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Fantastic funkiness! Although Les Baxter's best known for his easy listening work in the late 50s/early 60s, this 1969 biker flick soundtrack is a motherlode of funky funky tracks, and a veritable cornucopia of breakbeats. The drums are nice and hard, and there's plenty of fuzzy guitars to give a razor sharp edge to the groove! A few tracks have vocals, but it's the funk rock instrumentals that drive this one into pulp soundtrack classic status. Highlights include the classics "Hogin' Machine" and "Hot Wind", but there's lots of other nice ones like "Soul Groove", "Chain Fight", "Dan's Theme", "Scoobee Doo" and the killer "Wheels (Main Title Theme)". This great limited edition CD version has a 4 bonus tracks made up of the full version of the end title song, medleys of shorter cues from the film, instrumental bits and more. "Travelin' Man", "Take It From Me (Source)/Gila Monster/Cathy Left Behind /Mongoose Gets Beans", "Gang Rides Through The Hills/Tosses Bike Over Bank/Snake Or Rope" and more.

An amazing little soundtrack – one that's as spooky and eerie as the film for which it was written, and which was also one of the few American recordings issued by Polish jazz great Krzysztof Komeda! The core of the album is an especially haunting theme – one hummed as a lullaby by Mia Farrow on the title, and which is repeated often throughout – a dreamy little number that had a surprising life long beyond the film and this album, in a number of different versions on the market. We still like the original best – and especially appreciate Komeda's blend of soft jazz, odd electronics, and some darker atonal passages – all of which combine here to make the record a masterpiece throughout – on a level that easily matches the best from Morricone at the time! Titles include "Panic", "What Have You Done To Its Eyes", "Dream", "Expectancy", "Lullaby", "The Coven", and "Main Title". This expanded version is incredible – with 24 more bonus tracks (!!!!!), including the full film score on top of the original album – with lots of cool "ritual" tracks – and the source music, and even some tracks from the 45 of the main theme! Great sound, amazing booklet – and the best-ever CD reissue!

One of the hippest Italian soundtracks of the 60s – and a motherlode of tracks by the great Piero Piccioni! The soundtrack is the source of the oft-compiled "Mr Dante Fontana", a nutty groover about the mod fashion scene in Italy – and it also features the famous tracks "Richmond Bridge" and "You Never Told Me". Most of the music is by Piccioni and the wonderful vocal group I Cantori Moderni, with Edda Dell'Orso on vocals – but the CD also features some work by Lydia Mac Donald, Julie Rogers, and Ennio Morricone. Includes a few versions of the "Fontana" and "Richmond", plus "Ascot Dream", "Magic Castle", "Tango Walk", "Drag Beat", "This Is Life", "Palace Parade March", "Babylon, I'm Coming", and "His Dream Has Come True". Very groovy – with loads of excellent material, and 27 cuts in all!

An excellent little set that compiles some of Lalo's groovier sides for the Verve and MGM labels! The set focuses more on Lalo's jazz than soundtrack work, which makes it a nice companion to the Mission Impossible "best of" set on Motor Music. Some tracks are from albums under Lalo's own name as a leader, and other are from albums by Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader, and Bob Brookmeyer. Whatever the source, though, the music's all pretty darn groovy – and the CD's a swirling mass of bossa, Latin, and jazzy jazz grooves! Titles include "Chorale", "The Wave", "Old Laces", "Samba Para Dos", "En Salon Mexico", and "The Chains".

A landmark album that is perhaps the single most influential beat source in hip hop! The record was the brainchild of bongo player Michael Viner – who also happened to be running the Pride subsidiary of MGM at the time. Viner's got a meeeeeean touch on the bongo, hitting it hard and funky like the best 70s conga players – and his approach to the instrument is kind of like a funky update of popular instrumental styles laid down on guitar by The Ventures or on moog by Hot Butter. This album features the classics "Apache" and "Bongo Rock" – both with monster funky breakdowns that showed up on a heck of a lot of hip hop records over the years – plus loads of other goodies like "Last Bongo In Belgium" and "Bongolia". Excellent stuff – and for years, it was darn hard to find! (We can still remember how stunned we were when we found our first copy in a Canadian record store back in 1987 – and even then we had to pay plenty!)

