All Categories — LPs  

An incredible bit of southern funk – the first landmark LP by Archie Bell & The Drells, and the first big burst of energy from the Texas scene of the 60s! The album's incredible – with Archie up front on rough-hewn vocals, the band grooving in a mad tangle of guitar, bass, and drums, and some super-fierce horn work by the TSU Tornadoes! You've no doubt heard the band's classic "Tighten Up (part 1)", but this album also includes the incredible "part 2" to the track – which takes the groove a million miles higher! And the whole album's equally great – filled with other tight soul gems that include "A Thousand Wonders", "I Don't Want To Be A Playboy", "Give Me Time", and "When You Left Heartache Began".

An amazing step sideways for London's Zoot Money – a move from mod to psych, with a trippy quality that's quite different from his jazzy sound a few years before! The group's got legendary fame – not just for the shift in styles by Zoot, but also for the fact that it features key work from a young Andy Summers – later of The Police – who works here with some great tones on guitar, and plenty of fresh ideas in all the songs he penned on the record! Money's vocals are wonderful – almost as if Georgie Fame were singing on a psych album – which is as unusual and compelling as you might think. These sessions were recorded in the late 60s, but mostly unissued at the time – but really rank with the best of the early Syd Barrett or Kevin Ayers generation – with titles that include "Coffee Song", "Madman Running Through The Fields", "This Island", "High Flying Bird", "Four Firemen", "Soma (parts 1 & 2)".

Trippy Turkish rock from Erkin Koray – rarities and singles recorded in Istanbul, and every bit as brilliant as the work on his famous self-titled albums! The music is awash in a blend of buzzing, hypnotic folk sounds of Turkey – mixed with western and otherwise globally resonant psychedelia – a wicked blend that's right up there with the best Anatolian grooves of the time! It's wild stuff, but done with passionate vocals and tuneful melodism that's pretty amazing – English and American rockers who brought Middle Eastern errata into pop music made millions and became superstars for it, but we really must say, that creative reach works even more brilliantly in reverse! Includes "Mechul", "Kendim Ettim Kendim Buldom,", "Gun Dogmuyor", "Goca Dunya", "Kraller", "Cumbur Cemaat", "Hadi Hadi Ordan", "Dusunus", "Olmayinca Olmuyor" and "Sevdigim".

A stunner! High Plains Drifter collects material from the mighty Lee Perry during the crucially creative and fertile period between 1968 & 1973 – in which he founded the Upsetter imprint and had some chart success. It was such a productive period, resulting in hundreds of singles and a number of albums, that a whole bunch of incredible music made during it has been pretty badly overlooked over the years! This set on the always great Pressure Sounds puts together 20 of those – many of them simmering with quite a funky sound! Killer organ grooves and smoking rhythms highlight numbers by Val Bennett, The Mellowtones, The Ethiopians, Junior Byles and, of course, the amazing Upsetters! Glen Adams and Winston Wright handle those organs, sax by Tommy McCook, bass by Aston Barrett, trumpet by Bobby Ellis and other legendary instrumentalists, plus Lee Perry on percussion and production. Includes "Val Blows In" by Val Bennett & The Upsetters, "Boss" by Count Sticky & The Upsetters, "High Plains Drifter", "The Man With No Name" and "Amigo" by The Upsetters, "It's Growing" by Busty Brown & The Upsetters, "What's Wrong With You" by The Bleechers, "He Don't Love You" by The Silvertones, "Awake" by The Ethiopians, "A Big Joke" by Lee Perry & The Upsetters, "Rockfort Psychedelion" by Count Sticky & The Upsetters, "Iniquity Workers" by The Faithful Brothers, "Rip Up Festival '71" by Junior Byles & Righteous Upsetters and more.

