A mindblowing debut from Cybotron – one of the most unusual groups to ever hail from Detroit – and that's saying a hell of a lot, given the musical legacy of the city! Cybotron have a sound that's starkly electronic, and a huge influence on later electro, hip hop, techno, and house – served up here as a spare, fuzzy approach to funk – but with lots of the colder touches you'd find from post-punk imports at the time! The blend is quite unique, and even more unusual given the fact that the trio were working in virtual obscurity on the Detroit scene – as an early project from the legendary Juan Atkins, with guitarist Jon-5, and the mysterious electronician 3070! There's more funk here than most of the group's electro contemporaries – but the sound is still nicely cold in all the right parts too – and titles include the seminal "Clear", which was years ahead of its time – plus "Cosmic Cars", "Cosmic Raindance", "Industrial Lies", "The Line", and "Alleys Of Your Mind". (Soul, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Two seminal albums from Doug Dillard and Gene Clark – back to back in a single set! Fantastic Expedition is a mellow masterpiece of sunshine country rock from Dillard & Clark – a duo that featured Gene Clark of the Byrds and Doug Dillard of the Dillards – in a wonderful blend of Cali longhair harmonies, back porch psych, and expert Byrds-y tunefulness! Dillard provides lots of great banjo and some chirping fiddle – along with mandolin and chiming acoustic guitars that bring a bit of bluegrass into the sound – but the record has California written all over it thanks to the vocal harmonies and wistful tune craft. Really close to perfection – and deserves as much praise as the better known country rock benchmarks of the era – including the early two classics by Flying Burrito Brothers. Tracks include "Out On The Side", "She Darked The Sun", "Train Leaves Here This Mornin", "With Care From Somewhere", "Git It On Brother", "In The Plan", and "Don't Come Rolling". Through The Morning Through The Night is the amazing second album from the great duo of Gene Clark and Doug Dillard – and a record that's maybe even better than the first! Even though the set's a key part of the late 60s Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers legacy – the vibe is probably more like the latter than the former – that is, more country than rock – in a way that really has the Clark/Dillard team getting even more confident with that side of their sound – drawing both on Doug's roots, and pointing the way toward his years to come. Clark provides some excellent songwriting, and his vocals are what really set the album apart – and the album also features some backing vocals from Donna Washington, amidst a mostly acoustic lineup that includes bluegrass instrumentation – and guest work from Sneaky Pete Kleinow on steel guitar, Chris Hillman on mandolin, and Bernie Leadon on guitar. Titles include "So Sad", "Corner Street Bar", "I Bowed My Head & Cried Holy", "Kansas City Southern", "No Longer A Sweetheart Of Mine", "Polly", "Four Walls", and "Through The Morning Through The Night". CD

Really important early live work from The Doors – a performance at the legendary Matrix club in San Francisco – and one of the first concert recordings ever done of the group! The set wasn't originally part of their legacy with Elektra Records, but has become rehoused as a key part of their catalog at the label – a really burning performance that effortlessly mixes blues inspirations, psych inclinations, and that very special quality that the band was forging right from the start! As with other unearthed Matrix recordings – which seem to show up more and more as the years go on – the whole thing is a key window into not just a moment in the group, but a moment in the scene as well – even though, reportedly, the concerts were very under-attended at the time. This triple-length package brings together the entire five nights of recording, with lots of unissued material – including surprising versions of jazz tunes "Bag's Groove" and "All Blues" – plus never-heard versions of "Summer's Almost Gone", "When The Music's Over", "My Eyes Have Seen You", "Alabama Song", "Break On Through", and "Moonlight Drive". CD

