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"This here is the victory lap," raps Hov midway through The Black Album, as you'll hear loud and clear on these acapellas! We may still have to lean towards Blueprint as his late masterpiece, but this is way up there. "December 4th", "What More Can I Say?", "Encore", "Change Clothes", "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", "Threat", "Moment Of Clarity", "99 Problems", "Justify My Thug", "Lucifer", "Allure", "My First Song", and a couple of interludes.

A great record by one of our favorite trumpet players – and one of those albums on Prestige that are darn hard to track down! Carmell Jones recorded this album after playing with Horace Silver and before leaving for exile in Europe (where he later recorded some great music with Nathan Davis) – and the set grooves in an incredible 60s soul jazz mode, right up there with the best that Blue Note or Prestige had to offer. This cracklin' tight group features Jones in the company of Jimmy Heath on tenor, Barry Harris on piano, George Tucker on bass, and Roger Humphries on drums – and the tracks include "Beepdurple", "Jay Hawk Talk", and "Dance Of The Night Child". A great mix of soul jazz and freer ideas, with a very solid groove!

A real lost treasure – and an incredible session that offers a real meeting of minds that's far more than you'd expect from the simple cover and title! The set is a later one for Vee Jay, and it brings together half of the Jazz Messengers with a batch of west coast players – in a groove that wonderfully mixes together different traditions and rhythms in jazz – and which steps out with a sound that's far more than the sum of its parts! Art Blakey, Lee Morgan, and Curtis Fuller join a group headed by Buddy De Franco, and featuring Victor Feldman on piano and vibes, plus Victor Sproles on bass and Freddie Hill on trumpet. The sound of the group is quite unusual – and a lot lighter than you'd guess – giving Buddy plenty of room to solo in a breezy style that's grown tremendously since his 50s recordings – pushed along by some heavier soul from Art and the group. Titles include "Rain Dance", "Blues Bag", "Twelve Tone Blues", "Kush", and "Cousin Mary".

Although this is sort of a cheapo budget issue that looks unofficial, it's a decent compilation of some of The Dells' early doo-wop sides for Vee Jay, just about all of which are pretty tough to find on vinyl in any format. The group's work for Vee Jay was some of their best, and this set includes classics like the original recording of "Stay In My Corner", plus "Oh What A Night", "Dreams Of Contentment", "Lil Darling", and "Pain In My Heart".

A split LP, but a seminal full length album in the doo wop genre – one that was issued on Vee Jay in the early 60s, but brought together some key earlier work by The Flamingos and The Moonglows! Both groups here are at the height of their early powers – singing in a stripped-down and nearly acapella mode that's totally great – often with just a bit of rhythm to keep things grooving along. The sound is much different than the later Flamingos' sides on End, and represents The Moonglows before they'd softened things up a bit. Titles include "I Was Wrong", "Real Gone Mama", "Oh Rockin Daddy", "Secret Love", "Whistle My Love", and "219 Train" by The Moonglows – and "Vooit Vooit", "Someday Someway", "Golden Teardrops", "Carried Away", and "If I Can't Have You" by The Flamingos.

One of the true hit jazz albums of the 60s, and a record that's still pretty darn incredible today! Who'd have thought that a jazz recording of the theme to the film "Exodus" could have been such a hit? It was, and the way Eddie handled it forever transformed the face of jazz. Eddie was nicely poised between the harder soul jazz camps and the freer spiritual jazz underground that was operating in Chicago and Detroit in the 60s – and with his unique combo that had Joe Dorio on guitar, he transformed the song into a great groove that matched the other excellent material that he was laying down at the time. This record's a gem, which is often rare for such a jazz "hit" – and it includes loads of great tracks like "AM Blues", "Velocity", "Alicia", and "ATC".

Although Exodus to Jazz was probably the biggest album of Eddie's career, we've always been a bit more partial to this excellent LP, a terrific document of Eddie's work from his early days on the Chicago jazz scene. Featuring Eddie's good early group with Willie Pickens on piano, Jo Dorio on guitar, and Harold Jones on drums, the sound is a nice mix of soul jazz, hard bop, and slightly more exotic themes, with the kind of tinges that Yusef Lateef was putting into his work at the time. Cuts include "There Is No Time", "Mighty Like A Rose", and six others.

