The incredible follow-up to I Wish My Brother George Was Here – and a record that was initially underappreciated, mostly because it was such a radical departure from the George – but one that's finally gotten the same sort of appreciation all these years later! Whereas I Wish My Brother George Was Here was sort of the loopy, semi-comical cousin to the tonally heavier G-Funk sound, No Need For Alarm has a tighter, somewhat little harder hitting sound – more akin to the jazzy Hiero beats you've come to know and love! The record is definitely one of the high spots in Del's career, the kind of set we wish he kept on cutting – with titles that include "Catch A Bad One", "Wack MCs", "No Need For Alarm", "Boo Boo Heads", "Worldwide", "No More Worries", "Wrong Place", "In & Out" and "Miles To Go". LP, Vinyl record album

A really well-done overview of key psychedelic tracks on the UK scene at the end of the 60s – work that crosses a few different modes, to include beat groups getting trippy, prog acts at a time when they were still a bit more compact, and pop singers really letting their hair down and their freak flag fly! Given the huge amount of great work the Grapefruit label has done to give us CD collections of work from this time, the album's almost a distillation of all those years of research and record presenting – a 30 track collection that includes cuts by The Attack, Dantalian's Chariot, Fruit Machine, The Mirage, Rupert's People, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, John's Children, 23rd Turnoff, The Misunderstood, Picadilly Line, Apple, Episode 6, Blossom Toes, Paper Blitz Tissue, The Shame, Plastic Penny, and many others. LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever album of solo bass work from Kham Meslien – a player whose contributions have graced a number of different groups in recent years, but who maybe sounds even more powerful here on his own! There's a warmth to the music that makes the solo bass performance very different than the sort of set you'd hear on ECM – a lot more like French material of the 70s, especially some of the music of bassist Henri Texier in his youth – with colors and feelings that come from beyond the boundaries of jazz, but worked together with a warmth on the instrument that balances improvisation with a subtle sense of structure. Titles include "Ta Confiance", "Mauza", "The Alarm", "Kar Kar Kar", "Gnawen", "F Comme", and "La Saule Pleureur" – and Anthony Joseph makes a guest vocal appearance on "La Coleur". LP, Vinyl record album

An East Bay classic from Spice 1 – and a great little record from that time before the west coast became a bit too much West Coast! There's a thuggish, early gangsta vibe that runs through the whole set – but as with some of the more enduring Cali hip hop of the time, the set's got a stripped-down vibe that is maybe more down to earth – a focus on core elements that help shape each track in a slightly different way, in a set that's very song-focused, and doesn't lose its way too much in a mix of shouts, skits, and samples. Production help comes from Ant Banks, Too $hort, and others – and there's some nice guitar in the mix from Rob Bacon too. Titles include "Dumpin Em In Ditches", "187 He Wrote", "Don't Ring The Alarm (The Heist)", "Smoke Em Like A Blunt", "I'm The Murderer", "The Murda Show", "RIP", "Clip & The Trigga", and "Trigga Gots No Heart". LP, Vinyl record album

Pure dynamite throughout – a really killer batch of cuts that easily steps between 60s and 70s styles in Jamaican music – shaking things up with soulful late 60s numbers, funky 70s gems, and some dubbier tracks from a time when production styles really opened up! As with other volumes in this excellent series, the choice of cuts is wonderful – really well-chosen tracks that go past the hits, but also feature some numbers that have become underground classics over the years – but all at a level that's got a lot more bite than some of the oft-played reggae that's been keeping dorm rooms running for decades. There's a total of 14 tracks in all – and titles include "Rocker's Rock" by Augustus Pablo, "No No No" by KC White, "Ring The Alarm" by Tenor Saw, "One Two" by Sister Nancy, "Woman Of The Ghetto" by Kim Harriott, "Heatwave" by Johnny Organ, "King Tubby Dub" by Tommy McCook & The Agrovators, "Earthquake" by Jackie Mittoo, and "Ready Or Not" by Johnny Osborne. LP, Vinyl record album

Sam Dees was one of the greatest unsung talents in 70s soul music – an important writer, arranger, and general background talent who helped so many other singers hit the heights – but who hardly ever issued much work under his own name! Apart from key singles and an important album on Atlantic, the recorded legacy of Dees isn't what it should be – given his impact on music, especially deep soul – but fortunately, sets like this have come along to correct that lack! As part of Sam's creative process, he would often record songs first on his own – not as rough demo tracks, but as surprisingly well done studio versions to illustrate the material – tracks that were often better than later versions of his tunes, and most of the other commercial soul on the market. This sweet set brings together 12 of those tracks – private recordings from Sam, of songs he'd later give to singers like Loletta Holloway, Ben E King, and others – an essential record from the great Dees, pressed up on super-heavy vinyl! Titles include the previously unissued "Married But Not To Each Other" – plus "Good Guys Don't Always Win", "Who Are You Gonna Love", "Con Me", "Only Lonely People", "False Alarms", "Standing In The Wings Of A Heartache", "The World Don't Owe You Nothing", and "Black Tattler". LP, Vinyl record album