... CD

... CD

A sometimes-overlooked classic from the Rolling Stones – but that's maybe just because it's sometimes obscured in the shadow of Exile On Main Street, the record that immediately preceded it! And while it might be a stretch to some, we like to think of Goat's head as kind of a capper to that double-length set – as the Stones are still working out a fair bit of similar ideas, with an opening ear to some global currents, and with great help from some of their key collaborators too. The set's worth it alone for the classic gut-wrencher "Angie" – and other tracks include "Star Star", "Hide Your Love", "Winter", "Can You Hear The Music", "100 Years Ago", and "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)". The Super Deluxe Edition includes a new stereo mix of the original album, rarities and alternate mixes, a live concert recording from the '73 tour, a surround sound mix on the Blu-ray – plus a 120 page book packed with essays and notes. CD

That's Seafaring Strangers, not to be confused with the rootsy vibe of the Wayfaring Strangers on a similarly-named Numero Group series – as these guys are playing tightly-crafted sounds that soar to the mainstream – with a vibe that's obviously classy enough to get them admission to somebody's private yacht! And yet, in keeping with the Numero spirit, all of the music here is pretty darn obscure – pulled from obscure 70s records that were created in the shadow of major label AOR – all music that aimed for the smooth, jazzy vibe of bigger records by artists like Steely Dan or Boz Scaggs – but never got any sort of wide-label release! The quality of the work here is wonderful – homegrown and personal, but put together in a way that's really sharp – showing that even if you love AOR, you don't have to stick to the big labels to find your treasures. In true Numero fashion, the whole thing comes with detailed notes, which show a lot of research into the music – and the fact that the whole thing was hardly an accident in the way that it came together. Titles include "Aquaintances", "Your Burning Love" by Steps, "Give Me Your Love" by Paul Skyland, "Dance Of Love" by Calvin Johnson, "One More Time" by Salty Miller, "Wrap Myself Up In Your Love" by Jim Spencer, "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Michael Miglio, "Please Analyze" by AJ Loria, "Sailing" by Gary Marks, "To Be Lonely" by Country Comfort, and "Back To The Streets" by Rudy Norman. CD

There's no denying that Hunky Dory is one of the most significant albums ever in the catalog of David Bowie – a real turning point that pushed both his songwriting and performance to a whole new level! Here, that album is presented in a stunning amount of context – 4CDs worth of material that sets up the record, plus blu-ray audio of more content too – all included with a 100 page book of liner notes, memorabilia, and rare photos too – plus a replica of the young Bowie's notebook for the project – all making for an insane tribute to the record! CD1 features songwriting demos that include many rare cuts – including "Shadow Man", "Looking For A Friend", "Tired Of My Life", "Right On Mother", "How Lucky You Are", and "King Of The City". CD2 features John Peel performances from June of 1971 – mono and stereo takes on "Almost Grown", "Kooks", "Supermen", "Looking For A Friend", "Song For Bob Dylan", and "It Ain't Easy". CD3 features more BBC material – a 1971 Bob Harris Sounds Of The 70s show, and then a 1971 Live Friars performance – with cuts that include "Amsterdam", "Eight Line Poem", "Looing For A Friend", "Oh You Pretty Things", "Buzz The Fuzz", and "Waiting For The Man". CD4 features alternate mixes and singles – Bowpromo mixes of album tracks, then early mixes and mono mixes, and alternate mixes discovered in 2021. Blu-ray disc features a full 2015 remaster of the core album – plus alternate mixes found in 2021, and the 1971 Sounds Of The 70s show too! CD

