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A pair of mid 70s album by Bobby Bare – the ambitious, concept-driven Hard Time Hungrys – and the easygoing The Winners & Other Losers – two worthy efforts from one the most unique voices and personalities of his era! Both albums are heavy with songs written by Bare family friend and frequent songwriting partner Shel Silverstein. Johnny Cash gets all the mainstream attention for collaborating with Shel on "A Boy Named Sue", but Shel and Bare have a far richer collaborative history together. Home For The Hungrys tells the story of the impoverished, with the title track, "Back Home In Huntsville Again", "Bottles And Boxes", "Truck Driver, Truck Driver", "The Unemployment Line" and more. The Winners And Other Losers is simply a great batch of tunes, sans concept, with the enduring "Drop Kick Me Jesus", "My Better Half", "Keeping Rosie Proud Of Me" and more. 24 tracks in all.

Compelling work by this Chicago combo – a really unique ensemble led by a trombonist with a wide range of skills! Big James claims James Brown as a big inspiration, but he also came of age in the Chicago blues scene – which is where his horn-heavy combo has mostly found a home, playing their own Windy City variant of rootsy funk! There's definitely a blues bent to the music, but the sound is quite different than most other contemporary groups on the scene, too – not just because James' trombone is firmly in the lead, but also because the group have a great ear for strong funk and deep soul roots too. Titles include a cover of the P-Funk gem "Qualified 2 Satisfy" – plus original tunes "Da Coldest Man I Ever Knew", "Low Down Dirty Blues", "Never Loved Any 1 Like U", "A Happy Fool", and "Da Best Love I Never Had".

A great mix of glam grooves and electronics – served up with almost the same sort of gothy undercurrent you see in the title! Gina X is probably a singer more rooted in the disco/downtown modes of artists like Christina or The Waitresses – and this record definitely would have been right at home on Z Records. But some tracks also percolate with more of a Euro/electro vibe that seems to skirt punk attitude without ever picking up its aesthetics – that cool late 70s German way of dabbling in so many genres at once, yet never pledging full allegiance to any! Titles include "No GDM", "Nice Mover", "Be A Boy", "Exhibitionism", "Tropical Comic Strip", and "Black Sheep".

A great mix of glam grooves and electronics – served up with almost the same sort of gothy undercurrent you see in the title! Gina X is probably a singer more rooted in the disco/downtown modes of artists like Christina or The Waitresses – and this record definitely would have been right at home on Z Records. But some tracks also percolate with more of a Euro/electro vibe that seems to skirt punk attitude without ever picking up its aesthetics – that cool late 70s German way of dabbling in so many genres at once, yet never pledging full allegiance to any! Titles include "No GDM", "Nice Mover", "Be A Boy", "Exhibitionism", "Tropical Comic Strip", and "Black Sheep".

A startlingly great mid 70s loner folk record by Scott Key – with some of the finest, most artful fingerstyle guitar we've heard on a self-recorded album from the period – and a really strong record that would be right at home on the Takoma label! Recorded in Colorado by Key himself, who plays acoustic guitar and bottleneck slide on songs that reveal a masterful acoustic guitar player, as well as creative ear for drones and post-psych effects. Occasionally has vocals, but it's a largely instrumental effort – and a brilliant one! Titles include "Cat Soup", "Buzzard Blues", "The Laughing Cowboy", "The Moonshiners Are Gone", "Goon Lagoon", "This Forst And The Sea" and more. 5 bonus tracks on this great CD version from Lion: "Hungry Joe's Birds", "One Great Sin", "Just A Song For You", "The Farm Report" and "Jabberwocky".