A fantastic legacy of music from the UK scene – even though it's a pretty darn secret one as well! The Electric Banana were a very unique studio group – a combo who featured Phil May and Dick Taylor of the Pretty Things, right at a time when that group were at the height of their fame – working as a faceless studio combo with other musicians for the DeWolfe Sound Library label – all to create these tight, short rock tracks that would later end up getting used in film soundtracks and TV programs all through the 70s! This album features half vocal tracks, half instrumental – both the same tunes, but with vocals stripped out on side two. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic legacy of music from the UK scene – even though it's a pretty darn secret one as well! The Electric Banana were a very unique studio group – a combo who featured Phil May and Dick Taylor of the Pretty Things, right at a time when that group were at the height of their fame – working as a faceless studio combo with other musicians for the DeWolfe Sound Library label – all to create these tight, short rock tracks that would later end up getting used in film soundtracks and TV programs all through the 70s! This album features half vocal tracks, half instrumental – both the same tunes, but with vocals stripped out on side two. LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool little record that's essentially the start of the great musical legacy of Ellen McIlwaine – a group effort, but one that still features Ellen on vocals and arrangements – as well as work on harmonica, guitar, and organ! The style is more blues-influenced than some of the acoustic moments of McIlwaine's great Polydor records from a few years later – but as with those, there's also a genre-defying approach that's mighty nice – with some currents of funk in the offbeat arrangements, which really keeps things interesting! Lead guitar is from Chris Zaloom, who has a heavier, headier quality than you might expect – and titles include "Crawling Kingsnake", "The Letter", "Mossy Dream", "Billy Gene", "Born Under A Bad Sign", and "Bow'd Up". CD

A huge legacy of work from the Flying Lizards – two full albums, plus lots more bonus tracks too! First up is the well-circulated debut, a new wave crossover classic from The Flying Lizards – one of the quirkiest groups of their era! The group were European, but have a sound that resonates strongly with the most playful post-disco work of the New York scene of the time, particularly the acts on Ze Records – a groove that mixes equal part punky and clubby rhythms, often topped with lyrics that are cold, but clever, done in the same ironic arty style of Cristina, or Devo. This album's the group's standout opus – and features their classic covers of "Summertime Blues" and "Money" – as well as originals "The Flood", "TV", "The Window", and "Russia". Next up is The Fourth Wall, the rare second album from The Flying Lizards – a set that didn't get nearly as much exposure as their debut, and which still shows the group mixing together punk, new wave, and clubby styles in a really great way! There's maybe even more of an edge here than on the group's debut – and titles include "Lovers & Other Strangers", "An Age", "Steam Away", "Hands 2 Take", "In My Lifetime", "Cirrus", and "Lost & Found". 2CD set features 9 more bonus tracks – including "Tube", "Money B", "All Guitars", "Summertime Blues (12" mix)", "Portugal", "Wind", and "Continuity". CD

The second chapter of the underground Boston legacy of Dredd Foole & The Din – a strong stretch of material from a time when Dredd was working with the Volcano Suns! Early Din-related material had Mission Of Burma providing the instrumentation – and the shift here to Volcano Suns makes for music that's maybe a bit more in tune with the American underground of the mid 80s – that shift away from punk that made the Suns' own recordings so crucial, and which saw some of this material released during the glory days of Homestead Records! The package features two full albums – Eat My Dust Cleanse My Soul and Take Off Your Skin – both reissued here for the first time – plus lots of live material, recorded both at The Rat in Boston, and at CBGB – plus some rare studio material too – all in a package that has detailed notes, new mixing, and a total of 40 tracks in all. Titles include "No Gun", "I'm Crying", "Not The Same", "People Are Strange", "Paralyzed", "Criminal", "Greatest Band In Hell", "Shoulda Known Better", "So Strange", "I Can't Stand It", "Sonic Web Theme", "Not A Beast", "Slack", and "Put Down". CD