Early genius from Eddie Higgins – a pianist who was a big thing on the Chicago scene of the 60s, but is probably best known to most folks for his revival records of the past decade or two! The younger Higgins has more of an edge than the later one – and this self-titled debut is a cooker of a hardbop album – thanks not only to work from Eddie's core trio, but also some great horn interplay from Frank Foster on tenor and Paul Seranno on trumpet! Eddie wrote some of the best cuts on the record – some really fresh numbers – and he gets rhythmic help from either Richard Evans or Jim Atlas on bass, and Marshall Thompson on drums. Higgins titles include "Foot's Bag", "Zarac The Evil One", and "AB's Blues" – and the album also features versions of "Blues For Big Scotia" and "Falling In Love With Love".

One of Wynton Kelly's greatest albums, and an all-star hardbop session that includes Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones. With Philly Joe on drums, and Morgan and Shorter, the LP almost has the feel of a classic Art Blakey session for Blue Note, but Kelly's piano gives it a feel that's a bit warmer, and more relaxed. The tracks are nearly all long, with very open room for soloing, and nice catchy hooks by the various writers – who include Kelly, Morgan, and Shorter. Titles include "Wrinkles", "Mama G", "What Know", and "Sidney".

A Windy City classic – from Vee Jay Records! The MJT grooves like nobody's business, thanks to a core rhythm group that includes Harold Mabern on piano, Walter Perkins on drums, and Bob Cranshaw on bass! Add to the mix a young Frank Strozier on alto, fresh from Memphis (he made the trip to Chi-town with buddy Harold Mabern), and the smoking trumpet of Willie Thomas, and you've got one of the tightest combos to never make it in the big time – a killer little group that was almost a Chicago secret back in the day, but one that's well worth discovering if you've got any sort of a love for hardbop or soul jazz! This oft-overlooked gem is one of the best hardbop albums to ever come out of Chicago, and it's got some great originals by Mabern – like "Richie's Dilemma" and "Make Everybody Happy" – plus a nice version of Booker Little's "Sweet Silver".

A seminal early recording from one of our favorite reed players ever! In the late 1950s, the young Frank Strozier came up to Chicago from Memphis, along with his longtime friend, pianist Harold Mabern. The two of them both settled nicely in the city's MJT+3 combo, where they proceeded to recorde some incredible hardbop sessions for Vee Jay. During that same time, Strozier began to emerge as a strong soloist and a competent leader in his own right, and Vee Jay gave him a much-needed crack at this debut album. The session's a perfect showcase for Strozier's lyrical beauty, and given the quality of the work, it's a wonder he was never more famous. The group's a quintet, and Strozier's ably teamed with Booker Little, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb. Titles include "WK Blues", "Waltz Of The Demons", "Runnin", and "Off Shore".

A hard-hitting blowing session, cut very much in the mode of Gene's late 50s sides for Prestige – and with a very accomplished group of soul jazzers that includes Nat Adderley, Frank Foster, Bennie Green, and Frank Wess. The groove has a nice raw late night sound – and tracks are pretty long and open-ended. Titles include "Litty Ditty", "Sermonette", "Juggin Around", and "Jim Dog".

A wonderful album – and unlike anything else the Dells ever recorded! Instead of their usual harmony soul and doo wop work, this album's a swinging jazz vocal workout – with the group harmonizing more in a Four Freshmen mode than a streetcorner one. The approach works wonderfully for the group's always-great vocals – and it's really great to hear them going to town on tracks like "Witchcraft", "Lil Darlin", "It's Not Unusual", "Let's Do It Over", "What Do We Prove", and "I've Got A Woman". The record also features a version of "Stay In My Corner" that might be an update of the original, but we're not sure!

Forget the title – which sounds like a bit of a gimmick – as this is a fine fine Eddie Harris album! After the success that Vee Jay had with Eddie Harris' huge hit version of "Exodus", they cut this album of Eddie playing movie themes – like "Green Dolphin Street", "Laura", "Moonglow", and "Secret Love", plus a few standards like "These Foolish Things", and "The More I See You". Dick Marx handled the arrangements – and the overall sound is slicker than Eddie's "Exodus", as his solos are laid out over larger string arrangements by Dick Marx, but it's not without some charms – especially because Eddie's tone at this point is amazing, filled with little tricks and turns that make just about anything he plays sound great!

