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One of the hippest groups of the Nigerian scene of the 70s – presented here in two classic albums, back to back on a single CD! Chapter One is a landmark set of African grooves – very unusual in both conception and execution – with a feel that's unlike anything we can think of! There's definitely a rock influence in the set, but the music isn't rock at all – it's a very dark, almost dubby groove at points – and a bit more straightforwardly funk at others – almost a post-colonial style that clearly comes from a London influence, given to the group by a previous association with Ginger Baker. Rhythms are quite tight, and the bass is as strong as the drums – mixed up nicely with riffing guitar, and moody vocals that color the whole thing nicely. Titles include "Preacherman", "Time To Face The Sun", "We Are Out Together", "Chant To Mother Earth", "Miss Sagitt", "Beware", and "We Gonna Have A Party". Phase II is a critical next step for the group – music that's even deeper than before, but a bit funkier too! There's clearly some touches here of other African funk of the time – especially in the way the guitar parts groove with the rhythms – although those heavy Blo basslines from before are still nicely in place, as are some of the fuzzier production elements too. Titles include "Whole Lot Of Sh*t", "Atide", "Blo", "It's Gonna Be A Good Day", "Native Doctor", and "Don't Take Her Away From Me".

One of the most obscure mid 60s sides by Blakey – but a great one! The record features a strangely-chosen lineup of the Jazz Messengers that includes Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Lucky Thompson, and John Hicks. Thompson's in his very soulful "just returned from Europe" phase, and his playing is excellent, especially on soprano, which he was reaching for again and again at this point in his career. Hicks shows some nice early soul jazz stylings on piano, and the two-trumpet frontline of Hubbard and Morgan distinguish themselves nicely from each other. The writing's quite nice, too – from the James Bond-esque "Soul Finger" to Morgan's lively "Buh's Bossa". Great stuff, and a record that we don't see that often!

After starting his career out with his funky group The Organizers, Odell Brown moved into a phase where he would act as the lead soloist in front of larger funky groups – like the one that appears on this record. The band was put together by Gene Barge, and they have a great soulful Cadet records sound – perfect for Brown's searing organ style. The solos are very lean, and have a nice nice strong quality to them. The band features Chisoul players like Morris Jennings, Henry Gibson, Louis Satterfield, Phil Upchurch, and Donald Myrick. A few tracks have ensemble vocals – and titles include "Nitty Gritty", "Free Delivery", "Come Together", "Free & Easy", and "Sign Of The Ram". Funky and hip!

While most heads are checking for the "Real Deal" 12" with Shadow's Lesson 4 remix on the flip, this other single off the Lifer's Group album is still nice, with tight production by Organized Konfusion on the a-side, and nicer beats than we recall from Doctor Jam and Phase 5 on the flip.

A near-legendary album from Pat Metheny – the real birth of the "Metheny sound" on record, and a perfect example of the magically fluid groove that he crafted with keyboardist Lyle Mays! The sound here is hard to describe – and even harder when you try to pick out the individual keyboard and guitar bits – because the overall feel of the record is so well wrapped up and lyrically together, yet manages to do so without falling into any too-slick styles or cliched approaches to fusion. We're stunned at how much this one still delights us over the years, and the record still stands as a landmark in its field. Titles include "San Lorenzo", "Phase Dance", "Jaco", "Aprilwind", "Lonejack", and "Apriljoy".

One of the most righteous Horace Silver albums for Blue Note – and a far-reaching, politically-bent batch of tracks that feature vocals by Andy Bey, in a similar style to the work he did on the Gary Bartz records from the time – very hip, and quite different than other jazz vocal work from other singers! Silver plays electric piano on most of the record – and other musicians include Houston Person on tenor and Idris Muhammad on drums – both of whom figure on cuts that feature singer Jackie Verdell replacing Andy Bey. The groove is pretty great throughout – lots of those offbeat lines that you might hear on other Bey albums, warmed up with some of Silver's more familiar soul jazz – and the album is volume 1 (or "Phase 1") of Horace's trippy United States Of Mind series, a series of records on the state of the then-trashed union (proving once again that what goes around, comes around!) Tracks include "The Happy Medium", "Permit Me To Introduce Myself", "Wipe Away the Evil", and "Love Vibrations".

