A sweet collection of small ensemble and solo piano albums from the great Erroll Garner! CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of classics from Earth Wind & Fire – back to back on a single CD! First up is Spirit – a big hit for the group – and a great album of smooth funky soul! Spirit is a perfect example of the way that Earth Wind & Fire could tighten things up, yet still keep them real – holding onto the deeply spiritual side that first made them great – but also focusing their energy towards a wider audience that showed their influence for years! Of course, with Charles Stepney helping out on production, it's hard to miss – and he's one of the few cats who could handle a blend like this so well. The compression in the band's playing is impeccable – with just the right mix of spacey spiritualism, sophisticated jazzy playing, and a straight ahead love of the soulful hook. Includes the instrumentals "Biyo" and "Departure", plus the vocal tracks "Earth Wind & Fire","Burnin Bush", "Spirit", "Imagination", and "Getaway", all produced to perfection by Maurice White and Charles Stepney! That's The Way Of The World may be Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – bassy funk, mellow soul, and Afrocentric jazz – all expertly handled by the great Charles Stepney, who still has the same rich talent for blending styles that he had while working at Chess/Cadet during the glory days of the late 60s. Some of these songs have been played to death (and covered so much) over the years that it's often easy to forget what a crowning moment this was for former underground soul heroes Earth, Wind & Fire – but we'll never cease to be amazed at the power of their mid-70s work, and this album's the best of the best. Titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". CD

Amazing! Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – bassy funk, mellow soul, and afrocentric jazz – all expertly handled by the great Charles Stepney, who still has the same rich talent for blending styles that he had while working at Chess/Cadet during the glory days of the late 60s. Some of these songs have been played to death (and covered so much) over the years that it's often easy to forget what a crowning moment this was for former underground soul heroes Earth Wind & Fire – but we'll never cease to be amazed at the power of their mid 70s work, and this album's the best of the best. Titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". CD also features 5 bonus tracks – "Shining Star (future star)", "All About Love (first impressions)", "Happy Feelin (anatomy of a groove)", "Caribou Chaser (jazzy jam)", and "That's The Way Of The World (Latin expedition)". CD

Four incredible albums from the young Georgie Fame – plus a bonus CD of rare material, bonus tracks on all CDs, and 18 previously unreleased tracks – all in a box set with a 48 page book, 5 postcards, and a poster too! First up is Rhythm & Blues At The Flamingo – blistering early work from a young Georgie Fame – a set that definitely lives up to the Rhythm & Blues in the title! The set was recorded live at London's hip Flamingo club – and Georgie and The Blue Flames are very much in command of the crowd – burning with the intensity of a American small organ combo, especially the early 60s variety that often played equal parts soul jazz and R&B! Georgie's on the Hammond, and also sings with a rough-edged style that's plenty soulful, and incredibly appealing – a mode that oozes charisma, but never sounds fake or forced. Titles include "Do The Dog", "Eso Beso", "Work Song", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Shop Around", "Humpty Dumpty", and "You Can't Sit Down". Fame At Last is a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and R&B – all filtered through a mod sort of London freshness, as early proof that the city could always take some great things from our own musical roots, and feed it back to us with a whole new flavor! Georgie's no copycat here, though – and the sound is instantly Fame-like – a style that's really not the sort that any Americans were doing at the time, and certainly never this well. Hard-burning Hammond colors most of the tunes here – played with a tightly vamping quality – but it's Georgie's charmingly crackling vocals that really win us over! Titles include "Gimme That Wine", "Pink Champagne", "Monkeying Around", "Green Onions", "Let The Sunshine In", "Get On The Right Track Baby", "I'm In The Mood For Love", and "I Love The Life I Live". Sweet Things is a definite sweet thing from Georgie Fame – a record that has him filling in his sound even more than before, with tremendously soulful results! The backings here are bigger than before – a bit tooled in an American soul mode, but still with that beautifully raspy Georgie Fame touch – lots of jazzy inflections on the vocals, and a way of handling a tune, even a familiar one, and really working it on his own level. Hammond still fills in most of the tunes, but other instrumentation includes some nice African percussion from Speedy Acquaye, saxes from Pete Coe, and some nice bold drums from John Mitchell. These come out to the forefront on the classic funky tune "Music Talk" – and still sound great on other numbers that include "The World Is Round", "Last Night", "Dr Kitch", "My Girl", "Ride Your Pony", and "Sweet Thing". Sound Venture is one of the jazziest early albums from Georgie Fame – a set that has him singing with the big band of Harry South, at a level that's a lot more complicated than some of his other work with The Blue Flames! The style here still has that mod 60s London feel, but it also has some deeper inflections as well – modes borrowed a bit from Jon Hendricks or Mose Allison, yet served up with even greater complexity – at a level that really points towards the tremendous growth Fame would unleash over the next few years. Members of the group include Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tony Coe, Dick Morrisey, Kenny Wheeler, and many other key Brit jazz figures of the time – and titles include "Three Blind Mice", "Dawn Yawn", "Feed Me", "Lovey Dovey", "Lil Darlin", "Lil Pony", "I Am Missing You", and "Many Happy Returns". CD5 is Bend A Little – a package with 20 unusual titles – demos, rare tracks, and outtakes – including unreleased tracks, IBC recordings, and even two German tracks too! Plus, each individual CD comes with bonus tracks – 40 bonus tracks, in addition to the 20 more titles on the Bend A Little set – a huge amount of material! CD