Great work from this solo member of the Paris Sisters – stepping out here in two obscure late 60s albums, plus some rare bonus tracks too! First up is the album Priscilla Sings Herself – tracks that show Priscilla as a surprisingly great songwriter on her own – working in music that goes way deeper than her pop of a few years before, with moody moments and deeper strains that echo some of the hipper singer/songwriter material at the time. Don Peake handles the arrangements, often with gentle orchestrations that work well with Paris' style of singing – on tracks that include "I'm Home", "Stone Is Very Very Cold", "He Owns The World", "My Window", and "Wandering". Next is the rare Priscilla Sings Billie – an unusual take on the music of Billie Holiday, done with a relatively sweet feel overall! Paris is definitely trying for Holiday's tone at times – but her sound is always a bit warmer and airier – almost as if Claudine Longet were doing a tribute to Billie, with a spacious late 60s feel that's almost A&M at times! Backings are by Sid Feller and Don Peake, and players on the date include Jimmy Rowles on piano, Jim Crutcher on bass, John Guerin on drums, and Peake on guitar – plus a bit of added strings. Titles include "In My Solitude", "Girls Were Made To Take Care Of Boys", "Just Friends", "I Love You Porgy", and "My Man". CD is completed by four rare bonus tracks – including "Some Little Lovin Lie", "Twelve Twenty Nine", and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix".

Chicago house music really takes off – in this massive collection that really documents the most experimental years in the Windy City club scene! By the mid 80s, Chicago house had already had a few years under its belt – stepping strongly forward as a revolutionary new mode of club music – stripped-down from disco, borrowing some electronics from overseas, and giving the world a fresh new vision of dancefloor sounds that would have a huge influence for decades to come! And by the end of the decade, folks were really starting to play with the format – bringing in lots of older analogue electronic sounds, dubbed "acid" for the way they burned and tweaked – and garnering the city even more interest from the UK and European scenes – who thought the name referred to drug usage, and took the cue to ignite their own waves of house-based parties on the other side of the Atlantic. While back home, Chicago artists were spurred on to experiment even more – and things went from warm and clubby to downright sci-fi – an aesthetic that's really captured strongly in this set from Soul Jazz. LP part two features the cuts "Washing Machine" by Mr Fingers, "The Night Calls" by Bizzy B, "Go Wild Rhythm Trax No 3" by Virgo, "World Turns Around" by Cool McCool, "House Nation" by The Housmaster Boyz, "Love Trak" by Acid Wash, "Strength Of Bass" by Devotion, "Abstract Expressionism" by The Unknown, "No Way Back" by Adonis, "Choice Of The Underground" by Rocky Jones, and "The Juice" by Mr Fingers.

Numero Group does it again – and manages to pull together all the best bits from the crucially overlooked powerpop scene in the Land Of Lincoln – a wealth of wonderful groups from the 70s and 80s, all of whom recorded great indie sounds in Illinois! Sure, you've heard of Cheap Trick, and maybe The Kind – but Illinois was also home to handfuls of other great groups – many of whom never found national fame, due to lack of access to the kind of A&R that groups on the coast were getting. The sound here is wonderful – razor sharp guitars, super-tight drums, and tuneful lyrics that still burst forth with plenty of power – a great reminder that not all the hot energy of the late 70s was going into punk rock. As usual, Numero's overdone themselves with the package – lots of info on the groups, and the kind of stylish package that even goes way beyond most of the original records too. Titles include "At Practice" by Band Jocks, "Get Away" by Julian Leal, "I Wanna Make You" by Prettyboys, "Midnight Girls" by Eyz, "Where Are You Now" by Tom Orsi, "More & More" by Lay Z, "See You Tonight" by Contra-Band, "Kyle" by Loose Lips, "Total Insanity" by The Kind, "So Lifelike" by The Jerks, and "I Have Always Loved You" by Paul.

