A classic from the early days of the east coast club scene – pre-disco really, but with a sound that would inspire countless dancefloors in the years to come! Gary's well-honed funk ensemble grooves it hard through a set of upbeat tunes that includes the famous title track, plus "Do Your Thing", "Slow & Funky", "The New Empire", "Feel That Funky Groove", and "Drive My Car". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A true masterpiece of late 60s pop – music originally recorded for a TV special in 1969 – and one of the Kinks' greatest albums ever! The semi-concept album traces the woes, worries, and hopes of a British family, as one half is on the verge of emigration to Australia. The work comes out of the sort of songwriting that Ray Davies had been perfecting on albums like Village Green and Something Else – but the overall style is more sophisticated, yet not nearly as self-indulgent as some of the 70s concept clunkers. Instead, the songs are brilliantly tight, and stand on their own well past the concept of the original album. Titles include "Victoria", "Brainwashed", "Australia", "Shangri-La", "Mr Churchill Says", and "Yes Sir No Sir". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Herb Alpert's first-ever album – a runaway hit that was the birthplace of so many groovy things – not just the start of the Tijuana Brass sound, also the birth of A&M Records! The album's the first to feature Herb's trademark take on the Mexican band style – done here with a bit more "jaunty" pop stylings than in later years, including a "rocking" electric bass that kicks along nicely at the bottom of some of the more chart-oriented tunes. The first full album on A&M – and the beginning of an empire – with titles that include "The Lonely Bull", "El Lobo", "Desafinado", "Mexico", "Never On Sunday", and "Struttin With Maria". LP, Vinyl record album

Recorded November 4th 1983 at Albany Empire Theater, London. LP, Vinyl record album

A mindblowing first album from ELO – recorded back at a time when the group were taking the "Orchestra" in their name seriously, and when the group included Roy Wood! While Jeff Lynne's nascent pop genius is firmly in place already, the album's also awash in some of Wood's madder, folksier touches – making for a juxtaposition of styles that really amazing. Strings, guitars, oboes, and horns all come together in a post-folk mode that conjures up images of a crumbling England that stretches back to years before the birth of the British Empire! Titles include "First Movement", "Mr Radio", "Manhattan Rumble", "10538 Overture", "Look At Me Now", and "Whisper In The Night". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the crowning moments of genius from the great George Clinton – a record that has Funkadelic really finding their groove, in the same way that Parliament were helping push underground funk into both the clubs and the mainstream – while also showing that the P-Funk empire can jam better than just about anyone else! The whole thing is hitting on all burners throughout – with an impeccable sense of instrumentation, balanced with an easygoing attitude that makes the whole thing seem effortless – especially compared to other funk ensembles who were picking up the speed a bit too much in the disco generation. The centerpiece of the album is the classic "One Nation Under A Groove" – a monster cut with a hook that won't quit, spun out here in a great extended version – followed by other classics that include "Into You", "Grooveallegiance", and "Cholly". LP, Vinyl record album

Nice 2LP set that brings together some of his most striking sessions of the early 60s recorded for Emarcy. This set includes pieces composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin played by a large ensemble led by Benny Carter – with Dizzy as the main soloist, and work by players that include James Moody, Phil Woods, Emil Richards, Francisco Aguabella, and Schifrin himself. Tracks are long, and have complicated introductions – then easily give way to the sort of flowing grooves that Schifrin was penning often at the time. Titles include "The Conquerors", "The Chains", "The Swords", "The Empire", and "The Legend Of Atlantis". The set also features Diz playing tracks from Tom McIntosh, one of the scene's brightest arrangers at the time, and a talent who was looming large, thanks to support from folks like Diz and James Moody. Moody's in the group – blowing tenor with a quintet that includes Kenny Barron on piano, Chris White on bass, and Rudy Collins on drums – and his tone is incredible, with a darkness that he'd rarely had before, and the whole group has a mixture of modern tones and soulful grooves that's beyond compare! Titles include "November Afternoon", "The Cup Bearers", "The Day After". Also included are songs from the soundtrack for the lost Shirley Clarke verite drama The Cool World. Mal Waldron wrote the material for the score, and Diz plays the music with a moody emotionality that you don't often hear in his other 60's work. The recording was made by his great group that included Kenny Barron and James Moody, and the titles include "The Pushers", "Duke's Fantasy", "Coney Island", and "Street Music". LP, Vinyl record album

A massively tripped-out set of guitar-based funk – played to perfection by the legendary Eddie Hazel, best known for his work in the George Clinton P-Funk empire! The album offers a different side of Eddie's talents – one that's produced with a smoothly compressed California groove, in a mode that's almost an extension of some of the themes explored by Shuggie Otis on his own 70s albums – taken with a bit more of a P-Funk style. George Clinton produced the set with Eddie – and the tunes have a nice slow-stepping groove that really opens up the guitar solos wonderfully. The record kicks off with a massive cover of "California Dreamin" – but the whole thing's great, with a wonderfully unified feel throughout! Other titles include "Frantic Moment", "What About It?", "So Goes The Story", "Physical Love", and a great cover of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". LP, Vinyl record album