The third album from symphonic rock pioneer Mike Oldfield – at this point unable to steer his way out of the engulfing shadow of his massive Tubular Bells album of a couple years earlier – yet still bearing fruit creatively, as Ommadawn is his third excellent and pretty much unprecedented album of layered instrumental mood rock grandeur in a row! It's not only his third album, it's his third 2 part, single piece epic in a row that's woven from acoustic, electric, classic and modern instrumentation – with a choir and and folk instrumentation keeping in something of an earthy realm, even with synthezisers and more otherworldly touches. Influences from Irish folk to African percussion, it's uncompromising, intricate and interesting to this day! This 2010 CD version features new stereo mixes by Oldfield, bonus tracks, and nice booklet of notes. Bonus tracks include "In Dulce Jubilo" and "Portsmouth" (both A-sides of singles), "First Excursion" and Argiers". CD

Sweet folksy pop from the glory days of A&M! Evie Sands has a voice that's emotive in a folk rock way, but which is here produced with smoother west coast arrangements that are more in an LA mode – which makes for a very cool mix of modes! The overall sound of the album is very hip – with that cool late 60s approach that never gets picked up by oldies stations, and which is only the province of records like this – odd mis-shots in the pop economy that often got cut out as soon as they were produced, shunned by an uncaring record buying public – but waiting to be discovered by your ears all these many years later. Titles include "Crazy Annie", "It's This I Am", "Shadow Of The Evening", "Close Your Eyes, Cross Your Fingers", "Any Way That You Want Me", "One Find Summer Morning", and "I'll Hold Out My Hand". Also includes the bonus track "Maybe Tomorrow". CD

Shoes maybe look a bit too new wave on the cover, but still sound perfect within – very much in charge of that perfect yet understated approach to a tune that has gone on to make them legends in all the many years since this album was released! The group were never out to change the world, and maybe that held them back at the time – but they were also never trying for big chart success, or too-slick modes – and there's a wonderfully honest, down to earth approach to the songwriting and production that clearly sets the stage for all the bigger late 80s groups that would follow in their wake. Nearly every tune is a completely catchy mofo – and titles include "Curiosity", "In Her Shadow", "Double Talk", "The Summer Rain", "Under The Gun", "The Tube", and "What Love Means". CD

Slightly easy, slightly baroque, and with a sound that's somewhere near Free Design, The Mamas & The Papas, and other groups of the time – The Clique were one of the many groovy lost pop bands that came out of the west coast during the 60s. The record boasts the original version of the track "Superman", which went to become a big hit for R.E.M. about 20 years later. There's lots of other nice groovy original material, like "Sugar On Sunday", "Shadow Of Your Love", "Judy, Judy, Judy", and a cool version of the Bee Gees "Holiday". 17 tracks, with extra cuts, and good liner notes on the band. (Now Sound, Rock) CD

Loads of late 60s classics from the Rolling Stones – served up in a special set dedicated to the late Brian Jones! The music here really shows the darkening side of the Stones' sound – and titles include "Paint It Black", "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby Standing In The Shadow", "2000 Light Years From Home", "Mother's Little Helper", "She's A Rainbow", "Let's Spend The Night Together", and "Street Fighting Man". CD

One of the best-remembered albums from the great Tom Rush – a set that gave the world his well-recorded title track (and the classic "No Regrets"), and which also has Tom really reaching out with a proud new style! The record expands the core sound of Rush in ways that roughly echo some of the early Tim Hardin material at Verve – still bluesy folk at the core, but with arrangements that are slight, but sophisticated – in ways that unlock all these great moods and colors in the songs that you never would have gotten if Rush were just singing and playing guitar on his own! Paul Harris handles the charts, and things are light, but well-pointed – a really beautiful inflection of the vocals and guitar at the core of the performance, often with a very moody style. Titles include "The Circle Game", "Rockport Sunday", "No Regrets", "Tin Angel", "Urge For Going", "Something In The Way She Moves", and "Shadow Dream Song". (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

The third album from symphonic rock pioneer Mike Oldfield – at this point unable to steer his way out of the engulfing shadow of his massive Tubular Bells album of a couple years earlier – yet still bearing fruit creatively, as Ommadawn is his third excellent and pretty much unprecedented album of layered instrumental mood rock grandeur in a row! It's not only his third album, it's his third 2 part, single piece epic in a row that's woven from acoustic, electric, classic and modern instrumentation – with a choir and and folk instrumentation keeping in something of an earthy realm, even with synthezisers and more otherworldly touches. Influences from Irish folk to African percussion, it's uncompromising, intricate and interesting to this day! CD