Numero Group does it again – and manages to pull together all the best bits from the crucially overlooked powerpop scene in the Land Of Lincoln – a wealth of wonderful groups from the 70s and 80s, all of whom recorded great indie sounds in Illinois! Sure, you've heard of Cheap Trick, and maybe The Kind – but Illinois was also home to handfuls of other great groups – many of whom never found national fame, due to lack of access to the kind of A&R that groups on the coast were getting. The sound here is wonderful – razor sharp guitars, super-tight drums, and tuneful lyrics that still burst forth with plenty of power – a great reminder that not all the hot energy of the late 70s was going into punk rock. As usual, Numero's overdone themselves with the package – lots of info on the groups, and the kind of stylish package that even goes way beyond most of the original records too. Titles include "At Practice" by Band Jocks, "Get Away" by Julian Leal, "I Wanna Make You" by Prettyboys, "Midnight Girls" by Eyz, "Where Are You Now" by Tom Orsi, "More & More" by Lay Z, "See You Tonight" by Contra-Band, "Kyle" by Loose Lips, "Total Insanity" by The Kind, "So Lifelike" by The Jerks, and "I Have Always Loved You" by Paul.

Cooler than ice – and cooler than just about any other label collection we've ever seen – a massive collection of work from the legendary Artic label, home to some of the best Philly grooves in the late 60s and early 70s! The package not only includes 6CDs, but also features 6 funky 45s as well – each of which features an unissued gem from the label – all wrapped up in a really well-done cover that comes with a 48 page booklet, and lots of vintage photos! There's never been a label overview like this one before – and the CDs feature every single issued by the company, both a and b-sides – a project that took the folks at Jamie many years to produce, but which has been well worth the wait. The music is wonderful throughout – great female soul, some soaring group tracks, and even a few funky nuggets too – way more than we ever knew that Arctic ever recorded. In addition to early efforts from later stars like Barbara Mason or Kenny Gamble, the set also features music by Honey & The Bees, The Ambassadors, The Combo Kings, The Rotations, Teddy & The Fingerpoppers, Three Strangers, Billy Floyd, Jack & Jill, The Temptones, Kenny Hamber, Herb Johnson, Winfield Parker, Lane Relations, Volcanos, Della Humphrey, Royal Five, and many others. The set's six 7" singles are amazing too – a dozen tracks that have never been heard before – including "He's Got To Love Me" and "Catch Him Love" by Barbara Mason, "I'm At My Best When I'm Down" and "The Rock" by The Combo Kings, "It Takes Two" and "Fat Daddy" by Kenny Gamble, "No Doubt About It" and "Lover Boy" by The Tiffanys, "Doctor Love" and "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Ambassadors, and "I Love You Just The Same" and "Fallin Star" by Winfield Parker.

Country cats, southern rockers, and even some soul-singers too – all wrapped up in a heady brew of grooves that definitely lives up to the swamp rock in the title! The package is a rich discovery of tracks from the southern scene at the start of the 70s – an amazing place where sounds were really criss-crossing at the time – not just mixing up country and redneck rock styles, but also drawing a surprising amount of influence from soul and funk too – especially the latter, given some of the massive rhythms in the set! Like the first volume, the collection is a great illustration of the way that, in the right parts of the south, boundaries were constantly being broken – as you'll hear on great tracks that include "Ruby" by Area Code 615, "Houston" by Cowboy, "For What It's Worth" by Cher, "Touch Em With Love" by Bobbie Gentry, "Sufficiently Breathless" by Captain Beyond, "Deep In Kentucky" by The Box Tops, "Lonesome & A Long Way From Home" by Earl Scruggs, "Let The South Wind Blow" by Grinderswitch, "Midnight Rider" by Gregg Allman, "The Minstrel Is Free At Last" by Barefood Jerry, "Somewhere In Between" by Bobby Lance, "No Fence Around Me" by Joe South, and "Who's Making Love" by Tony Joe White.

