Arthur Russell - Love is Overtaking Me (2008)

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Arthur Russell trained as a cellist but became a New York disco auteur, collaborating with Talking Heads and Philip Glass, among others, and filling dancefloors with his proto-garage music. He would surely have been better known in his lifetime had an acute perfectionism not kept him from finishing recordings. Culled from the 1,000 tapes he left behind on his death in 1992, this collection showcases an immense, eclectic talent. A world away from Studio 54, these stripped-down recordings recall Nick Drake, John Martyn and Glass, as Russell's cellos conjure the appropriate mournful atmosphere for Goodbye Old Paint. He can be funny - dreaming of tidying his flat in Time Away ("I'll pick up my pants, even though I might wear them today") - and touching, telling the tale of a dog everybody shoos away. It is difficult to hear the poignant I Couldn't Say It to Your Face ("but I won't be around any more") without wondering what might have been. Dave Simpson - The Guardian