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A nice later effort from War – one that really has them grooving in a great way! If you never got past the first two tracks on side one – "Galaxy" and "Baby Face" – you might imagine this album's just a middle of the road attempt to move in on the disco sound that was becoming popular. But as you delve into the album further, you can hear their trademark Latin tinged rhythms and breezy, jazzy soloing on harmonica and guitar. Mellow California Latin soul, including the great extended instrumental "The Seven Tin Soldiers", plus "Hey Senorita" and "Sweet Fighting Lady".

Classic work by War! "Galaxy" is a later funky classic by the group – strutting out with some sweet funky riffing, ensemble vocals, and a powerful groove that's always been a dancefloor pleaser!

Great music – made even better! You've probably heard us rave about the work of Janko Nilovic – the Paris-based composer who did some incredible work in the 70s – a mad blend of beats, grooves, voices, and odd instrumental touches. And while we love Janko's work on its own, it sound extra-great in this remix set by Eric Caspar – which pulls out all the best sounds in Janko's older recordings, and offers them up in new versions that still have a lot of the mad spirit of the original. As a whole, we never seem to like remix projects as much as the originals, but in this case, we really think the tracks are as good – and in some cases even better – than Janko's normal recordings! Titles include remixed versions of "Batucada Pop", "Paris Le Bourget", "Disco Tonic", "Paris Safari", "Super Weekend", "Vibraphone Interlude", and "Boulmich Bossa".

A sublime trio set from Strata East mainman Stanley Cowell – a set cut later than his run at that famous label, and in a mode that's a bit more straightforward too – but still equally soulful, and handled with a conception that's far above most of his contemporaries! The group is perfectly balanced – Cowell on acoustic piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Roy Haynes on drums – all players that have strong melodic impulses, which really bring a sense of lyricality to the music. There's a majestic flow to most numbers – different than the modal impulses of Stanley's music a decade before, but still quite powerful, even at mellow moments. The set features a great remake of "Equipoise", plus the tracks "Lady Blue", "Musa & Maimoun", "Dr Jackle", "November Mood", and "Dave's Chant".

Nice stuff – although very different than Stan's albums for Strata East – smoother and funkier, with a west coast Fantasy Records kind of groove overall! Vocals are by Loretta Divine and Charles B Fowlkes – and the album features work by Eddie Henderson, Julian Priester, and Cliff Coulter – all grooving together in a mode that's still soul jazz, but which takes on the tighter R&B-ish approach showing up in Henderson's work of the late 70s. Titles include "The Stoker", "I Am Waiting", "What Do I Do", and "Here I Am".

A strangely varied LP from Stanley – one that features a mix of electric and acoustic piano tunes, mostly all played solo, but with the complexity and depth of imagination that always makes Cowell's work so great. The real gems are the electric tunes – like "Sienna – Welcome My Darling, and Waiting For The Moment", "Coup De Grass", and "Today What A Peaceful Day".

Tremendous work from Johnny Griffin – one of those players whose talents never dimmed at all – and who's blowing here with all the same sharp intensity he first brought to his initial work in the 50s! The date's a tight acoustic session – with Johnny's bold tenor firmly in the lead, let loose on these amazing solo lines that never seem to dim in terms of soul and introspection – backed with just the right amount of rhythm and care by the trio of Ronnie Mathews on piano, Ray Drummond on bass, and Keith Copeland on drums. Griff's the clear star of the session, but Mathews is mighty nice too – and titles include "A Monk's Dream", "The Way It Is", "Fifty Six", "I Should Care", and "When We Were One".

A bit of a mystery session – clearly recorded in the late 40s, but without as many session details as we might like! Still, the work's great – early Milt Jackson with a nice boppish edge, recording here with Sonny Stitt on alto, Sir Charles Thompson on piano, and Russell Jacquet on trumpet. All other players are unnamed, but tracks are short and have a lot of energy – and the album's worth it for Stitt alone. Titles include "Be Bop Blues", "Red Shoes", "3rd Song", "Fine & Dandy", "Royal Wedding", and "Ratio & Proportion".

