I subscribe to the Other Music newsletter and shop at the store from time to time. But since I'm twice the age of their typical customer, I seldom know much about the music they are touting. So I was knocked for a loop a while ago when the update announced the release of John Simon's very cool first solo album on CD for the first time and spoke very favorably about it. Really, when music I have enjoyed for over 30 years is presented as "cool" by one of the hippest retail outlets of our time, something has gone screwy! I really do dig this record's odd little songs and peculiar laid-back vibe (It reminds me a bit of an American take on Mike Heron's Smiling Men With Bad Reputations, another record of the time that I think might appeal to the current generation of music loving 20-somethings). But I really want to say that Simon's second album Journey is the pinnacle of his solo career, IMO. This one is a more jazz-inflected, but still song-oriented, album with great players including the under-rated because over-exposed David Sanborn and spectacular Miles Davis sideman Dave Holland on bass. A great record which I wish were available in a form less expensive than a Japanese CD re-issue. Here's an mp3 of "Open Up, Summertime" from Journey (from my copy of the vinyl, with blemishes)