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"It's not a sequel – there's never been anything like it." Finally, an awesome reissue of the classically groovy camp soundtrack to "king of the nudies" Russ Meyer's crazy non-sequel to Valley Of The Dolls – one of the greatest exploitation movies of all time! The music is almost unbelievably great for what was essentially supposed to be an X-rated cheapie (little did 20th Century Fox know) – with a wonderfully huge & string heavy score by composer Stu Phillips, insanely groovy, stomping mod rock from the Sandpipers, Strawberry Alarm Clock, and the film's busty real-life Playboy Bunny heroines the Carrie Nations/Kelly Affair! "This is MY happening, and IT FREAKS ME OUT!" Titles include the Carrie Nations tunes "Find It" and "Come With The Gentle People", the Strawberry Alarm Clock's "Incense & Peppermints" and "I'm Coming Home", the Sandpipers groovy "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls Theme", and tons more.

Grover Washington Jr's first few albums for Columbia – Strawberry Moon, Then & Now and Time Out Of Mind – together in a 2CD set! Strawberry Moon has a number of laidback groovers, with some solid Washington originals such as the title track and some sweet covers. BB King plays and sings on "Caught A Touch Of Your Love", with Jean Carne guesting on "The Look Of Love". Grover's sax is soulful and sweet throughout, and the titles include "Strawberry Moon", "Summer Nights", "Keep In Touch", and "Maddie's Blues". Then And Now is a nice one that has Grover working in a straighter jazz mode for the most part, taking a break from the soul and R&B groover –- the most timeless of the 3 albums compiled here! Players include Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Grady Tate and Darryl Washington. Titles include "Just Enough", "French Connections", "Stolen Moments", "Stella By Starlight" and more. Time Out Of Mind's title track is a cover of the Steely Dan classic, circa Gaucho – and this album finds Grover embracing the 80s a lot more than his previous album for Columbia. A mix of moods, with some electric funky flourishes and fusiony keys and synths. Titles include "Jamaica", "Sacred Kind Of Love", "Fly Away", the title track and more. This trio of albums represents a wide stylistic range covered by Grover in just a 3 year period!

A pretty great record from one of the coolest school teachers you could ever hope to have – the lovely Miss Rita Abrams, a hippie who was teaching in Marin County at the start of the 70s! The set's a project done by Abrams with her fourth grade class – a set that mostly features original tunes penned by Rita, filled with joy, hope, and the sort of optimism that characterized the Marin County scene of the post-Haight years – and performed with a cool blend of acoustic instrumentation next to Abrams keyboards – with some larger arrangements from Ed Bogas, who'd later work on hip soundtracks for Fantasy Records, across the Bay. There's nothing hokey about the set at all – as the tunes are great, and the kid-quality of the vocals is really kept to a minimum – more used to underscore the warmth in Rita's lead, and surprisingly never cloying at all – a lot like some of the best singer/songwriter projects on Reprise at the time, especially given Rita's cool electric keyboards. Titles include the cool single "Mill Valley" – plus "Floating Away", "Wonder", "Building A Heaven On Earth", "Running In The Green Grass", "Sweet Summertime", and "I Never Asked". CD also features three bonus tracks – "Sad Night", "The Happiest Day Of My Life", and "America Let's Get Started Again".

The first ever compilation of Indonesian psychedelia from AKA is a great one – fuzzy prog and funk steeped jams that the group tore up throughout the 70s – as cool as any single artist global rock compilations we've seen in quite a while! The group formed in Surabaya, East Java and went on to record a slew of albums throughout the 70s, but never really busted out big in it's time. Now's a great time for the world to catch up! They sing in English, and the songs are really exciting, changing tempos as they roll along incredibly, with a sound built around drums, bass, keys and guitars. Lead singer and keyboard player shines pretty brightly, but each group member sings and kills it in their own realms. Amazing! Includes "Do What You Like", "Glenmore", "Reflection", "We've Gotta Work It Out". "Cruel Side", "Groovy", "Mr Bull Doc", "Shake Me", "Crazy Joe", "Open Doors", "Sky Rider" and the CD bonus track "AKA Untuk Mu". 15 in all.

