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Nick Drake's second album, and a fantastic batch of jazz-tinged folksy tracks that's virtually unlike anything else ever done on this planet! The compositions are amazing, and Drake's execution of the material is masterfully produced by Joe Boyd, who brings out all the rich tonal qualities of the music. Drake's work is impossible to describe adequately, but if you've ever heard him, you probably stopped dead in your tracks the minute you first caught his voice. We still do the same – and it's a pleasure to have this one in stock! Titles include "Fly", "At The Chime Of A City Clock", "Hazy Jane", "Poor Boy", and "One Of These Things First".

A crucial record that introduced most folks to Nick Drake in the early 80s – a cool compilation drawn from his first 2 Island albums – and pretty darn rare! Tracks include "Cello Song", "Northern Sky", "Three Hours", and "Fly".

A real lost chapter in the career of singer Georgie Fame – mid 70s material recorded for Island Records! The sound of Fame during these years is a bit of an extension of his previous work at Columbia – not really the jazz or R&B of his roots, and more a complicated blend of hip pop modes, all inflected with some of the Jamaican sensibilities you might expect from Island – yet never in a way that's too cliched, or a silly pop take on reggae. Instrumentation is often a bit laidback and stripped-down – and there's a fair bit of organ and electric piano in the mix, both instruments that help bring out the hipper qualities of Georgie's vocals, and set him up nicely for the 70s.

One of the greatest jazz rock albums to come out of the British scene at the end of the 60s – a record that's filled with tight changes, bluesy overtones, and some wonderfully choppy moments – all played by a legendary lineup that includes Terry Smith on guitar, John Healing on organ, and Dick Morrissey and Dave Quincy on saxes and flute! Healing sings on a number of the tracks, but the vocals never dominate too much – and instead often let the instrumentation really take center stage, showing off the group's chops at their progressive best. Titles include some great long groovers like "What Did I Say About The Box, Jack?", "What Can A Friend Say", and "The Promised Land" – as well as shorter numbers that include "I'm Reaching Out On All Sides", "Woman Can You See", and "Raise The Level Of Your Conscious Mind". CD features 2 bonus tracks – 7" versions of tunes on the album!

One of Nico's darkest albums – and the kind of record we always suggest to those who doubt her genius! The incredibly spare set has Nico playing harmonium, which makes for a spooky off-kilter sound that really gives the record a somber approach – especially as the instrument sounds a heck of a lot like her voice – very dark and moody, with lots of offbeat tones! Nico also gets some hip help, too – as the set features Brian Eno on keyboards, and production by John Cale – who also plays a huge variety of odd instruments too. Titles include a sublime 9 minute reading of The Doors' "The End", one that makes the original seem like candy floss – plus the tracks "Secret Side", "Innocent & Vain", "Valley Of The Kings", "We've Got The Gold", and "It Has Not Taken Long". Great 2CD version features a bonus disc of rare live material from radio and TV performances – including "Das Lied Der Deutschen", a previously unreleased cut from the June 1st 1974 sessions – plus "Janitor Of Lunacy", "Secret Side", "We've Got The Gold", "The End", and "You Forgot To Answer" from unreleased Peel Sessions – and "Valley Of The Kings" and "Secret Side" from unreleased Old Grey Whistle Test performances!

A beautiful treasure from the legendary Nick Drake – the last album he ever recorded – and a set that may well be his most personal as well! The sound here is even more stripped-down than before – often just vocals and acoustic guitar, but used together in ways that are really unique – inflected with lots of the jazzy phrasing that always made Nick so unique – and light years from any of the folkies who were his contemporaries! There's a very special Drake-like approach to the whole record – a heavenly sound that's never been duplicated again – and titles include the classic "Pink Moon", plus "Place To Be", "Road", "Parasite", "Ride", and "From The Morning".

A great set of arty pop, or intellectual rock, or post glam whatever you feel like calling it – a completely unique record all the way through! The set is one of Eno's classics from the 70s, with his wry take on music and lyrics, and a nice dark edge to the proceedings. Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera figures heavily in the band, and the 10 tracks here are about as great as anything you'll find on another record issued that year – including "Burning Airlines Give You So Much More", "Back In Judy's Jungle", "The Fat Lady Of Limbourg", "Mother Whale Eyeless", "The Great Pretender", "Third Uncle", "Put A Straw Under Baby", "The True Wheel", "China My China", and "Taking Tiger Mountain".

