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Some of our favorite work ever from the mighty Lee Hazlewood – material recorded under his own name for Reprise Records – during a stretch when he was also producing for the label with Nancy Sinatra and Dean Martin! The 2CD set features 3 full albums, plus great bonus tracks too – and the assembled lot is as great of a tribute to Hazlewood's genius as we've ever seen! First up is The NSVIPs – a set that follows up the same sort of "story song" format that Lee laid down on his wonderful Trouble album for Mercury – but done here with themes that are a bit hipper, and more wry – in keeping with his Reprise persona. Next is Friday's Child, which has some of Hazlewood's most beautifully-penned tunes – tracks that mix the whimsy of his bigger hits with some great darker elements. Last up is the amazing Love & Other Crimes – one of our favorite albums of the 60s, magically recorded in Paris with a very unique sound – and a style that's a bit different than some of Hazlewood's other records. Titles include "First Street Blues", "I Had A Friend", "Everybody Calls Me Something", "Me & Charlie", "A Real Live Fool", "Hutchinson Jail", "By The Way", "Houston", "Morning Dew", "The House Song", "Love & Other Crimes", "Pour Man", and "Wait & See". Bonus tracks are great too – and include Hazlewood tracks "Ode To Billie Joe", "Rainbow Woman", "I Am You Are", and "Charlie Bill Nelson" – plus other gems that include "Just Bluesin" and "Houston" by Sanford Clark, "A Stranger In Town" by The Vanguards, "The Whisk" by The Whisk Kids, "Zapata" by Jack Nitzsche, "What Are We Gonna Do In 64" by The Wildcats, "Our Man Flint" by The Ring A Dings, and "This Town" by Duane Eddy. 55 tracks in all. CD

A massive package of funky music – and maybe one that no home should be without – as the set includes all the classic Josie Records and Warner Brothers albums by legendary New Orleans funk group The Meters – plus a fair bit of bonus tracks too! The Josie albums are incredible – a lean, powerful blend of funky drums, bass, guitar, and organ – almost the New Orleans answer to Booker T & The MGs, but with a sound that's far funkier overall – and which continues to bring new ears to the magic of The Meters as the years go by! Their Warner work is a bit fuller – as the group were part of a big wave of Nola talent to get the nod from LA – which means that The Meters were able to add in vocals, experiment with arrangements, use additional instrumentation – yet all without ever losing that core groove that made them so great! This package is the first time all the records have been brought together, and many are presented here in the "expanded edition" versions with bonus tracks – which makes for a whopping 116 titles on 6CDs – bonus tracks, plus the full albums The Meters, Look Ka Py Py, Struttin, Cabbage Alley, Rejuvenation, Fire On The Bayou, Trick Bag, and New Directions – plus some singles too! CD

Includes material from the albums Afro-Bossa, Symphonic Ellington, Ellington 65, Mary Poppins, Ellington 66, Will The Big Bands Ever Come Back, Concert In The Virgin Islands, Duke Ellington's Greatest Hits, Recollections Of The Big Band Era, and Duke Ellington's Violin Session. CD

A huge run of music from this legendary psychedelic band – all served up here in a single set! First up is their Part 1 album – the initial uttering from the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – a group with a heady sound that definitely lives up to their name! There's less "pop art" going on here than just trippy psych – served up at a level that makes the group one of the best bigger label examples of the style at the time – and definitely a lot more edgey than some of their labelmates on Warner. Jimmy Bowen produced, but really keeps all the edges intact – and titles include the completely insane "Help I'm A Rock" (actually about a rock calling for help!) – plus "Shifting Sands", "1906", "Transparent Day", "Here's Where You Belong", and "If You Want This Love". Next is Volume 2 – the amazing second album from this ultra-cool group – a set that's even weirder and wilder than their debut! The trio are maybe one of the few who really live up to the farthest expectations of the psych generation – as they're really open to let their minds fly in their choice of lyrics, instrumentation, and overall presentation of the record – which hardly seems the sort to yield any sort of singles at all, even though a few of the tunes are downright catchy! Instead, the whole thing's put forth as a dark statement on late 60s society – with a sound that's as heavy as the subject matter, and not afraid to really pus all the freak and fuzz as far as it can go! Quite surprising, even for the Reprise label – and tracks include "Queen Nymphet", "Tracy Had a Hard Day Sunday", "In the Arena", "Smell of Incense", "Suppose They Gave A War & No One Comes", "Overture Wcpaeb (part 2)", and "Carte Blanche" – which supposedly they were given in recording the album! Next is Child's Guide To Good & Evil, the third album in the continuing genius of the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band – a group who are certainly as experimental as their name would imply, but who can also come across with some warmer Sunshine Pop touches too! And it's that which makes the group so wonderful – the blend of freak and sweet, of fuzz and fun – all given a special shape in the studio through the genius of producer Jimmy Bowen, whose work here with Bob Markley is superb – and very much open to the best freedoms that Warner was offering its creative talents at the time! The song titles are equally superb – and titles include "A Child's Guide To Good & Evil", "Ritual #1", "Anniversary of World War III", "Eighteen Is Over The Hill", "As Kind As Summer", and "Our Drummer Always Plays In the Nude". CD 4 features 18 more bonus tracks – rare takes and alternate mixes of titles that include "Watch Yourself", "Ritual #1", "As Kind As Summer", "Eighteen Is Over The Hill", and "Until The Poorest People Have Money To Spend" – plus other tracks too. And all the other three albums are presented in both mono and stereo mixes – which makes for 84 tracks in the full set! CD

