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Two really wild records from underground singer/songwriter Arthur Lee Harper – an artist who might have been a folk singer a few years before, but who sounds a lot trippier on this pair of late 60s recordings! Dreams & Images boasts production from Lee Hazlewood and arrangements by Don Randi – both bigger names who work here in really subtle ways – especially Lee, given how different most of Harper's music is from his own recordings. There's a great undercurrent of sadness – those gentle strings and blue notes that Hazlewood might cut through with his own wry wit – but which Arthur takes as a cue to open up with some of the most heartbreaking sides of his vocals. Titles include "Sunshine Soldier", "Children Once Were You", "Blue Museum", "Living Circa 1920", "Valentine Gray", "Dreams & Images", and "Pandora". Love Is The Revolution is a bit more upbeat at times – with some expanded instrumentation that really helps flesh out the more psychedelic corners of Lee's songwriting – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Flowers After Childhood", "Light Up Your Man", "New Day", "Annie Moore", "I/Soldier/Time Love", and "My Woman".

A pre-punk bit of charged, hard grooving Motor City rock from Death – a lost record that takes a tightly coiled, blazing approach to their influences of garage rock and psychedelia – and a record that's all the better in that it was recorded way back in 1975! To put it bluntly, music didn't really sound like this in '75 – and it would be as easy to label the sound as something like, "mid 70s Detroit African American precursor to Husker Du", etc, but this is a honestly a pretty remarkable album for its time that we don't want to trivialize it with a lazy nutshell description. The group does distill their influences in a way that's reminiscent of some midwestern post punk, but Death is pre-punk, making it a really fascinating record, and a blast to crank up in your headphones! Titles include "Keep On Knocking", "Rock-N-Roll Victim", the longer, seemingly Arthur Lee influenced "Let The World Turn" (eventually nailing a fiercer sound the likes of which Love never messed with), "You're A Prisoner", "Freakin Out", "Where Do We Go From Here???" and "Politicians In My Eyes". 7 songs, 27 minutes, and pretty awesome.

What can we say? This is one of the greatest albums of all time – and it's made even better through the addition of a bunch of previously unissued tracks! The record's got a sound that's completely unique – as crack LA garage punk rock meets Hollywood baroque production, and the result is an amazing bit of loud guitar noise backed by strings and horns, all graced by the godlike vocals of the great Arthur Lee. Forever Changes is a milestone in rock – an incredibly bleak document about insanity, escape, and the coming revolution that never happened. Think of all the best moments of Wild In The Streets, Zabriske Point, and Invocation of My Demon Brother rolled into one – and you'll only have a tiny slice of the picture! A record that will haunt us until the day we die – filled with incredible songs like "Alone Again Or", "Old Man", "Red Telephone", and "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark & Hilldale".

Interviews with songwriter Paul Williams (focussing on his soundtracks to Phantom of the Paradise and The Muppet Movie), Chicago R&B radio legend La Donna Tittle, Chuck Dukowski (Black Flag, CD6), blues guitarist Walter Trout (Canned Heat), pop vocalist April March, Franco-genius Bertrand Burgalat, Mecca Normal, and Nardwuar versus Afrika Bambaataa. Plus Jobriath, Def Leppard, a lushly illustrated history of Studio One, archival Pedro Bell cartoons, Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, Voivod, Syd Barrett, Arthur Lee, Johnny Thunders, and over 1000 poorly written record reviews!

Robot Rock n Roll issue featuring a lavishly illustrated encyclopedia of hundreds of robot records/bands/etc. Interviews with Captured! By Robots, Gilbert and George (The Singing Sculpture), Arthur Lee Maye (1950s R&B/Baseball star), Blowfly, The Troggs, Snoop Dogg, The Syndicate of Sound, Richard and the Young Lions, Rocket From The Crypt, Archer Prewitt, Andy Starr and Junior Brown. Plus Bubblegum, Martin & Lewis, Shrimpenstein (written by Dominic Priore), Crispy Ambulance, Sammy Davis, Jr., Art Fein's 1950s Chicago memories, Bryan Gregory obituary, lots of comics, reviews and more.