Another fine effort from the Chicago Underground Duo – multi-instrumentalists Chad Talyor and Rob Mazurek – and like the duo's earlier work on Thrill Jockey, it's a wonderful listen, that traipses through elements of Don Cherry-like jazz experimentation, and percussive, minimalist avant rock! The sound is uncategorizable in the best sense, and the duo has chops that devour most of their contempories. Another great one! Mazurek works on cornet, organ, celest, piano, harpsichord and more, and Taylor is drums, perussion, gongs vibe and more. Tracks include "In Praise Of Shadows", "Falling Awake", "The Glass House", "Cities Without Citadels", "Pangea", "Funeral Of Dreams" and "The Light Between". (Jazz, Rock) CD

With 20 tracks. CD

Covers from Ritchie Blackmore, Brian May, Tony Iommi, Steve Stevens, Hank Marvin, Peter Green Splinter Group, Neil Young & Randy Bachman, Mark Knopfler, Peter Frampton, Keith Urban, Andy Summers, and Bela Fleck & The Flecktones. CD

... CD

A great second chapter for Shadows Of Knight – post-Dunwich material cut by the seminal garage group, and easily some of the hardest-hitting work to come out on the Buddah label in the late 60s! There's plenty of fuzz on the guitars here – that hard-strutting sound you'd know from the Shadows' bigger hits – and the production is nice and raw too, with a gritty, garagey sound that's quite different from the usual sweet Buddah pop sides of the period. The group seemed to have picked up even more of a groove in their label shift, and there's some mighty nice drums propelling some of the best numbers here – a massive batch of tracks that includes "Follow", "Back Door Man", "Bluebird", "Under Acoustic Control", "Alone", "Times & Places", "Uncle Wiggley's Airship", and "I Am What I Am". CD also features a bonus 45 version of "Shake" – and the tracks "My Fire Department Needs A Fireman" and "Run Run Billy Porter". CD

... CD

Rare English language recordings from the sublime Francoise Hardy – music that's every bit as wonderful as her famous French recordings – and even more compelling to our Anglo-styled ears! The vocals are wonderful – sung with this sense of darkness that's almost got an echo of Nico at points, given the accent – set to backings that balance this darkness with a bit more light, but never in ways that are overly poppy – and which definitely continue that more sophisticated style that Hardy always brought to her music! There's less "yeh yeh" to the tracks than a few years before – and Francoise is definitely digging deeper music at this point in her career – sometimes with a breathy brilliance that's a bit like Jane Birkin too. Titles include "Bown Bown Bown", "Till The Morning Comes", "Loving You", "In The Sky", "Midnight Blues", "Magic Horse", "Song Of Winter", "Strange Shadows", "Ocean", "The Garden Of Jane Delawney", "Sometimes", "Let My Name Be Sorrow", "Times Passing By", "I Just Want To Be Alone", and "Suzanne". (French, Rock) CD

Groovy 60s pop – a mix of the harmony style of groups like Harper's Bizarre, with some of the more garagey sounds of groups like The Shadows Of Knight. The album's got a great jangly quality – especially on the guitars, which are produced with a nice sharp edge that offsets that sweetness of the vocals. Titles include "Hey Joe", "Sugar & Spice", "July", "I Wanna Meet You", and "Ben Franklin's Almanac". 18 tracks in all! CD