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Some of our favorite work ever from the mighty Lee Hazlewood – material recorded under his own name for Reprise Records – during a stretch when he was also producing for the label with Nancy Sinatra and Dean Martin! The 2CD set features 3 full albums, plus great bonus tracks too – and the package is as great of a tribute to Hazlewood's genius as we've ever seen! First up is The NSVIPs – a set that follows up the same sort of "story song" format that Lee laid down on his wonderful Trouble album for Mercury – but done here with themes that are a bit hipper, and more wry – in keeping with his Reprise persona. Next is Friday's Child, which has some of Hazlewood's most beautifully-penned tunes – tracks that mix the whimsy of his bigger hits with some great darker elements. Last up is the amazing Love & Other Crimes – one of our favorite albums of the 60s, magically recorded in Paris with a very unique sound – and a style that's a bit different than some of Hazlewood's other records. Titles include "First Street Blues", "I Had A Friend", "Everybody Calls Me Something", "Me & Charlie", "A Real Live Fool", "Hutchinson Jail", "By The Way", "Houston", "Morning Dew", "The House Song", "Love & Other Crimes", "Pour Man", and "Wait & See". Bonus tracks are great too – and include Hazlewood tracks "Ode To Billie Joe", "Rainbow Woman", "I Am You Are", and "Charlie Bill Nelson" – plus other gems that include "Just Bluesin" and "Houston" by Sanford Clark, "A Stranger In Town" by The Vanguards, "The Whisk" by The Whisk Kids, "Zapata" by Jack Nitzsche, "What Are We Gonna Do In 64" by The Wildcats, "Our Man Flint" by The Ring A Dings, and "This Town" by Duane Eddy. 55 tracks in all – in a beautiful package with a gorgeous book! CD

A wonderful package – four full albums by one of the most unique groups of their time! First up is These Things Too – the first Reprise album from Pearls Before Swine – a bit more straight ahead and folksy than their work for ESP – but in a really great way, one that lets you hear the best of Tom Rapp's amazing songs and vocals! The album follows in a tradition that includes Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, Leonard Cohen, and Fred Neil – but it's also got a really unique style that's the unique province of Tom Rapp – the main force behind the group, and the voice on all of the tunes. Rapp's vision was quite unique for the time – not nearly as revolutionary or personally preoccupied – more sad at the fading world, and granted with a unique ability to paint any subject in shades of blue. Titles include "Wizard Of Is", "Frog In The Window", "Footnote", "Look Into Her Eyes", "These Things Too", and "Mon Amour". Use Of Ashes is an incredibly beautiful album from Pearls Before Swine – one that uses light orchestrations to create a baroquely folksy sort of feel – easily elevating the album past previous efforts, into classic territory we'd rank with the best from Nick Drake or Leonard Cohen! The whole album's great – with fragile and haunting songs from Tom Rapp, all supported by sparsely arranged instrumentation that includes harpsichord, flute, oboe, cello, and dobro. Genius throughout – and a clear inspiration for music still being made 30 years later – with classic tracks that include "The Jeweler", "Rocket Man", "Song About A Rose", "The Old Man", "When The War Began", and "From The Movie Of The Same Name". Next is Beautiful Lies You Could Live In – one of the most perfectly formed albums ever recorded by Tom Rapp's enigmatic group Pearls Before Swine – a record that does an incredible job of skirting between Rapp's earthy sense of the planet's passing, and his ambitions for larger forums of expression. The core group is lightly folksy – with strong use of acoustic guitar that goes far beyond any folk rock cliches – plus some additional arrangements that feature contributions from the team of Bob Dorough and Stu Scharf, who seem to have a habit of appearing on under-discovered gems like this one, and making them sound all that more hip! The whole thing's great – filled with beautiful songs that should have been as over-recorded as the best by Tim Hardin or Leonard Cohen – with titles that are even better, too! Tracks include "Snow Queen", "A Life", "Butterflies", "Simple Things", "Freedom", "She's Gone", and "Island Lady". Last up is City Of Gold – a return to folksier forms for Tom Rapp and Pearls Before Swine – working here in territory that's very different than some of the baroque light arrangements used on previous records. Rapp's emerging as a more confident singer/songwriter – recording in an almost Dylan-like setting, but with more of the irony of Leonard Cohen, and as always, working in a timeless idiom that's still beginning to be understood more than 30 years after its inception. Beautiful work throughout – as earthy as it is majestic – and with titles that include "My Father", "The Man", "Once Upon A Time", "City Of Gold", "Nancy", and "Wedding". CD