A landmark LP by Eddie Harris – one that we go back to again and again over the years! The album shows not only the brilliance of the young Eddie Harris (a brilliance that was not easily matched later in his career), but also the brilliant way that the Chicago jazz scene of the 60's could absorb so many different influences and styles, and mix them up into a fantastic sound that was totally unique. Take, for example, the cut "Oliphant Gesang", which has an exotic groove, and weird solos on the horns that sound like Elephant noises, and which are much more in the Sun Ra camp. Or the track "Dancing Bull", which uses electric guitar to create a cool Spanish sound. The group's filled with super-hipsters – and players on the record include Melvin Jackson, Richard Evans, Willie Pickens, Charles Stepney, John Avant, and Raphael Don Garrett! Other tracks include "Fantastic Waltz", "Cuttin Out", and "Down".

One of Lee's totally great hard bop sessions for Vee Jay, recorded around the time of his best early work for Blue Note, and with a good hard group that includes Clifford Jordan on tenor, Eddie Higgins on piano, and Art Blakey on drums. The material's a tight set of tracks that includes originals by Jordan, Higgins, Morgan, and Wayne Shorter – with titles like "Fire", "Lost & Found", "The Hearing", "Triple Track", and "Expoobidient" – all burners that really sum up the majestic power of the young Lee Morgan at his best!

A seminal bit of crossover soul from the mid 80s – and the standout effort from California trio Club Nouveau! The album's best known for its hit remake of "Lean On Me" – one that pushes the tune along with some very heavy beats, and a version that helps us remember why Bill Withers' original is so great! Jay King arranged and produced the set, all in a similar feel – and titles include "Heavy On My Mind", "Promises Promises", "Let Me Go", "Why You Treat Me So Bad", "Jealousy", and a reprise version of "Lean On Me".

Classy supperclub vocals, with arrangements by Jimmy Jones, and some sweet polished singing from Bill Henderson. Most of the tracks are standards or pop – like "Am I Blue", "The More I See You", and "Twelfth Of Never – but there's a few nice lesser-known ones, like "My How The Time Goes By" that Thad Jones arranged and conducted and "Never Kiss & Run".

A nice mixture of pop and blue eyed soul from singer Vi Velasco – a talent we know mostly from her bossa nova album with Zoot Sims. This set's got a nice New York uptown feel – with arrangements by Charles Calello that combine strings and soul-styled production – almost Bacharach-ish, but with some more standard touches. Titles include "Benefit Of The Doubt", "Follow My Heart", "What Am I Supposed To Do", "I Don't Wanna Go On", and "Never Less Than Yesterday". Pretty nice stuff – with lots of original tunes!

A wonderfully trippy record from The Beatles – filled with songs that have become classics, even though the initial package was designed for a movie that was one heck of a mess! The set's incredibly strong throughout – filled with some of the new post-Peppers ideas explored by the group, yet also with some catchier numbers too – great sing-songy tracks that undoubtedly were a big mainstream influence to the world of late 60s psych! Titles include "Blue Jay Way", "The Fool On The Hill", "Flying", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", and "Baby You're A Rich Man".

A great lost album from Eddie! The record was one of his few cut for Columbia – recorded between his early years at Vee Jay and his hit years at Atlantic – and it's an excellent little batch of cuts, with a tight Chicago soulful grooving sound, and a strong approach that mixes hardbop and soul jazz in a very nice way. Some of the material is pop in origin – like "Goldfinger" and "People" – but even those tracks are done very nicely, with a nice groove and Eddie's biting sax firmly in place. Other titles include "East End Blues", "Rice Pudding", "That's Tough", and "Ineffable".

Milt Jackson and JJ Johnson – working here together on 1954 session cut in New York – but some of which features contributions from the famous French pianist Henri Renaud! At this point in their career, Jackson and Johnson had a very similar modern swing – and the record makes for a great matching of their talents – a bit like some of the earliest Blue Note work recorded under the leadership of either player. Johnson sits out on a few tracks, and Jackson plays a bit of piano in addition to vibes – on the tracks that don't feature Renaud – and other players include Al Cohn on tenor, Percy Heath on bass, and Charlie Smith on drums. Titles include "Jay Jay's Blues", "If I Had You", "Out Of Nowhere", and "Indiana".