A really groovy little record from singer Kim Sang Hee – a vocalist who works here in English throughout, but gets backing from a few different forces on the Japanese jazz scene! Things change up nicely throughout the record – so that some tracks have Fender Rhodes backings from the trio of Masahiko Sato, some have the groovy sound of the Freedom Unity group, and others have larger backings from the New Herd of Toshiyuki Miyama – who gets great arrangements from Norio Maeda! Kim's vocals are nice too – but it's the overall instrumental vibe that really sends the album home, and makes things groovy – as you'll hear on cuts that include "The Look Of Love", "We've Only Just Begun", "Close To You", "Scarborough Fair", "You've Made Me So Very Happy", "Spinning Wheel", and "Love Story". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing avant session from the Czech scene of the 70s – and a record that may well be one of the most important to come out of the Eastern Bloc during the decade! Plastic People Of The Universe are a group who managed a legend that went way past their very tight national boundaries – kind of a secret global sense of attention that was spread through the intellectual underground, and forever cemented with this masterpiece of music! The album effortlessly shifts between free jazz, avant experimentation, art rock, and other mode used in these dark and powerful ways – a strong-burning torch that let the world know that Czech innovation was alive and well, even during years of strong Soviet oppression. Instrumentation mixes alto sax, theremin, claviphone, guitar, violin, and double drums – and titles include "The Wondrous Mandarin", "Look At You, All Sound Asleep", "Past My Window", "Constipation", and "Toxica". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing avant session from the Czech scene of the 70s – and a record that may well be one of the most important to come out of the Eastern Bloc during the decade! Plastic People Of The Universe are a group who managed a legend that went way past their very tight national boundaries – kind of a secret global sense of attention that was spread through the intellectual underground, and forever cemented with this masterpiece of music! The album effortlessly shifts between free jazz, avant experimentation, art rock, and other mode used in these dark and powerful ways – a strong-burning torch that let the world know that Czech innovation was alive and well, even during years of strong Soviet oppression. Instrumentation mixes alto sax, theremin, claviphone, guitar, violin, and double drums – and titles include "The Wondrous Mandarin", "Look At You, All Sound Asleep", "Past My Window", "Constipation", and "Toxica". LP, Vinyl record album

Nothing too peaceful here – at least not in a sleepy sort of way – as The Rascals are really hitting on all burners, and starting to mix a bit of funk in with their groove! The record's a great extension of the group's last work on Atlantic – and it takes that already-righteous territory, and furthers it a bit more with some heavy rhythms on the bottom, and nicely jamming guitar work on the top! There's a great sense of soul that informs the whole album – even at some of the more rockish points – and titles include the excellent side-long cut "Peaceful World", a long instrumental workout with a nice slow bubbling funky sound that's almost in the style of Chicano rock. The albumf eatures guest work from jazz players like Hubert Laws on flute, Alice Coltrane on harp, Garnett Brown on trombone, Joe Garrell on tenor sax, and Joe Newman on trumpet – and other titles include "Little Dove", "Visit To Mother Nature Land", "Happy Song", "Icy Water", "Sky Trane", and "In & Out Of Love". LP, Vinyl record album