Hard-hitting Harlem soul – a sweet selection of indie singles from the late 60s and early 70s – most of which are light years away from the mainstream! The sound of many cuts here is quite unique – elements of soul modes of the era, but swirled up and spit out in really fresh ways – often with a bit of grit in the grooves, and some unusual, offbeat production, instrumentation, and rhythms – all of which help keep things cool throughout! We'll be honest in saying that we'd hardly heard most of these singles before, and only knew a few of the artists – but there's a wealth of wonderful music to discover in the package – all quite different than you might find on other funk or soul collections, with almost the revelatory approach we're used to getting from the Numero Group. CD features track-by-track notes on the tunes – and titles include "I'll Do It For You" by Little Willie, "She Said I'd Be A Failure" by Clarence Ashe, "I Pray To Keep Our Love Strong" by Johnnie & Joe, "I Got A Feeling" by Dicky & Billy, "24 Hours Of The Day" by The Gillettes, "Stay Away From My Baby" by Taffie Lee, "Dancing In A Dream World" by Jimmy & Arthur, "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" by Miss Johnnie, "You Needn't Tell Me" by Sity & James, "I Won't Ever Try To Change You" by Henry Hodge, "Money & All Your Love" by Freda Allyne, and "It Doesn't Matter" by Niece Dezel.

Much more of a hard rock affair than the group's third LP – kind of a return to the heavy guitars of Da Capo after the baroque beauty of Forever Changes – but a stone winner nonetheless! Arthur Lee's genius is still firmly in place, and although there's a back to basics rock feel on the record, it's still touched by the madness that haunted earlier records – and crackles with a drugged-up intensity that would still make it a hell of an album, even if it was the only one the band ever recorded! Titles include "Robert Montgomery", "I'm With You", "Your Friend & Mine – Neil's Song", "August", "Always See Your Face", "Talking In My Sleep", "Nothing", and "Dream".

What can we say? This is one of the greatest albums of all time! The record's got a sound that's completely unique – as crack LA garage punk rock meets Hollywood baroque production, and the result is an amazing bit of loud guitar noise backed by strings and horns, all graced by the godlike vocals of the great Arthur Lee. Forever Changes is a milestone in rock – an incredibly bleak document about insanity, escape, and the coming revolution that never happened. Think of all the best moments of Wild In The Streets, Zabriske Point, and Invocation of My Demon Brother rolled into one – and you'll only have a tiny slice of the picture! A record that will haunt us until the day we die – filled with incredible songs like "Alone Again Or", "Old Man", "Daily Planet", "Red Telephone", and "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark & Hilldale".

A deep deep deep collection of work from Arthur Conley – one that really shows the true spectrum of his mighty soul talents – and which goes way past his few overplayed hits of the 60s! The focus here is on slow-burners and mellow groovers – tunes that really bring out the depth of Conley's southern soul vocals – a richness that's right up there with his one-time mentor Otis Redding, recorded brilliantly at the legendary Fame studios! The label-spanning collection brings together material for the Atlantic, Fame, Jotis, Ru-Jac, and Capricorn labels – and has the usual top-shelf Ace Records presentation of detailed notes with vintage photos and label scans as well. Titles include "Let's Go Steady", "God Bless", "Nobody's Fault But Mine", "There's A Place For Us", "Take Me", "Where You Lead Me", "Stop Knocking", "I Want Your Love", "Otis Sleep On", "Put Our Love Together", "Let Nothing Separate", and "Walking On Eggs".

An incredible full album from Dinosaur L – the legendary New York dancefloor project of Arthur Russell! The group's a punky, funky, chunky amalgam of bass thumping, guitar riffing, keyboard filling, and sax honking – all very much in the spirit of Russell's best quirky club work of the time, but with the added sound here of a more expanded approach – one that takes the tunes in a whole new territory than the more famous 12" singles! The tracks on the original set were simply numbered – "1", "2", "3", and so on – and come across almost as free-jamming instrumentals – but this reissue appends the songs with their 12" titles, so "#1" gets parenthetically entitled "You're Gonna Be Clean On Your Bean" and "#5" as "Go Bang!", plus this disc adds several 12" versions that were not on the original LP release, like Francois K's mix of 'Go Bang!" and Larry Levan's mix of "In The Corn Belt". Totally great stuff – as experimental as it is funky!