A classic from Stitt – cut during the underground days of the early 60s, when both he and Gene Ammons seemed to be recording for just about every jazz label around, and when they both seemed to be doing an awful lot of work in Chicago. This album was done in a flurry that Jug and Stitt cut for Argo during 1961 – and it's a Stitt-only session, recorded at the super-hip DJ Lounge, owned by Chicago spinner McKie Fitzhugh down at the intersection of 63rd and Cottage Grove. The group's an organ combo, with Eddie Buster on the Hammon, Joe Shelton on drums, and John Board joining in for a bit more tenor. (Interesting to note is the fact that Board made a number of classic soul session appearances later on in the decade – but this is one of his few jazz recordings.) The set's very hard-grooving – with longish tracks that let Stitt and Board go head to head in the same style he was used to with Ammons. Titles include "McKies", "Jay Tee", "Free Chicken", and "Blue Moon".

A classic set from 1969 – issued as a special project by Stax in their first year after parting with Atlantic, almost as a message to that label that they were more than capable of handling things on their own! The double-length set brings together the label's best male and female artists, each in duets that largely only ever appeared on this LP. Other soul labels – like Vee Jay or Motown – had had good luck with the male/female duet sound, but the quality of Stax's singers puts them right up there with the top of the genre – as singers like William Bell, Mavis Staples, Carla Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, and Eddie Floyd all seeem to work perfectly together. Titles include "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "I Need You A Woman" by William Bell & Carla Thomas, "Love's Sweet Sensation" and "I Thank You" by William Bell & Mavis Staples, "Ain't That Good" and "Piece Of My Heart" by Eddie Floyd & Mavis Staples, "It's Unbelievable (How You Control My Soul)" and "I'm Trying" by Pervis Staples & Carla Thomas, "It's Our Time" and "Don't Make Me A Storyteller" by Eddie Floyd & Carla Thomas, and "Soul-a-Lujah", sung by the whole group. 22 tracks in all.

Features work by Coleman Hawkins, Nat King Cole, Stan Kenton, Jay McShann, and Benny Carter!

A great step in the evolution of Ron Carter from brilliant bassist to even more brilliant leader! The album's cut at a time when Carter was really moving his instrument from the back to the front – playing piccolo bass more than usual, and plucking with a pronounced groove, even in the company of a larger array of players. There's a great deal of warmth here, but a good sense of creative experimentation too – and the record has a bit more depth than some of Carter's Kudu sides, although those are quite nice records too. Players include Kenny Barron on piano, Jay Berliner on guitar, Buster Williams on bass, Jerry Dodgion on flute, and Charles Russo on bass clarinet – and titles include "Sheila's Song", "My Ship", "Peg Leg", "Epistrophy", "Patchouli", and "Chapter XI".

A cheap package, but some rare live work by the Clarke Boland group – with Sahib Shihab on flute and baritone, Fats Sadi on vibes and vocals, Joe Harris on percussion, Francy Boland on piano, and Kenny Clarke on drums! Titles include "Night Lady", "Ya Ya Blues", "Jay Jay", and "The Top".

One of the massive Ron Carter albums from the mid 70s – and a set of 4 open-ended modal tracks that hit a similar Latin/but not Latin approach as the tracks on Coltrane's great Ole album. The group's a small one – featuring Carter on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, Jay Berliner on guitar, Ralph MacDonald on percussion, Roland Hanna on piano, and Hubert Laws on flute. Laws' playing is some of the best on the record – and his solos carry most of the songs nicely, a lot more nicely, in fact, than those on his own albums at the time. Leon Pendarvis makes a guest appearance playing electric piano on the cut "Arkansas", which is a bit funky – and other tunes include "El Noche Sol", "Sabado Sombrero", and "El Noche Sol".

A great example of why Little Milton was always one of the few Chicago blues artists who could also break strongly in the soul camp at the time – and a beautifully balanced set that perfectly shows both sides of the Chicago scene of the time! Production is by old Vee Jay maestro Calvin Carter, and arrangements by Gene Barge, who manages to slide effortlessly between blues and soul on the set – almost pushing Milton into Tyrone Davis territory, but keeping things a bit more rougher and down home on some of the other numbers. The sound is wonderful – very deep and rich, and with a sound that's head and shoulders above most other albums of this type in the late 60s. Titles include "Baby I Love You", "If Walls Could Talk", "Things That I Used to Do", "Let's Get Together", "I Play Dirty", "Blues Get Off My Shoulder", "I Don't Know", and "Poor Man".