A great return to recording for Son House – a musician who'd stopped playing the guitar in the postwar years, but rose again to fame during the great folk blues revival of the 60s! The style here is every bit as classic as some of Son's earliest music – just recorded a lot better, too – with beautiful focus on the subtle inflections he brings to the strings of his acoustic guitar, and vocals that ring out a lot stronger than they might have on a 78. Titles include "John The Revelator", "Empire State Express", "Preachin Blues", "Sundown", and "Grinnin In Your Face". LP, Vinyl record album

A great return to recording for Son House – a musician who'd stopped playing the guitar in the postwar years, but rose again to fame during the great folk blues revival of the 60s! The style here is every bit as classic as some of Son's earliest music – just recorded a lot better, too – with beautiful focus on the subtle inflections he brings to the strings of his acoustic guitar, and vocals that ring out a lot stronger than they might have on a 78. Titles include "John The Revelator", "Empire State Express", "Preachin Blues", "Sundown", and "Grinnin In Your Face". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge 80s moment for the Isley Brothers empire – a set that has Ernie and Marvin Isley stepping away from the main group with Chris Jasper – to reinvent their sound for the 80s! The record still has all the slinky soul and upbeat funk of the Isley material from the late 70s – but also pushes the groove in a slightly different way – often using leaner arrangements that are focused on beats, basslines, and keyboards – which only seem to make the warm vocals of the trio sound even more seductive in the end! There's that subtle sense of majesty that the group always had in their music at their height – an influence that might well come from the presence of Jasper – and the album's noteworthy for the wonderful "Caravan Of Love", a soulful spiritual tune that's kind of to 80s soul what The Impressions "People Get Ready" was to 60s soul! The album's got a good mellow harmony sound, and other titles include "Liberation", "I Can Hardly Wait", "Insatiable Woman", and "If You Believe In Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer blend of soul and funk from Pockets – a group with a very jazzy pedigree in their roots, but who stretch forth here with some great studio help from the Kalimba Productions team of the Earth Wind & Fire empire! The groove is very much in the best 70s EWF mode – tight, but never uptight – impeccably played throughout, but with a looseness that also really hearkens back to the small club origins of the group. Lead singer Larry Jacobs really makes the tunes cook – with a style that's deft enough to match the instrumentation, yet still strong enough to soar soulfully on its own. The blend is sublime throughout – and titles include "Tell Me Why", "Take It On Up", "Heaven Only Knows", "Got To Find My Way", "Sphinx", "In Your Eyes", "Happy For Love", and "You And Only You". LP, Vinyl record album

The beginning of an empire! This was the first solo album cut by the now-famous Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds – cut after years of work in the music business that included stints in the groups Manchild and The Deele, and lots of production work for other LA soul acts. The record's kind of a rougher version of the modern R&B style that you'll know from Babyface's big hits of the early 90s – more in the style of some of the Solar Records acts of the early 80s, and some of the other big keyboard/bass pedal bands on the market at the time. The real contribution, though, is Kenny's ability to infuse the whole thing with soul – taking these tinny little tracks and making them come out kind of sweet, not only through his famous production, but through his faltering vocal style, which is about the most honest-sounding aspect of the record. Titles include "Lovers", "Marry Mack", "If We Try", "Take Your Time", and a cover of "You Make Me Feel Brand New". LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary funk set from late 70s Chicago – served up by our own Captain Sky, aka Daryl Cameron – an imposing figure who often worked in the same space-themed territory as the P-Funk empire in the mid 70s! The difference here, though, is that Cameron wrote, produced, and put the whole thing together himself – with help from a few friends in the studio – making the album a great homegrown attempt to rival the strength of the bigger funk ensembles of the period – something The Captain and crew do pretty darn well throughout! There's lots of heavy bass on the set – a strong precursor of modes to come – mixed with riffing guitar, sweet keyboards, and plenty of tight rhythms – on cuts that include the famous sample cut "Super Sporm" – a killer extended track with a great conga break, and a tight old school sample sound – plus "Now That I Have You", "Saturday Night Move-Ease", "Wonder Worm" and "Can't Stop Now". LP, Vinyl record album

A great second adventure from Dynasty – the kind of set that shows why the group went on to become one of the strongest things going in the second chapter of the Solar Records soul empire from LA! The album begins with a rock-solid punch, then continues strongly throughout – basslines, guitar riffs, and funky drums all right on the money – used in a way that's somehow fresher than most of the larger funk groups of the time – and with a nice balance between mellower moments that still seem to have a gentle kind of groove. The energy is wonderful throughout – and titles include "Give It Up For Love", "Love In The Fast Lane", "Revenge", "Here I Am", "A Man In Love", and "You're My Angel". LP, Vinyl record album