A beautifully soulful record from the great Dewey Redman – straighter than some of his 70s recordings, but in a really great way that shows that Dewey could still be quite compelling in another sort of way! The sound of his tenor here is wonderful – blowing with a rich, full, imaginative sound that never lets up – save for the few points when Redman picks up another instrument – such as musette on one track, and harp on another – both of which he uses to shade things in with slight spiritual tones. A few tracks get a bit more outside, but these moments soon return to the fold of the soulful tenor – and the group features Fred Simmons on piano, Mark Helias on bass, and Eddie Moore on drums, percussion, and saw. Titles include "Alone Again Naturally", "Need To Be", "Unknown Tongue", "One Beautiful Day", and "Daystar Nightlight".

Not much of a cover, but a great cooker from the legendary drummer – with work by Nat Adderley on cornet, Dexter Gordon on tenor, Ira Sullivan on soprano and tenor sax, George Cables on piano, and Ron Carter on bass!

Way more than just a bebop revival album – thanks to a hip array of reedmen that includes Art Pepper, John Klemmer, Johnny Griffin, Joe Farrell, Harold Land, and Joe Henderson – and rhythm by a trio with Stanley Cowell on piano!

Twin pianos from Tommy Flanagan and Hank Jones – with no other instrumentation – played in some great ways that provide an equal balance of rhythmic pulse and lyrical melody! The set's got a sweet stereo split – so that Tommy's in the right channel, and Hank is in the left – and the pair do a great job of bringing new life to a host of bop classics, yet in an all-piano style that has the music billowing out in these great waves of sound! Titles include "Robbins Nest", "Confirmation", "Jordu", "Our Delight", and "Lady Bird".

Here's where it started getting weird for Bolan & T Rex – with strange bits of soul and other elements in the shiny, spacey veneer! Includes "Venus Loon", "Sound Pit", "Galaxy", "Change", "Teenage Dream", "Interstellar Soul", "The Meathawk Immaculate", "Nameless Wildness", "Liquid Gang", "The Leopards Featuring Gerdenia & The Mighty Slug" and more.

80s groove from the Ingram Family – a record that features the core vocals of Ron Aikens and Galaxy, plus plenty of great backing funk from the Ingrams! The style here is a great mix of boogie, street soul, and bits of electro – with a style that's a bit like Aleem from the same period, but a bit funkier overall. Ron's lead vocals can be nice and sweet on the mellower tracks, and on the funkier ones the rest of the trio come in and chant with the chorus in a sweet ensemble mode. There's also plenty of great keyboards in the mix too – some with great squishy and splashy bits that really make the tunes sound great! Butch Ingram produced, and titles include "We're Here To Rock You", "You Got It", "Party", "Spend Some Time", "Come Let Me Love You", and "Give Your Dog A Bone".

The first compilation to really do justice to jazz funk legend Eddie Henderson – and a great one, too! Henderson's spacey trumpet style graced some of the best Blue Note and Capitol jazz sides to come out during the 70s – and his open-ended snakey way of playing was very different than many of his 70s contemporaries on the instrument. Plus, Eddie never minded a little bit of smooth production, and was certainly one of the more soulful players of his generation – forging a unique style that was in the same camp as Donald Byrd's sweet fusion work for Blue Note in the mid 70s, but with a spacey style that's really great. Nearly every cut on the CD features production work by Skip Drinkwater – who was to Eddie what Larry Mizell was to Donald Byrd – and most of this work has been long unavailable for years! Titles include "Kudu", "Explodition", "Involuntary Bliss", "Inside You", "Galaxy", "Butterfly", "Say You Will", "Amoroso", "Open Eyes", "Prance On", and "Hopscotch". Excellent work throughout – performed in the company of some of the 70s best funky fusion players!

Funky fusion doesn't get any funkier than this – and the album's one of the greatest 70s recordings by jazz funk trumpeter Eddie Henderson! The album's got a harder edge than a lot of Eddie's other records of the decade – razor sharp rhythms crackling away underneath a sublime space-heavy mix of keyboards, bass, saxes, and Eddie's funky trumpet. The group includes work by Bennie Maupin on reeds, George Duke on keyboards, Julian Priester on trombone, and Harvey Mason on drums – and the great Skip Drinkwater is at the production chair, cutting the grooves here with a lot more fire than in some of his later work! The whole thing's great – and titles include "Involuntary Bliss", "Galaxy", "Kumquat Kids", and "Explodition".