Tracks include "So Addictive" (intro) featuring Tweet, "Dog In Heat" featuring Redman & Method Man, "One Minute Man" featuring Ludacris, "Lick Shots", "Get Ur Freak On", "Scream" (aka "Itchin'"), Old School Joint", "Take Away" featuring Ginuwine, "4 My People" featuring Eve, "Bus-A-Bus Interlude" featuring Busta Rhymes, "Whatcha Gon' Do" featuring Timbaland, "Step Off", "X-Tasy", "Slap! Slap! Slap!" featuring Da Brat & Jade, "I've Changed Interlude" featuring Lil' Mo, "One Minute Man'' (remix) featuring Jay Z, "Higher Ground" (prelude) and "Higher Ground" featuring other guest artists.

A collection pulled from Lee's totally great hard bop sessions for Vee Jay, recorded around the time of his best early work for Blue Note, and with a good hard group that includes Clifford Jordan on tenor, Eddie Higgins or Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers plays bass, and Art Blakey on drums. The material's a tight set of tracks that includes originals by Jordan, Higgins, Morgan, and Wayne Shorter – with titles like "Mogie", "Bess", "Terrible T", "Fire", and "Expoobidient" – all burners that really sum up the majestic power of the young Lee Morgan at his best!

The first album, with "Life's A Bitch", "One Love" and "It Ain't Hard To Tell" – what more do we need to say? How about beats by Primo, Pete Rock and Large Professor? Did this one get 5 mics from the Source? Didn't that count for something at the time? At any rate, despite the subsequent ups and downs of his career, and battles with Jay Z, amongst others, this album still stands as an all time high water mark for microphone technique and lyrical skills, with production to match. Also includes "NY State Of Mind", "The World Is Yours", "Halftime", "One Time 4 Your Mind", "Memory Lane" and "Represent".

Mostly produced by Jam Master Jay, with lots of growling, yelling and shouting: includes "Bacdafucup", "Bichasniguz", "Throw Ya Gunz", "Blac Vagina Finda", "Slam" and "Shifftee" – 18 cuts in all.

Edited radio versions of all songs. With "Vivrant Thing", "Wait Up", "Higher", "Moving With U", "Let's Ride", "All In", "Go Hard", and "NT" featuring Busta Rhymes. Beats by Jay Dee amongst others. 12 tracks in all!

A pretty groovy little album from Dinah Washington – at first glance a set of older standards, but at second glance a date that features some wonderfully swinging arrangements from Quincy Jones! The Q really helps Dinah break from the usual mode here – providing here with an upbeat, tightly snapping sort of groove – that sweetly syncopated Quincy Jones sound that really helped some singers hit new heights in the 60s. And as an added delight, The Dells make a key appearance on a few tracks – singing in a harmony group style that's similar to their one album on Vee Jay – almost more in Four Freshmen modes, but in a really great way! Titles include "Am I Blue", "Tears & Laughter", "If I Should Lose You", "I Just Found Out About Love", "Wake The Town & Tell The People", and "Wee Small Hours".

A pretty groovy little album from Dinah Washington – at first glance a set of older standards, but at second glance a date that features some wonderfully swinging arrangements from Quincy Jones! The Q really helps Dinah break from the usual mode here – providing here with an upbeat, tightly snapping sort of groove – that sweetly syncopated Quincy Jones sound that really helped some singers hit new heights in the 60s. And as an added delight, The Dells make a key appearance on a few tracks – singing in a harmony group style that's similar to their one album on Vee Jay – almost more in Four Freshmen modes, but in a really great way! Titles include "Am I Blue", "Tears & Laughter", "If I Should Lose You", "I Just Found Out About Love", "Wake The Town & Tell The People", and "Wee Small Hours".

A classic series of field recordings – done for Nonesuch by Stephen Jay, and recorded in Niger, Mali, & Upper Volta. Titles include "Kountougi Solo", "Djerma Dundun Drummers", "Tuareg Medicinal Chant", "Kouco Solo", "Songhay Kombi & Ettebel", and "Hausa Street Music".

A classic hardbop session that was cut in Chicago for Vee Jay, but which was issued after the demise of the label, on the related Exodus imprint. Chicago alto player Bunky Green leads a tight little sextet that has Donald Byrd on trumpet, Jimmy Heath on tenor, and Wynton Kelly on piano – and the group grooves with a tight sound that's in keeping with lots of the other great soul jazz/hardbop sessions that were coming out of Chicago at the time. Green's tone is nice and raw, quite a bit more so than on his later recordings for Cadet, and Heath is a perfect match for him on the frontline. Tracks include "Cecile", "Step High", "Counter Punch", and a swingin' version of "My Babe".

