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The most polarizing of John Lennon's post Beatles ouvre – the strident, Spector-produced, sprawling mess that is Some Time In New York City – a record that has too much of every idea John & Yoko had at the time, which makes it all the more fascinating after all these years! Angry, self-righteous and quite often brilliant – feminist anthems backed by Wall Of Sound pop, an ode to John Sinclair in the mold of a country rock tune – wild stuff from a superstar! Include "Woman Is The Ni**er Of The World", "Sister, Oh Sister", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "Attica State", "New York City" and more.

One of our favorite-ever albums from Mel Torme – a set that sparkles with the same smooth swing as his best late 50s dates for Bethlehem records! Like those sets, this one features Torme's voice really taking off over some tight jazzy charts – arranged by Johnny Williams, Shorty Rogers, and Dick Hazard – all in styles close to those used previously by Marty Paich. But almost even better is the New York theme of the record – surprising, given the anti-NYC vibe of Torme's classic "California Suite" – but perfect, too, as it really ties the whole thing together wonderfully – creating this beautiful picture of the Big Apple in the postwar years. Titles include the greatest version of "Sunday In New York" you'll ever hear – plus "Let Me Off Uptown", "Autumn In New York", "New York New York", "Manhattan", and "My Time Of Day".

A rich array of underground sounds from late 60s London – most of which appear here for the first time ever! The set follows on the previous 94 Baker Street collection – and like that one, features obscure English singer/songwriters under contract to Apple – fresh talents signed up in the hopes that they'd later break big – lost to the shuffle of years amidst the misworkings of the company. Now, though, the folks at Cherry Red have done a great job of reconstructing this lost history – and have come up with a really great assortment of tracks pulled from rare demos – but mostly done at a level that's right up there with all the commercially-released British rock of the time. Most of these tracks have never been issued before – and titles include "Hold On" and "Sailing" by Joker, "You've Got A Hold On Someone" and "This Little Man Mk 1" by George Alexander, "Windy Love Affair" by Robert & Miles Priestley, "It's You" by Buddy Britten, "Any Day Now" by Coconut Mushroom, "Who Needs A King" and "Something New Every Day" by Timon, "How Does It Feel" by The Perishers, and "Kingfisher" by Barry Alexander.

Long lost soul from Love Apple – the only known recordings made by the female vocal trio in the late 70s – rehearsal takes made with the legendary Lou Ragland! Love Apple is Lily Pearson, Annette Warren and Avetta Henry – working here with Cleveland soul mainstay Ragland, who was at the time hoping to move further into the production realm. The ladies shared lead vocal and songwriting, and as you'll hear on these loose rehearsal sessions, talent and potential for greatness was limitless. Backed loosely by guitar, drums and piano, with lots of space for them to work on the vocals – which are natural, sweet and soulful. Researcher and compiler Jon Kirby's notes tell the story of the unrealized potential of group nicely. The instrumentation is raw, but the versatile voices are more than worthy of discovery, even if it's a few decades late! Includes "Man On The Side", "Call Me When You Want Me", "Guess I Always Knew", "There's No Answer Without You", "The Changing Times" and "What Will Tomorrow Bring". Rare fruit from the Boddie Recording Company archives.

Cash's fourth volume of stark, sparely-arranged studio recordings for producer/set list provider Rick Rubin. As Johnny gets on in the years his always haunting voice, like Bob Dylan's, is weighted by age, but the heavily-breathed delivery only adds to the ghostly quality of the increasingly dark tunes. With this fourth set in the series we're far past being surprised by the choice of material – this time Cash conjures up spiritual takes on Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", Trent Reznor's "Hurt", Lennon/McCartney's "In My Life", and more traditional material like Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and the eternally underrated Marty Robbins' "Big Iron". You can't forget that Cash's pen is still pretty sharp, too, as the really spooky imagery in the title track and others testify. The accompaniment includes the great Randy Scruggs, Beck/Tom Waits guitarist Smokey Hormel, Marty Stewart, Glen Campell, and backing vocals by Nick Cave and Fiona Apple. Another great one from the greatest!

Nasty electro punk from the enigmatic Lou Champagne – an obscure early 80s effort issue on Lou's own record label, but a killer cooker that would have shook the New York scene up plenty – had Champagne been working in the Big Apple at the time! There's a dark blend of analogue electronics and punkish sensibilities that almost reminds us of Suicide at their best – and the album's certainly a great companion to their classic first album – although at points, Lou's handling of various waveforms is almost even more deft – creating a sinister sensibility that really makes this one hold up strongly over the years! Titles include "Do Something", "Machine Muzik", "Invisible Prisons", "Another Dimension", "Silent Walking", and "Broken Hearts".