One of only two albums cut by the Four Souls group of drummer Lenny McBrowne – a really cooking combo that should have gotten greater exposure back in the day! The west coast group were clearly one of the hippest acts working on their scene at the time – as they've got a unique blend of soul jazz and modernism – one that cooks with Jazz Crusaders-like energy at points, but also has some sharper edges too – a bit in the vein of the wonderful JFK Quintet from the DC scene. Players in the group include Terry Trotter on piano, Don Sleet on trumpet, Daniel Jackson on sax, and Herbie Lewis on bass. Jackson's a real standout in the group – a player with a great edge and real sense of feeling, and one we'd love to hear more of. Titles include "Soul Sisters", "Invitation", "Dearly Beloved", "Lazinka's Tune", "Cerise", and "McBrowne's Galaxy".

A lost funky soul LP by Starfire, billed here as "The Baddest Five Stars in the Galaxy", and hailing from Richmond, VA! This is a silver-covered repressing of the band's second album – done on the obscure Dynamic Artists label in Virginia – and it's a great collection of the group's early work, cut back at a time when they were soaring along on a strong Earth Wind & Fire vibe – mixing up funk and soulful ballads nicely! There's some good spacey production touches that further enforce the "star" quality of their name – pushing things slightly into the stratosphere, in a way that sets them apart. Titles include the catchy midtempo modern number "Make The Most Of It", plus "I Want To Sing This Song For You", "Get Up Everybody", "Dancing & Singing", and "Super Sensuous Women".

Spacey, club ready remixes of ascending hip hop-gospel-soul spirits Washington Projects – plus the full Light Up The Dark album as a bonus disc! Washington Projects blend modern hip hop and R&B singing and rhymes beautifully well, with inspirational songs that are, well, genuinely inspirational. Space Time Continuum is filled heavily thumping, pulsing, floor-shaking remixes from the duos previous couple of albums. Titles include "Work (Intergalactic Public Transit Mix)", "Time (Spiral Galaxy Mix)", "My Dream (Wicker Park Mix", "Zephyr Wings (Chicago Discothaque Mix)", "Yesterday (Northern Lights Mix)" and more. Includes the Light Up The Dark album as a bonus disc, with "Light Up The Dark", "You Are Beautiful", "My Dream", "Stay", "Go", "Justus", "Momma", "Heaven Here I Come" and more.

Weird work from Wicked Witch – tunes that are half funky, half punky – with a mysterious sound that's all their own! At some level, Wicked Witch might be an offshoot of the P-Funk empire – a lost mission to a dark planet way out in the galaxy – trapped out there on their own, and slowly losing touch with the original groove of the Mothership as they mess around with heavy basslines, spacey keyboards, and some very stark rhythms – sometimes played live, sometimes from a drum machine. There's a bit of vocals in the mix, but they're usually second-tier next to the rhythms – which themselves take plenty of weird twists and turns. Billed as "evil psycho machine funk" – which is a pretty accurate description! Titles include "Fancy Dancer", "Erratic Behaviour", "X Rated", "Vera's Back", and "Electric War (inst)". CD features bonus tracks "Fancy Dancer (previously unreleased rmx)", and "Electric War (voc)".

A heavy dose of funky jazz – and one that goes way past the obvious too – to include some real gems from the 70s that even we'd passed up! The package is filled with stellar jazz from the Fantasy Records family – Prestige, Pablo, Galaxy and Fantasy proper – choice numbers by The Blackbyrds, Stanley Cowell, Charles Earland, Patrice Rushen and others – funky jazz, soul, boogie and Brazil-flavored numbers from the top shelf of the diverse period! It's a tight, well chosen compilation with numbers you simply could not overlook in putting a set like this together – productions by the Mizells, Donald Byrd, Earland and others – but there's a few of leftfield choices, too. Simply a great little snapshot of the funky jazz and soul period and the family of labels that generated so much of the most creative music to come from it! 14 tracks and nearly 80 minutes of grooves: Includes "Happy Music" by Blackbyrds, "Close To You" by Marlon McClain, "Let Me Love You (Let Me Be Me)" by Stanley Cowell, "Taj Mahal" by Paulinho Da Costa, "Nov Ano" by Azar Lawrence, "Moon Dreams" by Flora Purim, "Montevideo" by Opa, "Glide" by Pleasure, "Shout It Out" by Patrice Rushen, "If Only I Could Prove To You" by The 3 Pieces and more.