Weird and wild sounds from this early 80s French group – a set of tracks that supposedly each represents a different hallucination by a 6 year old girl! Given the sound of some of these cuts, we'd be more than inclined to agree with that claim – as most of the music is pretty darn trippy, often instrumental, and served up in a blend of heavy keyboards and spacey guitars – produced with a finish that's more mid 70s Germany than the early 80s recording date of the album – more proggish than post-punk, if you know what we mean! Titles include "Theme De La Drogue", "Theme Du Genie", "Proper's Reggae", "Theme De La Bagarre", "Flashes", "Depart Du Genie", and "Christelle".

The collected mid 70s psych/prog/funk rock of Benny Soebardja – a beacon from the Indonesian scene and for underground rock the world over – with nearly all of the material from his 3 great albums with his Lizard group! The Lizard Years is made up of tracks from the albums Lizard, Gut Rock and Night Train LPs – at a time when Benny was veteran of the regional scene with the groups Giant Step, The Peels and Shark Move – stepping out front and backed by an incredible group of musicians going by the name Lizard. The music is tripped out, though accessible – with guitars ranging from proggy to funky, spacey keys and quite a bit of flute – nicely sung by Benny, in English, and with a really unique vibe that sweeps you right in! We were introduced to Benny's style of this period via Now Again's Those Shocking, Shaking Days comp – and it's great to have such a sprawling collection here – complete with a great booklet that puts it all in perspective. 30 tracks on 2CDs: "18 Years Old", "Come Closer", "Crime", "In 1965", "Sunny Day", "Cynthia", "Candle Light", "The Advantage Of Music In Me", "Circle Of Love", "The End Of The World", "Someday", "I'm Still In Luv Wit Ya'", "Gut Rock", "Night Train", "Stroll On", "Talked About My Girl", "Woman Of Desire", "Struggle For Life", "A Signal From Outer Space" and more.

A 70s Afro Funk classic from Blo – really trippy grooves from this legendary Nigerian trio – and arguably their greatest album ever! Rhythms here are tremendous – not the usual sort of Afro style, and instead tightly focused at the roots, and coming off with this blistering blend that really drives the tunes strongly – jamming, but without ever jamming too much – kind of a steady fire that really sounds great underneath the vocals! The core elements of the trio are augmented by keyboards from Joni Haastrum and Segun Bucknor – each important Afro Funk players in their own right, who both really help add a nice sort of psych element alongside the skittish grooving of the guitar, bass, and drums. Titles include "Blo", "It's Gonna Be A Good Day", "Native Doctor", "Do It You'll Like It", "Atide", and "Whole Lot Of Sh*t".

Weird and wild sounds from this early 80s French group – a set of tracks that supposedly each represents a different hallucination by a 6 year old girl! Given the sound of some of these cuts, we'd be more than inclined to agree with that claim – as most of the music is pretty darn trippy, often instrumental, and served up in a blend of heavy keyboards and spacey guitars – produced with a finish that's more mid 70s Germany than the early 80s recording date of the album – more proggish than post-punk, if you know what we mean! Titles include "Theme De La Drogue", "Theme Du Genie", "Proper's Reggae", "Theme De La Bagarre", "Flashes", "Depart Du Genie", and "Christelle".

Important work from the youth uprising years in mid 70s Thailand – a time when the group Caravan were central to some of the bigger protest themes against the nation's restrictive government! According to the notes, the power of this music led to group members' later exile – but to our western ears, which can't understand the lyrics, the album's got a totally different appeal – these beautifully-spun tunes that have slightly folksy undercurrents, but lots of dark shadows around the corners – almost like some psych group got too tripped-out, and turned to acoustic instrumentation to regain their cool. Most guitars are acoustic, and there's also some slide guitar too – alongside violin, harmonica, and local instruments phin and wut. Vocals are often a lot more melancholy than you'd expect for a protest record – but that also adds to the charm of the set a lot!