4 discs of Sinatra's finest from his Reprise years! 81 tracks including "Let's Fall In Love", "You'd Be So Easy To Love", "The Last Dance", "It Started All Over Again", "You're Nobody Til Somebody Loves You", "Come Rain Or Come Shine", "I Get A Kick Out Of You", "I Have Dreamed", "Luck Be A Lady", "Here's To The Losers", "My Kind Of Town", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "Fly Me To The Moon", "Moonlight Serenade", "Street Of Dreams", "Strangers In The Night", "All Or Nothing At All", "How Insensitive", "All I Need Is The Girl", "My Way", "A Man Alone", 'What Are You Doing The Rest Of Your Life?", "Just As Though You Were Here", "Nancy", "My Shining Hour", "A Long Night", "Mack The Knife" and loads more! CD

The complete albums of this really unique group – all wrapped up in a single set, with bonus tracks too! First up is the self-titled debut – described on the cover as "Eight high-octane musicians who met and jammed in the great peanut butter octopus that is Los Angeles!" The record's got a really trippy approach that's partially folk rock, partially psychedelic soul, and which also has some great touches of groovy harmony pop and Latinized LA rhythms – all wrapped up in some totally great production overall! The whole thing skims and sings around like some of our favorite sunshiney pop from the time – almost a meeting of Triste Janeiro and Mamas & The Papas – with some great instrumental touches that include cello and electric harpsichord! Female lead vocals on most tracks, but the album also spins out nicely, so that you get plenty of instrumental passages too! Titles include "Why Oh Why", "Motherless Child", "Here We Go Again", "For Pete's Sake", "What's Wrong", "Come Take A Walk", and "In A Rainbow". Next is Just For You – the group's second album – and a really sweet batch of tracks that mix together rock and soul influences with touches of west coast hippy jazz, in a style that's almost an LA answer to Rotary Connection, but without all the baroque arrangements. The set's got a great version of "Compared To What", and the extended jazzy jammer "Just For You" – plus the cuts "Day Song", "Just For You", "Look Out", "Without Me", and "Windlace". Last up is Melon – a great little set from Sweetwater – a rock combo at heart, but one who also bring in a nice sense of soul too! The album follows strongly from other of their Reprise releases – almost funky in parts, with drums that kick in nicely, and a flowing sense of groove that features keyboards, flute, and added percussion that helps to spice things up. Most tracks have vocals, but there's some very strong standout instrumental moments – and titles include "Take It From Splice Boys", "Naturally", "Don't Give A Hoot", "Get It While You Can", "I'm Happy Today", "Rejoice The Smile Of Man", and "Join The Band". 2CD set features 8 bonus tracks – including one recorded at Woodstock! CD

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A seminal moment in leftfield music – maybe the crowning achievement of Captain Beefheart, and a landmark collaboration with Frank Zappa as well! Zappa produced, and gave the group plenty of room to stretch out on this double-length set done for his Bizarre Records imprint – which allowed the Captain the kind of freedom that Frank was getting at the time – which meant there was no need for a hit, no need to tone things down, and plenty of patience for all the record's amazing instrumental twists and turns, and Beefheart's madcap sense of humor as well! The Cap sings, and plays saxes and bass clarinet – and the record's got some really incredible guitar work from Zoot Horn Rollo and Antennae Jimmy Semens – really setting the stage for countless other guitarists in years to come. Tracks include "Dachau Blues", "Hair Pie", "Moonlight On Vermont", "Sweet Sweet Bulbs", "China Pig", "My Human Gets Me Blues", and "Dali's Car". CD

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Titles include "How Can You Keep On Moving", "FDR In Trinidad", "On A Monday", "Vigilante Man", "Taxes On The Farmer Feeds Us All", and "Billy The Kid". CD

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A surprisingly great album from Duke Ellington – hardly the kind of ear-opening set you might expect under the guise of a bunch of 60s pop covers! Sure, you might call it a sellout – as The Duke's playing arrangements of mid 60s pop tunes like "Fly Me to The Moon", "More", "The Second Time Around", "Blowin In The Wind", and "Never On Sunday" – but the sound is actually pretty darn hip, with a strong swing to the whole album, and a good groove that brings life into the songs on the set. The overall feel is like some of the hipper Basie backings at the time – very in the pocket playing, and short jazzy renditions of songs that we like in any form – but which come off here even more nicely with some real jazz touches from the Ellington group! CD