Features work by Galaxy Disco Band, Hot City, Brian Newman, The Disco Gang, and The Diskoteers!

A classic compilation of material from the hip later years of Impulse – put together with a title that's a bit misleading, given that some of this stuff was clearly getting some play on underground FM radio! There's some key righteous classics here – like "Attica Blues" and "Money Blues" by Archie Shepp, "Astral Traveling" by Pharoah Sanders, "Galaxy In Turiya" and "Blue Nile" by Alice Coltrane, and "Worry Bout It Later" by Cliff Coulter – alongside other tracks that include "Larry Of Arabia" by Chico Hamilton, "Wave" by Ahmad Jamal, and "Crystalized Tears" by John Klemmer.

If this is disco, point us in the direction of Studio 54! The album's one of Ra's greatest from the 70s – recorded in Italy in 1978, and featuring some incredibly otherworldly keyboards. The track "Disco 3000" is an incredible workout on synthesizer, with a tiny bit of drum machine, a little "Space Is The Place" breakdown, and all of the wild sound you'd expect from a Sun Ra album. The cut goes on for quite some time, and is really fantastic. Side two of the record features two more long tracks – the sweetly soulful "Friendly Galaxy", a great soul jazz number, and "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens", which has spooky organ, frenetic bass, and somber percussion!

A cool collection of gems from the 70s years at Blue Note Records – a stretch that's often overlooked by folks digging for older hardbop from the 50s and 60s, but a tremendous time for the label, when it really burst forward with new sounds! BNLA was the initial part of the catalog number during this generation – hence the title – and the collection brings together a wealth of funk, soul, and fusion tracks from this crucial Blue Note stretch. The package features 20 tracks on 2CDs – including "People Make The World Go Round" by Bobby Hutcherson, "Mango Sunrise" by John Lee & Gerry Brown, "Chunky" by Ronnie Foster, "Abdullah & Abraham" by Chico Hamilton, "Galaxy" by Eddie Henderson, "His Blessings" by McCoy Tyner, "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" by Marlena Shaw, "Betcha By Golly Wow" by Grant Green, "City Country City" by Lou Donaldson, "Lansana's Priestess" by Donald Byrd, "Harlem River Drive" by Bobbi Humphrey, "La Malanga" by Bobby Hutcherson, and "Tuesday Heartbreak" by Ronnie Foster.

A long-overdue collection that dips into the huge disco legacy of the New York-based De-Lite label (and related imprints Red Coach and Vigor) – most famously home to Kool & The Gang, but also the home of a lot of other good east coast groups, most of whom were important in those key mid 70s transitional years between ensemble funk and disco. This set brings together 15 tracks from the label – including a number of gems that haven't been reissued before – and titles include "Slip & Dip" and "Casanova" by Coffee, "Galaxy Of Love", and "Say A Prayer For Me" by Crown Heights Affair, "I Wanna Give You Tomorrow" by Benny Troy, "Wanna Spend My Whole Life With You Baby" by The Street People, "Zone (12" mix)" by Rhythm Makers, "Hustle Wit Every Muscle" by The Kay Gees, "Party Music" by Pat Lundi, "Juice It Up" by Hotline, "Mighty Body" by Leon Bryant, and "It Really Hurts Me Girl (1979 Tom Moulton rmx)" by The Carstairs.

A tasty little disco album that's a lot better than you might think! In some ways, this might be Crown Heights Affair's most perfectly realized album – as it's got lots of long tracks that mix the group's always-tight instrumental style with a spacey soul sensibility that's quite captivating. None of the cuts are standout slammers, but the album's pretty nice as a whole, and the songwriting gives the group plenty of good lyrics to work with. Titles include "Galaxy Of Love", "Dream World", "Things Are Going To Get Better", "I'm Gonna Love You Forever", and "Say A Prayer For Two".