Titles include "Talking Of The End", "Cosmic Boy", "Adam & Eve", and "Here Till Here Is There".

Titles include "Rock & Roll Stew", "Rainmaker", "Many A Mile To Freedom", "Hidden Treasure", and "Light Up Or Leave Me Alone".

The great first album by Traffic – one of the best debuts by a British group in the late 60s! Better remembered as Mr. Fantasy, the album has a bit of a confusing release history. This excellent CD version features the album as it first appeared in the US – including the brilliant singles and in the rare mono mix. The punchy, direct vibe of the mono version is wonderful, but however you may prefer to hear it, the artistry is indisputable! There's still plenty of psych pop in the mix, colorful songcraft with a bluesy rock undercurrent. Capaldi, Winwood and Wood are most prominently credited, as Dave Mason hit the road after the singles, but since those are included on this early US version, let's show him some love, too! The organ and a driving rhythm are prominent, with flute and trippy atmosphere throughout. Later on, the group would work with jazzier and bluesier styles, traces of which are here. They would evolve pretty quickly, actually, both stylistically and via lineup shifts. Here's a most vital first stage! Includes "Paper Sun", "Dealer", "Coloured Rain", "No Face, No Name And No Number", "House For Everyone", "Dear Mr. Fantasy", "Smiling Phases", "Heaven Is In Your Mind", the weird closing fade "Were A Fade, You Missed This" and more.

Titles include "When I Get To The Border", "We Sing Hallelujah", "The Great Valerio", "Down Where The Drunkards Roll", and "The Little Beggar Girl".

One of best ever albums by Tom Waits – the beginning of his gutbuckety, Americana Carnivalesque era of dreamlike sinister romance and lovelorn surrealism! The tin pan piano ballads and get pushed a bit to the wayside for Tom's more mysterious and poetic side, and this begins one of the great second acts in pop/rock history. Includes the tracks "Underground", Shore Leave", "Dave The Butcher", "16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought-Six", "Franks Wild Years", "Down, Down, Down", "Rainbirds", "Just Another Sucker On The Vine", "Town With No Cheer, and others.

An amazing step sideways for London's Zoot Money – a move from mod to psych, with a trippy quality that's quite different from his jazzy sound a few years before! The group's got legendary fame – not just for the shift in styles by Zoot, but also for the fact that it features key work from a young Andy Summers – later of The Police – who works here with some great tones on guitar, and plenty of fresh ideas in all the songs he penned on the record! Money's vocals are wonderful – almost as if Georgie Fame were singing on a psych album – which is as unusual and compelling as you might think. These sessions were recorded in the late 60s, but mostly unissued at the time – but really rank with the best of the early Syd Barrett or Kevin Ayers generation – with titles that include "Coffee Song", "Madman Running Through The Fields", "This Island", "High Flying Bird", "Four Firemen", "Soma (parts 1 & 2)".

Droning soundscapes with dreamy atmosphere and ominous twists and turns from Ensemble Pearl! The ensemble is an international one – featuring Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley, plus Atsuo from Boris, Boris-affiliate Michio Kurihara, William Herzog and guests – and their eponymous record for Drag City is one of cooler avant instrumental projects on DC in recent memory. It apparently came together from material recorded for a theater project a couple years earlier – and it has a bit of tripped out, spooky soundtrack-y feel to show for it – but it stands really strongly as a headphones experience all its own! Includes "Ghost Parade", "Painting On A Corpse", "Wray", "Island Epiphany", "Giant" and "Sexy Angle".

A totally great project from Bryan Ferry – completely unlike anything that he or Roxy Music have ever done in the past – even though the whole thing is a tribute to the glory days of the group! The tunes are all famous 70s tracks by the group, but they're redone here as jazz instrumentals – not just jazzy takes on the music of Roxy, but work with a much older vintage – really 20s-styled versions of the tunes – with instrumentation that's completely faithful, as is the production – so that you'd honestly think you're listening more to a collection of older 78s from the days of acoustic recording – even though the songs are oddly familiar. The vintage jazz mode prevails so much that the core melodies of the tunes aren't even apparent at first – they kind of sneak up on you with a nice sense of surprise, and only after a bit do you actually catch the song – but even then, marvel at the way that the older melody has this sinister sound that still comes through amidst the blend of trombone, clarinet, guitar, and skittish rhythms. A brilliant set – far more charming than we would have expected – and titles include "The Bogus Man", "Love Is The Drug", "Do The Strand", "Don't Stop The Dance", "Virginia Plain", "This Island Earth", and "Avalon".