The weird, raw and legendary debut of teen trio The Shaggs – recorded in a single day and issued by the Third World label back in the day, before slowly building a devoted cult following over the years! The Shaggs story of a young girl group and their dad manager dreaming big and hoping for stardom, but the stunningly primitive sound actually makes the patron saints of outsider art rock and indie rock to come – it's messy and amazing to this day! Odd and hypnotic, it's an outsider classic unlike any other. Includes "Philosophy Of The World", "That Little Sports Car", "Who Are Parents", "My Pal Foot Foot", "My Companion", "I'm So Happy When You're Near", "Things I I Wonder", "It's Halloween", "Why Do I Feel?", "What Should I Do", "My Companion", "Sweet Thing", "We Have A Savoir" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

An unusual session in the 50s Bethelehm catalog – one that features work by pianist/arranger John Towner Williams, based around a selection of Harold Arlen tunes, and set to a variety of larger backings that include west coast players Herb Geller, Milt Bernhardt, and Gene Cipriano! The style here is heavy on the trombones – using a brace of them on most tracks to create a fluid sense of tonal color – almost in a post-Kai & JJ way, but a bit more traditional overall. There's still some nice space for solo work, despite the larger arrangements on the set – and titles include "My Shining Hour", "Let's Fall In Love", "Stormy Weather", "Hit The Road To Dreamland", "Get Happy", and "That Old Black Magic". CD

A sprawling 5CD box set of benchmark 80s indie pop from the UK – chronologically sequenced (for the most part) from the beginning to the end of the decade – with so many brilliant songs both straight-up classic and others that are relatively forgotten! Incredible stuff from the post punk guitar years, to dreamier and more psych steeped sounds, to the dancier grooves late in the decade that laid the groundwork for the 90s. Classics and early singles by Prefab Sprout, TV Personalities, Everything But The Girl, Pulp, Biff Bang Pow!, Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, The Soup Dragons, House Of Love, The Shamen, The Rosehips, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonder Stuff, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, James, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Lloyd Cole & The Commotion, The Darling Buds, The Boo Radleys and many, many more! More than 130 tracks in all – with a thick booklet of notes! Kind of like a Nuggets for the indie 80s British scenes! SO many great songs, but to name a few: "Revolutionary Spirit" by Wild Swans, "The Missionary" by Josef K, "Lions In The Garden" by Prefab Sprout, "A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Live)" by TV Personalities, "Just Like Honey (demo October '84)" by Jesus & Mary Chain, "Oblivious" by Aztec Camera, "Velocity Girl" by Primal Scream, "Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy" by The Wedding Present, "If I Said" by The Darling Buds, "Son Of A Gun (demo)" by The LAs, "The Hardest Thing In The World" by Stone Roses, "Catweazle" by The Boo Radleys and many, many more! CD

Great work from this cool Nigerian funk combo of the 70s – a group who bore strong ties to the equally-great Akwassa, and who work here with an equally righteous groove! Lyrics are mostly in English, and have some political currents that give the music a social sort of edge – but the real charm comes from the music, which is tight, funky, and filled with loads of wicked basslines that bump and groove along with the riffing guitar and organ lines! There's a spareness here that's a real difference from some of the bigger Afro Funk ensembles you might know from the time – as Heads Funk Band is really just a quartet, but manages to make a mightily massive sound. Titles include "Hot Punk", "Hard World", "Can You Do It", "Money Makes You Happy", "Got To Love", and "Egbe Bere Ogo Bere". CD