A wonderfully trippy record from The Beatles – filled with songs that have become classics, even though the initial package was designed for a movie that was one heck of a mess! The set's incredibly strong throughout – filled with some of the new post-Peppers ideas explored by the group, yet also with some catchier numbers too – great sing-songy tracks that undoubtedly were a big mainstream influence to the world of late 60s psych! Titles include "Blue Jay Way", "The Fool On The Hill", "Flying", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", and "Baby You're A Rich Man".

A wonderfully trippy record from The Beatles – filled with songs that have become classics, even though the initial package was designed for a movie that was one heck of a mess! The set's incredibly strong throughout – filled with some of the new post-Peppers ideas explored by the group, yet also with some catchier numbers too – great sing-songy tracks that undoubtedly were a big mainstream influence to the world of late 60s psych! Titles include "Blue Jay Way", "The Fool On The Hill", "Flying", "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", and "Baby You're A Rich Man".

Brilliant 60s pop from the team of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart – best known for their key early songwriting work for The Monkees, but a heck of a great duo on their own! Boyce & Hart have a sparkly, sunshiney sound that's very much a part of The Monkees generation – a beautiful post-folk, post-surf blend of styles, and one that's served up with all the warmth and charm that made The Monkees so great. But if you're thinking that the CD is just a Monkees rehash, it's not – because there's very little work here that was associated with the more famous group – and instead, the collection really gets at the jangly genius of the Boyce & Hart sound, a style that should have sparkled strongly on its own in the 60s, but which was unfortunately always eclipsed by their work for other artists. Looking at the great photos in the CD's well-done booklet, it's clear that Boyce and Hart have a hell of a lot of charm – and that charm comes through brilliantly in the set's collection of 24 numbers pulled from their 3 albums for A&M Records. Titles include "For Baby", "Sometime She's A Little Girl", "Girl I'm Out To Get You", "Where Angels Go", "The Ambushers", "Love Every Day", "Teardrop City", "Pretty Flower", "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite", "Six & Six", "Alice Long", "PO Box 9847", and "Strawberry Girl".

One of the headiest albums from the team of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart – as you might guess from the image on the cover! The album continues the playful quality of previous A&M sets, but also has a deeper feel too – a bit more soul on the vocals, which really comes through on the album's few covers – and a slightly more socially-conscious approach to the lyrics too – supported by backings by a core group that features John Gallie on some especially great organ and keyboards, and great arrangements from Jimmie Haskell! The shift is great proof that these two were way more than just songwriters – and titles include "Change", "Maybe Somebody Heart", "Abracadabra", "My Baby Loves Sad Songs", "Thanks For Sunday", and "Strawberry Girl". CD features bonus mono tracks – "Six & Six", "LUV – Let Us Vote", "We're All Going To The Same Place", "PO Box 9487", and "Alice Long".

Bass heavy funk from the Brothers Johnson and Quincy Jones. This track was the heavier b-side to their "Strawberry Letter 23" single, but is issued here as a double a-side promo, and while not as completely sublime as that track, it's a mighty commercial funk groove in its own right!

Way more than just a simple version of work from Porgy & Bess – and instead, a key collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans – done with a sound that really transforms the tunes! True, the work here is all based on George Gershwin's original compositions – but through his inventively modern arrangements, Gil Evans really pushes the familiar numbers to a whole new place – and Miles glides over the top with some especially shimmering solos! Titles include "Summertime", "The Buzzard Song", "I Loves You, Porgy", and "Fishermen, Strawberry, & Devil Crab".

