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Genius, pure genius! (Have we said that about Lee too many times before?) The work of Lee Hazlewood is beyond description – a bit of vocals, a bit of country, a bit of lounge, and a bit of rock – all wrapped up with a sinister edge that has you believing that this was the man who used to refer to his frequent musical partner as "Nasty" Sinatra over the headphones during recording sessions! The set features 35 tracks from Lee's obscure years at MGM records – wonderful vocal tunes that rank with some of his best ever, plus a few weird instrumentals, recorded by Lee Hazlewood's Woodchucks. Insanely wonderful stuff – records that we come back to again and again and again over the years – finally presented in their entirety, with a great set of notes on the music! Tracks include "Hands", "Mannford Oklahoma", "This Town", "Sand", "Child", "Little War", "Fort Worth", "Summer Wine", "I Move Around", "After Six", "Batman", "Summer Nights", "Suzi Jane Is Back In Town", "In Our Time", "When A Fool Loves A Fool", and "So Long Babe".

A huge collection of work from the great Tommy Edwards – a set that features four full albums' worth of material, and which stands as a rich testament of Edwards' contributions to American music at the end of the 50s! Tommy has a unique approach on these tracks – a style that's rooted in older jazz vocal modes, especially given his poise and class – but which also has some pop production too – in ways that arguably make Edwards a key figure in the development of early soul music! You'll definitely hear a key criss-crossing of modes on these tracks – heartfelt vocals mixed with captivating production – and the package features a whopping 57 tracks in all – material from albums that includes For Young Lovers, It's All In The Game, Step Out Singing, and You Started Me Dreaming – with titles that include "Music Maestro Please", "Please Mr Sun", "My Sugar My Sweet", "It's All In The Game", "You Win Again", "Always", "Until The Real Thing Comes Along", "The Composer", "Should I", "Suzie Wong", as You Desire Me", and "Once There Lived A Fool".

The complete recordings of Every Mothers' Son – two full albums, and a bonus single too! First up is the self-titled Every Mothers' Son album – filled with cool, catchy numbers that have a wonderfully sunny feel overall – and a spare approach that's a bit different than most of the group's contemporaries! The drums seem much more up in the mix than usual for this sort of work – snapping with a jaunty quality amidst guitar that's a bit more laidback, and harmonized vocals that have that perfect folk-into-pop mode that other Sunshine Pop groups were using at the time. There's a few blue notes here and there, which give the music some of the darker undercurrents you might hear in The Left Banke – and titles include "Come On Down To My Boat", "For Brandy", "I Won't", "Allison Dozer", "Sittin Here", "Come On Queenie", and "Didn't She Lie". The second album is a great step forward for Every Mothers' Son – a set that's got all the catchy charm of their debut, yet a deeper sound overall! There's a great maturation in the music going on here – as some cuts show a love of pop-psych elements, which comes off in fuller backings that swirl strongly around the lyrics – while other tracks have a leaner quality and more acoustic elements, almost into the territory of Beau Brummels on Reprise, especially given the way the vocals come across. The whole thing's a 60s pop treasure – filled with great original tunes that include "Rainflowers", "Dolls In The Clock", "Only Child", "Sally (Life Story #3)", "Put Your Mind At Ease", and "Larry's Birthday Party". CD also features a bonus mono single mix of "No One Knows".

Quite an unusual soundtrack from Les Baxter – not just because it's a rare one done for an early 60s horror film, but also because this presentation of the music features a handful of very long songs – rather than the usual shorter film score numbers! In a way, the music works like one long suite, divided up into a few passages – heavy on the kind of exotic scoring that Baxter was using in his key Capitol Records sides a few years before – but also turned towards darkness a bit more, as you'd guess from the setting! Instrumentation isn't far off from Baxter's exotic records – light strings, percussion, vibes, offbeat woodwinds, and more – but the phrasing is a lot more eerie – and at points, a lot more dramatic too. Titles include the short "Main Title" – plus the longer "Drop Of Water", "The Telephone", and "The Wurdalak".