An undisputed funk classic – even back in the days before anyone ever said the phrase "funk classic"! This album must have been deleted the day it came out – because even though it's attained legendary proportions with groovers worldwide, it's always been hard to find – even back in the 70s! But unlike so many other "rare-but-not great" funk albums, this one's a killer – with a hard funky wah wah sound that we'd rank up there with James Brown's best work on Polydor from the early 70s, and which should have made Joe a millionaire, not a lost legend of soul music. The band is sharp as a knife – with hard drums, tight bass, and some simply amazing guitar riffing. But the best part is Joe – as his vocals are hard and emotional, with just the right touches of righteousness to carry off the album's political messages, but not too much as to spoil the party that the band's having in the background! Every single track is a winner, and if we were ever to make a list of the top five funk albums to own, this one would be on it! Titles include "The Way They Do My Life", "I Got So Much Trouble On My Mind", "The Trouble With Trouble", "Give Me Back My Freedom", "Live Like Brothers", and "Find Yourself".

Rare rock from Rotomagus – a heavy group from France – the complete discography of the group, and a completely fresh discovery to us! The sound is loose, ragged and raw on the unreleased album demo that's covers the first half of the anthology – which only enhances the power of it. Singer Alain Fontaine sings, screams and wails in English – fascinatingly, he is a good singer, but shrieks his head off with abandon on some killer songs here. The band is just as strong, showing command of rhythm and with strong solos as well as bashing away with intensity. In some ways, it's a late 60s-style heavy psych album, but played at breakneck speed, rugged soul and with little effort to tidy anything up. The second half is much different – featuring singles the group cut for Polydor, CBS and other labels – far less raucous and more French pop psych-indebted, and those numbers are great, too! They work as well in frenzy as they do with trippy harmonies – very impressive! Titles include "Laureline", "Little Green Man", "Fighting Cock", "Shout Now", "I Dig Life", "The Flufluting Flatmul" and more from the unreleased demo album, plus the rare singles "Le Haut Du Pave", "Nevada", "Eros", "Madame Wanda", "Laureline", "The Sky Turns Red" and more.

The first record in years from these Afro Funk giants – but don't hold it against them, as the whole thing's pretty darn wonderful! There's a rich, vibrant sound here that really lives up to the group's legacy from years back – and production is right on the money to keep things right – recorded in Paris with a relatively stripped-down quality – just right for bringing all the tight rhythms of the set right to the foreground, without any overdone mass market cliches to hold things back! Even the appearances of a few famous guest stars can't get in the way of the energy of the Orchestre – and this new album should be more than proof that the originators are still alive and well. Titles include "Pardon", "Von Vo Nono", "Oce", "Koumi Dede", "Tegbe", "Lion Is Burning", "Ne Te Fache Pas", and "Gbeti Madjro".

An amazing collection – and one that really helped completely revise our understanding of Caribbean music! The collection features a fair bit of artists with roots in the West Indies, but who made a huge impact on London's postwar immigrant population – the new rise of non-native residents who were swelling the ranks of the city in the years after the way – bringing with them new cultures, new sounds, and new traditions – with all the requisite ideas and politics that might imply! The work here often has a subtle social agenda – working through themes important to these new Londoners, yet still echoing modes of the homeland as well – often with great musical backings that's heavy on percussion, jazzy instrumentation, and very upbeat rhythms. Titles include "London Is The Place For Me" by Lord Kitchener, "I Was There" by Young Tiger, "Some Girl Something" by The Lion, "No Carnival In Britain" by Mighty Terror, "Jamaica Hurricane" by Lord Beginner, "Birth Of Ghana" by Lord Kitchener, "Victory Test Match" by Lord Beginner, "Spanish Calypso" by The Lion, "Bulldog Don't Bite Me" by Timothy, "My Landlady" by Lord Kitchener, "If You're Not White You're Black" by Lord Kitchener, and "Aguiti" by Lord Invader.

Hard grooving, heavily grooving South American rock from Miguel Y El Comite (Miguel & The Committee) from the early 70s – led by Miguel Livichich, who made waves a bit earlier with El Syndikato! The percussion drives the sound pretty well, but the vocals are nicely out front in the mix, where they should be, as their charismatic and inviting as can be – with a nice fuzzed out guitar sound and a killer bass sound. Includes " Para Hacer Musica, Para Hacer...", "No Va Mas (Ya)", "Mi Sol", "Que Me Importa", "Junto Al Mar", "No Ves Que No Cabe", "Candombe Triste", "Hiroshima (1945)", Rompan Todo" and more.