An incredible album from Peggy Lee – baroquely beautiful, in a way that builds massively off of her "Is That All There Is Period" – and take her into territory that's almost equal to Lotte Lenya! The whole album was written by the team of Lieber & Stoller, in a sad, boozy, faded style that's quite different than any of their earlier pop hits – and arrangements by Johnny Mandel and Perry Botkin are handled in a style that goes more for the emotive depths than the poppy hooks – really allowing Peggy to sing in a mature style that really befits her voice at the time. The record's incredibly dark – and is the kind that probably killed her career at the time, but which now stands above most other other records of the 60s and 70s. Titles include "Some Cats Know", "Ready To Begin Again", "A Little White Ship", "Tango", "Say It", and "I Remember". LP, Vinyl record album

Hard to go wrong with Rene & Angela at this point in their career – as they're super tight, always upbeat, and plenty darn soulful – no matter what the groove! The album's a perfect example of 80s groove at its best – a reworking of mainstream soul modes with a slight modern dancefloor touch – still never disco cliches, nor some of the too-poppy modes used by some of their contemporaries – and a blend that's always right on the money for the vocals of Angela Winbush to shine! Titles include the groover "Can't Give You Up", the mellow number "My First Love", and the cuts "Take Me To The Limit", "When It Comes To Love", "Bangin The Boogie", "Rise", and "Keep Runnin". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Terry Riley's most enduring works, and a haunting record that contains two extended modal minimal jams – "Rainbow In Curved Air" and "Poppy Nogood & The Phantom Band". "Rainbow" features Terry interweaving cool keyboard lines on organ, electric harpsichord, and the amazingly cool "rocksichord" – which is almost a guitar-like keyboard! "Poppy Nogood" has a similar groove on organ and soprano saxophone. Both tracks are prime material by Riley, and they have a sound that's influenced countless artists in the current electronica generation – but which never sounded better than here, on the original recordings! LP, Vinyl record album

Salt N Pepa still in their best early mode – working with Hurby Luv Bug, and turning out tunes with a nice sort of indie-level street charm! Although countless others copped the poppy hip hop groove of the pair at the time, Salt N Pepa were still the first, and still managed to do it best – striking a nice balance between girlish themes and some of the harder-edge hip hop of the Luv Bug posse. Tracks include "Spinderella's Not A Fella", "I Like It Like That", "Let The Rhythm Run (remix)", "Shake Your Thing" featuring E.U., "Hyped On The Mic", "I Gotcha", "Get Up Everybody", and more . LP, Vinyl record album

A mod soul classic from the great Edwin Starr – a set that bridges his years in the Detroit underground and his sudden rise to fame at Motown! The tracks here have a really deep basement grooving sort of vibe – catchy, but less poppy than the usual Motown – and more with the kind of grit you'd find on some of the smaller indies of the time – not just in Edwin's vocals, but in the overall rhythms as well! There's loads of dancefloor soul cuts here, mixed with some overlooked gems – and the whole thing's wonderful, especially if you only know Edwin's later hits. Titles include "Agent Double O Soul", "I Am The Man For You Baby", "Stop Her On Sight", "I Want My Baby Back", "Soul Master", "Headline News", and "My Weakness Is You". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most dramatically poppy albums from Yello – a set that takes their older electric groove and infuses it with a bit more theatrics and dancefloor-styled rhythms! Flag's really the record that probably sums up the mainstream vision of Yello the best – that image of mustachioed Europeans acting goofy in cleverly cartoony music videos, while referencing an imagined nostalgia in definite 80s trappings, and avoiding any real direct attempt at songwriting. Yet amidst the showiness and oddball characters, the core Yello sound is still at the bottom of the mix – lost a bit, to be sure, but still more compelling and longer-lasting than much other electric pop spawned by their generation. Titles include "Tied Up In Red", "Blazing Saddles", "The Race", "Otto Di Cantania", "Tied Up", and "3rd Of June". LP, Vinyl record album

The first full length set from London duo Blue Lab Beats – a pair who are very well-placed on Blue Note Records, but more as ambassadors of some of the more soul-styled work the label has done in recent years! There's a very collaborative vibe going on here – as the core producers open the door to a range of guests, and change up the moods of the cuts from track to track – almost with the sort of energy of the initial Black Radio projects from Robert Glasper, but with more London elements in the mix – and an approach that moves far past jazz at many moments! The album features work from Killbeatz, Kiefer, Ghetto Boy, Emmavie, Poppy Daniels, Kofi Stone, Jerome Thomas, and others – including a from-the-grave appearance by Fela Kuti – and titles include "Motherland Journey", "A Vibe", "Gotta Go Fast", "Labels", "I'll Be Here For You", "Dat It", "Home", "Warp", "Sensual Loving", and "Blow You Away". LP, Vinyl record album

Tomas Milian's the scruffy guy on the cover, and the light style of illustration lets you know that you're not in the spooky territory you might expect from Fabio Frizzi – but instead the kind of quickly-done comedy that was big business on the Italian scene of the 80s! With those films, the music was often the main glue holding the narrative together – and that's definitely the case here, as Frizzi's music is filled with catchy numbers that use electro rhythms and plenty of keyboards – playful and poppy, but with maybe a bit more thought than some of the dialogue on the screen! Back in the day, the original music was only issued as two tracks on a 7" single – but this package marks the full release of other tracks from the film, along with the cuts "Jolly Sax" and "You & I" – the latter with vocals by Tommie Babie! LP, Vinyl record album

Pure pop magic from the lovely Mina – a very weird little record in which she takes on a host of mid-period tracks by The Beatles! The sound is as offbeat as the cover's take on Revolver – kind of a cross between late 60s Beatles, and early 70s Italian – trippy at points, but kind of sweetly poppy at others. And we can't tell for sure from the notes, but the album appears as if it might collect tunes from a number of different periods – although it comes across with a very unified feel overall. Titles include "Let It Be", "Fool On The Hill", "She's Leaving Home", and "Hey Jude" – plus versions of "My Love" and "Oh Darling". LP, Vinyl record album

A great one from X-Ray Spex – one of the strongest of the first generation punks of the 70s – a group fronted by the amazing Poly Styrene, and blessed with some incredibly catchy tunes! There's a poppy playfulness to most of these tracks, underneath the fierce, full-on energy of the group – a rhythmic approach to punk rock that's almost a precursor to the Bow Wow Wow sound, but more decidedly punk at its heart. Tracks include "Oh Bondage Up Yours", "I Am A Cliche", "Highly Inflammable", "Let's Submerge", "I Am A Poseur", "Genetic Engineering", "Warrior In Woolworths", "Obsessed With You", "Artificial", and "The Day The World Turned Dayglo". LP, Vinyl record album