Five classic albums from Earth Wind & Fire – all packaged together in cool LP-styled sleeves – with some great bonus tracks too! First up is That's The Way Of The World – Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – and titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". Gratitude is one of Earth Wind & Fire's greatest from the mid 70s – a very tight batch of grooves that proves that Maurice White & Co. could play just as well on stage as they could in the studio – and the noise of the crowd going wild is enough to confirm that! Titles include their classic version of Skip Scarborough's "Can't Hide Love", plus the mellow jams "Yearnin' Learnin'" and "Reasons", the funky "Shining Star", and a great cover of "Sun Goddess", which was also done by Ramsey Lewis with the group. Spirit is a perfect example of the way that Earth Wind & Fire could tighten things up, yet still keep them real – holding onto the deeply spiritual side that first made them great – but also focusing their energy towards a wider audience that showed their influence for years! Titles include the instrumentals "Biyo" and "Departure", plus the vocal tracks "Earth Wind & Fire","Burnin Bush", "Spirit", "Imagination", and "Getaway", all produced to perfection by Maurice White and Charles Stepney! All N All is a stellar blend of jazz, funk, and soul, all done in that perfect style they'd hit by the mid 70s. And even though this one was a monster album, of the type that you see in everyone's record collection from the time, it's still got a freshness that we always forget about – and lots of nice twists and turns that show that the band hadn't lost their more sophisticated roots. Case in point is the wonderful "Brazilian Rhyme", a short little groover that you'll instantly recognize as a sample from the first Tribe Called Quest album. Other tracks include "Jupiter", "In The Marketplace", "Magic Mind", "Runnin", "Be Ever Wonderful", and "Serpentine Fire". I Am is a megahit album from Earth Wind & Fire – a record that spawned 2 of their biggest numbers ever – the mellow classic "After The Love Has Gone", and the club classic "Boogie Wonderland"! The rest of the album is equally great to follow in the strength of those two numbers – and like always for EWF, even when the group's hitting the charts big, they're still righteous as can be – with lots of great undercurrents that reflect their earlier years in jazzier styles! Other titles include "Star", "Wait", "You & I", "In The Stone", and "Can't Let Go". Plus, this set also features bonus tracks on the Gratitude, Spirit, and I Am albums too! CD

Amazing! Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – bassy funk, mellow soul, and Afrocentric jazz – all expertly handled by the great Charles Stepney, who still has the same rich talent for blending styles that he had while working at Chess/Cadet during the glory days of the late 60s. Some of these songs have been played to death (and covered so much) over the years that it's often easy to forget what a crowning moment this was for former underground soul heroes Earth, Wind & Fire – but we'll never cease to be amazed at the power of their mid-70s work, and this album's the best of the best. Titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". CD

Amazing! Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – bassy funk, mellow soul, and Afrocentric jazz – all expertly handled by the great Charles Stepney, who still has the same rich talent for blending styles that he had while working at Chess/Cadet during the glory days of the late 60s. Some of these songs have been played to death (and covered so much) over the years that it's often easy to forget what a crowning moment this was for former underground soul heroes Earth, Wind & Fire – but we'll never cease to be amazed at the power of their mid-70s work, and this album's the best of the best. Titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing! Earth Wind & Fire's ultimate moment of the 70s – and a perfect blending of all their influences that stands as a lasting tribute to their super-huge effect on soul music! The record features all aspects of the band coming into perfect cohesion – bassy funk, mellow soul, and afrocentric jazz – all expertly handled by the great Charles Stepney, who still has the same rich talent for blending styles that he had while working at Chess/Cadet during the glory days of the late 60s. Some of these songs have been played to death (and covered so much) over the years that it's often easy to forget what a crowning moment this was for former underground soul heroes Earth Wind & Fire – but we'll never cease to be amazed at the power of their mid 70s work, and this album's the best of the best. Titles include "Shining Star", "That's The Way Of The World", "Reasons", "Africano", "See The Light", and "Happy Feelin". CD also features 5 bonus tracks – "Shining Star (future star)", "All About Love (first impressions)", "Happy Feelin (anatomy of a groove)", "Caribou Chaser (jazzy jam)", and "That's The Way Of The World (Latin expedition)". CD

