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Hard to believe how important this soundtrack was, back in the day. One of the first good hip hop soundtracks, and a motherlode of great cuts like "Paid In Full (7 minute Cold Cut remix)" by Eric B & Rakim, "Butcher Shop" by Kool G Rap, "Colors" by Ice T, "Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste" by M.C. Shan, and "Go On Girl" by Roxanne Shante. More by Salt N Pepa, Big Daddy Kane, 7A3, and Rick James. Marley Marl produced the motherlode of these cuts, and this was the early days of the Cold Chillin/Warner alliance.

A landmark look at the rise of hip hop in the New York scene – filmed in the mid 80s, and featuring loads of vintage footage from the streets! The images here are alone worth the price of admission – but there's also plenty of compelling meat to the feature too – including vintage interviews with Grand Master Flash, Run DMC, Schoolly D, Mr Magic, Biz Markie, Doug E Fresh, Roxanne Shante, and CBS Crew – all done in voices that are as fresh as the music they were making at the time! The film is like finding a time machine back to the old school – and although the feature is only about 45 minutes, it packs plenty of punch.

Their first single, "Anotha Ho" is a kinda funny novelty track where JJ Fad dis most of the other female MCs from around that time (Roxanne Shante, Real Roxanne, Sparky D, Salt & Peppa), with a chorus "Anotha ho bites the dust" based on the Queen sample. Of course, "Supersonic" later went on to be the huge commercial radio hit.

A vital collection of some of the best songs written, or co-written by Otis Blackwell – who's one of the greatest and most adaptable songwriters of the late 50s onward! His songs were perfectly suited to bridge late 50s and early 60s soul, rock and pop – especially for performers who straddled those styles – but his work reaches pretty far, stylistically! If you don't know the name Otis Blackwell, we promise you know his songs – and some of the best of them are on this set – with some hugely famous tunes, some in iconic form, and others in lesser-known versions. There's also some overlooked gems – and the titles include "Make Me Know It" by Elvis, "Don't Be Cruel" by Jerry Lee Lewis, "My Pigeon's Gone" by The Five Keys, "For My Good Fortune" by Mahalia Jackson, "I'll Find You" by Gene Pitney, "Brace Yourself" by Ben E King, "I Told Myself A Lie" by Clyde McPhatter, "Home In Your Heart" by Solomon Burke, "Handy Man" by Del Shannon, Otis Blackwell and Winfield Scott's 1962 demo for "One Broken Heart For Sale", "Fever" by Little Willie John and more.

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

An excellent collection of funky tracks from South Africa – most of them with a slightly different feel than work you'd get on other Afro Funk compilations – and we mean that in a good way, too! Some of the artists are names you'd recognize from later recordings of the big South African crossover years of the 80s and 90s – but they're represented here by harder, edgier cuts from the early days – and mixed up with some more obscure acts, too – which really helps bring a freshness to the set, especially given the interweaving of genres that goes on – as you might guess from the extended sub-title of the CD! Titles include "Sangoma" by Malombo, "Oh Yeh Soweto" by Teaspoon & The Waves, "Intombi Ibhinca Isidwaba" by Phuzushukela, "Kikzelani" by Nelcy Sedibe, "Hula Hoop Jive" by Kataki, "Andromeda" by Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath, "Malume" by Abafakasi, "Baloyi" by Dudu Pukwana & Spear, "Lily's Express" by Gwigwi Mrwebi, "Wozan Mahipi" by Mahlathini & Mahotella Queens, and "Bayeza" by Soul Brothers.

A lost Burt Bacharach treasure – a bit later than classic vintage, but a wonderful album from the mature maestro – and sometimes overlooked, due to its status as a soundtrack! The work here is totally great – that mellow, easy-flowing style that Burt really perfected around the time of Living Together – served up here in a batch of sweet instrumental tracks, plus a few key vocal numbers with lyrics sung by Jackie DeShannon, Libby Titus, and Michael McDonald – all of whom slide down more into the Bacharach ethos than stand out as their usual selves – and we mean that in a good way! Titles include "I Don't Need You Any More", "In Tune", "If We Ever Get Out Of Here", "On The Beach", "I've Got My Mind Made Up", "Find Love", "Luisa", and "I Think I'm Gonna Fall In Love".