An incredible album from Dinosaur L – the legendary New York dancefloor project of Arthur Russell! – fleshed out and expanded more than ever before by Sleeping Bag and Get On Down Records! The group's core sound is a punky, funky, chunky amalgam of bass thumping, guitar riffing, keyboard filling, and sax honking – all very much in the spirit of Russell's best quirky club work of the time, but with the added sound here of a more expanded approach – one that takes the tunes in a whole new territory than the more famous 12" singles! The tracks on the original set were simply numbered – "1", "2", "3", and so on – and come across almost as free-jamming instrumentals – but this reissue appends the songs with their 12" titles, so "#1" gets parenthetically entitled "You're Gonna Be Clean On Your Bean" and "#5" as "Go Bang!", plus this disc adds several 12" versions that were not on the original LP release, like Francois K's mix of 'Go Bang!" and Larry Levan's mix of "In The Corn Belt". Totally great stuff – as experimental as it is funky! This 4LP box set edition is amazing – coming in a beautiful hand-pulled silkscreen box – and it includes more Arthur Russell collaborative and/or pseudonymous material for Sleeping Bag with or as Bonzo Goes To Washington, Felix, Sounds Of JHS Brooklyn and Indian Ocean. Other tracks include "School Bell/Treehouse" (Indian Ocean), "You Can't Hold Me Down (Extended Version)" (Felix), "5 Minutes (R-r-r Radio Mix)" (Bonzo Goes To Washington) and more. Also includes an oversized booklet of photos, artwork and artist testimonials – plus notes by Russell biographer Tim Lawrence.

Original pressing of "Boogie Down Bronx", one of the first hip hop tracks about The Bronx, and the early electro classic that Newcleus copied the bassline, drums and vocoder sound from on "Jam On It". The production almost sounds as if this could be a mid 80s Arthur Baker cut.

A breakin' classic – and the record that almost got Arthur Baker into a lot of trouble! This is the US issue of New Order's classic electro-driven "Confusion" – offered up here on Baker's Streetwise label in a semi-legit release, with some extra mixes that take the tune past the original, into great territory for the electro crowd!

Ahh, the dancefloor soul perfection of the beautiful Donna Summer – and classic late 70s production by Giorgio Morodor and Pete Bellotte – songs that are played often, even to this day, but will never be played out! Was this the one that coined the phrase "shipped gold, returned platinum?" We can't remember, but whatever the case, it's one of those sets that used to be ubiquitous, but which now we can hardly ever find in good shape! Includes shorter mixes of "Love To Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love" – plus the hits for the album "On The Radio" and "Enough Is Enough". Other cuts include "Last Dance", "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls", and a shortened version of "MacArthur Park".

Number in the excellent Electro series of compilations on the UK Street Sounds imprint, a great batch of prototypical hip hop and beeping electronic funk from the days when this stuff looked like the sound of the future, and for all intents and purposes practically was! Nothing but classic early and mid 80s numbers with snapping synthesized production, this volume features 9 numbers in all, including "It's Time To Rock" by Great Peso & Mr Nasty, "Fast Life" by Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde, "Techno Scratch" by the Knights of the Turntables, "Egypt, Egypt" by the Egyptian Lover, "Breakers Revenge" by Arthur Baker, "Captain Rock To The Future Shock" by Captain Rock, "Release Yourself" by Aleem, "The Buck Stops Here" by Fantasy Three, and "B Boys Breakdance" by the High Fidelity Three.

Raucous R&B, tight psych and mod soul from the late 60s UK – on a stellar Vol 4 in the great Rare Mod series from Acid Jazz – and nearly everything on it is entirely fresh to our ears! Rare Mod really goes deep, uncovering tunes that are honestly as infectious as the major mod standard bearing hits of the day – with raw drums, killer Hammond organ grooves and gritty vocals that give everything a sharp edge – but it’s commited by groups that proudly flaunt classic soul and R&B influences. Great stuff! Includes "Big Bird" by Dog Soul, "Tell Daddy" by All Night Workers, "Together Forever" by Gary Farr and the T-Bones, "Me And My Baby" by Row Boat, "Cover Girl" by Perfumed Garden, "The Thinking Kind" by The Wild Ones, "Arthur" by Virgin Sleep, "LSD" by Tomorrow's Children and more, 16 in all.

Classic 60s soul jazz from Eddie Lockjaw Davis – more than an album's worth of materal on a single CD! First up is part of the album Misty – great work from the famous team that featured Eddie Lockjaw Davis on tenor and Shirley Scott on organ – recorded here in the mellow, open-ended setting of Prestige Records' Moodsville label – a perfect setting for the late nite stylings of the pair! There's a slight more groove to this session than some of the other Moodsville date – thanks to the presence of Ray Barretto in the group on congas –a longside the bass of George Duvivier and drums of Arthur Edgehill. CD also adds in the track "From This Moment On". Goin To The Meetin is a great one – and one of the rarest Prestige dates from Eddie Lockjaw Davis! The album features a unique group that includes Horace Parlan on piano – in place of the organ that had graced many of Davis' earlier Prestige records – with added groovy energy from Buddy Catlett on bass, Art Taylor on drums, and Willie Bobo on congas – all players who seem to give Davis an even sharper edge than before – not entirely the modern tones of his pairings with Johnny Griffin, but a bit less sleepy than in the company of a Hammond. The congas really kick things up nicely – and there's an undercurrent of fire that almost recalls some of the best Blue Note dates of this nature from the time. Titles include "Little Cougar", "Yes Yes", "Pass The Hat", "Goin To Meetin", and "Oh Babee".