One Luke Vibert's earliest albums, under the Wagon Christ name, and still one of our favorites. You can hear the template of what would become his trademark sound: idiosyncratic, but remarkably funky beat, interlaced with whimsical melodic samples and a nice dose of hip hop. 17 tracks in all, including 'Reedin'", "Down under", "Phase Everyday", "Throbbing Pouch", "Rexcist", "Floot", "Pull My Strings", "Scrapes", "E-Z Listener", "Underground Level" and "All My Fingers".

Soul Jazz takes an open-eyed and open-minded look at swampy, funky, freewheeling southern rock – southern-by-nature or southern-by-inspiration grooves from the end of the 60s and well into the 70s! What we love most about the set, besides that it features one great song after another, is the Soul Jazz perspective. They don't simply put together Delta Swamp Rock from a purist's standpoint regionally, or as a sound – it's loosely-defined, which you could complain about if you want, but we love all of this stuff so it works for us! There's early phase southern rock, blue-eyed soul, soulful country and homey, swaggering pop. Volume 1 of the vinyl has 13 tracks on 2LPs: "The Seasons" by Lynryd Skynryd, "Smokies" by Barefoot Jerry", "Papa, Won't You Let Me Go To Town With You" by Bobbie Gentrie, "Stone Fox Chase" by Area Code 615, "Be What You Want To" by Link Wray", "I'll Be Long Gone" by Boz Scaggs, "God Rest His Soul" by Duane And Gregg Allman and more.

Soul Jazz takes an open-eyed and open-minded look at swampy, funky, freewheeling southern rock – southern-by-nature or southern-by-inspiration grooves from the end of the 60s and well into the 70s! What we love most about the set, besides that it features one great song after another, is the Soul Jazz perspective. They don't simply put together Delta Swamp Rock from a purist's standpoint regionally, or as a sound – it's loosely-defined, which you could complain about if you want, but we love all of this stuff so it works for us! There's early phase southern rock, blue-eyed soul, soulful country and homey, swaggering pop. Tracks include "The Seasons" by Lynryd Skynryd, "Smokies" by Barefoot Jerry", "Papa, Won't You Let Me Go To Town With You" by Bobbie Gentrie, "Stone Fox Chase" by Area Code 615, "Be What You Want To" by Link Wray", "I'll Be Long Gone" by Boz Scaggs, "God Rest His Soul" by Duane And Gregg Allman"Out In The Woods" by Leon Russell, "Polk Salad Annie" by Tony Joe White, "Come To Me Tonight" by Barefoot Jerry, "I Won't Be Hangin' Round" by Linda Rondstadt, "Big D" by Waylon Jennings, "Mississippi Delta" by Bobbie Gentry", "If I Were A Carpenter" by Johnny Cash" and more. 25 tracks on 2CDs.

A really comprehensive look at the career of Chicago soul genius Terry Callier – and one that captures just about every phase of his career, and not just his famous albums for Chess! There's certainly a few tracks from the Chess/Cadet years here – but the record also features Terry singing 60s Northern Soul, spare traditional folk, upbeat 80s groove, and lots lots more. Titles are pulled from labels that include Prestige, Erect, Premonition, Chess, Verve, and Mr Bongo – and the 2CD set features a whopping 24 tracks that include "Look At Me Now", "I Don't Want To See Myself", "If I Could Make You Change Your Mind", "Big City (live)", "Ordinary Joe (demo)", "Be My Woman", "I'm A Drifter", "Spin Spin Spin", "You Goin Miss Your Candyman", "Midnight Mile", "Jazz My Rhythm & Blues", "Sierra Leone", "Darker Than A Shadow", "Step Into The Light (live)", "People Get Ready (live)", "Can't Catch The Trane (demo)", "Dancing Girl", "Alley Wind Song (demo)", and "Monuments Of Mars".

The Isley Brothers in prime 70s mode here – hitting a warm and wonderful blend of soul and funk throughout – always delivered with that sweet talent for smooth understatement that makes them so great! The costumes on the front cover may be freaky, but the grooves are nicely restrained – and by this point in the decade, the brothers have definitely learned that their strongest suit is often their mellow one – tracks that groove, but often in more subtle ways! Titles include the massive slow jam track "Groove With You", plus "Take Me To The Next Phase (parts 1 & 2)", "Love Fever (parts 1 & 2)", "Fun & Games", "Ain't Givin Up No Love", and "Coolin Me Out (parts 1 & 2)".

