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A sweet Latin-styled set from trumpeter Herb Alpert – but one that's got a very different vibe than his faux Latin grooves of the 60s! The set here is done with key contributions from both Juan Carlos Calderon as a songwriter, and Jose Quintana as a producer – both talents who really... read more

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The first album by Atlantic Starr – a tight set of modern soul tunes with a very different feel than their later work! Part of the credit goes to Bobby Eli – who arranged and produced the set, giving it a feel that's almost late Philly – tight, sophisticated, and right on the... read more

The title's certainly right on this one – because Atlantic Starr serve up a really brilliant blend of electro funk and mainstream soul – balanced with that near-perfect sound that made them one of the best groups of their generation! Despite the size of the combo, the sound is... read more

A groovy little classic from Atlantic Starr – and a great example of the group's wonderfully catchy way of hitting a groove! The music's never pop, but has some captivating hooks all the way through – sweet little bits mixed in with the funky soul approach of the ensemble – made... read more

Insanely wonderful work by Bacharach – in a way that we can hardly begin to describe (but we'll certainly try!) By the time this one was recorded – 1971 – Burt's reputation as a songwriter and arranger were so firmly established that he had an incredible amount of freedom in the... read more

An incredible live recording by Burt Bacharach – and one that wasn't issued in the US! This early 70s concert is great proof that the Bacharach magic didn't come from any studio tricks – but from the genius of Burt himself – as the maestro's working here in a fantastic larger-than... read more

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An obscure groover from Booker T – working here away from the MGs, and in a very different mode! The best tracks on the album have a smooth mellow soul feel – with keyboards in the lead over a nicely stepping groove, and Booker laying down some surprisingly nice vocals, not always that... read more

A groovy bossa gem from the glory days of A&M Records – an ultra-hip group recorded with production by Sergio Mendes! The feel here is a lot like that of Brasil 66 – bossa rhythms, sunny CA instrumentation, and lovely female vocals – in this case sung singularly, by the... read more

A groovy bossa gem from the glory days of A&M Records – an ultra-hip group recorded with production by Sergio Mendes! The feel here is a lot like that of Brasil 66 – bossa rhythms, sunny CA instrumentation, and lovely female vocals – in this case sung singularly, by the... read more

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... read more

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... read more

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... read more

A standout set from the songwriting team who provided plenty of greatness for The Monkees – but who sound equally great on their own! The music here really soars nicely – tight LA pop from the late 60s, but never too overdone – and often set up with a jaunty groove that's a... read more

Blam is right – an all-out batch of funky tracks from The Brothers Johnson – captured here right in the middle of their classic period with Quincy Jones! The Q's at the helm on production for the set, and the record's a great extension of their earlier efforts with the man – but... read more

More hit magic from the Brothers Johnson – still working with Quincy Jones at this point, and virtually setting up the blueprint for jazzy soul in the 80s! Backings are by an all-star team, and Rod Temperton's helping out Quincy with arrangements – going for that snapping groove... read more

Smooth jazzy soul from the Brothers – still sounding wonderful at this point, producing themselves for the record, and using the best parts of all those lessons they learned from Quincy Jones! The bass is a bit down in the mix for this album – a good move, considering that 1981 was... read more

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Early genius from The Carpenters – a really tremendous little album, and one that's quite different than their soft rock hits of the 70s! There's a plenty playful feel to the set – energy that comes right off the best Sunshine Pop of late 60s A&M Records – to which this album... read more

A late, straight side from Cherry, and a nice one at that! Cherry's joined by West Coast jazz men from his past James Clay, Charlie Haden And Billy Higgins, for a nice set with standards intermingled with the group's own tunes and a couple of Ornette numbers, too. The readings are crisp yet... read more

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An incredible record – from the first off-key note to the last! The album's filled with some wonderfully moody LA studio sounds, arranged by Deodato, and a has a great swirling mix of sound that weaves around Jobim's lofty guitar and piano beautifully – complex, but still with the airy... read more