Bob Dylan and his incomparable band take on old school pop standards for the second album in a row – and it's a real charmer! Fallen Angels has a lot in common with the preceding Strangers In The Night, as they're again taking on songs recorded by, and in some cases popularized by Sinatra, but this one goes a bit deeper into the classic American songbook – and it's all the better for it. Dylan's reputation as a songwriter is borderline biblical, while his reputation as a conventionally gifted singer is, well...something else – so there's a sly allurement here that's not lost on the headliner. He's paying earnest tribute to the songs themselves – which in the course of pop history have been overshadowed by the voices singing them – and on that front, it's masterful! Still, Dylan's raspy croon is pretty darn charismatic itself on this material, making it another late career gem. Longtime Dylan players Charlie Sexton, Stu Kimball, Tony Garnier, George Recile and Donnie Herron make the instrumental magic happen, along with newer Dylan player (though longtime session guitar ace) Dean Parks – but extra credit to Herron, whose steel guitar sound makes it extra special. Includes "Young At Heart", "Maybe You'll Be There", "Polka Dots & Moonbeams", "All The Way", "Skylark", "Nevertheless", "All Or Nothing At All", "It Had To Be You", "Melancholy Mood", "That Old Black Magic" and "Come Rain Or Come Shine". CD

One of the coolest collections we've heard from Keb Darge in years – not the funk and soul he first gave us when he started putting compilations together, nor the rockabilly and R&B from more recent years – and instead a fantastic array of rare late 60s garage rock and freaky fuzz singles! The set's tone in collaboration with Cut Chemist – another DJ we'd never expect to know this music so well – and together, the pair turn their talent for rare record digging to an arena that never seems to get old – the under-underground of the pre-hippy years, with a stunning selection of tracks by artists who worked in the deep shadows beneath bigger acts like Count Five, The Seeds, or Standells. Half the record is collected by Cut Chemist, the other by Keb – and the package features a whopping 30 tracks in all, most of which we'd never heard before! Titles include "Cry" by The Malibus, "Cuttin Grass" by Caretakers Of Deception, "Project Blue" by The Banshees, "Slander" by Ty Wagner, "Suzy Creamcheese" by Teddy & His Patches, "Nowadays People" by Captain Crunch & The Crew, "Go On Leave" by Red Beard & The Pirates, "In & Out" by Larry & The Blue Notes, "Why Am I Alone"by The Choab, "Can It Be" by The Savoys, "Modman" by The Spacemen, "Baby Go" by The Avantes, "Just Let Me Be" by The Outsiders, and "Come On Baby & Stick Around" by Al's Untouchables. CD

Includes tracks by Duane Eddy, Link Wray, The Fireballs, Royaltones, Champs, Shadows, Owen Bradley, Santo & Johnny, Chet Atkins, Chuck Berry, and others – 50 tracks total. CD

A legendary album of instrumental music inspired by the Lord Of The Rings – maybe not the all-out Frodo Fest you might expect, but a set that's been pretty important to fans of JRR Tokien over the years – especially in the years before DVDs and other mass-market versions of his masterpiece! Bo Hansson works here heavy on keyboards, but also uses some nicely spacey guitars – all spun out over tunes that could each work as mini-soundtracks for separate sections of the three volume book – with titles that include "Fog On The Barrow Downs", "Leaving The Shire", "Lothlorien", "Shadowfax", "The Black Riders & Flight To The Ford", and "Dreams In The House Of Healing". CD

Searing live work from the Last Exit quartet – easily one of the most dynamic forces in experimental jazz in the 80s! The group features a famous combination of Sonny Sharrock's guitar and Peter Brotzmann's reeds – a pairing that shouldn't work this well, but does wonderfully – thanks to a great love of loudly expressive sounds by both players! The combo's completed by Bill Laswell on bass and Ronald Shannon Jackson on drums – both of whom bring a pulsating downtown sound to the record, even in this European live setting. Titles include "Lizard Eyes", "Don't Be A Cry Baby Whatever You Do", "Hanged Man Are Always Naked", "A Knight Of Ghosts & Shadows", and "I Must Confess I'm A Criminal". (Jazz, Rock) CD