A near-legendary album from Pat Metheny – the real birth of the "Metheny sound" on record, and a perfect example of the magically fluid groove that he crafted with keyboardist Lyle Mays! The sound here is hard to describe – and even harder when you try to pick out the individual keyboard and guitar bits – because the overall feel of the record is so well wrapped up and lyrically together, yet manages to do so without falling into any too-slick styles or cliched approaches to fusion. We're stunned at how much this one still delights us over the years, and the record still stands as a landmark in its field. Titles include "San Lorenzo", "Phase Dance", "Jaco", "Aprilwind", "Lonejack", and "Apriljoy".

One of the most righteous Horace Silver albums for Blue Note – and a far-reaching, politically-bent batch of tracks that feature vocals by Andy Bey, in a similar style to the work he did on the Gary Bartz records from the time – very hip, and quite different than other jazz vocal work from other singers! Silver plays electric piano on most of the record – and other musicians include Houston Person on tenor and Idris Muhammad on drums – both of whom figure on cuts that feature singer Jackie Verdell replacing Andy Bey. The groove is pretty great throughout – lots of those offbeat lines that you might hear on other Bey albums, warmed up with some of Silver's more familiar soul jazz – and the album is volume 1 (or "Phase 1") of Horace's trippy United States Of Mind series, a series of records on the state of the then-trashed union (proving once again that what goes around, comes around!) Tracks include "The Happy Medium", "Permit Me To Introduce Myself", "Wipe Away the Evil", and "Love Vibrations".

Donna Summer also covers spring, autumn and winter here – on an incredibly groovy disco concept album – gorgeously sung by Donna Summer and produced to perfection by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte! It's got 4 long, seasonally-titled tunes and a reprise – with "Spring Affair", "Summer Fever", "Autumn Changes" and "Winter Melody" – and the numbers groove appropriately! The spring groover is breezy, summer's is nice and steamy, the dancefloor grooves shift and phase for autumn, and winter is cool and delicate. One of the finer album-oriented disco releases of the period!

Easily one of the best of the Bond-alike albums of "spy" grooves from the 60s – handled by Brit easy maestro Roland Shaw, with a sound that's in keeping with the best soundtrack work of the time! Shaw's got a jazzy mode here that really opens up some of these tunes – letting the horns and piano come into play a bit more on a few numbers, and differing the songs a lot from their more famous versions used in the films. The package has a great kitschy cover, plus a cool montage of film scenes on the back – and titles include "The Saint", "The Ipcress File", "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold", "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", "Man From Uncle", "Our Man Flint", and "I Spy".

One of our favorite groups from the Factory Records scene of the early 80s –with a sound that was a bit leaner and lighter than some of their Factory labelmates – but still very much in the same dark post-punk territory that the label was known for. The core instrumentation is mostly sharp guitars, with touches of the cold keyboards that were part of the Factory sound, and a slight spaciness to some of the group's tracks – a dreaminess that trips out nicely, and almost points the way towards sounds to come on later indies from the UK scene. Lyrically, Crispy Ambulance's work is a bit subdued – as the vocals are really buried in the mix, and almost secondary to the overall sound – with a moody quality that almost makes you not want to pry that much into what the band are going on about anyway! But that's really part of the charm of the group's work – heard to good effect here on tracks that include "Are You Ready?", "Travel Time", "The Force & The Wisdom", "The Wind Season", "Death From Above", "We Move Through The Plateau Phase", "Bardo Plane", "Chill", "Federation" and "Simon's Ghost".

One of the greatest albums on ESP – and a darkly-tinged document that points strongly towards the future of jazz at the end of the 60s! The album's one of the most focused of the early ESP years – and it features drummer Sunny Murray stepping out strongly as a leader – working with players who include Jacques Coursil on trumpet, Byard Lancaster and Jack Graham on alto saxes, and Alan Silva on bass – all with an intensity that prefaces some of the players' later freedoms on the French scene at the end of the decade, and modes to come during the loft jazz years of the 70s! The horns are never too free, and they come together in a flurry of sharp edges that reminds us a bit of sound structures in Archie Shepp's work at the time – but almost more organic and open overall. Titles include "Phase 1234", "Hilariously", "Angels & Devils", and "Giblet". Plus, the CD also features over 30 minutes of bonus interview material!