An amazingly unique little group – one that kind of stepped in the Impulse Records back door from the Coltrane galaxy, but which features some very unique aspects overall! As the cover states, the ensemble's led by bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones – and also features McCoy Tyner from Coltrane's quartet – yet the real charm of the record comes from the reed men, who include Prince Lasha on flute and clarinet, Sonny Simmons on alto and English horn, and Charles Davis on baritone sax! All players are free-thinking modernists, with ties to some of the farther reaches of 60s jazz – yet they work here in a beautifully inside mode, similar to Lasha's excellent Insight album on CBS UK – a vibe that takes all the most wonderful aspects of the Coltrane generation, but pushes them even further with some deeply personal expressions. Tracks include the seminal "Half & Half" – plus "Aborigine Dance In Scotland", "Oriental Flower", and "Nuttin Out Jones", and "Gettin On Way".

A huge change from the early sound of The Stylistics – as the group have moved to Philly International, and are really shining in the light of the Gamble & Huff galaxy! The album's got a lot more grooves than before, but still offers up plenty of space for the trademark mellow ballads that made The Stylistics a genre-transforming group on the east coast scene – coming across here with those beautiful harmonies of the first few records, but also a bit more maturity, and confidence too. Titles include "I Have You You Have Me", "Found A Love You Couldn't Handle", "Hurry Up This Way Again", and "Is There Something On Your Mind".

A long-overdue collection of work from the legendary Jack Arel – one of the lesser-known sound library composers of the late 60s and early 70s – but a true giant in his funky field, as you'll hear by the great music on this set! Arel is French, but he often wrote for British sources – including the Prisoner TV show – so his music has a great blend of Parisian pop modes and chunkier London beats – a style that almost mixes together some of the funkier jazz sensibilities of the sound library generation with the tighter, more romping rhythms that were usually penned for TV and commercial use. The first half of this set features 25 originals by Arel – some in collaboration with Pierre Dutor or Jean-Claude Petit – and often done with trippier touches that include fuzzy guitar or funky flute! The second half features remixes of the originals – tunes that are often a bit longer, and almost restructured as whole new songs. Originals include "Shore Of Sumatra", "Sideral Rhythmic", "De Paris A Liverpool", "Jungle Soul", "Game Trap", "Picture Of Summer", "Train Bleu", "Strange Galaxy", and "Sundown". Remixes include "Drugstore Party" remixed by Le Tone, "Jungle Soul" remixed by Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra, "The Night Squad" by Danny Wild & Goldfinger, "Loco Robo" by Luke Vibert, "Chicago Girl" remixed by Barth, "Electric Railman" remixed Mowo, and "Crystal Abyss" by Telepopmusik.

If this is disco, point us in the direction of Studio 54! The album's one of Ra's greatest from the 70s – recorded in Italy in 1978, and featuring some incredibly otherworldly keyboards that are some of his most enigmatic on record! The track "Disco 3000" is an incredible workout on synthesizer, with a tiny bit of drum machine, a little "Space Is The Place" breakdown, and all of the wild sound you'd expect from a Sun Ra album. The cut goes on for quite some time, and is really fantastic. Side two of the record features two more long tracks – the sweetly soulful "Friendly Galaxy", a great soul jazz number, and "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens", which has spooky organ, frenetic bass, and somber percussion!

Hard grooving work from the middle years of the Return To Forever group – featuring the line up with Chick Corea on keys, synths & percussion, Stanley Clarke on bass, organ and more, Lenny White on percussion and Al DiMeola on guitars. The title may lead you to believe the set is a mellow onecentered on themes of introspection given some of the song titles, but it's actually a fairly walloping set of spacey jazz rock – with heavy drums, funky bass & synths. Titles include "Vulcan Worlds", "Where Have I Loved You Before", "The Shadow Of The Lo", "Where Have I Danced With You Before", "Beyond The Seventh Galaxy", "Earth Juice" and "Song To The Pharoah Kings".