A great illustration of the way that Martin Denny expanded his groove in the 60s – on some sweetly inventive records like this! On Latin Village, Martin Denny changes the rhythms from tropical to Latin – but the overall groove is still highly in his best exotica mode, and nicely augmented by some additional instrumentation! There's some traces here of the shift in production for instrumental music from the time – a bit of electric bass echoing out at the bottom of some cuts, more echo than usual on the piano lines, and a floating quality that's almost even more sublime than the original Liberty sessions. But the core Denny elements are also still in place – tinkling piano, island percussion, and a playful approach to familiar rhythms that never fails to please. The Latin is more of a nod to harder Latin modes than anything else, but it does make for a nice, if subtle change – one that works especially well when Denny's piano is out front, but compressed a bit in the mix. Titles include "Flying Down To Rio", "Ho Ba La La", "Something Latin", "Girl From Ipanema", and "Latin Village". The Versatile Martin Denny definitely lives up to the versatile in the title – working through a whole host of different 50s and 60s easy tunes – played in ways that are much wider-ranging than usual! Some are percussive and slightly exotic, some have more strings and tinkling piano, and some get slightly playful instrumentation – in a very nice way. Titles include "Little Bird", "Theme From Mondo Cane", "Exotique Bossa Nova", "Quiet Village Bossa Nova", and "Strawberry Tree".

The first album from the great, freewheeling, genre-defying Little Feat! This album, like all the others from Little Feat, isn't easy to pigeonhole – rolling from sun-toasted country rock to roadhouse-y blues and beyond – in a way that feels perfectly right and natural. It's not as out there as a few of the later albums, but it's certainly among their best! Titles include "Snakes On Everything", "Strawberry Flats", "Forty Four Blues/How Many More Years", "Crack In Your Door", and "Takin My Time".

They definitely got the title right on this one – as the set's a solid batch of soulful instrumentals all the way through – one of our favorites from the great Willie Mitchell! Willie's got a lot more bite here than on some of his famous warmer productions in the 70s – a gritty Memphis soul instrumental style that's pretty close to the best of its kind over at Stax Records – complete with tight, punchy drums on the bottom – and a sweet mix of organ, tenor, guitar, and trumpet in the lead! Nothing's ever too forced, and there's a groove that's laidback, but right on the money – on titles that include "San Ho Zay", "Monkey Jump", "Strawberry Solo", "Hideaway", "Up Hard", "The Horse", and "Grazing In The Grass".

The second album from Shuggie Otis – a wild and wooly batch of grooves that really stretches out the sound from the first! Shuggie's got much more of a hand in the arrangements here – and the tunes are grooving in a sweet blend of funk, rock, and soul – really drenched in the best cross-cultural influences going down on the west coast scene of the time – a kind of color-blind quest for the groove that comes across with a really righteous power! Tracks include the original version of "Strawberry Letter 23" – plus the cuts "Ice Cold Daydream", "Freedom Flight", "Sweet Thang", "Purple", and "Me & My Woman".

An epic interview and reassessment of Vanilla Ice. R&b diva/legend Sugar Pie Desanto (the female James Brown) speaks. 10 second Patti Smith interview. Jersey garage-kings the Swingin' Neckbreakers interviewed. Albert Ayler murder conspiracy theories...in comix form! Strawberry Shortcake records...a lost cult. The Wix records story (a woman rockabilly fanatic puts out some messed up albums by Ray Smith, Wayne Worley and the Worleybirds and Wayne Keeling). Plus G.G. Allin, Ted Nugent, Sammy Davis Jr.

One of the sweetest fusion sets ever recorded from guitarist Phil Upchurch – a set that's less trippy than his earlier albums, but one that more than makes up for that with a tightly soulful groove! Production is by John Tropea and George Benson – and you can definitely hear their touches here – giving Upchurch a strong sense of focus, yet still allowing plenty of room for those cool sounds and odd lines on his guitar. Arrangements are great throughout – partly handled by Leon Pendarvis, who also plays keyboards on the record with Richard Tee – and augmented by string and flute backings from Deodato. Titles include a great take on "Strawberry Letter 23" – plus "Free", "Good Times", "Church Street Station", "It's Almost Five", "Foolin Around", and "Cyrenna".

