The lone album from the Bubble Puppy – a monumental effort of late 60s hard grooving psychedelia – and one of very best albums to come out of the original Texas psych scene! A couple of the Pup's labelmates at United Artists get a lot of revelry all these years later, and rightfully so – who would argue the importance of The Red Krayola and 13th Floor Elevators – but Bubbly Puppy deserve to be on that top shelf, too. The sound is tight and hard hitting, with trippy lyricism and groovy group harmonies, while the guitars range from cathartic fuzz to some surprisingly pretty melodicism. Not as far out as some of their peers, but the groove is absolutely killer. Titles include the benchmark single "Hot Smoke And Sasafrass", plus "Todd's Tune", "I've Got To Reach You", "Lonely", "Hurry Sundown", "Elizabeth", "It's Safe To Say", "Beginning" and much more. CD

John Savage offers us a mighty nice look at the years of post-disco, and post-post-punk – served up here in a great mix of music from a time when soulful styles were mixing it up with returning rock on the dancefloor! The work here is from a time when the UK scene was having big global impact with a new sort of sound – often with a fair dose of electric energy, sometimes darker and more industrialized, sometimes lighter and catchy – and a perfect fit for some of the street soul styles happing in the US as well! Most acts here are British, but there's a few key American groups two – blended together in the kind of cuts that made clubs like Danceteria or The Hacienda such a delight back in the day. As usual, the notes are superb – a special Savage touch – and titles include "Techno City (voc)" by Cybotron, "Telephone Operator" by Pete Shelly, "Soweto" by Malcolm McLaren, "All Tomorrow's Parties" by Japan, "Bright Lights" by The Special AKA, "What Presence" by Orange Juice, "No Sell Out" by Malcom X mixed by Keith LeBlanc, "I Want You" by Cabaret Voltaire, "Think Fast" by Pamela Joy, "Looking From A Hilltop" by Section 25, "Why" by Bronski Beat, "Sunspots" by Julian Cope, "Never Understand" by Jesus & Mary Chain, "Heat" by Soft Cell, "The Rock Steady Grew" by Rock Steady Crew, "Disappearing Act" by Shalamar, "Lined Up" by Shriekback, and "Life's A Scream" by A Certain Ratio. CD