Asha Puthli: Asha Puthli [MR BONGO]

Why you'll love it

Mr Bongo's reissue of Asha Puthli's 1973 debut, licensed from the singer herself. Del Newman produced it, Mick Rock shot the cover with Bowie's makeup artist Pierre LaRoche, and it mixes covers of JJ Cale and Bill Withers with a disco-leaning take on Neil Sedaka's "I Am a Song (Sing Me)".

This edition

• Mr Bongo reissue, licensed from Asha Puthli
• The original nine-track 1973 running order

About the album

Puthli grew up in Bombay listening to jazz and pop on the radio, trained in Indian classical music and opera, and talked her way to New York, partly by taking a job as a flight attendant to get a passport. John Hammond signed her to CBS after hearing a rough demo, sent her to sing on Ornette Coleman's Science Fiction, and she shared a DownBeat Critics' Poll award for her trouble.

Her own debut swapped the avant-garde for something closer to glam, soul and pop, with a nod to Elton John and T. Rex. "Right Down Here", "Let Me in Your Life" and "I Am a Song" show off a voice that can purr and soar in the same breath. Hip hop producers found her records decades later, and frankly it took the rest of us a while to catch up too.

Tracklist

Listen

Out August 7, 2026 on Mr Bongo (cat# MRBLP221), a reissue of the 1973 album.