An amazing collection of music – and essential to any collection of blacksploitation soul and funk, even if you own the original Shaft album on Stax! Disc 1 features the original film score for the Shaft movie, not the record issued by Stax – so although Isaac Hayes handled the music, it's different from what you might have on record – and features a great array of vocal tracks and shorter funky sound cues – all with rhythm by The Bar-Kays and The Movement! Titles on disc 1 include "Bumpy's Theme", "I Can't Get Over Losin You", "Reel 4 Part 6", "Source No 1 6M1C", "Source No 2 7M1A", "Shaft Strikes Again/Return Of Shaft", "Shaft's Pain", "Rescue/Roll Up", "Love Scene Ellie", "Harlem Montage", "Shaft's First Fight", and "Title Shaft". Disc 2 features the killer soundtrack to Shaft's Big Score – written by Gordon Parks, and played with full funky style by Dick Hazard, who's getting a bit of help from the mighty Tom McIntosh. The tracks seem to include everything issued on the original LP, plus a bit more – with titles that include "Symphony For Shafted Souls", "9M3", "Funeral Home", "Don't Misunderstand", "Fight Scene", "Ike's Place", "First Meeting", "Smart Money", and "Blowin Your Mind". That disc and all of disc 3 features music from the Shaft TV series – some really under-exposed music that's totally great too, but almost with more of a crime/cop sort of style – although also with some cool moody moments too. Some of this music was done by Johnny Pate, and titles include work from the episodes The Executioners, The Killing, Hit Run, The Cop Killers, and The Kidnapping. 3CD set also features 2 bonus tracks from a single – "The Men" and "Type Thang".

70s country genius from CW McCall – the man who took the trucker style to a whole new level! Trucker country had been around for at least a decade before CW cracked the charts – mostly tracks about the hard life, lost loves, and weary eyes of the truck driver in the US. But McCall really stepped things up with these tracks recorded for MGM – showcasing not just the core culture that had grown up in the rising world of the interstates, but also the growing politics that came with the job of driving a truck in an era when gas prices rose and speed limits dropped. And sure, some of these tunes might be seen as throwaway novelty/story numbers – but they've got a surprising depth when heard together like this – and you can trust us on that, as McCall's "Convoy" was one of the first 45s we ever bought! The set features 25 tracks in all – including "Black Bear Road", "Old 30", "I've Trucked All Over This Land", "Four Wheel Drive", "Night Rider", "Classified", "Wolf Creek Pass", "Crispy Critters", and the seminal "Convoy".

A pair of classics from the great Bill Medley – pulled from his key early years on his own! Bill Medley 100% a surprisingly wonderful little record – and a real testament to the blue-eyed soul of Medley! The set's a solo outing that has Bill stepping away from his fame as a Righteous Brother – but almost sounding even better on his own, with a depth of soul to his vocals that's really amazing – echoes of Ray Charles, Jerry Butler, Chuck Jackson, and other 60s greats – served up with a surprising lack of cliche – at least in comparison to folks who tried this sort of thing in later years. Bill Baker serves up some sparkling arrangements for the set – and titles include "Brown Eyed Woman", "You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You", "Let The Good Times Roll", "Show Me", "One Day Girl", and "That's Life". Soft & Soulful is a record that really has Bill Medley deepening up his groove – moving past some of the more standard soul music modes of earlier efforts, and stretching out in a rich tapestry of modes that clearly sets the scene for soul singers in generations to come! There's still a strong dose of 60s soul in the mix here, but the arrangements complicate things nicely – and bring in this "adult" approach to the music that no doubt went back from Medley's mainstream presence to have an influence on other soul singers as well – kind of a template for more mature modes that would show up more strongly in the 70s. Medley wrote some of the tunes on the set himself – which further deepens the personality of the record – and titles include "Winter Won't Come This Year", "Peace Brother Peace", "100 Years", "I'm Gonna Die Me", "Softly", "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby", "Any Day Now", and "Street Of Dirt".