Country cats, southern rockers, and even some soul-singers too – all wrapped up in a heady brew of grooves that definitely lives up to the swamp rock in the title! The package is a rich discovery of tracks from the southern scene at the start of the 70s – an amazing place where sounds were really criss-crossing at the time – not just mixing up country and redneck rock styles, but also drawing a surprising amount of influence from soul and funk too – especially the latter, given some of the massive rhythms in the set! Like the first volume, the collection is a great illustration of the way that, in the right parts of the south, boundaries were constantly being broken – as you'll hear on great tracks that include "Ruby" by Area Code 615, "Houston" by Cowboy, "For What It's Worth" by Cher, "Touch Em With Love" by Bobbie Gentry, "Sufficiently Breathless" by Captain Beyond, "Deep In Kentucky" by The Box Tops, "Lonesome & A Long Way From Home" by Earl Scruggs, "Let The South Wind Blow" by Grinderswitch, "Midnight Rider" by Gregg Allman, "The Minstrel Is Free At Last" by Barefood Jerry, "Somewhere In Between" by Bobby Lance, "No Fence Around Me" by Joe South, and "Who's Making Love" by Tony Joe White.

Think major label rock is boring? Think again – and check out this incredible set of tracks from the late 60s and early 70s – all pulled from the catalogs of Liberty and United Artists Records, and recorded at a time when both labels were really willing to take a lot of chances with their music! In the 60s, Liberty was mostly known as a mainstream pop outlet in the US – but over in Europe, the company was recording some incredible cutting-edge groups that included important early prog rockers, space rockers, psyche rockers, and jazz rockers – the kind of genre-crossing groups that were the mainstay of FM radio in its early days, and which are documented here wonderfully in a 3CD set that's overflowing with rare tunes and great notes! Much of the work here has never been issued on CD, and the tracks offer a key picture of an era that's nearly lost – presented with a great sense of timing, history, and full-rocking energy. 39 tracks in all – with titles that include "Intro & Outro" by Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, "The Birthday" by Idle Race, "The Seed" by BB Blunder, "Here Comes Mister Time" by If, "Let Me Take You Home" by Gypsy, "Our Captain Cried All Hands" by Allan Taylor, "Little Boy" by Reg King, "Cherry Red" by The Groundhogs, "Paperhouse" by Can, "Country Girl" by Brinsley Schwarz, "Daughter Of The Fireplace" by Man, "Take Me Away" by Colin Scot, "Out Of My Tree" by Clive John, "Psychedelic Warlords" by Hawkwind, "Home Again" by Cochise, "Razor Blade & Rattlesnake" by Deke Leonard, and "Living In The World Today" by Neutrons.

Dex's famous return to New York in the mid 70s – recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1977, and featuring some of his best group-heavy playing of the decade! The quintet is fantastic – and includes Woody Shaw, Ronnie Matthews, Stafford James, and Louis Hayes. Features versions of Shaw's "Little Red's Fantasy" and "In Case You Haven't Heard", Matthews' "Let's Get Down", Jimmy Heath's "Gingerbread Boy", and Gordon's own "Fenja" and "Backstairs".

Dex's famous return to New York in the mid 70s – recorded at the Village Vanguard in 1977, and featuring some of his best group-heavy playing of the decade! The quintet is fantastic – and includes Woody Shaw, Ronnie Matthews, Stafford James, and Louis Hayes. Features versions of Shaw's "Little Red's Fantasy" and "In Case You Haven't Heard", Matthews' "Let's Get Down", Jimmy Heath's "Gingerbread Boy", and Gordon's own "Fenja" and "Backstairs".

Homeboy Sandman delivers a nicely gritty EP for Stones Throw – paying tribute not only to the legendary DJ Kool Herc in the title – and ultimately honoring blueprint, funky break beats era hip hop in general! Homeboy specifically names it after Kool Herc, but it's not a covers EP or collaboration – it's more to pay tribute to the era Herc personifies, albeit in a fresh contemporary way. Sandman's rhymes are as freewheeling and creative as ever, but he's showing a bit of verbal restraint here, and he's more about solidly matching the ompellingly gritty production by Rthentic – as opposed to taking the word count to a surreal level. Great stuff – and pretty generously packed for an EP. 8 tracks in all: "My Brothers", "Oh, The Horror", "Lonely People", "Dag, Philly Too", "Moon", "Men Are Mortal", "Peace & Love" and "I".