The surprisingly rich lost legacy of Freedom – a group who were initially born out of a breakup with Procol Harum, but then went through some huge growth on their own over the space of a few short years! As you'll hear in this set of complete albums from the group (plus bonus tracks too!), the band began as more of a Hammond-based combo, then shifted towards a wickedly-sharp harder rocking group with lots more guitar in the lead – equally tight in both incarnations, and with a quality level that should have made them much bigger than they were! The group recorded for a few different labels, and some of their records never crossed the Atlantic back in the day – yet taken as a whole, the work here is excellent throughout – with plenty of inventive touches that really have them marking their own territory as the years move on. The package begins with their excellent soundtrack for the film Nerosubianco, which includes lots of rare bonus tracks too – followed by the BYG/Actuel classic Freedom At Last, and three more great albums Freedom, Through The Years, and Freedom Is More Than A Word – as well as more bonus tracks too. The box features 59 tracks in all, detailed notes, and all albums in mini LP-styled sleeves too! CD

The complete legacy of Glad – and the related New Breed group as well! The set begins with the group's classic album Feelin Glad – a sweet bit of 60s sunshine, and a record that's every bit as charming as you might guess from the cover – served up by a group who are well into the best harmonies of the time, but also digging for something deeper too! The vibe isn't really psychedelic, but there's certainly some of those elements at play – as the group get help on some larger arrangements from producer Erik Wangberg, who uses just the right touches from song to song to keep things interesting, and from ever falling into too-familiar territory! The record's filled with groovy little original tunes in a variety of flavors – and titles include "Bedtime Story", "A New Tomorrow", "Sweet Melinda", "Silly Girl", "Johnny Silver's Ride", "No Ma It Can't Be", and a cool remake of "Shape Of Things". CD also features 8 more mono Glad singles, mostly of tracks from the album – plus 8 more earlier tracks by The New Breed – all mono singles by an earlier version of the group, already really able to deliver pure Cali harmonic genius! CD

One of the first albums ever made by Bruce Haack – the mad musician who's best known for his electronic work, but who also left behind a huge legacy of self-produced work for children! This album was done in collaboration with Miss Nelson – Esther Nelson, a dance instructor who worked heavily with kids – and it's got a naive, post-beat sort of feel that predates Haack's later hippie work, but which is equally charming. There's some very primitive electronic work on the record, next to odd instrumentation, and some very weird vocals from both Nelson and Haack – aimed at the kids who were the supposed audience for this one, but which make the whole thing sound more like an Ernie Kovacs episode gone mad! Definitely songs in the key of z – with tracks that include "Clap Your Hands", "Sunflowers", "Sailing", "A Stuffy Story", "Pussycats", "Trains", and "My Bones". (Sound Library, Rock) CD

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. (Deep Funk, Rock) CD

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. (Deep Funk, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

The lost legacy of a Twin Cities group who gave the world two great singles back in the day – but also left behind a lot of other excellent material that never saw the light of day! Joker's Wild sound a lot like you might guess from their look on the cover – psychedelic, but down to earth too – that smaller city vibe from a point when garage rock groups were learning how to really play their instruments, write great songs, and expand their sound with a better understanding of the studio – all of which really marks the work on this set! The lineup is lean, and the sound is nice and raw throughout, but surprisingly tuneful too, thanks to strong production – and titles include rare singles "All I See Is You" and "Echo" – plus "Copper Penny", "Good Time", "Hard Road", "I See You", "Stranger", "Witch", "That Man's Not You", "River", "Dissatisfied", "American Dream", "Peace Man", "Park Music", and "Have You Ever Loved Somebody". CD

