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RECORD LABEL • Southern African Vintage Sounds & Modern Classics • As-Shams/The Sun Archive as-shams.bandcamp.com • Zambia Music Parlour Legacy zambiamusicparlour.bandcamp.com

ANNOUNCING // JOHN PHILLIPS - Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 •Songs of Gentleness is a 4LP box set that casts John Philli...
03/10/2025

ANNOUNCING // JOHN PHILLIPS - Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 •

Songs of Gentleness is a 4LP box set that casts John Phillips of Rhodesia as the last great outsider folk discovery of the 20th century. The set resurrects Phillips’ beguiling debut John for the very first time since its inaugural South African release in 1969 and unveils three new albums of previously unreleased works from the 1970s. Songs of Gentleness presents every surviving recording by this hitherto mysterious Southern African musician.

Born in 1945, John Phillips was the first child of an English couple living in India. The Phillips family went on to settle in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1957. A sensitive and bookish teenager coming of age in the 1960s, Phillips embraced the bohemian world of literature and song and studiously evolved into a proficient guitarist and skilled songwriter. After a brief period working as a journalist in Zambia, he relocated to South Africa to pursue music and recorded John for the independent RPM label in Johannesburg. With no international distribution, the album couldn’t reach its niche audience at the time but is a worthy companion to contemporaneous cult folk classics from the Anglosphere like Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left and Linda Perhacs’ Parallelograms.

While confronting depression, substance abuse and gender dysphoria in the 1970s, Phillips remained a passionate and prolific songwriter and studio sessions from 1972 and 1976 document the breadth of his talent and the depth of his soul. Songs of Gentleness details his remarkable story with guidance from his brother Gordon Phillips and input from late musical collaborator John Oakley-Smith (creator of the 1976 album Matinees on Saturdays) in a large-format 16-page booklet featuring archival photographs, ephemera and drawings. John Phillips retreated into a life of isolation over the course of the 1980s and died of cancer in England in 1995. These gentle songs are his enduring gift to the world.

• Stoughton Tip-On Jackets
• Deluxe Slip-Case Enclosure

Preorder/distro via Light in the Attic Records (February 2026) ✨

DIGITAL ALERT // John Phillips - Songs of Gentleness 1972-1976 •A sampler of previously unreleased songs recorded in 197...
22/09/2025

DIGITAL ALERT // John Phillips - Songs of Gentleness 1972-1976 •

A sampler of previously unreleased songs recorded in 1972 and 1976 by singer-songwriter John Phillips of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). This compilation prepares the way for the release of the collected works of John Phillips, in which three previously unreleased albums are presented with the album John (1969) as a 4LP box set with a 16-page booklet entitled Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976.

Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 is a 4LP box set that casts John Phillips of Rhodesia as the last great outsider folk discovery of the 20th century. The set resurrects Phillips’ beguiling debut John for the very first time since its inaugural South African release in 1969 and unveils three new albums of previously unreleased works from the 1970s. Songs of Gentleness 1969-1976 presents every surviving recording by this hitherto mysterious Southern African musician.

PREORDERS • These Sharp-Flat titles from the USA via Light in the Attic Records 🔥OSCILLATIONS - I Can See It Coming (197...
16/09/2025

PREORDERS • These Sharp-Flat titles from the USA via Light in the Attic Records 🔥

OSCILLATIONS - I Can See It Coming (1978)
Blending classic hard rock with traditional African grooves and spellbinding electric guitar riffing, this Zamrock masterwork is a cult favourite.
• Tip-on sleeve, OBI and band photo insert
• Making-of short doc: https://youtu.be/F3KDVTJVlRc

JOHN OAKLEY-SMITH - Matinees on Saturdays (1976)
Exquisite South African singer-songwriter outing with private-press sensibilities. A quirky, intelligent and moving set from a contemporary of Rhodesian folk outsider John Phillips.
• 50th anniversary restoration and reissue
• Contains lyric sheet/photo insert

FREEDOM’S CHILDREN WITH MALOMBO JAZZ MAKERS - Ourang-Outang (1971)
Rehearsals and jams from an epic multiracial collab between legendary South African psych rock and Afro-jazz groups from the 1970s. Recorded in preparation for Johannesburg’s Tribal Blues festival of August 1971.
• One-off limited edition of 300 copies
• Deluxe tip-on sleeve with Ramsay Mackay artwork

ANNOUNCING SF17 // JOHN OAKLEY-SMITH - Matinees on Saturdays (1976) •John Oakley-Smith was part of a generation of songw...
16/09/2025

ANNOUNCING SF17 // JOHN OAKLEY-SMITH - Matinees on Saturdays (1976) •

John Oakley-Smith was part of a generation of songwriters from the 1970s, spearheaded by the likes of Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell, who expanded the creative and confessional boundaries of folk music and altered the course of popular music as we know it. Written and recorded in South Africa from 1973 to 1975 and originally released in 1976, Matinees on Saturdays is an obscure classic that weaves intimate and poetic narratives into a melancholic set with flourishes of wry attitude and sharp wit. The album is notable for its subtle yet ornate production with Oakley-Smith’s fragile vocals and graceful piano at it’s core.

• First vinyl reissue since 1976 release
• Includes double-sided lyric sheet/photo insert

SOUTH AFRICA: Limited edition green colour variant available now via Permanent Record

USA/WORLD: Preorder/distribution via Light in the Attic Records

Matinees on Saturdays is a companion release to the John Philips - Songs of Gentleness 1869-1976 box set. Coming soon ✨🌱

ON PREORDER // OSCILLATIONS - I Can See It Coming (1878) •Sharp-Flat and Strawberry Rain Music present a masterwork of A...
16/09/2025

ON PREORDER // OSCILLATIONS - I Can See It Coming (1878) •

Sharp-Flat and Strawberry Rain Music present a masterwork of African psychedelia from the gentle soul of Zambian guitar wizard Victor K***a Kasoma. Released in the late 1970s, I Can See It Coming blends classic hard rock with traditional African grooves and spellbinding electric guitar riffing. With its mystical album artwork, this rough diamond obscurity is a Zamrock cult favourite.

• First stand-alone reissue with new remaster
• Deluxe tip-on sleeve with OBI and band photo insert
• Short "making-of" doc shot in Kitwe, Zambia: https://youtu.be/F3KDVTJVlRc
• Psychedelic artwork video for “Kapande” single: https://youtu.be/fGlkFtJ-_As

Preorders/distribution via Light in the Attic Records alongside other great Sharp-Flat titles including the archival Freedom’s Children with Malombo Ourang-Outang jams 🔥

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