Jumpin' rhythm & blues from Johnny Jones – excellent, exciting recordings in more of an r&b revue sound than the more definitively blues based numbers later on – big collection of numbers devided between sessions with The Jimmy Beck Orchestra and The Imperial Seven, aka The Beat Boys. Given the largeish backing, the numbers have a jumpin' groove, but the players keeping it tight enough that some bluesy intimacy is still there in the fabric. Some sessions feature alternate lead vocalists, a few with Earl Gaines, a couple with Larry Birdsong, plus Charles Walker, Levert Allison and others. 35 tracks in all! "Every Night In The Week", "Now That We're Together", "Best Of Luck Baby", "Slave To Love", "Fiesta", "Oh Baby", "I'm Going Home", "Slow Down Baby", "Mercy On My Soul". "24 Hours A Day", "Pickin' Berries" and more.

Chicago house music really takes off – in this massive collection that really documents the most experimental years in the Windy City club scene! By the mid 80s, Chicago house had already had a few years under its belt – stepping strongly forward as a revolutionary new mode of club music – stripped-down from disco, borrowing some electronics from overseas, and giving the world a fresh new vision of dancefloor sounds that would have a huge influence for decades to come! And by the end of the decade, folks were really starting to play with the format – bringing in lots of older analogue electronic sounds, dubbed "acid" for the way they burned and tweaked – and garnering the city even more interest from the UK and European scenes – who thought the name referred to drug usage, and took the cue to ignite their own waves of house-based parties on the other side of the Atlantic. While back home, Chicago artists were spurred on to experiment even more – and things went from warm and clubby to downright sci-fi – an aesthetic that's really captured strongly in this set from Soul Jazz. 2CD set features the cuts "Can You Feel It" from Mr Fingers, "Hallucinate" by Acid Wash, "151" by Armando, "The Jacking Zone" by Risque Rhythm Team, "I Can't Understand" by Pleasure Zone, "Rabbit Trax 1" by James Jack Rabbit Martin, "Freedom (Factory mix)" by The Children, "Ecstasy" by Mr Fingers, "Washing Machine" by Mr Fingers, "The Night Calls" by Bizzy B, "Go Wild Rhythm Trax No 3" by Virgo, "World Turns Around" by Cool McCool, "House Nation" by The Housmaster Boyz, "Love Trak" by Acid Wash, "Strength Of Bass" by Devotion, "Abstract Expressionism" by The Unknown, "No Way Back" by Adonis, "Choice Of The Underground" by Rocky Jones, "The Juice" by Mr Fingers, and "I Believe" by A Black Man, A Black Man, & Another Black Man.

Raw soul, heavy funk, snotty rock, and raucous R&B – all pulled from the legendary record collection of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy! The sounds here are the sorts that went onto form the blueprint for The Cramps – and the package is overflowing with rare gems that are hand-picked by the pair – the kind of underground, indie singles that have always made record-digging so great – plucked up by Lux and Ivy in the years before most of us even started searching for wax! The cool 10" set features two dozen tunes – and titles include "Drive Daddy Drive" by Little Sylvia, "Stormy Weather" by The Five Sharps, "Rock A Bongo Boogie" by Terry Snyder, "Red Headed Flea" by The Caps, "Chickie Run" by Homer Denison Jr, "99 Chicks" by Ron Haydock & The Boppers, "Baby Brother" by Bill Carter & The Rovin Gamblers, "Service With A Smile" by The Kuf-Linx, "Imagination" by The Quotations, "Tongue Tied" by Betty McQuade, and "The Vulture" by Ronny Ray's Playboys.