One of the sweetest fusion sets ever recorded from guitarist Phil Upchurch – a set that's less trippy than his earlier albums, but one that more than makes up for that with a tightly soulful groove! Production is by John Tropea and George Benson – and you can definitely hear their touches here – giving Upchurch a strong sense of focus, yet still allowing plenty of room for those cool sounds and odd lines on his guitar. Arrangements are great throughout – partly handled by Leon Pendarvis, who also plays keyboards on the record with Richard Tee – and augmented by string and flute backings from Deodato. Titles include a great take on "Strawberry Letter 23" – plus "Free", "Good Times", "Church Street Station", "It's Almost Five", "Foolin Around", and "Cyrenna".

Wild work from The Ventures – a set that really has them trying to change with the times – and coming up with some excellent sounds in the process! The inside cover features a cool "photo story" of the group – very unusual, as it shows the aging quartet trying to act real groovy and camp it up for the camera – like some surf act on Capitol – yet they only come off looking stiff and flat. Fortunately, the music more than makes up for the visuals – as the group's well-crafted guitar lines are a perfect fit for the album's pop psych tunes! And instead of the easy covers you might expect, there's a wealth of original material here – proof that the group could still write some great ones when they wanted – as you'll hear on "Psychedelic Venture", "Guitar Psychedelics", "Reflections", "Endless Dream", "Psyched Out", "1999 AD", and "Vibrations". Also features versions of "Happy Together", "Strawberry Fields Forever", and "A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You".

Wild work from The Ventures – a set that really has them trying to change with the times – and coming up with some excellent sounds in the process! The inside cover features a cool "photo story" of the group – very unusual, as it shows the aging quartet trying to act real groovy and camp it up for the camera – like some surf act on Capitol – yet they only come off looking stiff and flat. Fortunately, the music more than makes up for the visuals – as the group's well-crafted guitar lines are a perfect fit for the album's pop psych tunes! And instead of the easy covers you might expect, there's a wealth of original material here – proof that the group could still write some great ones when they wanted – as you'll hear on "Psychedelic Venture", "Guitar Psychedelics", "Reflections", "Endless Dream", "Psyched Out", "1999 AD", and "Vibrations". Also features versions of "Happy Together", "Strawberry Fields Forever", and "A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You".

A wonderful collection of obscure solo acoustic guitar tunes from the mid 60s up to the dawn of the 80s – beautiful work from a slew of players we've never heard of – but we'd put right up there with Fahey and Basho in the way they reach from the back porch to the cosmos with just their fingers and some strings! One thing we love about this set, and the Numero Group releases to date, is how deep they dig and what beauty they unearth, somehow with impeccable sound quality. Some tunes are starkly beautiful, some chime on fairly intently, some do both those things and more – and it's very heartening and instantly appealing stuff – wordless tunes that carry a lot of sensitivity and emotion! The 40 page booklet features detailed notes and bio material for each track, plus an introduction by Numero's Rob Sevier and essays by Dan Lambert and Jim Ohlschmidt. Titles include "Beginning" by Dana Westover", "Raga In D" by Ted Lucas, "Sailor's Dream" by Scotte Witte, "Flight" by George Cromarty, "Diagonal" by Richard Crandell, "Baha Dream Songs" by Daniel Hecht, "Delta Freeze" by Jim Ohlschmidt, "No More School" by Stephen Cohen, "Strawberry Man" by Mark Lang, "Warm River" by Bread Chequer, "One Forty Eight" by Swayne Canna and more.