Space seemed to be a logical direction for Lenny White to go – since his high-powered fusion drumming style is enough to power him right out of the galaxy! This album's a hard heavy batch of funky fusion tunes – with lots of hard drums by Lenny, and spacey spacey keyboards by the great Don Blackman! Patrick Gleeson had a hand in some of the synthesizer work, and he gives the album a similar astral sound to the work he did on the Mercury label at the same time. There's a lot of guitars in the lead, but they sound pretty nice next to Lenny's heavy drums – and titles include "Heavy Metal Monster", "Assault", "Climax", "Universal Love", "The Great Pyramid", and "Remembering".

Weird work from Wicked Witch – tunes that are half funky, half punky – with a mysterious sound that's all their own! At some level, Wicked Witch might be an offshoot of the P-Funk empire – a lost mission to a dark planet way out in the galaxy – trapped out there on their own, and slowly losing touch with the original groove of the Mothership as they mess around with heavy basslines, spacey keyboards, and some very stark rhythms – sometimes played live, sometimes from a drum machine. There's a bit of vocals in the mix, but they're usually second-tier next to the rhythms – which themselves take plenty of weird twists and turns. Billed as "evil psycho machine funk" – which is a pretty accurate description! Titles include "Under Your Spell", "Fancy Dancer", "Erratic Behaviour", "X Rated", "Vera's Back", and "Electric War (inst)".

The grooviness continues! This set's a wonderful mix of obscure soundtrack grooves – plus a few other choice Latin bits – with an out-of-this world groove that's totaly excellent! The Mood Mosaic series is one of our favorite-ever – as they really go out of their way to pull together excellent little bits from rare sources, blending each volume with a thematic intensity that makes each individual track sparkle in the mix! Titles include "Jungle Fever" by Sheba, "Ape Shuffle" by Lalo Schifrin, "Willie Escapes" by JJ Johnson, "Crack Shot" by Max Harris, "Moneyrunner" by John Schroeder, "Free Tarrant" by Roy Budd, "Man With The Golden Gun" by London Royal Orchestra, "Galaxy A Go Go" by Jerry Goldsmith, "Dope Bust" by Flora Purim & Buddy De Franco, and "Mini Manhunt" by David Shire.

Beautiful late work from Art Pepper – and a set that definitely lives up to the samba promised in its name! The groove here is a bit more fluid than usual for Art at this time in his career – and that's saying a lot, given the open-ended style of his Galaxy and Contemporary work – and in a way, it's the rhythm section that really seems to drive the record – George Cables on piano, Michael Formanek on bass, and Eddie Marshall on drums – really stretching out on the album's long, live tracks to give Pepper plenty of dancing rhythms underneath his alto lines. The set features two great Brazilian-tinged groovers – "Samba Mom Mom" and a version of "Blue Bossa" – plus "Art Meets Mr Beautiful" and "Here's That Rainy Day".

If this is disco, point us in the direction of Studio 54! The album's one of Ra's greatest from the 70s – recorded in Italy in 1978, and featuring some incredibly otherworldly keyboards that are some of his most enigmatic on record! The track "Disco 3000" is an incredible workout on synthesizer, with a tiny bit of drum machine, a little "Space Is The Place" breakdown, and all of the wild sound you'd expect from a Sun Ra album. The cut goes on for quite some time, and is really fantastic. Side two of the record features two more long tracks – the sweetly soulful "Friendly Galaxy", a great soul jazz number, and "Dance Of The Cosmo Aliens", which has spooky organ, frenetic bass, and somber percussion!

The title's no joke, as Earth Wind & Fire are definitely part of the electric universe of early 80s Columbia Records – the galaxy that also includes Herbie Hancock during his electro years! As a result, there's a lot more keyboards and electric rhythms in the set than before – a new setting for the still-positive expressions of the group – one that works especially well on the mellower cuts! These really have the group opening up their best ballad modes – stretching out to crossover nicely, yet still with a quality level that's head and shoulders above most of their contemporaries. Of course, the sweet vocals of Philip Bailey really help put over some of the best cuts too! Titles include "Moonwalk", "Touch", "Could It Be Right", "Sweet Sassy Lady", "Spirit Of A New World", and "We're Living In Our Own Time".