been collecting up Bob James records ever since I reconnected with the TV show Taxi and of course Bob James’ Theme (aka ‘Angela’) – from there it’s been to whatever versions of the Taxi theme I can get – the original album, Touchdown, the compilation of the actual score-bits from that show and now this live album – which features (obviously) a live version of Angela – ‘Theme from Taxi’. The record – a double – is compiled from various shows in the early 1980s so the line-up changes a bit but it’s all those sessions greats that James gathered for his studio albums of the time – and though it’s a bit more overtly jazz/y than some of his softer jazz-lite, funk-lite offerings it’s still recognisably within the worlds where Bob James operates. I didn’t even know about this album until recently – saw someone displaying it proudly online, and then a few days later I’m in the shop, a quick peek, and yes! What luck! Now I have a copy of it. I’m digging it too. Because with Bob James – what’s not to like? (Don’t answer that!)

Sample Track:  Westchester Lady
The Vinyl Countdown is a document of every LP I listen to, brand new discoveries and old-old favourites; extremely pre-loved, previously abandoned or with the shrink-wrap having just been removed it’s all here at The Vinyl Countdown