A greatest hits two-fer – made even greater with the addition of 27 bonus tracks! First up is Invictus' Greatest Hits – heavy soul from the house of Holland-Dozier-Holland – some of the best bits from their Invictus powerhouse label of the early 70s – definitely a scene-setting imprint at the time! Invictus had some of the deepest grooves ever recorded by the trio – heavy, rumbling bottom sounds – soaring vocal passages – and production that took the Motown lessons of the late 60s to a whole new level. The package is overflowing with gems – and titles include "Crumbs Off The Table" by The Glass House, "Band Of Gold" and "Bring The Boys Home" by Freda Payne, "Give Me Just A Little More Time" and "Everything's Tuesday" by The Chairmen Of The Board, "You've Got To Crawl" and "She's Not Just Another Woman" by The 8th Day, and "I Had It All" by The Barrino Brothers. Hot Wax Greatest Hits is a great collection of some of the best numbers from the Hot Wax label of the early 70s – second generation Detroit soul that really set the standard for the 70s! The tunes here were massive back in the day – blasting out of juke boxes, car radios, and a fair bit of home stereos too – all for good reason, given the care and balance the Holland-Dozier-Holland team brought to their work in the studio, and their ears for selecting singers to handle the work. Titles include "Want Ads" and "Stick Up" by Honey Cone, "Somebody's Been Sleepin" and "Too Many Cooks" by 100 Proof Aged In Soul, "Westbound #9" and "Mind Body & Soul" by Flaming Ember, "Woman's Love Rights" by Laura Lee "Women's Love Rights", and "Frightened Girl" by Silent Majority. 2CD set also features 27 bonus tracks that include "Somebody's Gonna Hurt You" by Lee Charles, "Colors Of My Love" by The Silent Majority, "Love Machine" by The Politicians, "Touch Me" by Eloise Laws, "Hey There Lonely Girl" by Ty Hunter, "Wanting You" by Earl English, "That's Love" by The Hi-Lites, "Can't Get Enough Of You" by Tyrone Edwards, "I Need It Just As Bad As You" by Laura Lee, "VIP" by Scherrie Payne, "Guess I'm Gonna Cry" by New York Port Authority, "Something New About You" by Silent Majority, and "You Too Me From A World Outside" by Lee Charles.

Top shelf southern soul from a great singer – a deep collection of singles by Charles Smith – who had a regional hit with "My Great Loss (Ashes To Ashes)" back in the day, and it's really everyone's great loss that he's not more widely regarded decades later! Smith recorded that great single and a handful of others for the Seventy Seven label in the early 70s, and without national distribution, it was tough to break Smith out bigger, but boy did he ever deliver well enough to deserve more! He really shines on the ballads, imbuing those with such a genuine depth of emotion, and his naturally expressive voice really brings out the best elements of some great songs. It's tried and true southern soul, very much in the spirit of other Muscle Shoals recordings of the time, along with Memphis and other cities. Smith was produced by Dewey Vandiver and many of the recordings were done at Quad City Sound, along with Fame and Muscle Shoals Sound. This excellent Soulscape CD collects the tracks from those singles, other recordings that weren't released at the time, plus a few alternate versions. Other tracks include, "Glad To Home", "I'm Useless", "Pull Me Out Of The Water", "Full Time Fool" (plus alternate version), "Two Pillows", "Walk Slow", "Reach That Mountain", "I Want To Love You", "It's Getting Harder To Get By" (plus alternate version), "Why Can't I Cry" (plus an alternate version), "The Only Time You Say You Love Me" and more. 19 tracks in all.