Titles include "Tuesday's Dead", "How Can I Tell You", "Morning Has Broken", "Peace Train", and "The Wind". Super Deluxe Edition includes the original album, demos, alternate mixes, and two CDs of live material – plus a Blu-ray with 1977 animated Moonshadow movie, a 2020 live performance, and hi-res audio mix of the original album – all packaged in a heavy slipcover with a fancy hardover book! CD

Never-heard music from the enigmatic Jim Sullivan – the singer/songwriter who disappeared in the New Mexico desert after giving the world his fantastic album UFO! The style here is a bit different than that one, and maybe even more to the heart of Jim's spirit – as the work was all recorded in 1969, with just vocals and guitar – in a way that lets the brilliance of Jim's songcraft come across even more strongly than before – but all without ever feeling like scratchy demo tapes, or half-finished ideas! Instead, the album stands as a much-needed addition to the tiny Sullivan catalog – and really has us wondering what else Jim would have given us, if the shadows of mystery hadn't taken him away. Titles include "Roll Back The Time", "Walls", "Sandman", "Jerome", "Close My Eyes", "What Is My Name", and "So Natural". CD

The end of the road for the Velvet Underground – but a set that's also one of the group's best-remembered albums too! The record marked a big shift for the group – a move to Atco from Verve, continuing to work without John Cale – and the sound is possibly more rockish and straight ahead than some of their previous efforts (certainly compared to White Light/White Heat) – but always with that dark edge that Lou Reed could bring to the music! In a way, the whole thing's almost a recasting of all the advances made in 60s rock, but seen through a lens that shows the darker corners and shadows that have crept up alongside – that kind of subtle, yet extremely powerful quality that Reed would bring to his long run of solo albums in the 70s – but served up here with more of an edge, in the definite VU fashion. Titles include the seminal classics – "Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll", plus "Cool It Down", "New Age", "Head Held High", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", "Oh Sweet Nuthin", and "I Found A Reason". CD

One of those few classic cases where a compilation of tracks was maybe even more influential than the original music itself – as this early 70s collection of 60s material turned out to shape and influence generations for decades to come! Guitar genius Lenny Kaye put the set together famously for Elektra Records in 1972 – as a reminder that, just a few years before, there were some amazing sounds that were not only brewing up in local indie scenes around the country, but also on the radio as well – even though most of those groups had been pushed into relative obscurity by the rise of soft rock, hard rock, and classic rock of the early 70s! The package is a return to the pre-prog years, with an especially strong ear for garage-tuned tracks that would go on to shape later punk, 80s indie, and lots more underground sounds in the future. Titles include "I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" by Electric Prunes, "Dirty Water" by the Standells, "Respect" by Vagrants, "No Time Like The Right Time" by Blues Project, "Invitation To Cry" by Magicians, "You're Gonna Miss Me" by Thirteenth Floor Elevators, "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five, "Baby Please Don't Go" by Amboy Dukes, "My World Fell Down" by Sagittarius, "Open My Eyes" by Nazz, "It's A Happening" by The Magic Mushrooms, "Lies" by The Knickerbockers, "Oh Yeah" by Shadows Of Knight, "Sit Down I Think I Love You" by The Mojo Men, "Just Like Romeo & Juliet" by Michael & The Messengers, "Hey Joe" by The Leaves, and "Farmer John" by The Premiers. CD

Really lovely sounds from the young Francoise Hardy – easily one of the coolest, most confident female singers in France at the time! Hardy is neither the emotive style of postwar passionate singers, nor the too-cool style of the left bank – and instead, she's got this way of mixing her own acoustic guitar with lightly lyrical arrangements that never overshadow her role in the lead – far less of the "yeh yeh" style that other singers were using, and which Hardy is too-often considered with. There's a beautifully gentle feel to the record – even though the set features some larger arrangements from Marcel Hendrix – and titles include "J'Aurais Voulu", "Nous Tous", "On Dit De Lui", "Comme Tant D'Autres", "Saurai Je", "Va Pas Prendre Un Tambour", and "Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour". (French, Rock) CD