Various Artists – Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller Present on the Corner (2xLP)

Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller Present On The Corner marks the pair’s return to compilation duty after a five-year break, and this time they cast the net wider than the earlier jazz- and soul-focused sets. Released by Acid Jazz, it plays like a guided tour through the records, radio finds and dancefloor favourites that have shaped both compilers’ listening lives, with Martin Freeman’s selections sitting alongside those of label founder and longtime DJ Eddie Piller.

What makes this set useful as well as enjoyable is its range. Freeman moves from Santana, Kadhja Bonet and Asha Puthli to jazz picks such as Gary Burton and Buddy Rich, while Piller folds in cult soundtrack music, soul, jazzy disco and Brit-funk, including Hi-Tension, Light Of The World, Ace and Brian Auger. The sequence also reaches into French ye-ye with Jacqueline Taieb and Jacques Dutronc, so the album feels less like a genre survey than a well-argued case for how these scenes connect.

That breadth is matched by presentation. Acid Jazz has given the set a gatefold sleeve with photography by Dean Chalkley, plus liner notes from Freeman and Piller that underline the compilation’s curatorial angle. For anyone who likes their compilations to do more than collect songs, On The Corner works as both a stylish listen and a sharply assembled map of shared musical obsessions.

Features

• 2xLP
• Gatefold sleeve
• Liner notes by Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller
• Photography by Dean Chalkley