A wickedly great album from Dizzy Gillespie – one of his most striking sessions of the early 60s, and a perfect blend of his Latin and modern modes! The album features an extended suite – composed and arranged by Lalo Schifrin, who'd just begun working with Dizzy at the time, and who was inflecting his sound with a lot of South American grooves. The work's played by a large ensemble led by Benny Carter – with Dizzy as the main soloist, and work by players that include James Moody, Phil Woods, Emil Richards, Francisco Aguabella, and Schifrin himself. Tracks are long, and have complicated introductions – then easily give way to the sort of flowing grooves that Schifrin was penning often at the time. Titles include "The Chains", "The Swords", "The Empire", and "The Legend Of Atlantis". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the crown jewels of the Rick James empire – back when he had an empire! Stone City Band were a slap-bass modern soul combo, with a definite 80s groove sound that had strong ties to James' own funky style. Their best moments on here, though, are actually the mellower ones – as the band lays down a good harmony soul sound, with some nice spacey keyboards. Titles include "Spend The Night", "Telephone", "Shake", "Dance So Fine",a nd "Lover & Only Man". LP, Vinyl record album

The kind of record that probably helped sink the Casablanca empire – a 2LP set of long disco tunes, composed and arranged by Bob Esty for this instant flop film from the end of the 70s. The set does sport a few tracks by more famous artists – including "Hell On Wheels" by Cher and "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth Wind & Fire with the Emotions – but most tracks are by Esty, and titles include "Rollin Up A Storm", "We Got The Power", "Elektronix", "Cunga", "Evil Man", and "Good Girls". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unusual album from the TK Records Miami Soul empire – a set that feels like that label's attempt to go head to head with the sound of Sylvia Robinson! Like Sylvia, Regina James is a singer with a very sexy approach to 70s soul – not afraid to let her desire ooze out into the grooves, which are a really well-crafted batch of Miami rhythms handled by Clarence Reid – who also produced and wrote most of the songs in the set. And also like Sylvia, Regina may not be the best soul singer in the world, but she more than makes up for that with her personality – which comes through loud and clear in the album's very unique "Kitty Kat Pussy Cat Medley" – and on other tunes that include "Alfie", "Tribute To Music", "Primitive", and "Dancin In The Flames Of Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Freeze is a wonderful set from Junie – a record that has all the offbeat funk he was crafting with the Ohio Players during their Westbound years – and the same sort of heady sound that would make Morrison a perfect match with the P-Funk empire! The record contains the legendary track "Granny's Funky Rolls Royce", which features a meeting between the Funky Granny (a near folklorish character from the early 70s, who'd appeared on records by Kool & The Gang and Ohio Players) and an alien, who tells urges to "buy this record, buy this record, buy this record" in a very silly voice! The funky comedy of this track is nicely matched by a range of other odd numbers and straighter soul cuts – and titles include "Freeze", "Super J", "Musical Son", "Junie II", "World of Woe", and "Cookies Will Get You". LP, Vinyl record album

An album so heavy, it blew plenty of minds when first released at the end of the 60s! This set's the first-ever utterance from the King Crimson empire – the initial outing of the group, which featured Greg Lake on vocals, and lots of airy, darkly atmospheric guitar from the legendary Robert Fripp! The song structure is quite unusual – and the overall feel is less academically tangled than some of the later records – a feature that makes this album much more sought out by mainstream rockers looking for an intro to the group than some of the later sets. Yet having said that, there's also a pretty amazing approach here – somewhat obtuse, and definitely not looking for any radio edit hits – more just magical musings from a very unique ensemble. Peter Sinfield contributed the lyrics, which are sung by Lake – and Michael Giles handles drums and percussion, while Ian MacDonald plays flute, sax, keyboards, and more. Titles include "Moonchild", "21st Century Schizoid Man", "I Talk To The Wind", "Epitaph", and "Court Of The Crimson King". LP, Vinyl record album

Life is good, and so is Nas – and that's an understatement – as he's one of the most vital MCs of the early 90s onward! Life Is Good finds Nas in a somewhat liberated mode, though still rocking an Empire State Building-sized chip on his shoulder – and spitting charismatic vitriol at any target deemed worthy – but he's too smooth and too sharp of a lyricist for it come off as too ill-mannered. Good stuff from a legend. Includes "No Introduction", the standout "Loco-Motive" with Large Professor, "Daughters", "Reach Out" with Mary J Blige, "Back When", "The Don", "Stay", "Bye Baby", "World's An Addiction" with Anthony Hamilton, "Summer On Smash" with Miguel & Swizz Beatz, "A Queen's Story" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by Pearl & The Deltars, The Topps, The Charts, The Channels, The Du Mauriers, The Du-Droppers, The Federals, The Logics, The Empires, The Scarlets, The Skylarks, The Sequins, and Jackie & The Starlites. LP, Vinyl record album