Beats by Jay Dee, Easy Mo Bee, Q Tip, Dj Scratch and others. 13 tracks: "The Coming (intro)", "Do My Thing", "Everything Remains Raw", "Woo-Hah", "It's A Party", "Ill Vibe", "Keep It Moving", "Abandon Ship", "Hot Fudge", "Flipmode Squad Meets Def Squad", "Still Shining", "Keep It Moving", "Finish Line" and "The End Of The World (outro)".

Nice compilation put together at the end fo the 80s with tracks for the preceding few years on Def Jam, with a number of now hard to find cuts. 13 tracks in all: LL Cool J "Rock The Bells", "Jack The Ripper" & "I'm Bad", Original Concept "Can You Feel It?", Beastie Boys "Rhymin' & Stealin" & "Fight For You Right (To Party)", Russell Rush & Jazzy Jay "Cold Chillin In The Spot", Public Enemy "Son Of Public Enemy (Flavor Whop version)" & "Rebel Without A Pause", Poppa Ron Love "I'm A Girl Watcher", Davy D "Have You Seen Davy?" and Slick Rick "The Ruler's Back".

Groove Holmes and Jimmy McGriff go head to head in this double-organ extravaganza! The set was recorded live in Boston in 1973, and it features some of the most furiously funky live organ grooving you'll find this side of Root Down – and a whole lot of super tight jazz jamming! The group's got three guitarists, one of whom is the great O'Donel Levy, plus Mike Moss on drums and Kwasi Jayourba percussion. Most of the tracks are nice and long, with lots of solo space, and titles include opening funky monster "The Preacher's Tune", plus "Beans", "Chopper", "Boston Whaler", "Mozambique" and "Brown Bread".

Excellent work from The Valentine Brothers – and a pretty big album for the group on A&M. The best tracks have a smooth modern soul sound – stepping along nicely at a catchy groove, with the Brothers' sweet harmonies interacting wonderfully, kind of in a late O'Jays mode, with a strong soul presence, despite some more tinny instrumentation. You can hear this to best effect on the stepper "Lonely Nights", but the whole album's pretty nice overall, and other tracks include "I Thank You", "Don't Bother Me", and "When (I Love You)".

The second volume of this series was even better than the first, and contains more hard funky stuff, like "Jungle Fever" by Chakachas, "Doin' It to Death" by the JB's, "Theme from Cleopatra Jones" by Joe Simon, "Fencewalk" by Mandrill, and 16 other funky cuts from the likes of James Brown, Lyn Collins, First Choice, O'Jays, Chi-Lites, Curtis Mayfield, etc. Have yourself a funky K-Tel record party!

Great early work by The O'Jays – with a much different sound than their later work on Philly International! The cuts are quite hard-edged, with a mixture of Northern Soul grooves and mellower uptown styles – and the album's got a split set of arrangements, both of which work well for the group. Side one features Nick DeCaro working with the group, doing some surprisingly great soul work (most of his 60s recordings were with easy and pop singers) on tracks like "Lipstick Traces", "Let It All Out", "Think It Over Baby", and "Whip It On Me Baby". Side two's just as great, with some killer work by the great HB Barnum – on classics like "Lonely Drifter", "Stand Tall", and "Time Is On My Side". Excellent stuff – with a really hard sound, and the kind of rare no-filler 60s soul album that's not always that easy to come by!

A great album that Roy Ayers cut after his co-led record with Fela Kuti – and one with the same sort of hard-driving Afro-Funk grooves that you'd find in Fela's classic recordings! The songs are shorter than Fela's, and with more of Roy's usual smooth jazzy production style – but the overall influence is very much in the Afro-Funk vein, and the album's sort of a "part 2" to the Music Of Many Colors set that was cut a few years before. William Allen worked on the record with Roy – playing choppy Afro-Funk bass, and arranging and producing a lot of the material with Roy and Jaymz Bedford – and the record also features a host of extra percussion players, as well as some vocals by the lovely Sylvia Striplin. Includes the great groover "Africa, Center Of The World", plus "The River Niger", and a great remake of "Third Eye", which was on Everybody Loves The Sunshine, but is redone here with a heavier sound!