A stunning mix of talents that brings the heavenly piano and guitar of Antonio Carlos Jobim into play with the lush, but light arrangements of Claus Ogerman – a swirling mix of post-bossa loveliness that redefines Jobim's sound, and opens up new avenues for exploration in sound! The... read more

A really great, oft-overlooked album from the best period of Quincy Jones! This album is quite possibly Quincy's most farthest-reaching – as he works in an array of styles that really shows his growing genius in the studio – not just jazz and soundtrack modes, but more soul-based ones,... read more

A great bit of 70s electric work from Quincy – and probably his funkiest album ever! Quincy's really stepping out here from the straighter and spacier styles of earlier records – going for more of the dirty grooves he was cutting up for soundtrack albums, and hitting notes that were a... read more

A hip little collection of funky work from Quincy Jones – nearly all of it from his key 70s years on A&M Records! The vibe here is totally great – possibly the best-remembered sound of the Q, recorded at a time when he was also gracing the world with a fair bit of funky soundtracks... read more

French pop meets LA production – and the result is some of the best work ever recorded by A&M Records – a gently groovy, slightly sexy sound that really helped define the label in its early years! Claudine Longet's got a gentle Parisian style of singing that's perfect, simply... read more

Dreamy vocals, catchy tunes, bossa rhythms – it's gotta be Claudine Longet! During the late 60s, Claudine first warmed ears in America with a lovely take on the gentle sounds of the Astrud Gilberto era – a French-accented approach to mellow vocal pop, often touched with a bit of jazz... read more

The genius of 60s pop is hardly summed up better by anyone else than Claudine Longet! This dreamy female singer cut a handful of excellent late 60s albums for A&M – and this gem from 1967 is one of her best! The set's arranged by Nick DeCaro, and produced by Tommy LiPuma – all in... read more

Always-great work from lovely French singer Claudine Longet – a vocalist with a style that's unlike anyone else we can think of! This one's another sublime blend of French 60s pop and sunny A&M production – arranged to perfection by the great Nick DeCaro, with touches that deepen... read more

Jeffrey Osborne's really emerging strongly here in the mellow soul mode – especially on the album's two great ballad cuts, "Concentrate On You" and "We Both Deserve Each Other", both of which are smooth mellow steppers with a modern soul approach that's slightly less... read more

Jeffrey Osborne's really emerging strongly here in the mellow soul mode – especially on the album's two great ballad cuts, "Concentrate On You" and "We Both Deserve Each Other", both of which are smooth mellow steppers with a modern soul approach that's slightly less... read more

Freaky spandex and a mighty nice groove – a record that sounds a lot better than you might guess from the group's outfits on the cover! Magic Lady are a trio of funky females – grooving in a style that's a bit like the Brides Of Funkenstein, but a lot more stripped-down – an 80s-t... read more

A creative highpoint for The Mekons – even if too few were listening at the time! The greatest curse The Mekons have to deal with is their relative obscurity, outside of underground rock aficionados – and if you don't require the fieriness of their punkier earlier albums, we can't... read more

The start of a legend – and the very first album by Sergio Mendes' Brasil 66 group, proudly brought to the world through the godlike talents of a young Herb Alpert! Sergio was no stranger to the recording studio by the time of this set, but the record marked a real shift in his music –... read more

Fantastically sweet pop from Chris Montez! Chris had a light little voice that was perfect for the A&M Records approach of the 60s – a style that has him singing gently over arrangements that glide and bounce around with ease, sometimes handled by Herb Alpert, in a breezy sunny LA mode... read more

Sweet pop and soft rock from one of the greatest songwriting teams ever! Roger Nichols and Paul Williams may not be as familiar to you as Bacharach & David – or at least not as familiar as Paul Williams himself – but during the late 60s and early 70s, the pair emerged from the... read more

Incredible work from the songwriting team of Roger Nichols & Paul Williams – sublime greatness from the end of the 60s era at A&M! At the time of these recordings, Nichols had just finished cutting his landmark Small Circle of Friends album for A&M – and Paul Williams was... read more