The rare early 70s record from Lagger Blues Machine – a Belgian combo with some hazy, psychedelic blues in the guitars – but the group's actually more of a psych-prog machine! There's a heavy atmosphere on par with some of the much more internationally-revered groups of the era – from Soft Machine to King Crimson – but Lagger Blues Machine stands up pretty strongly with the best of them! They deal in both fuzzed-out riffs and nimble guitar solos, some eerily melodic flute, organ and lumbering rhythms – with slow-building grooves and unpredictable changes. Great stuff! Includes "Symphonie 1 Ere Partie", "Darknessly", "Tanit", "Symphonie 2 Eme Partie" and "Born To Be Alone On A White Desert Island".

These guys keep getting better and better – and this album may well be their best set to date! The album's a massive double-length set – broken down into 2 different discs, one titled London, the other titled Oakland – both of them each with their own theme. The London set has a more laidback psychedelic approach – hearkening towards the heady days of the late 60s, with some slight folksy touches and a nice trippy sound overall. The Oakland disc is darker and heavier – with traces of funk, electric Miles-type jazz, and other elements that recall the best years of the back bay scene. 17 titles in all – with tracks that include "Blackwaterside", "Pink Island", "Bert Jansch", "A Stone's Throw From Coe Fen", "Glazed Popems", "Blues For Bobby Seale", and "Tin Foil Hat".

Hardly the surf music set you'd expect from the title – but still a set that's plenty surf-washed, thanks to a great choice of exotic numbers for the record! The Surfers are a vocal group, not a guitar-based instrumental combo – and they harmonize with a mixture of jazz and pop modes that's mighty nice – and very unique, given that many of the numbers here have a tropical theme – almost as if The Lettermen or Brothers Four decided to cut an exotica album! Titles include "Pagan Love Song", "Canoe Song", "Island Angel", "Follow Me", "Bali Hai", "Pearly Shells", and "Farewell".

Sweet harmony pop – and from Chicago, no less! Thee Prophets, despite having a name that was pretty trippy-sounding, were actually a punched-up harmony rock group in the manner of The Buckinghams (another Chitown group of the time). They're singing here with some tight backings that feature lots of kick in the drums, some nice orchestrations, and some occasional psyche production touches to make things a bit left of The Lettermen. Includes their hit "Playgirl", plus "Magic Island", "Double Life", "Broken Heart", "They Call Her Sorrow", and a great take on "Kind Of A Drag".

Seminal Italian horror soundtrack music from Goblin! By this point, the band had completely evolved from a prog-oriented jazz rock band, into a group that was very well suited to handle a diverse array of movie scores and horror themes. The keyboards are still at the core – and there's a nice mixture of electric and acoustic, which makes for a very nice juxtaposition of moods – and the group have come up with some fantastically spooky tracks that really evoke all the pulsating terror and bone-chilling horror of the stiff early slasher films. This CD includes a number of extra tracks in addition to the material issued the already rare vinyl release – and there's a total of 15 titles that include "Buio Omega", "Quiet Drops", "Strive After Dark", "Bikini Island", and "Ghost Vest".

A nicely trippy effort from Berlin prog maestros Agitation Free – a blend of spacey keys, intricate guitar work, and rewarding sounds that draw as much from hypnotic melodies as they do from spare dissonance! The band was experimenting with a mellotron this time out – tripping everything out just a little bit more and adding a bit of a groovier overall sound. Titles include "First Communication", "Dialogue And Random", "Laila Pt 1", "Laila Pt 2", "In The Silence Of The Morning Sunrise", the 2-part suite "A Quiet Walk" and "Haunted Island".

Droning soundscapes with dreamy atmosphere and ominous twists and turns from Ensemble Pearl! The ensemble is an international one – featuring Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley, plus Atsuo from Boris, Boris-affiliate Michio Kurihara, William Herzog and guests – and their eponymous record for Drag City is one of cooler avant instrumental projects on DC in recent memory. It apparently came together from material recorded for a theater project a couple years earlier – and it has a bit of tripped out, spooky soundtrack-y feel to show for it – but it stands really strongly as a headphones experience all its own! Includes "Ghost Parade", "Painting On A Corpse", "Wray", "Island Epiphany", "Giant" and "Sexy Angle".

