All Categories — LPs  

A great album that Roy Ayers cut after his co-led record with Fela Kuti – and one with the same sort of hard-driving Afro-Funk grooves that you'd find in Fela's classic recordings! The songs are shorter than Fela's, and with more of Roy's usual smooth jazzy production style – but the overall influence is very much in the Afro-Funk vein, and the album's sort of a "part 2" to the Music Of Many Colors set that was cut a few years before. William Allen worked on the record with Roy – playing choppy Afro-Funk bass, and arranging and producing a lot of the material with Roy and Jaymz Bedford – and the record also features a host of extra percussion players, as well as some vocals by the lovely Sylvia Striplin. Includes the great groover "Africa, Center Of The World", plus "The River Niger", and a great remake of "Third Eye", which was on Everybody Loves The Sunshine, but is redone here with a heavier sound!

Sweet soul jazz from the 70s Detroit scene – and a record with a ties to the same scene as Tribe Records! The sound here is straightforward and soulful – a bit of electricity at the bottom and some fluidly gliding horn work on the top – plus some key vocals from a group that includes Kim Weston in the lead, supported by other female singers – in a righteous mode that really makes the best tunes sparkle! Other players include Phil Ranelin on trombone, Nasi Hafiz on vibes, Miller Brisker on tenor and piano, and Sylvia Truner on harp – all working together in a largeish group with the best spiritual energy of groups on Strata East! The whole thing's great – a beautiful lost treasure, and the kind of record that's rarely carried off so perfectly – and titles include "Song For M", "A Little Love For You", "Mark I", "Ja-Mil", "Nobody Had To Tell Me", "Arjuna", and "Now You're Gone".

A masterpiece of spacey soul by the great Asha Pulthi – a singer who recorded mostly in Europe, with funky maestro Dieter Zimmerman! Asha's got vocals that are somewhere in the range of Minnie Riperton or Sylvia Striplin or Sylvia Robinson – as you'll hear on the album's standout break track "Space Walk", which is one of our all time favorite obscure soul tracks. Other great ones include "Flying Fish", "The Devil Is Loose", "Good Night", and "Say Yes". Never issued in the US until this recent reissue!

The eponymous LP by the Sugarhill Gang – with some of the most infectious late 70s/early 80s grooves ever laid to wax! This is one of the first-ever full-length hip hop albums – cut on the success of the massive "Rapper's Delight" single! The record purports to feature percussion by Tito Puente – and it's also got live instrumentation by Keith LeBlanc on drums, Skip McDonald on guitar, and Sylvia Robinson on vibes. Features a 5 minute version of "Rappers Delight", plus "Rappers Reprise", "Passion Play", "Sugarhill Groove", and "Here I Am".

Heavy funk from the Bahamas – a whole bunch of groups that will show you that Nassau had a lot more to offer than The Beginning Of The End! The groove here is totally wonderful – somewhat like American funk of the late 60s and early 70s, but served up with some very unusual rhythmic patterns too – a bit Jamaican at times, but certainly not reggae – and somewhat sunny and Caribbean styled, but not in a way that's cheesy or filled with any hokey island-styled stereotypes. Instead, the tunes are deeply funk and soulful – grooving with plenty of dark edges and gritty instrumentation that's often heavy on the guitar. Many numbers have vocals, and those are great too – and as usual with the Numero label, the whole thing's put together with amazing notes and packaging, so that you get a full history lesson and a heck of a lot of photos to support the music too! Titles include "Gonna Build A Nation" by Cyril Ferguson, "Mustang Sally", "I Am The Man For You Baby", and "Funky Fever" by Jay Mitchell, "Theme From Shaft" by Esquires LTD, "Gimme Some Skin (inst)" by Frank Penn, "Words To My Song" by Dry Bread, "People Won't Change" by Willpower, "Take Five" by Ozzie Hall, "Watcha Gonna Do Bout It" and "The Time For Loving Is Now" by Mustangs, "Honesty Is The Best Policy" by Gospel Chandeliers, and "Don't Touch That Thing" by Sylvia Hall. 2LP set also features a bonus instrumental version of "Don't Touch That Thing" by Sylvia Hall!

Sweet soul jazz from the 70s Detroit scene – and a record with a ties to the same scene as Tribe Records! The sound here is straightforward and soulful – a bit of electricity at the bottom and some fluidly gliding horn work on the top – plus some key vocals from a group that includes Kim Weston in the lead, supported by other female singers – in a righteous mode that really makes the best tunes sparkle! Other players include Phil Ranelin on trombone, Nasi Hafiz on vibes, Miller Brisker on tenor and piano, and Sylvia Truner on harp – all working together in a largeish group with the best spiritual energy of groups on Strata East! The whole thing's great – a beautiful lost treasure, and the kind of record that's rarely carried off so perfectly – and titles include "Song For M", "A Little Love For You", "Mark I", "Ja-Mil", "Nobody Had To Tell Me", "Arjuna", and "Now You're Gone".

Sweet sweet sweet soul from The Moments, and one of their rare early albums for the Stang label! The tracks are all beautiful New Jersey harmony soul, of the sort that The Moments and others put on the charts in a large way during the early 70s – and the band's smoothing their act up a bit, but still has some of the roughness that makes the best New Jersey soul albums so compelling! Of course, Sylvia Robinson probably had something to do with that – as she was still just hitting her stride in the studio – finding a great way to present the group with all the fragility of their earliest years, but also a bit more punch than usual. Titles include their hit "Love On A Two Way Street", a surprisingly great cover of "Rocky Raccoon", and other nice ones like "So This Is Our Goodbye", "I Do", "Key To My Happiness", and "Lovely Way She Loves".

Raw soul, heavy funk, snotty rock, and raucous R&B – all pulled from the legendary record collection of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy! The sounds here are the sorts that went onto form the blueprint for The Cramps – and the package is overflowing with rare gems that are hand-picked by the pair – the kind of underground, indie singles that have always made record-digging so great – plucked up by Lux and Ivy in the years before most of us even started searching for wax! The cool 10" set features two dozen tunes – and titles include "Drive Daddy Drive" by Little Sylvia, "Stormy Weather" by The Five Sharps, "Rock A Bongo Boogie" by Terry Snyder, "Red Headed Flea" by The Caps, "Chickie Run" by Homer Denison Jr, "99 Chicks" by Ron Haydock & The Boppers, "Baby Brother" by Bill Carter & The Rovin Gamblers, "Service With A Smile" by The Kuf-Linx, "Imagination" by The Quotations, "Tongue Tied" by Betty McQuade, and "The Vulture" by Ronny Ray's Playboys.