A sweet two-fer from guitarist Wilbert Longmire – two Tappan Zee albums back to back on a single CD! First up is a deep glass of Champagne from Wilbert – classy, sophisticated jazz from the end of the 70s – but still served up with plenty of soul, too! Bob James and Jay Chattaway produced – and James plays Fender Rhodes and other keyboards on the set – helping carve out some mighty sweet lines next to Longmire's lead guitar – which often sounds best at some of the record's mellowest moments! Wilbert sings just a bit, too – underscoring some of the soul influences on the set – and titles include "Pleasure Island", "Ragtown", "Funshine", "Diane's Dilemma", and "Love's Holiday". With All My Love is sweet later work from guitarist Wilbert Longmire – a warm mixture of soul and funky jazz – and easily one of the better records to come from the Tappan Zee label at the time! Production is by Bob James and Jay Chattaway – with an R&B-inflected vibe that's a bit like some of the best late 70s work on Kudo or CTI. Longmire's still got that wonderfully chromatic style on guitar – which works well in this setting – and even though he sings a bit on the record, it's the instrumentals that keep us listening. Titles include "Take Your Time", "Music Speaks Louder Than Words", "Strawberry Sunset", "Hawkeye", and "But I Love You".

A short-lived Prince side project from the mid 80s – pretty tinny, and decidedly weaker than his own work, or that of groups like The Family or The Time. Titles include "Strawberry Lover", "Suzy", "Player's Ball", "Lonely Girl On Bourbon Street", and "100 MPH". Almost worth it for the ridiculous fashion/make-up shown on back.

An insanely wonderful album! Shuggie Otis is the son of Johnny Otis – the LA R&B maestro who was moving heavily into funk at the end of the 60s – and he has this tripped out, super-dope guitar style that he played to strong effect on Johnny's albums of the late 60s and early 70s, and on his first two solo albums, which were kind of bluesy in tone. For this album, though, he shocked the world by moving into a stripped-down mode that pairs his guitar with spare drum machine rhythms, flanged-out deeply soulful vocals, and one of the most laidback conceptions of funk you'll ever hear. The album's a landmark – one of those gems that's unlike anything else you can think of, but which will redefine your concept of what you want in a record for years to come. Every track's a winner – and the whole thing's a perfectly unified batch of tunes that includes instant classics like "Inspiration Information", "Island Letter", "Aht Uh Mi Hed", "XL 30", and "Rainy Day". Plus, this reissue features 4 tracks from Shuggie's Freedom Flight LP – including his original version of "Strawberry Letter 23", and "Sweet Thang", "Freedom Flight", and "Ice Cold Daydream".

One of the best issues of Shindig yet! This one has a cover feature on the The Free Design – who are one of greatest harmony pop groups of all time – plus articles on Bill Fay, Strawberry Alarm Clark, Ian Hunter, Lee Hazlewood and more! One of great things about Shindig is the way it celebrates psych-tinged rock, pop, folk and soul in a way that doesn't come off as nostalgic – by doing an excellent job of highlighting the timeless nature of the international groups and solo artists they cover – and on that tip, there's items in this issue on contemporary players such as Cody Chesnutt and Ken Stringfellow to go along with coverage of 60s & 70s forbears.

A rich array of sounds from French pianist Jean Rotman – a player who seems to bring way more here to a trio date than you might expect! The album starts with a very boppish tribute to Charlie Parker, but then moves to a sensitive piano duet, then swings into a sweet funky number with a bass-heavy break at the start – and that's all just on side one! By the end of the record, there's plenty of great surprises to discover – all handled by Rotman's deep, warm tone – which is often echoed nicely by bassist Patrice Soler – and given subtle inspiration by drummer Laurent Rosemain – all in a way that's a great illustration of the creative complexity you'll find in the oft-overlooked French scene of this period. Titles include "Charlie Parker Par Coeur", "Seattle M'Etait Conte", "A Tune For Mat", "Degriffe", "Bossa Lissee", and "Bring Back Your Strawberry".