A previously-unissued live set from Earth Wind & Fire – recorded during their monumental tour of the US in 1975! The performance captures the group at the height of their powers – working with a tightness that's incredible, especially considering the massive stage setting – hitting grooves that are often even funkier than their studio albums, with an even sharper edge than on the better-known Gratitude live album from the 70s. The choice of tracks is great – and the album's filled with loads of the group's early gems – including "Mighty Mighty", "Kalimba Story", "Yearnin Learnin", "Shining Star", "Happy Feelin", "Evil", "Reasons", and "That's The Way Of The World" – plus a version of "Sun Goddess" with guest keys from Ramsey Lewis! CD

Christmas sounds, and a bit more too – an interesting collection of material recorded by Aretha Franklin in the early 60s for Columbia, and in the late 80s for Arista! There's definitely a fair bit of Holiday tunes on the set, but they're also mixed in with a few standards too – but these are done in a warmly jazzy style from the 60s, so that they fit right in with the sentiment of the Christmas songs – and round things out with a nice sense of variety. Titles include "Winter Wonderland", "Over The Rainbow", "Kissin By The Mistletoe", "The Christmas Song", "Accentuate The Positive", "God Bless The Child", "The Lord's Prayer", "Oh Happy Day", and "Joy To The World". CD

An incredibly beautiful set of work from Arthur Russell – one of the few records to be issued under his own name during his tragically short life – and a hauntingly spare blend of vocals, hand percussion, and solo cello – recorded with more than enough echo to live up to the title! The style is incredibly hard to peg – at times delivered with an almost Nick Drake-like approach that's extremely personal, but also sharing some styles with the mellower work of Suicide and other New York art rock groups from Russell's generation. Russell's voice billows out in a field of echo, directed almost imperceptibly by resonant notes on an electrified cello, and bumped along by muted rhythms that have almost no "attack" but lots of delay. One thing is extremely clear: that the album, which virtually died upon release back in the 80s, was years ahead of its time – and has a quality that easily ranks it as one of the most inventive recordings of its decade. The whole thing's as surprisingly appealing as it is experimental, and this extra-deluxe package features a number of additional tracks. Titles include "Wax The Van", "Tone Bone Kone", "Answers Me", "Being It", "She's The Star/I Take This Time", "Tree House", "See Through", "Lucky Cloud", "Happy Ending", "Tower Of Meaning/Rabbit's Ear/Home Away From Home", and "Our Last Night Together". CD

A sprawling 5CD box set of benchmark 80s indie pop from the UK – chronologically sequenced (for the most part) from the beginning to the end of the decade – with so many brilliant songs both straight-up classic and others that are relatively forgotten! Incredible stuff from the post punk guitar years, to dreamier and more psych steeped sounds, to the dancier grooves late in the decade that laid the groundwork for the 90s. Classics and early singles by Prefab Sprout, TV Personalities, Everything But The Girl, Pulp, Biff Bang Pow!, Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, The Soup Dragons, House Of Love, The Shamen, The Rosehips, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonder Stuff, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, James, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Lloyd Cole & The Commotion, The Darling Buds, The Boo Radleys and many, many more! More than 130 tracks in all – with a thick booklet of notes! Kind of like a Nuggets for the indie 80s British scenes! SO many great songs, but to name a few: "Revolutionary Spirit" by Wild Swans, "The Missionary" by Josef K, "Lions In The Garden" by Prefab Sprout, "A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Live)" by TV Personalities, "Just Like Honey (demo October '84)" by Jesus & Mary Chain, "Oblivious" by Aztec Camera, "Velocity Girl" by Primal Scream, "Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy" by The Wedding Present, "If I Said" by The Darling Buds, "Son Of A Gun (demo)" by The LAs, "The Hardest Thing In The World" by Stone Roses, "Catweazle" by The Boo Radleys and many, many more! CD