Way more than just a simple "survey" of Chicago soul – and instead, a whopping collection of work from the vaults of Dakar Records – nearly all of it produced by Chi-soul genius Carl Davis! Back in the 60s, Davis' work was a seminal force in shaping the sound of the Windy City – particularly that lightly stepping, sometimes loping groove that showed up in Carl's productions for Okeh and Brunswick, and which was used even more heavily once he launched Dakar! And while Dakar was kind of a partner label to Brunswick for many years, the company also had much firmer Chicago roots – and mostly issued a variety of rare singles by artists who never cut full LPs – either for the bigger labels at the time, or at all! This extremely well-done package digs through the finest Dakar work of the late 60s and early 70s – tracing a groove that starts with the trademark Chicago sound of the 60s, then moves into a much more righteous style as the 70s move in. CD features 28 titles in all – including "Love Had To Be You" by Jean Shy, "Forever & A Day" by Wales Wallace, "Cowboys To Girls" by Jalynne Sound, "Just To Make You Happy" by Shirley Karol, "Baby Jane" by Otis Clay, "I'm In Danger" by The Visitors, "You're So Right For Me" by Johnny Sayles, "You Babe" by Carl Davis, "Love Uprising" by Mister T, "You Brought Out The Good In Me" by Otis Leavill, "Follow The Leader" by Major Lance, "I Choose You" by Donald Height, "Broken Home" by Ben Monroe, and "It's All Over Between Us" by Lee Charles.

An eye opening, fast paced and frenetic collection of electronic dance music from South Africa – recorded in the latter half of the 00s at Nozinja studio in Soweto – primitive electronics and electronic percussion blended with passionate, fairly traditional sounding vocals for a quickly moving, exciting dance music any like anything we've heard! The music here was all made at the small home studios of Nozinja (aka Dog) and a roster acts including BBC, Tshetsha Boys, Tiyiselani Vomaseve, and Zinja himself. Urban dance music unlike any we've ever stocked! Titles include "Ngunyuta Dance – The Shake Your Behind Dance" and "Ngozi – Danger" by BBC, "Nwampfundla – Pfundla's Daughter" and "Uya Kwihi Ka Rose – Rose, Where Are You Going?" by Tshetsha Boys, "Vana Vasesi – My Sister's Children" by Mancingelani, "Ntombi Ya Mugaza – Shangaan Woman", "Thula – Quiet" and more by Zinjma Hlungwani. 12 tracks in all.

A fitting title to this one – as it virtually describes the standard that the blues business was operating on during the early 70s – as artists came out of the shadows and found big audiences on college campuses, rock clubs, and other crossover scenes! The concept is carried to the Nth degree on the cover – which has a front image of a young Asian boy eating a big watermelon, Sambo-style – and the back cover features notes that say things like "Chinese kids like watermelon, Irish like bagels, black people like Jewish rye, and today everybody loves the Blues." Fortunately, this comic packaging doesn't affect the album too much – as Junior's still in the fine form he was at the end of the 60s, cruising between blues and soul, with a slight touch of jazz, in a unique way that sounds better to our ears than the work of most of his contemporaries. Titles include "Five Long Years", "That's Alright", "Way Back Home", "Man Or Mouse", and "I Like Your Style".

Postwar blues from Chicago – a great double-length collection of rare material from JOB Records – a Windy City imprint that was much smaller than Vee Jay, Chess, and Mercury – and who only ever issued most of this material as 78 rpm singles! The JOB sound is definitely rough and raw – still showing the strong influence of electric guitar's introduction to northern blues, yet putting the music forward with a stripped-down sound that's really timeless – and which often emphasizes piano as much as guitar. No surprise, there's some great keyboardists on the set – working in a really dark-edged style – as you'll hear on the 36 track set of tunes that includes "Evening Sun" by Johnny Shines, "Drinking Woman" by John Brim & His Trio, "My Head Can't Rest Anymore" by Baby Face Leroy Foster, "Down Home Child" by Sunnyland Slim, "Boogy Fool" by Snooky Pryor, "Dark Road" by Floyd Jones, "Five Long Years" by Eddie Boyd, "How Much More" by JB Lenoir, and "Rough Treatment" by Little Hudson & His Red Devil Trio.