The lost legacy of a Twin Cities group who gave the world two great singles back in the day – but also left behind a lot of other excellent material that never saw the light of day! Joker's Wild sound a lot like you might guess from their look on the cover – psychedelic, but down to earth too – that smaller city vibe from a point when garage rock groups were learning how to really play their instruments, write great songs, and expand their sound with a better understanding of the studio – all of which really marks the work on this set! The lineup is lean, and the sound is nice and raw throughout, but surprisingly tuneful too, thanks to strong production – and titles include rare singles "All I See Is You" and "Echo" – plus "Copper Penny", "Good Time", "Hard Road", "I See You", "Stranger", "Witch", "That Man's Not You", "River", "Dissatisfied", "American Dream", "Peace Man", "Park Music", and "Have You Ever Loved Somebody". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful little record that sounds nothing like Kansas City or something you might expect from a group with "jammers" in their name – as there's a sweet harmony style to the whole album that's a lot more like Cali work of the time! The trio harmonize together beautifully, and they mix acoustic and electric instrumentation in a nicely lean mode – yet with a quality that's still well-produced for such a small label indie release at the time! We might make an obvious comparison to CSNY, but the song themes are very different, as is the mood – and these guys are much more down to earth in a really great way! Titles include "For A Sign". "Live In Harmony", "Messiah", "For Father" "Chess Piece", "Hairy Tongued Turtle", "Midnight Watch", "Fall", "Fingers Foot & Fade", and "For Marti". 2CD edition features a full bonus disc – 14 more rare tracks from the time, a great expansion to the too-small legacy of the group! CD

Mylon LeFevre's got a long legacy in the world of spiritual music – but this set is one of a pair of totally sweet secular records done for Warner Brothers in the late 70s – an album that really makes great use of LeFevre's wonderful vocals, which had been honed in both gospel and rock groups for many years before the sessions! Production is by Jerry Crutchfield, who does a great job of mixing occasional roots elements with warmer AOR styles – yet never in a way that's too polished, or too commercial at all – really leaving the sound as one of those secret and overlooked 70s dates for a larger label. Titles include "Country John", "Let's Get Together", "Goodbye Miss Sadness", "Love As One", "Understand It", "Basic Lady", and a nice countryfied take on "Girl From The North Country". CD

The lasting legacy of Screaming Lord Sutch – and an album that's almost equally well-known for its work by a host of famous guests – including Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and others! Page is perhaps the most involved here – as he produced the set with Sutch, co-wrote some tracks, and plays some mighty searing guitar – as does Beck, which makes the album almost worth it alone for all the wonderful solos! But Sutch himself is pretty great too – kind of a mish-mash of late 60s nasty camp references, with the same sinister vibe as Kim Fowley – and an equally freewheeling approach to a tune that makes the album a heck of a lot of fun. Titles include "Gutty Guitar", "Flashing Lights", "Wailing Sounds", "Thumping Beat", "Union Jack Car", and "London". CD

Very early work from Ramuntcho Matta – a French artist with a long legacy of creative activity, heard here on a set of tracks that mix arty inclinations with some very cool new wave elements! The music is maybe a bit like some of the more experimental creations from the New York downtown scene of the early 80s – especially those recordings by artists who can work in more conventional modes, but are willing to be a bit more creative, especially when it comes to using new technologies to express themselves. Matta handles a range of guitars, organ, piano, bass, and all sorts of tapes and effects – with guest percussion on many tracks, and vocals from singer Elli Medeiros on two of the tracks. Titles include "Hop Hop", "Zoique 2", "Assemblage", "Jeunes Et Vielles", "Opi", "Gesti", "Irimi Nage", "Wallaroo", "All Those Years", and "Harpie". LP features the bonus unissued instrumental of "Une A Une". LP, Vinyl record album

Forget The Stooges, forget Alice Cooper, forget the White Stripes, and maybe even forget Funkadelic – because this landmark album is one that really put the ferocity of the Detroit scene on the map – rising up the city's legacy of raw sounds next to their better-known soul and pop of the 60s – and forever putting MC5 on the great rock and roll map! The group had been honing their craft in the city for a few years before this set – and it was the genius of Elektra Records to capture them live at the city's Grande Ballroom, and not in the studio – which is part of the intensity of the record's charm, especially on the sometimes-edited bit of profanity. Titles include the seminal "Kick Out The Jams", plus "Come Together", "Rocket Reducer No 62", "Borderline", "Motor City Is Burning", "I Want You Right Now", and "Starship". LP, Vinyl record album