Although the Main Ingredient were best known for their early 70's singles, this album from '74 is a wonderfully complex batch of tunes that shows that the group were taking a cue from some of their hipper contemporaries, and pushing past a stock hit formula. Bert DeCoteaux was still arranging, but the group produced themselves, giving the record a sexy funky feeling in the best parts, not that dissimilar from some of Marvin Gaye's work, or records by groups like The Isley Brothers or The O'Jays. Includes great versions of two Seals & Crofts songs – "Summer Breeze" and "Euphrates" – both a perfect example of this style, as is "Happiness Is Just Around The Bend" – plus a great reading of Willie Hutch's "California My Way", which has a super-dope sample at the beginning. Of course, the album still includes material like their hit " "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely", a sweetly style AM radio pop hit in the band's best style of earlier years.

Teddy Pendergrass and crew get a bit more political than on earlier releases, and adopt the righteous bubbling soul groove that had put the O'Jays over the top a few years earlier – with incredible results! The title cut – "Wake Up Everybody" – would prove to be a great example of the political Philly International hit formula applied to socially conscious themes, but the record probably scored even bigger with the club crossover hit "Don't Leave Me This Way". Other tracks include "Keep On Lovin You", "Tell The World How I Feel About Cha Baby", "I'm Searching For A Love", and "You Know How To Make Me Feel So Good" – the latter two of which also feature female vocals by Sharon Paige. Bobby Martin, Norman Harris, and Ronnie Baker did the arrangements – and this was Teddy's last LP with the group.

8 sultry slow jams from the Philly International catalog: "If Only You Knew" by Patti Labelle, "Let Me Make Love To You" by the O'Jays, "Close The Door" and "Love TKO" by Teddy Pendergrass, "I Just Love The Man" by the Jones Girls, "You're The Reason Why" by the Ebonys, "Be For Real" by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and "Find Me A Girl" by the Jacksons.

Although the Main Ingredient were best known for their early 70's singles, this album from '74 is a wonderfully complex batch of tunes that shows that the group were taking a cue from some of their hipper contemporaries, and pushing past a stock hit formula. Bert DeCoteaux was still arranging, but the group produced themselves, giving the record a sexy funky feeling in the best parts, not that dissimilar from some of Marvin Gaye's work, or records by groups like The Isley Brothers or The O'Jays. Includes great versions of two Seals & Crofts songs – "Summer Breeze" and "Euphrates" – both a perfect example of this style, as is "Happiness Is Just Around The Bend" – plus a great reading of Willie Hutch's "California My Way", which has a super-dope sample at the beginning. Of course, the album still includes material like their hit " "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely", a sweetly style AM radio pop hit in the band's best style of earlier years.

A great sense of righteousness and groove – the key mix that made the O'Jays so great back in the day – and which really helped put the Philly International enterprise on the map! The album's miles from the group's simple harmony soul roots – even though those were pretty darn great – and it blends together soaring backings with a sweet Gamble/Huff finish, and really makes some magic in the way the whole thing comes off. Titles include the great mellow ballad "Stairway To Heaven", the party groovers "Livin For The Weekend" and "I Love Music" – and the cuts "Unity", "You & Me", and "She's Only A Woman".

This one was kind of Motown's answer to the Wattstax albums – a double live set, recorded in Chicago during the Push Expo, headed by Jesse Jackson. The tracks here are more of a mixed bag than some of those on the deeper soul Wattstax albums, but there are some nice moments overall, buried in the large mix of music and artists – many of whom didn't normally record for Motown. The tunes are familiar, but they're presented here in some nicely different live takes. Titles include "Lean On Me" by Bill Withers, "Country Preacher" by Cannonball Adderley, "This Child Of Mine" by Zulema, "Everybody Plays The Fool" by Main Ingredient, "Give Me Your Love" by Curtis Mayfield, "I've Gotta Be Me" by Sammy Davis Jr, "I Wanna Be Where You Are" by The Jackson 5, "What's Going On" by Marvin Gaye, "Close To You" by Jerry Butler & Brenda Lee Eager, "On A Clear Day/Killer Joe" by Roberta Flack & Quincy Jones, and "Sunshine" by The O'Jays. Also features some dialogue by Jesse Jackson.