An electro pop classic – and one of the greatest tunes by New Edition! The track's got some nice street beats from Arthur Baker, and catchy lead vocals that sound a lot like the Jackson 5 at their best!

Amazing Art Pepper – work from a 1981 tour of Japan, all of it unreleased – and presented here in a package that sparkles alongside some of his best later albums! Side one is mindblowing – an album-side track that has Art stretching out in so many different ways – voicing these really creative lines on the tune "Make A List", as the rhythm section of George Cables on piano, David Williams on bass, and Carl Burnett on drums make these snapping grooves to keep the whole thing going. Side two features two slightly shorter numbers – "Arthur's Blues" and "Everything Happens To Me" – both wonderful examples of the genius that Pepper was expressing near the end of his life! All tracks previously unreleased – and issued here in a limited vinyl format!

Raucous R&B, tight psych and mod soul from the late 60s UK – on a stellar Vol 4 in the great Rare Mod series from Acid Jazz – and nearly everything on it is entirely fresh to our ears! Rare Mod really goes deep, uncovering tunes that are honestly as infectious as the major mod standard bearing hits of the day – with raw drums, killer Hammond organ grooves and gritty vocals that give everything a sharp edge – but it’s commited by groups that proudly flaunt classic soul and R&B influences. Great stuff! Includes "Big Bird" by Dog Soul, "Tell Daddy" by All Night Workers, "Together Forever" by Gary Farr and the T-Bones, "Me And My Baby" by Row Boat, "Cover Girl" by Perfumed Garden, "The Thinking Kind" by The Wild Ones, "Arthur" by Virgin Sleep, "LSD" by Tomorrow's Children and more, 16 in all.

Classic 60s soul jazz from Eddie Lockjaw Davis – more than an album's worth of materal on a single CD! First up is part of the album Misty – great work from the famous team that featured Eddie Lockjaw Davis on tenor and Shirley Scott on organ – recorded here in the mellow, open-ended setting of Prestige Records' Moodsville label – a perfect setting for the late nite stylings of the pair! There's a slight more groove to this session than some of the other Moodsville date – thanks to the presence of Ray Barretto in the group on congas –a longside the bass of George Duvivier and drums of Arthur Edgehill. CD also adds in the track "From This Moment On". Goin To The Meetin is a great one – and one of the rarest Prestige dates from Eddie Lockjaw Davis! The album features a unique group that includes Horace Parlan on piano – in place of the organ that had graced many of Davis' earlier Prestige records – with added groovy energy from Buddy Catlett on bass, Art Taylor on drums, and Willie Bobo on congas – all players who seem to give Davis an even sharper edge than before – not entirely the modern tones of his pairings with Johnny Griffin, but a bit less sleepy than in the company of a Hammond. The congas really kick things up nicely – and there's an undercurrent of fire that almost recalls some of the best Blue Note dates of this nature from the time. Titles include "Little Cougar", "Yes Yes", "Pass The Hat", "Goin To Meetin", and "Oh Babee".

Post-Atlantic work from Robin Kenyatta – but an album that follows in a very similar mode! This date was done for the Wolf subsidiary of TK Records, but it's got a very hip New York groove – one that's almost even more righteous than some of Robin's earlier work, with some excellent arrangements from Arthur Jenkins – who's managed to fill the set with a great sense of soul! Kenyatta's alto and soprano sax are set up with keyboards from Jenkins and Richard Tee, plus bass, guitar, percussion, and some great backing vocals at points – used sparingly, but in ways that almost remind us of Oneness Of Juju at some of their smoother moments. Kenyatta's reeds have a Plunky-like feel too – more inside than the Juju work of the mid 70s, but pointing towards Plunky's smoother sounds to come. Given that the vocal group features Gwen Guthrie, Vivian Cherry, and Patti Austin, you can bet they sound pretty sweet – and titles on the set include "Love Me", "Oh Oh Oh", "You", "Bluebird", and "Of Life & Love".

A weird version of this one – almost folk-funk, with sweet arrangements from Brooks Arthur!