A trilogy of albums from this unique group – presented here with all their original artwork, and a bit bonus booklet of notes and images too! First up is Love & Poetry – the killer debut of this heady power trio from the British Isles – one who've got some of the same harder rock leanings as some of the other lean groups of their time, but who also seem to manage to hang onto some psychedelic fuzziness too – a fantastic approach that's always made Andwella such a unique group! The bass is nicely brooding, drums are plenty hard, and the great UK reedman Bob Downes adds a bit of sax and flute to the record. There's a wonderfully unique vibe throughout – and titles include "Clockwork Man", "Man Without A Name", "Sunday", "Andwella", "High On A Mountain", "Shades Of Gray", and "Take My Road". World's End is a set that begins with one of the greatest funky rock tracks ever – then leaps into the fray with a whole host of wonderful tunes! That track is the mighty "Hold On To Your Mind" – well worth the price of the album alone, and a tune that takes all the funky energy of the freakbeat scene, and moves it into more sophisticated rock territory! The rest of the record continues the shift to sophistication that makes this second album from Andwella so great – really well-penned songs that manage to do a lot with a little, use familiar instrumentation in unusual ways, and there's some nice use of flute, piano, and organ along the way – deepening their sound in all the best ways. Titles include "Hold On To Your Mind", "Just How Long", "Michael Fitzhenry", "Lady Love", "I'm Just Happy To See You Get Her", and "World's End (parts 1 & 2)". On the cover of People's People, Andwella are looking a bit shaggier and more mature, and they're sounding that way too – really pushing their vocals with more soulful qualities than before, which are a perfect fit for the searching qualities of the music! There's almost a US roots current to the record at times – the sort of vibe that should have made an already-great band even better – and which really takes Andwella on a surprisingly long musical journey in just a very short span! Titles include "She Taught Me To Love", "World Of Angelique", "Saint Bartholomew", "Are You Ready", "Lazy Days", "Behind The Painted Screen", and "Four Days In September". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes music by Spoonbender, Fosso, Sadhappy, the Pleasure Elite, Clayworld, Melody Rain, Frankly Scarlet, Brigitte Baronne Band, Chocolat Sasha, No Good No Evil, and Grin – 18 tracks total. CD

Not a bad record from Murphy, but he's sort of biding his time here – working through some pretty mellow tunes, and occasionally hitting a bit more of a groove, but none of the majestic power of his best earlier recordings. The record features backing by a group that includes Claudio Roditi and Pat Rebillot – and titles include "Not Like This", "Ugly Woman", "Happyin", "Miss You Mr Mercer", and "Small World". CD

An essential collection of work from one of the hippest funk groups of the 70s – the mysterious Wood Brass & Steel, who also participated in the legendary Skullsnaps record! The first part of the set features an unreleased album that the group recorded for the All-Platinum label in 1973 – music that's hard and funky, but which also shows a strong current of jazz as well – the kind of material that has the group very much in the best Earth Wind & Fire territory of the period, with a sense of righteous perfection that should have made them huge – had the album not stayed in the vaults! The set includes their fantastic "Hey What's That You Say" – which was later reworked as "It's A New Day" for the Skullsnaps album – plus a few more cuts that later appeared on the Brother To Brother debut album – titles that include "Trespassing", "Let's Take A Stroll", "Jermilah", "If He Can Do It She Can Do It", "I Wish It Would Rain", and "A Love Of My Own". Next is the self-titled Wood Brass & Steel album – a legendary bit of east coast funk from the 70s – by a group who'd go on to have a huge influence both in the worlds of hip hop and house! Wood Brass & Steel feature two key players who later became part of the Sugarhill Records house band, and later the On-U Sound collective – Doug Wimbush and Skip McDonald – but the set's got a much fuller, more soulful vibe than work from those later projects – nice use of horns, as hinted at in the title – but not in a way that make these guys a brassy funk band either! Instead, there's a smooth groove throughout – one that comes up from the rhythms first, with a wonderful quality that's years ahead of its time – never disco, but not afraid of some faster rhythms that point the way towards underground club to come. The whole thing's the kind of funky lost gem that makes us happy to do what we do – and it's had long life over the past few decades, thanks to the rich variety of tunes on the set. Titles include the classic cut "Funkanova", an uptempo jazzy instrumental that continued to be a club favorite throughout the house years – plus loads of other good cuts, too, like "WBS Theme", "Welcome To The Party", "Same Ol Me", "Working On A Dream", and a version of "Always There". Hard & Heavy is the incredibly rare second album from Wood Brass & Steel – the mighty funk group we've loved for years for their landmark debut from the mid 70s! This sophomore set is from a few years later, and has the group honing their groove even more – working with these righteous currents in their music that expand the sound into territory that's almost a bit like Roy Ayers at times! As with Ayers, the vocals are often layered into the rhythms – sometimes sung by group members with this soulfully flowing current that has a subtle, sublime sort of vibe – and which works perfectly for the message in the music. Tunes are often in the faster side of midtempo – but never conventional club or disco at all – and there's this really special quality to the whole record, one that even tops the unique vibe of their first album. The original album was very briefly issued by Sugar Hill, during a time when the label was mostly doing hip hop – and is impossibly hard to find in the original pressing. Titles include "Open Up Your Heart", "Be Yourself", "Long Live Music", "Space Walk", "Fly With Music", "Superstar", and "Are You Busy". CD