A pair of wonderful albums from the great John Fahey – back to back on a single CD! First up is Rivers & Religion – a really unique album by John Fahey – issued during a short stretch of initial mainstream approval, and a brief time of recording for Warner Brothers! Some of the album's quite different than the spare, solo Fahey you might know – and mixes his legendary guitar work with more elaborate elements than usual – additional instrumentation that includes bass, banjo, clarinet, piano, trombone, and fiddle – but all used at a level that really supports John's presence, not occludes it. Other tracks return to spare acoustic steel string guitar – creating an evocative balance that's mighty nice. Titles include "Funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt", "Texas & Pacific Blues", "Dixie Pig Bar B Q Blues", "Lord Have Mercy Song", and "Deep River". After The Ball is a set with a disco ball on the cover, but a record that fits right in with the best early 20th century aesthetic in the work of John Fahey – particularly his way of reiimagining older musical traditions! There's a bit of added instrumentation on the record – two tracks that have some slight trad jazz flourishes – but overall, the album's mostly a solo effort with loads of wonderful guitar work from John – still as creative and as complicated as in his best recordings for Takoma! Other added instrumentation sometimes expands the sound with mandolin or banjo, but again in very sensitive ways – and titles include "Bucktown Stomp", "Om Shanthi Norris", "Beverly", and "Horses". CD

A record that marks a slight shift for Family – maybe a more focused approach to songwriting, yet one that's still very much their own – given the undeniably wild vocals of the legendary Roger Chapman! Chapman's knocking it out of the park here – even nudging aside John Wetton, who doesn't sing as much as before – as the group swerve between hard rock moments and some even cooler, artier touches – on titles that include "Burlesque", "Bolero Babe", "Coronation", "Dark Eyes", "Broken Nose", "My Friend The Sun", "Glove' , "Top Of The Hill", and "Ready To Go". CD features lots of bonus tracks – including "The Rockin Rs", and early Olympic Studios versions of tracks, never issued before – plus five more numbers from a BBC Bob Harris Show performance in 1971. CD

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Not experienced? Well, this album will help push you over the top – as it's done for decades of listeners from the heyday of young Jimi Hendrix all the way up to the present! The set's a classic through and through – a blueprint not just for the genius of Hendrix, but for generations of guitar heroes to come – as you might expect with a lineup that includes "Hey Joe", "Manic Depression", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire", "Third Stone From The Sun", "Are You Experienced", and "Purple Haze". CD

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Includes the hit song "Wicked Game". CD

A playfully swinging little set from Morgana King – given the groovy, latenight lounge Reprise sound by producer Jimmy Bowen! This second album for Reprise is a much more extroverted than the quite strong It's A Quiet Thing LP from a year before – with arranger Torrie Zito grooving out into a lightly swinging sound, in place of his chillier, almost noir approach on the previous LP! Morgana's vocals are tastefully grand – doing more with a hushed tone and an unrivaled vibrato than many more famous peers can do with a showier style! Titles include "Anything Goes", "Nobody Else But Me", "I Thought Of You Last Night", "You Fascinate Me So", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "Wild Is Love" and more. CD

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A really cool cooker from The Meters – recorded during their post-Josie run for Warner Brothers, but with this tight vibe that still holds all their funky New Orleans roots intact! The sound is a bit more expanded here – not in a commercial way, but just in a style that has the group trying out more things – some interesting rhythms, offbeat guitar passages, and maybe even more of a vocal presence – although it's clearly the drums and basslines that are still driving the whole thing along! Production is by Allen Toussaint and Marshall Sehorn – again in that great style they were hitting at Warner – and titles include "Soul Island", "Flower Song", "Gettin Funkier All the Time", "Do the Dirt", "Cabbage Alley", and "Stay Away" – plus a version of Neil Young's "Birds"! CD also features the bonus cuts "Chug Chug Chug-a-Lug (Push & Shove)" parts 1 & 2! CD

One of the greatest albums ever from Joni Mitchell – and maybe one of the most go-to records in her legendary catalog! The record set a new high mark for singer/songwriter material in the 70s – and there's an intimate, upfront quality here that's even more striking than Mitchell's early work – personal storytelling, with a slightly poetic vibe, set to spare acoustic backing that really makes the presence of the lyrics stand out even more. Well worth all the praise and attention the album's gotten for decades – with titles that include "All I Want", "My Old Man", "Little Green", "Carey", "Blue", "California", "This Flight Tonight", "River", "A Case Of You", and "The Last Time I Saw Richard". CD

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