Rock — CDs  

Hard blues and soul loving material from Hendrix – the excellent South Saturn Delta compilation of rarities, alternate mixes and other bits from throughout Jimi's too short life and career! It’s killer stuff that stands up today as well as any posthumous Hendrix release, really pulling together the breadth of stylistic range over the years. Includes "Look Over Yonder", "Here He Comes (Lover Man)", "South Saturn Delta", "Tax Free", "Midnight", "Drifter's Escape", "Midnight Lightning", "All Along The Watchtower", "Power Of Soul" and more.

Another one of the greatest mid 60s Columbia albums by Cash, with a proper CD release! Orange Blossom Special is probably the most successful of Johnny's LPs in which he balances the profound influence of Bob Dylan with his own rough hewn style for something wholly unique. Cash covers 3 of Dylan's tunes on Orange Blossom, "It Ain't Me Babe", "Mama, You've Been On My Mind", and "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright". Other tracks include "You Wild Colorado", "When It's Springtime In Alaska", "Amen", and "Danny Boy". This remastered set includes 3 bonus tracks that were never issued in the US, but can (and should!) also be found on Bear Family's amazing Man In Black: 1963-1969 box set. Those include "Engine 143", "(I'm Proud) The Baby Is Mine", and another version of "Mama, You've Been On My Mind", this one featuring Mariachi horns in the tradition of "Ring Of Fire".

Lost funk rock from Ballinjack – the rare self-titled set for Columbia that's arguably best remembered for being so massively sampled – but the group that deserves a more widely-credited legacy! The sound is a bit like Mandrill on the best cuts, with the band going hard on the funky drums with some great brassy movements, flute and guitars. Lots of deftly jazzy movements, too – standout flute and guitar moments throughout. Tracks include the famously sampled "Found a Child" and "Never Let 'Em Say" (believe us, you've heard these samples plenty, and it's cool to hear them in their original context. . .great stuff and little wonder they were so strongly utilized by hip hop production heavies), plus "Super Highway", Festival", "Telephone", "Ballin' The Jack", "Street People", "Carnival", and "Hold On".

If this is reality, lead us onward – as the set is a mindblowing batch of trippy psych-funk from The Heliocentrics – even more offbeat and experimental than before, in ways that make the combo the true heirs to the legacy first begun by Stark Reality! The album's definitely funky at the core, but it's also filled with loads of amazing sounds – instruments tuned weirdly, played weirdly, and produced weirdly – so that over the heavy drums, there's often lots of freaky, fuzzy bits and tripped-out sounds – in ways that make the record feel like some lost acid trip outtakes from the Westbound studios of the early 70s – or like some obscure funk band that dropped acid at Andy Warhol's loft! The packaging offers up a visual example of what your ears will be going through when you tune into the music – and titles include "Mysterious Ways", "Collateral Damage", "Black Sky", "Calabash", "Path Of The Black Sun", "Mr Owusu I Presume", "Eastern Begena", and loads of cool interlude tracks too.

A much-needed tribute to one of the greatest groups on Creation Records – one of the few to really get the label's aesthetic perfectly right – and a vastly overlooked group that's finally getting its due! House Of Love had a near-perfect revision of psychedelia going on in the mid 80s – a style that honed the 60s genre down to all its best bits, yet without any of the clunky or commercial leaning that you'd find in any other acts of the time – particularly the paisley underground from LA – and without any of the too-stoned traps that so many Brit groups fell into a few years later. House Of Love know that guitars are god – and use them here in some of the same echoey territory of Felt, but a lot more deftly too – sometimes pretty darn fuzzy, yet always a lot more tunefully focused than Jesus & Mary Chain too. And while the group only recorded for two short years, they really left behind an amazing legacy – served up here in the core House Of Love album, and augmented by a huge amount of important singles, b-sides, and compilation tracks – then further expanded by a wealth of unissued tracks and demos as well. The 3CD package is way way more than any of us got back in the day – and we're hoping that it will finally get these guys the appreciation they deserve. Titles include "Shine", "Love", "Real Animal", "Christine", "Destroy The Heart", "Blind", "Mr Jo", "Plastic", "Nothing To Me", "Man To Child", "Salome", "Read", and "Happy".