Sublime southern soul from The Ovations – a group with a really unique approach to their music! Unlike other southern groups of the time, The Ovations had a somewhat sweet style overall – one that was informed by their great love of the older music of Sam Cooke, and turned onto a hipper, more 70s-styled Memphis groove overall! Lead vocalist Louis Williams has a style that's as equally charming as Cooke, although with his own great touches overall – and the backings on some of the cuts add in a nice southern soul component, although still with the same sort of polish that Cooke might have appreciated. CD features 21 tracks in all – including their rare album for MGM, plus other singles for the Sounds Of Memphis and XL labels – as well as 6 previously unissued tunes, and one rare single for Chess! The package is a long-overdue tribute to this wonderful group, and titles include "Hooked On A Feeling", "One In A Million", "Touching Me", "So Nice To Be Loved By You", "I Can't Believe It's Over", "Having A Party", "Don't Say You Love Me", "I'm In Love", "Pure Natural Love", "Sweet Thing", "I Care For You", "Till I Find Some Way", "Hangin On", "You're My Little Girl", and "Gotta Get Free".

Killer early work from Freda Payne – an early album recorded for MGM many years before her later hit "Band Of Gold" – and a set with a great mix of soul and jazz modes, all arranged by the mighty Benny Golson! The record's got a really classy feel – one that has a lot more poise than some of Freda's later soul, and shows elements of the jazz she'd bring more to the forefront on Impulse Records. Yet Golson's backings also still keep plenty of soul in the mix too – using full arrangements to almost give Payne an uptown soul sound, with a heavy groove on some of the album's most memorable numbers. Titles include "San Juan", "I Don't Love You Anymore", "Too Late", "You Never Should Have Loved Me", "Feeling Good", "It's Here For You", "If You Loved Me", and "Sad Sad September".

A terrifying comedy score from Les Baxter – one penned for a mid 60s film that starred Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, and Boris Karloff! Baxter's music has just the right twist to fit the title – and really matches the tongue-in-cheek images on the screen – the right sort of drama for a spooky film, but often given these sprightly little touches that shade the scene with a nice degree of humor too! Instrumentation has all the key hallmarks of Baxter's exotic orchestrations from the Capitol Records years – and titles include "He Is Not Dead", "Play It Straight", "The Axe", "Hearse Of A Different Color", "A Tisket A Casket", and "Two Birds".

Two lost scores – packaged together on a single CD! First up is Billion Dollar Brain, composed by Richard Rodney Bennett – done for an obscure late 60s spy thriller starring Michael Caine, and a really dark soundtrack! Bennett did a fair bit of jazz arranging in his time – and the score to this one mixes some dark dramatic bits with some lighter motifs that feature good work on woodwinds and percussion. The main theme has some nice floating piano over the top, and a few other tracks have a cool whistling suspense theme – but things also really change up a lot nicely, and the whole thing almost has an audio collage feel at times, with its sense of variety. Titles include "Love Scene", "Hoe Down", "Anya", "The Church", "Skidoo", "Ambush", "Car Chase", and "Billion Dollar Brain". Roy Budd handles the score for Final Option – an early 80s spy thriller, but one that gets some beautiful Budd treatment that's right up there with Roy's famous soundtracks of the 70s! The instrumentation often has an airy, eerie feel – slowly cascading keyboards, with almost a hint of Italian space between – used with a lot less schlock than some of the tinnier, cheesier action scores that were more of the mainstream at the time. A few tunes were composed and conducted by Jerry & Marc Donahue – and titles include "Who Dares Wins", "Straight Ahead Blues", "Nature Of The Beast", "Reds Under The Beds", "Hi Jack (part 1)", "American Medley", and "SAS Or Nothing".