Billy Preston right in the middle of a classic 70s run – hitting a trademark blend of soul, jazz, and other groovy influences – all with a sound that's very much his own, and which puts him in the same company as Sly Stone or Stevie Wonder! Preston's market was a bit more mainstream... read more

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One of the strongest albums by Rockie Robbins – and they're all pretty darn great – thanks to some sweet production and arrangements from the team of Skip Scarborough and Jerry Peters! Skip and Jerry bring a nice sense of smoothness to Rockie's Chicago-forged sound – expanding... read more

Sweet folksy pop from the glory days of A&M! Evie has a voice that's emotive in a folk rock way, but which is here produced with smoother west coast arrangements that are more in an LA mode. The overall sound of the album is very hip – with that cool late 60s approach that never gets... read more

Beautiful stuff – and a record we never tire of hearing! This album's a sublime extension of the earlier Brazilian style of the Tamba Trio – in a set that has them adding a fourth member, and picking up some cool new sounds from producer Creed Taylor! The set brings the group's... read more

The early 80s debut from singer, songwriter Gary Taylor – also playing Rhodes, piano and synth on this set – filled with nicely grooving 80s soul! The songs are solid, and though he'd go on to write songs for a number of soul and R&B stars, he lets these numbers build slowly into... read more

A great little solo set from Jean Terrell – a singer who's probably best known for her work as the leader of The Supremes after Diana Ross left the group, but who sounds even better here on her own! The album's still got the strong-voiced sound that Jean brought to her Motown years –... read more

A legendary pairing of two key 60s pop talents – the soulful sounds of Ike & Tina Turner, and the soaring production styles of Phil Spector! The album's quite different than some of the grittier Turner projects of the time – lots of full orchestrations and strings, mixed with the... read more

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Sublime sounds from We Five – and a record that really takes the group past the pop styles of their debut! There's some nicely sinister echoes of the San Francisco scene going on here – more electric guitar than previously, used in edgey ways – and this more "arch"... read more

Completely charming sounds from We Five – a second full length set for A&M Records, and one that really has the group growing past their simple folksy roots! There's a wonderful interplay of voices going on here – styles borrowed a bit from male/female jazz and soul vocal groups of... read more

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A classic set from this massively underrated singer/songwriter! Paul Williams was definitely at the height of his mainstream popularity by the time of this set – with endless appearances on countless TV shows, not to mention work in The Planet Of The Apes films – yet the record's got a... read more

Yes, that's right – THE Paul Williams: the short blonde guy who was a bit of a celebrity in the early 70s, showing up on countless variety and talk shows, and even making an appearance in the later Planet Of The Apes movies. Despite Williams' short stature and strange looks, he was actually... read more

Subtle sounds and gentle soul from Paul Williams – the wonderful singer/songwriter who cut some real gems for A&M Records in the early 70s! The album's filled with Williams' wonderful compositions – including a few penned with Roger Nichols – those great songs that other... read more

That's Paul Williams, lost amidst the whiteness of the cover – kind of fuzzy around the edges, just like the warm feelings in his music! The album's got all the best elements that Williams had to offer in the 70s – some incredible songs that are instantly more personal and more upfront... read more

A real gem from Paul Williams – the kind of well-penned, subtly-arranged record that marked his best work for A&M! Williams is getting a bit more confidence in his songwriting, yet also knows that he sounds best as a singer when he's got a slightly fragile feel – often recorded... read more

One of the weirdest, wildest moog albums you'll ever hear – an amazing collaboration between moogy maestro Mort Garson and "word man" Jacques Wilson! The album's an electronic fairy tale for the late 60s scene – a pretty scary little set at the heart, given all the analogue... read more

The sounds of The Beatles – completely transformed – as a handful of tunes by John Lennon & Paul McCartney, and a few by George Harrison too, are taken up by the A&M Records crew of the 60s and 70s! We're huge fans of A&M, as the label's always had a way of taking already-gr... read more

A sublime selection of grooves from the legendary A&M Records – and a key document of the way the label helped shape the sound of Brazilian music in the 60s! Far more than any other American imprint, A&M had a key dedication to bringing Brazilian sounds to the US – not just... read more