An amazing set that documents the early years of the Zamrock scene – the funk and psych informed Afro Rock pioneered by vocalist and African guitar legend Rikki Ililonga and his group Musi-O-Tunya in Zambia from 1973 to 1976 – and compiled beautifully in this great set from Now Again/Stones Throw! It's incredible stuff that blends fuzzed out guitar psychedelia, raw rhythms and brass-heavy funky soul. Ililonga's legacy is represented strongly on the record made by the group he founded, Musi-O-Tunya – who work with electric guitar, bass, sax, western and African drums and percussion – as well as the Zambia album, credited to Rikki Illilonga, in which he sings and plays all instruments except trumpet. The set also includes his Sunshine Love album, in which he sings and plays all instruments except bass and drums – and a it's got a rawer, bluesier psych soul approach overall. The CD version compiles most tracks from those albums plus Musi-O-Tunya's Wings Of Africa LP and bonus tracks from 7-inches from the time. 31 tracks on 2 CDs and comes a great, book-bound package with extensive liner notes by Eothen Alapatt and an interview of Ililonga by Eothen. Disc one includes Musi-0-Tunya tracks "Tsegulani", "Mpondolo", "Walk And Fight", "The Sun", "Dark Sunrise", "The Wings Of Africa", "Jekete Yamankowa" (Parts 1 & 2), "Mpulula", "Smoke" and more. Disc 2 features tracks from the Rikki Ililonga cuts "Sansa Kuwa", "Sheebeen Queen", "Stop Dreaming Mr D", "The Nature Of Man", "The Queen Blues", "Working On The Wrong Thing", "Sunshine Love", "Angel Black" and more.

Modern metal from Os Mutantes – a group who, we suppose, probably still have some of their old ironic stance somewhere in the mix – but who are also singing here in English, at a level that sounds a bit more like mainstream rock than we might expect! There's still a quality to the record that sets these guys apart from the rest, but the overall approach isn't nearly at the level we'd expect from their long legacy in music – or at least from the important early recordings that made us love them so much. Titles include "To Make It Beautiful", "Valse LSD", "Bangladesh", "Look Out", and "Time & Space".

Way more than just another "tribute" album – as this set doesn't feature cover versions or new recordings, but instead draws heavily on vintage work produced by the legendary Conny Plank! Although only partly a musician, Conny had a huge influence on the sound of Germany during the key prog, electronic, and post-punk years – thanks to his increasingly inventive work behind the board of the studio – and his unique ear for designing the studio itself! Plank's name is displayed prominently on some of the most important German albums of the time – and that legacy is paid tribute to wonderfully here – on the initial two CDs, which feature cuts that include "Silver Cloud" by La Dusseldorf, "Horprobe" by Arno Steffan, "Conditionierer" by Moebius & Plank, "Signal" by Phew, "Broken Head" by Eno Moebius Rodelius, "Leb Whol" by Neu, "Was Ziehst Du An" by DAF, "Eleanor Rigby" by Streetmark, and "Security Idiots" by Psychotic Tanks. Then, CD3 features bonus remixes of older classics – 9 more reworks and remixes of German electronic gems initially recorded by Plank! And CD4 features a rare live recording from Conny's minimal electronic years – a 1986 Mexico performance by Plank, Moebius, and Steffen!

An amazing look at an amazing label – the groundbreaking Dandelion Records, an early home to John Peel's much heralded talent for picking up on the best new music! The label only existed for a few short years, but left behind an amazing legacy of music – a blend of folk, rock, and other genres that are usually presented in a deeply personal, sometimes-leftfield sort of way. Peel gave full control of the music and its presentation to the artist – and as a result, most of the tunes here are quite free from cliche and conventional expectations you may have of music from the period. Perhaps the greatest Dandelion contribution was giving a space for up and coming singer/songwriters – and you'll hear plenty of them here alongside other artists who are both more traditional and more experimental. Titles include "To B Without A Hitch" by Bridget St John, "Sleeping Town" by Beau, "All For Tomorrow" by Medicine Head, "Harry Krishna" by Bill Oddie, "Almost Liverpool" by Mike Hart, "Ruby Baby" by Gene Vincent, "You Really Got Me" by Stackwaddy, "Carrie" by Clifford T Ward, "No Tree Will Grow" by Supersister, "Mood" by The Coxhill/Bedford Duo, "Cheat Me" by Kevin Coyne, "Strange Locomotion" by Siren, "King Dick II" by The Way We Live, and "Yamasuki" by The Yamasukis. An amazing package – 3CDs, 64 tracks, and a huge booklet of notes on the label and artists!