Collected work by Blo – a hip Nigerian funk ensemble from the mid 70s! The group have a more complicated sound than some of their contemporaries – adding in dubbier stylings and bits of psychedelic guitar to the more common Afro-Funk percussion – in a mode that almost sounds like it's got traces of Can or other proggish groups, as you might hear on some of Tony Allen's more recent work, or on some of the early 70s Brit post-colonial crossover bands, like Assagai or Cymande. It all makes for a very interesting sound – marking the group as one of the most unique of their generation! Titles include "Blo", "It's Gonna Be A Good Day", "Number One", "Trace of Suicide", "Atide", "Don't Take Her Away From Me", and "Miss Sagit".

A stone classic from Blood Sweat & Tears – and a record that went onto have a tremendous impact in jazz, rock, funk, and soul! The group's format is plenty darn famous – adding a lot of horns to hip riffing grooves – but despite countless plays on oldies stations over the years, this initial album still has a power that's undeniable – a way of putting the whole thing together that really uses the best elements of the late 60s studio – handled with sweet production from James William Guerico that rivals his best work for Chicago! Even the lead vocals by David Clayton Thomas hold up nicely – and the set includes the classics "Variations On A Theme By Eric Satie", "And When I Die", "Smiling Phases", "More & More", "Spinning Wheel", and "You've Made Me So Very Happy". CD features bonus live tracks – "More & More" and "Smiling Phases".

Landmark music from Steve Reich – a set that takes his previous experiments in minimalism and phase shifting, and moves them into a highly percussive mode! The rhythms here become melodies – the sorts that you'd hear on other Reich keyboard albums, but played live with incredible dexterity – as each player puts together their passage in ways that interlocks with the other – than slowly moves in space over time – and letting in marimba, voice, piccolo, and glockenspiel to the mix as well. The shift over time is amazing – something that so many others have copied over the years, but never done this well again – and the set not only features the extended "Drumming", in four parts – but also includes "Six Pianos", for six acoustic keyboards – plus "Music For Mallet Instruments, Voices, & Organ" – which is every bit as haunting as you'd guess!

Classic mid-period Reich – with an approach that's a lot more sophisticated than the earlier works, but a sound that's still filled with whimsey and surprise. The winner here is Music For A Large Ensemble, which features some excellent interplay between marimbas, vibes, and xylophone – all backed by some additional strings.

With Hank Jones on piano, George Duvivier on bass, and Derryl Goes on drums. Titles include "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You", "Don't Sleep In The Subway", "Sunny", "Wave", "Exodus", and "Emily".

Massive grooves from the mighty Hamilton Bohannon – the kind of skittish, nervous rhythms that made his funk unlike any other artist of the 70s! There's a sense of rhythmic progression here that's super-tight, but often quite subtle in its inflections – a mode that went onto have a huge influence on many generations after the disco era – especially house from Chicago and Detroit! Yet heard here in its original form, the approach is almost even more mindblowing – played live, with a hypnotic feel that's completely compelling – as the grooves shift slowly with subtle phases that often move independently of the vocals – which themselves are often just added to the mix as an afterthought. Bohannon wrote, arranged, and produced – and the record's a sublime blend of guitar, bass, and drums used in mighty fresh ways! Tracks include "Have A Good Day", "Dance With Your Parno", "South African Man", "The Fat Man", "Red Bone", "Truck Stop", and "Rap On Mr. DJ".

A wonderful set from Zoot Money – a solo project, away from his big band – recorded with a soulful groove that's right up there with the best 60s work by Georgie Fame! That's no surprise, though, given that Money and Fame were both key parts of the Brit scene of the time – absorbing the best elements of American soul and jazz vocals, and turning them into something entirely unique – a bit mod at points, with British inflections, but in ways that were always very different than the rockers of the generation who were busy mining American blues. Money's vocals have a very Fame-like rasp here – incredibly charming, especially amidst the record's hip blend of jazz and rock instrumentation, with some key trippy touches at points. Titles include "Soma", "What Cha Gonna Do Bout It", "Deadline", "Just A Passing Phase", "Coffee Song", "Let The Music Make You Happy", and "Problem Child".