Spooky keyboards galore – and a classic horror soundtrack from Goblin – done with just the right blend of rock influences and film score modes to live up to their well-deserved legacy! As on other records, the approach here is more that of a rock group – with guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums as the main instrumentation – but the sound is less jamming and very spare at times – so that these familiar elements get a weird sort of twist, and head into styles that are as tense as some of the images on the screen! A few numbers get slightly funky, but overall things are more in a slasher-type mode – and titles include "The Carver", "Rush", "Time Is On", "Ogre", "Quiet Drops", "Bikini Island", and "Flood".

The 2 rare early 70s records from Lagger Blues Machine – Tanit and earlier Tanit Live together on CD! The group is a Belgian combo with some hazy, psychedelic blues in the guitars – but they're actually more of a psych-prog machine! There's a heavy atmosphere on par with some of the much more internationally-revered groups of the era – from Soft Machine to King Crimson – but Lagger Blues Machine stands up pretty strongly with the best of them! They deal in both fuzzed-out riffs and nimble guitar solos, some eerily melodic flute, organ and lumbering rhythms – with slow-building grooves and unpredictable changes. Great stuff! Includes "Symphonie 1 Ere Partie", "Darknessly", "Tanit", "Symphonie 2 Eme Partie" and "Born To Be Alone On A White Desert Island". The live album was actually recorded a couple years before the release of their studio album Tanit – and they're all the more raucous in a concert setting! There's a raw intensity and some fast playing here that's invigorating – the frenetic drums and manic guitars are incredible – but it doesn't overshadow the creative spirit or musical dexterity of the later studio album. 4 long-ish songs that show a heavier side of the group in a formative period! "Test About A Rehabilitating Personality", "Ode", "Mistake" and "Firedance".

A totally great project from Bryan Ferry – completely unlike anything that he or Roxy Music have ever done in the past – even though the whole thing is a tribute to the glory days of the group! The tunes are all famous 70s tracks by the group, but they're redone here as jazz instrumentals – not just jazzy takes on the music of Roxy, but work with a much older vintage – really 20s-styled versions of the tunes – with instrumentation that's completely faithful, as is the production – so that you'd honestly think you're listening more to a collection of older 78s from the days of acoustic recording – even though the songs are oddly familiar. The vintage jazz mode prevails so much that the core melodies of the tunes aren't even apparent at first – they kind of sneak up on you with a nice sense of surprise, and only after a bit do you actually catch the song – but even then, marvel at the way that the older melody has this sinister sound that still comes through amidst the blend of trombone, clarinet, guitar, and skittish rhythms. A brilliant set – far more charming than we would have expected – and titles include "The Bogus Man", "Love Is The Drug", "Do The Strand", "Don't Stop The Dance", "Virginia Plain", "This Island Earth", and "Avalon".

A great set of singles and rarities from 70s sunshine pop group Design! It's a UK combo whose boy/girl vocal harmonies and super sunny sound carried on the tradition of some of our favorite Cali group of the late 60s – and they're so good at hitting that vibe, it's hard to believe they don't hail from the west coast! This excellent compilation from RPM UK puts together the group's singles from the late 60s onward into the 70s – with both the A- and B-sides, plus some sweet rarities and demos that are hardly less lovely than the fully-realized album and 45 sessions! Wonderful stuff from a group that outta be better remembered! Includes "Colour All The World", "Mayday", "One Sunny Day", "Day By Day", Children Of The Mist", "Sunny", "Insurance", "Islands Of Love", "As It Was", "Calais", "Never Been A Love Like This", "Flown Away" and more. 20 in all.

The first album by this sweet little Hawaiian band from the 70s – a great mix of jazzy rock and smoother AOR styles, with a soulful finish that made the group one of the best of the islands! Titles include "Going Going Gone", "The Hurt", "Nightbird", "Naturally", "All I Want", "Kona Daze", "To Be True", "When The Morning Comes", and "Everything Is Love".

One of our favorites by King Crimson – and a record with a lot more jazz than some of their others! Players include Mel Collins on lots of flutes and saxes – plus guests Keith Tippett on piano, Mark Charig on cornet, and Harry Miller on bass!

One of our favorites by King Crimson – and a record with a lot more jazz than some of their others! Players include Mel Collins on lots of flutes and saxes – plus guests Keith Tippett on piano, Mark Charig on cornet, and Harry Miller on bass!