Get ready for a whole new source for funky music – obscure small label recordings made by singers and musicians working in British bars, clubs, and lounges during the 60s and 70s! The cover looks kitschy, but the grooves are surprisingly great – a really wide range of funky numbers that feature lots of organ, choppy guitar, and jazzy vocals – all served up with a style that aims to be commercial, but which always falls a few spots short of the mark – giving the tracks some nicely rough edges, and a great sense of humanity that definitely earns the "Working Man's Soul" in the title! You'll be hard pressed to find most of these tracks in the original on either side of the Atlantic – and the folks at Licorice Soul have done a really wonderful job reconstructing the details of this elusive scene. A real delight through and through – one of the most mind-opening collections we've heard in years – with tracks that include "Meadowbank" by Sounds Bob Rogers, "Don't Bother Me No More" by Sophisticats, "Work Song" by Alan Randall, "Vehicle" by Collection, "Flyin Hi" by Maxwell Plumm, "Little Bit Of Love" by Carol Lee Scott, "Chain Of Fools" by Dave Anthony, "Light My Fire" by Brian Sharp, "Hip Flask" by The Northern Jazz Orchestra, "Hang In There" by The Peter Coe Big Band, and "Funky Nassau" by John O'Hara & The Famous O'Hara's Playboys.

Incredible soundtrack work from one of the coolest composers of the 70s – the groovy Francois De Roubaix, equally at home with electronics and funky orchestrations! We've loved the music of Francois De Roubaix for years – and treasure it for its unique blend of electric and acoustic elements – often coming together in mad juxtaposition, but doing so in a way that always makes for a nice little groove, and often a strong undercurrent of funk! This set brings together a nice collection of rare electronic soundtrack work by De Roubaix – tracks from the films La Scoumoune, L'Antarctique, and RAS, as well as music from the TV series La Mer Est Grande, plus a few bonus tracks from other sources. Together, the tracks paint a rich picture of the electric side of Roubaix work – a side that's shown up a bit on other reissues over the years, but which has never been shown so strongly until now! The whole thing's incredible, and packaged with some great notes and especially cool vintage photos of Francois in action – showing him to be the consummate hipster of the French soundtrack scene in the early 70s! 20 tracks in all – all brilliant!

The genius of Juan Garcial Esquivel is turned towards a host of tunes from a variety of global sources – including "Dark Eyes", "Hungarian Rhapsody No 2", "Torna A Sorrento", "In A Persian Market", "Tico Tico", "April in Portugal", "Cielito Lindo", and "Oye Negra". A Latin groove dominates most numbers, natch – and the piano of Esquivel is soaring over the top in fine hi-fi form!

An older bandleader takes on sounds from two different groovy sources of the 70s – both of them great! Plays Michel Legrand has Andre Kostelanetz serving up some sweet versions of tunes from some of Legrand's famous soundtracks of the 60s and early 70s – most of them done with fairly broad string arrangements, but underscored with some of the groovier tones and timings that make Michel's music so great. Andre never gets too overemotional, even when things are lush – and titles include "What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life", "Summer Of 42", "Lady Sings The Blues", "Orson's Theme", "Once Upon A Summertime", and "Pieces Of Dreams". Plays Chicago is even weirder, but maybe even cooler too – as Andre Kostelanetz handles the music of Chicago – stripping the tunes of the heavy brass styles you might expect, and instead washing them heavily in strings, which then often get a similar dynamic range to the horns! Arrangements are from Don Sebesky, Torri Zito, Luther Henderson, Marty Manning, and Al Capps – and titles include "Fancy Colours", "Make Me Smile", "Questions 67 & 68", "Beginnings", "25 Or 6 To 4", "Flight 602", and "Wake Up Sunshine".

An older bandleader takes on sounds from two different groovy sources of the 70s – both of them great! Plays Michel Legrand has Andre Kostelanetz serving up some sweet versions of tunes from some of Legrand's famous soundtracks of the 60s and early 70s – most of them done with fairly broad string arrangements, but underscored with some of the groovier tones and timings that make Michel's music so great. Andre never gets too overemotional, even when things are lush – and titles include "What Are You Doing For The Rest Of Your Life", "Summer Of 42", "Lady Sings The Blues", "Orson's Theme", "Once Upon A Summertime", and "Pieces Of Dreams". Plays Chicago is even weirder, but maybe even cooler too – as Andre Kostelanetz handles the music of Chicago – stripping the tunes of the heavy brass styles you might expect, and instead washing them heavily in strings, which then often get a similar dynamic range to the horns! Arrangements are from Don Sebesky, Torri Zito, Luther Henderson, Marty Manning, and Al Capps – and titles include "Fancy Colours", "Make Me Smile", "Questions 67 & 68", "Beginnings", "25 Or 6 To 4", "Flight 602", and "Wake Up Sunshine".