Wonderful lost work from Michel Legrand – a fantastic, and fantastically overlooked, 70s soundtrack – completely essential to have in a CD version like this, since most of the music hardly appeared in the film at all! The score takes off nicely from some of Legrand's more famous work of the 60s and early 70s – with a mixture of warm themes, jazzy elements, and some of the funkier touches you'd expect from a cop/crime film – all at a level that's a bit less sentimental than some of his French film work, with just the right qualities to fit the offbeat story of the movie. There's a real Dave Grusin sort of approach going on at times – although with a bit more acoustic piano than electric keyboards – but Legrand also throws in a few softer bits to round things out nicely, and create a lot more depth in the music than you might expect for a low-budget film. Really great stuff overall – the kind of soundtrack that should have gotten proper release at the time, as it easily matches any of Legrand's bigger LP hits – and presented with great notes on both the film and music. Titles include "Papa Joe The Padrone", "Downtown", "Wall Street", "The Chase", "The Sleep Song", "The Sellers", and "Uptown".

Some great Nino Rota/Fedrico Fellini collaborations – and definitely their most unusual on record! First up is Satyricon – one of Nino Rota's most amazing soundtracks, to one of Fellini's most bizarre films! The music has some of the usual tightly composed Rota melodies, but it's also touched by lots of weird percussion bits, and slightly "savage" moments – possibly to convey the paganism of the film's setting. The soundtrack's an essential chapter in the Rota/Fellini relationship – and it's much darker and more twisted than some of the better-known collaborations from the early 60s. Titles include "Sulla Nave Di Lica", "La Schiavetta Innamorata", "Tema Di Gitone", and "Il Minotauro". CD features 20 tracks from the film – more than we've seen reissued before! Roma is presented here in a different version than we've seen on reissue too – a different track list that makes for some really evocative music! There's six versions of the "Aria Di Roma" – a really haunting theme, handled in a variety of spare instrumentation – plus two takes on "Trasteverina", which has a moody, almost melancholy feel. There's then four parts of the "Ecclesiastical Fashion Show" – almost a mini-suite that's got an older Rota feel – lots of playful themes intertwining, including a great take on "La Dolce Vita".

Amazing sounds from Lee Hazlewood – some of his most offbeat, unbridled recordings ever – and that's saying a lot if you've already heard his classics for Mercury, MGM, and Reprise! The package here brings together rare work from Lee's own LHI label – packaged beautifully with a rich set of notes, session details, and some amazing photos that follow in the spirit of the nutty-looking cover image! Hazlewood's voice is sublime throughout – that deeper-than-deep quality that always leaves us breathless – perfect for the sly wit and and "aw shucks" sensibility of the tunes – and also for unlocking the growing adult sensuality that Lee was letting into his work at the time. A few female singers step forth in that great Hazlweood duet mode – Nina Lizell, Suzi Jane Hokom, and Ann Margret – who each sing on a few tracks – but Lee's in the lead on most numbers, and titles include the previously unreleased "I Just Learned To Run" – plus "The Bed", "Sleep In The Grass", "The Night Before", "If It's Monday Morning", "Won't You Tell Your Dreams", "Hey Cowboy", "No Train To Stockholm", "What's More I Don't Need Her", "Trouble Maker", and "Nobody Like You".

Ahhh . . . Great stuff! This Millie Jackson's tremendous debut album – and the work here is completely different from later records that have her more in a bitchy mode! Here, Millie's a heartbroken southern diva – right in the vein of Ann Sexton, Doris Duke, or Shirley Brown – and even though the arrangements are done north of the Mason/Dixon line (in New York by Bert DeCoteaux, and in DC by Tony Camillo), the record feels like it was lifted off the pressing plant in Muscle Shoals or Jackson! Titles include "I Ain't Giving Up", "I Miss You Baby", "Ask Me What You Want", "My Man, A Sweet Man", "I Just Can't Stand It", and "Strange Things". CD version features a whopping 11 bonus tracks – many of which were never issued before – and titles include the MGM numbers "My Heart Took A Licking" and "A Little Bit Of Something", plus "Ask Me What You Want (unedited master)", "Untrue Men", "I Don't Wanna Talk About It", "Strange Things (alt mix)", "My Man A Sweet Man (unedited master)", and "You're The Joy Of My Life (alt take)".

