Rock — All Formats  

Frank Zappa's amazing tribute to the sounds of LA that inspired him in his youth – not just the early rock and roll of the late 50s, but the way the music was picked up and given a home by the scene in East LA! There's a surprising amount of nascent soul elements in the music here – especially the early harmony groups, who Frank's clearly paying tribute to with The Jets – sometimes dealing with subject matter that goes way beyond what most of those groups would have touched – but other times, right in line with the most heartfelt sounds of the 60s! Titles include "Deseri", "How Could I Be Such A Fool", "Cheap Thrills", "No No No", "Anyway The Wind Blows", "Stuff Up The Cracks", and "Jelly Roll Gum Drop".

A sublime debut from German prog outfit Agitation Free – a set that's definitely free of agitation, and one that spins out in these long, winding lines with lots of Eastern influences! There's a bit of drone to some of the grooves, but never in a sleepy or sloppy sort of way – and in addition to familiar prog instrumentation on guitar, keyboards, and percussion, there's also some added ethnic elements as well, and even a bit of steel guitar, zither, and live tape work too! Tracks are longish and nicely organic, and although there's some vocals on the record the whole thing's much more of an exploratory instrumental affair – very much like some of the best early work on Brain. Titles include "You Play For Us Today", "Sahara City", "Ala Tul", "Pulse", "Malesch", and "Rucksturz".

In the past 30 years, this one's gone from being a fierce outpouring of the Bay Area underground, to a cliche of classic rock, to a brilliant example of west coast Latin rock/funk/fusion in action! Features a stellar cover of "Oye Como Va", plus "Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen", "Se A Cabo", "Samba Pa Ti", "El Nicoya", and "Singing Winds, Crying Beasts".

Heavy rock from the late 60s San Francisco scene – an obscure psychedelic group who cut this stunning record for Capitol! The album's got some really heavy guitar work and high-spirited vocals that predate many of the bigger concept 70s groups – done in a style that's pretty darn jamming, and which has a nice righteous edge at times. The album's got a number of nice long tracks, and titles include "Wind Chimes", "War Goes On", "Hush Julian", "Eastern Light", and "Amphetamine Gazelle".

Weird and wonderful sounds from Emerald Web – an obscure duo that features a great mix of electronics and flute! The album's already plenty weird – the kind of unusual small label set you might have found at the end of the psych era – but given that it's from 1979, it's even more offbeat – a really compelling mix of space-age analogue sounds, airy woodwind sounds, and some slight vocals which are really there to color the overall sound – and give it almost a folksy touch at points. The whole thing feels like the sounds you might have heard on an overnight shift during the fading days of FM freeform radio – which, to us, is quite a compliment! Titles include "Loosing Of The Shadow", "Dawn", "Chasing The Shadowbeast", "Dragon Rising", and "Firnight".