The best bits from one of our favorite compilation series ever – Blue Juice, the 3 volume set on Blue Note that brings together a mind-bending mix of funky soul, jazzy funk, groovy grooves, and other odd and delightful bits from a wide variety of sources! This one shows the expansive scope of the groove scene and crate-diggers over the past decade – turning a focus on some great and passed-over grooves from the late 60s and early 70s that sparkle again on this fantastic set! Titles include "Feelin Alright" by Trinidad Oil Company, "Fever" by Patti Drew, "Tighten Up" by Benny Gordon, "Sookie Sookie" by Tina Britt, "I Want To Testify" by Bobby Bryant, "Listen Here" by Groove Holmes, "Get Out Of My Life Woman" by George Semper, "Never Come Closer" by Doris, "California Soul" by Gerald Wilson, "Cristo Redentor" by Ferrante & Teicher, and "Mississippi Delta" by Bobbi Gentry.

Funky electronic sound library genius from Bruno Spoerri – a Swiss 70s composer who cut some incredible work for obscure industrial sources! Bruno's music is heavy on analogue electronics – sometimes used sparely and spacily, but other times in a very rhythmic fashion that's strongly in keeping with the machines, products, and processes his tunes were used to promote! And apart from one great reissue 45 years back on Jazzman, most of Bruno's work has never been heard (at least consciously) by a larger audience – and this excellent LP marks the first time that most of these tunes have ever been made available to the public at large! As with other titles on the Finders Keepers label, there's a mania here that runs through the entire set – a "something's different" sort of feel that really makes the record an instant treasure – yet one with enough of a groove to also appeal to those who dug the funk on Bruno's Jazzman 45! Titles include "Lilith Singing In The Dark", "Soft Art Theme", "Lilith The Dance", "Les Electroniciens", "Oederlin", "Gluckskugel Title", "Drillin", "Lilith On The Way" and "Wer Gwunnt".

The grooviness continues! This set's a wonderful mix of obscure soundtrack grooves – plus a few other choice Latin bits – with an out-of-this world groove that's totaly excellent! The Mood Mosaic series is one of our favorite-ever – as they really go out of their way to pull together excellent little bits from rare sources, blending each volume with a thematic intensity that makes each individual track sparkle in the mix! Titles include "Jungle Fever" by Sheba, "Ape Shuffle" by Lalo Schifrin, "Willie Escapes" by JJ Johnson, "Crack Shot" by Max Harris, "Moneyrunner" by John Schroeder, "Free Tarrant" by Roy Budd, "Man With The Golden Gun" by London Royal Orchestra, "Galaxy A Go Go" by Jerry Goldsmith, "Dope Bust" by Flora Purim & Buddy De Franco, and "Mini Manhunt" by David Shire.

Insanely wonderful grooves from lost Italian sources! Like the other two volumes in this series, this third entry in the Stroboscopia set is a must-have if you dig 60s Hammond organ groovers, 70s keyboard funk tracks, and any sort of tune that has a slightly offbeat edge. The set list features 20 tracks in all – all instrumentals with the kind of funky and groovy sound that you'd expect to find on jazz albums by more famous funk artists, but which are equally great in this nicely packaged compilation! Titles include "Carter", "Joy Bells", "The Taste Of Repeat", "Asfalto", "Smooth & Manly", "Supermarket", "A Little Sad", and "Malcontento Popolare" – and artists include Rino De Filippi, Giuliano Sorgini, Puccio Roelens, Alessandro Alessandroni, and Mirot Lash. One of the best sets on Plastic we've heard in years!

A wonderfully groovy set – every bit as great as you might guess from the title and the cover – and the very first installment in the now-legendary Mood Mosaic series! The set's one of the few to bring together tunes from the groovier side of the spectrum at the end of the 60s – work from British, French, American, and German sources – all awash in a great blend of funky, easy, and pop-oriented modes! There's a nicely trippy feel throughout – and titles include "Hascisch Party" by George Garvarenz, "Kiss This" by Claude Denjean, "Acka Raga" by Shocking Blue, "Mas Que Nada" by Luiz Enriquez, "En Melody" by Serge Gainsbourg, "Love For Sale" by Marian McPartland, "Batucada" by Phil Crewe, "Marins Armins Amant Ou Maris" by Michel Legrand, and "Sitar Beat" by Klaus Doldinger.

A wonderfully groovy set – every bit as great as you might guess from the title and the cover – and the very first installment in the now-legendary Mood Mosaic series! The set's one of the few to bring together tunes from the groovier side of the spectrum at the end of the 60s – work from British, French, American, and German sources – all awash in a great blend of funky, easy, and pop-oriented modes! There's a nicely trippy feel throughout – and titles include "Hascisch Party" by George Garvarenz, "Kiss This" by Claude Denjean, "Acka Raga" by Shocking Blue, "Mas Que Nada" by Luiz Enriquez, "En Melody" by Serge Gainsbourg, "Love For Sale" by Marian McPartland, "Batucada" by Phil Crewe, "Marins Armins Amant Ou Maris" by Michel Legrand, and "Sitar Beat" by Klaus Doldinger.