An incredibly cool collection – one that offers up all sorts of weird and wonderful soul music covers of mainstream mellow 70s hits – new versions of the famous tunes that pull them strongly over to the world of R&B, often with results that are better than the original versions! The set is both a great demonstration of how much soul there was lurking in the original AOR productions of the mid 70s, and how strongly those currents could be unlocked even more in the right hands – as you'll hear in these sublime takes on tunes by Hall & Oates, Toto, Seals & Crofts, The Doobie Brothers, and other 70s pop giants. Titles include "Dirty Work" by Pointer Sisters, "Minute By Minute" by Peabo Bryson, "Georgie Porgy" by Side Effect, "He's Gone" by Dee Dee Bridgewater, "Summer Breeze" by Main Ingredient, "Lazy Nina" by Greg Phillinganes, "In The Way" by Brothers Johnson, "This Is It" by Millie Jackson, "Takin It To The Streets" by Quincy Jones, "I Hope You'll Be Very Unhappy Without Me" by Tavares, "God Only Knows" by Betty Lavette, "Let Em In" by Billy Paul, and "A Love Of Your Own" by The Ebonys. CD

A true treasure trove for any fan of the Zombies, Rod Argent, or Colin Blunstone – magical material recorded in the immediate post-Zombies years – offered up here with a few rare late Zombies tracks as well! The genius of Odessey & Oracle still hangs heavy here on most of the tracks – as does the earliest solo work of Colin Blunstone – an airy mix of pop harmonies, spacey instrumentation, and baroquely psychedelic touches – all strung together lightly, but slowly pulling in the different directions the members were taking after the breakup of the original group. Perhaps the greatest bits here are Colin Blunstone tracks recorded under the name of Neil MacArthur for Decca – titles that predate his brilliant Year One album, but which have a very similar feel. Neil MacArthur tracks include "Hung Upside Down", "Without Her", "Twelve Twenty Nine", "World Of Glass", "Never My Love", "It's Not Easy", "Don't Try To Explain", and "She's Not There". Also great are some Rod Argent & Chris White tracks – again pre-Argent material, but with a strong Zombies link in their sound – on tracks that include "It Never Fails To Please Me", "I Could Spend The Day", "She Loves The Way They Love Her", "Telescope", "To Julia", and "Unhappy Girl". CD also features some great "orchestral mix" titles by The Zombies – "If It Don't Work Out" and "Walking In The Sun" – both of which sound beautiful with added strings! CD

The darker side of the hillbilly sound of the postwar years – a whole host of tracks that deal with inner fears, worldly temptations, and external terrors – served up in a mix of tracks that resonates strongly with the long running Hillbillies In Hell series! The approach here is a bit wider-ranging, and maybe a bit more rough around the edges – but we also appreciate that, and the way the package lets the CD format really open up the amount of tracks that are included – 28 numbers that include "Let Me Go Devil" by Wade Ray, "Spellbound" by Jimmie Holt, "Haunted Blues" by Jimmy Littlejohn, "Haunted House Boogie" by Happy Wilson, "Satan's Daughter" by Gene Davis, "Shudders & Screams" by Ben Colder, "Tennessee Hillbilly Ghost" by Red Folkie, "Spookie Boogie" by Cecil Campbell, "Satan's Chauffeur" by Jimmy Minor, and "Marijuana The Devil's Flower" by Mr Sunshine. CD