One of Bunny Wailer's last totally roots oriented sets, before he began dabbling a bit in dancehall, and a mighty one at that. Livingston gets help from a cast of heavyweights, like Horsemouth Wallace, Robbie Shakespeare, Chinna Smith, Erest Ranglin, Tommy McCook, Bobby Ellis, Deadly Headly Bennet and Sticky Thompson. This US pressing, issued 3 years after the original Jamaican release, features all 6 cuts from the original LP: "Let Him Go", "Love Fire", "Roots Radics Rockers Reggae", "Rockin Time", "Rockers" and "Wirly Girly", plus an additional track, "Cease Fire".

Nice comp of old school (...okay, what passes for old school these days) cuts: Schoolly D "PSK What Does It Mean?", Ultramag "Ego Trippin", Fearless Four "Rockin It", Treacherous Three "Body Rock", Just Ice "Going Way Back", Steady B "Bring The Beat Back", Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud "Girls I Got 'Em Locked", fat Boys "Stick 'Em", Roxanne Shante & Biz Mark "Def Fresh Crew", Sweet Tee & Jazzy Joyce "It's My Beat", Run DMC "Peter Piper" and Fresh 3 MCs "Fresh".

Early 60s greatness from The Skatalites – Kingston recordings from 1963 & '64 – peak era material, but perhaps not amongst the best remembered – produced by King Edwards! It was cut during various sessions during that year+ long period featuring the legendary players – Tommy McCook, Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Lester Sterling, Ernest Raglin, Jackie Mitto, Drumbago, Charlie Organaire and others. 14 ska scorchers: "Jones Town Special", "Red China", "Jazz Ska", "African Queen", "What A Skandal", "Shank I Sheck", "Kingston 11", "Collie Foot", "Man About Town" and more.

The sounds of The Beatles – completely transformed – as a handful of tunes by John Lennon & Paul McCartney, and a few by George Harrison too, are taken up by the A&M Records crew of the 60s and 70s! We're huge fans of A&M, as the label's always had a way of taking already-great music, and making it even better – through inventive arrangements, cool studio production, and an ultra-stylish way of putting over a record – all of which really comes through here in the collection's transformative batch of tunes! Some of the singers are surprising choices, but really make the music come across wonderfully – and the overstuffed set features 26 tracks that include "Good Day Sunshine" by Claudine Longet, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by Punch, "All My Loving" by The Sandpipers, "Blackbird" by Punch, "Ob La Di Ob La Da" by Nick DeCaro, "Get Back" by Billy Preston, "Something" by Claudine Longet, "Don't Let Me Down" by Dillard & Clark, "For No One" by Liza Minelli, "Yesterday" by Chris Montez, "She's Leaving Home" by Julius Wechter & Baja Marimba Band, "Day Tripper" by Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66, "Golden Slumbers" by Claudine Longet, "Hey Jude" by Shango, and "Come Together" by Brothers Johnson.

A sublime set of 60s New York sounds – some of the best compositions by the team of Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, served up by a host of excellent soul, rock, and pop artists of the time! There's a really unifying feel to the work here – not just the continual themes of sadness and wanting that the pair were known for (especially Ellie!), but also the "wall of sound" style of production, which always seemed to bring their subtle messages to the forefront in really wonderful ways! And while this may be the second set in Ace's series on the pair, all the work here is totally top-shelf – essential stuff that include "Sweet Laurie Fair Laurie" by The Tokens, "Baby I Love You" by The Ronettes, "Every Boy & Every Girl" by The Chiffons, "All Grown Up" by The Exciters, "I Got To Go Back" by The McCoys, "That's All I Ever Want From You Baby" by Manfred Mann, "Goodnight Goodnight" by Ellie Greenwich, "Look Of Love" by Leslie Gore, "The Train From Kansas City" by The Shangri-Las, "Don't Ever Leave Me" by Connie Francis, "I Know It's All Right" by Sam Hawkins, "I Wanna Love Him So Bad" by The Jelly Beans, "That Boy John" by The Raindrops, "I Wonder" by The Butteflies, "Chapel Of Love" by The Dixie Cups, and "Wait Til My Bobby Gets Home" by Darline Love.