An amazing version of this one – the core soundtrack really expanded with a lot of extra from the film, not just the record – and presented here as a 2CD set with loads of extra source music, alternate takes, and cues as well! The core version of Happy Ending is a real slice of genius from Michel Legrand – one of his brilliant late 60s soundtracks, not as well remembered as, but cut during the same period as The Thomas Crown Affair. The soundtrack is probably best remembered for the incredible theme "What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life" – sung here in 2 versions by Michael Dees, and also served up in a nice instrumental take as well. But overall, the whole record is pretty darn great – not as out and out groovy as some of Legrand's other work, but with a great mix of moody, jazzy, and atmospheric – handled with some really great instrumental touches that are all Legrand, all the way! Titles include "Smooth Sailing", "Collage", "Diamonds Are Forever", "Floating Time", "Hurry Up N Hurry Down", and "Whistle While You Swing". 2CD version features all the material unearthed for that very limited MGM box set a few years ago, a total of 48 tracks in all – with other gems that include "Soft Sell", "Till Death Do Us Part/That Trapped Feeling", "Bahama Blues", "The Stripper", "Reconciliation", and "It Ought To Be Forever".

A landmark album from Freda Payne! Freda had been knocking around a bit as a more jazz-oriented singer, and had cut one album for Impulse and one for MGM before this one – but when she hooked up with the hitmaking Holland-Dozier-Holland team for this record, her career really went over the top! The team take Payne's deep soulful voice away from the sophisticated pop of earlier years, and hook it up with a mix of fuzzy Detroit soul and sweeter southern styles. The album includes loads of great cuts – most notably the sublime crossover hit "Band of Gold", but also plenty of other lesser-known gems, like "The Easiest Way to Fall", "Unhooked Generation", "Deeper and Deeper", and "This Girl Is a Woman Now". Her best by far!

An excellent album of funky electric jazz – and possibly the best one that Phil Woods cut with his European group! The quartet's a very hip group that's way hipper than its clunky name – with Gordon Beck on electric piano and organ, Daniel Humair on percussion and drums, and Henri Texier on bass, flute, and African percussion – all instrumentalists who dip heavily into the deep bag of their mighty talents for the date, helping to push Phil's music into some very cool new territory! The album cooks a lot harder than Woods' previous MGM date with the Rhythm Machine group in Europe – and has a really freewheeling vibe, and a sound that's almost outside at points. All tracks are long, with a modal electric approach that's very nice – and funky in the best parts – and titles include "Chromatic Banana", "Ultimate Choice", "The Last Page", and "The Day When The World".

An excellent little set that compiles some of Lalo's groovier sides for the Verve and MGM labels! The set focuses more on Lalo's jazz than soundtrack work, which makes it a nice companion to the Mission Impossible "best of" set on Motor Music. Some tracks are from albums under Lalo's own name as a leader, and other are from albums by Dizzy Gillespie, Cal Tjader, and Bob Brookmeyer. Whatever the source, though, the music's all pretty darn groovy – and the CD's a swirling mass of bossa, Latin, and jazzy jazz grooves! Titles include "Chorale", "The Wave", "Old Laces", "Samba Para Dos", "En Salon Mexico", and "The Chains".

Maybe our favorite album ever from singer Helen Merrill – certainly from the early days – and a unique outing cut for MGM's excellent Metrojazz label! The set's got a more laidback sound than Merrill's previous records – and a definite bluesy undercurrent too – one that comes through strongly in the piano and arrangements of Jimmy Jones, and in the tremendous tenor work from Frank Wess – whose playing on the record gives the set a soulful quality we're not used to hearing with Helen! Tunes all follow the theme of the title – but are done in really inventive ways, especially when Wess gets a chance to solo – and titles include "Blues In My Heart", "The Blues", "The Thrill Is Gone", "You've Got A Date With The Blues", "The Meaning Of The Blues", and "Vous M'Ebloussez".