... 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the most comprehensive collections of work we've ever seen on Eddie Bo – a really well-done set that finally gets at the full range of his massive funky talents – including a host of rare singles done for a variety of other artists as well! Despite the dates in the title, most of the music here is from the 60s and 70s – music from those glorious years of New Orleans soul and funk – when it seemed like the Crescent City groove could never stop, thanks to the efforts of Eddie and some of his contemporaries! There's a massively heavy groove to most of the numbers here – an emphasis on the funkiest side of Eddie Bo's sound, especially when he's working in the studio with other singers in the lead – and even if you've got some other Eddie Bo reissues in your collection, there's plenty fresh stuff here that makes this one well worth owning. LP notes are great too – a full history of Eddie's long career and all its different chapters. 30 tracks in all – including "Funky Yeah" and "Shelly's Rubber Band" by Curley Moore & The Cool Ones, "What's Good To You (part 1)" and "The La La Man (part 1)" by Oliver Morgan, "Horse With A Freeze (part 1)" by Roy Ward, "Timber (parts 1 & 2)" by Candy Phillips, "Can I Be Your Main Squeeze" by Chuck Carbo, "I'm A Carpenter (part 1)" by David Robinson, "Garden Of Our Trees" by The Explosions, "Reborn" by Marilyn Barbarin, "Live It Up" by James K-Nine, "Mama Here Comes The Preacher" by Doug Anderson, ""Something You Got" by Barbara George" – and the tracks "Chained", "When The Fingers On The Funk", "Rubber Band", "Getting To The Middle", "Check Your Bucket", "Lover & Friend", "Can You Handle It", "Fallin In Love Again", "Gotta Have More", and "We Like Mambo" all by Eddie Bo. LP, Vinyl record album

An archetypal album by Roy Ayers – and one that really shows him at the turning point of his sound! Gone are the trippier jazz funk moments of earlier albums – and in their place are some tight grooves and wonderfully spacey soul. Roy hits the dancefloor with one of his first up-tempo funk numbers "Brother Green", a catchy groover with lots of clavinet, and the massive "Life Is Just A Moment", a storming 2-part number that rolls along with a pounding almost house-like groove. "Mystic Voyage" shows the sweet jazzy side of Roy – as it's a vibes-heavy instrumental with a light stepping groove, perfect for the mellow direction he'd take on other records. The album also features some great off-beat funk numbers that recall earlier albums – including the break-heavy "Spirit Of Doo Doo", plus "Funky Motion" and "The Black Five". LP, Vinyl record album

Yipes! This one made everyone a bucket of money – especially Quincy Jones, whose new Qwest imprint the record was one of the first to grace. George has come a long way from his roots with Jack McDuff here – but in a way that kind of has us impressed, as he's grooving away slickly on guitar, laying down some smooth vocals that we never would have imagined from his mid 60s recordings. Includes the massive hit "Give Me The Night", a cover of "Moody's Mood", and the tracks "Star Of A Story (X)", "Midnight Love Affair", "What's On Your Mind", and "Dinorah, Dinorah". The sound of a million supermarkets and elevators during the 80s! LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark album that forever changed the face of live recordings – and soul music too! As has been told and retold often, King records not only had the genius idea of bringing recording equipment into the Apollo Theater to catch James in a smoking live setting – the sort of show that really set his fans on fire – but they also went out of their way to record and re-record the audience, creating a wonderful interplay on the record between James and the crowd. The result is the stuff of legend – and the record's filled with loads of nice tracks like "I'll Go Crazy", "Try Me", "I Don't Mind", "Lost Someone", "Think", "Night Train", and the massive medley featuring "Please Please Please/You've Got The Power/I Found Someone/Why Do You Do Me/I Want You So Bad/I Love You Yes I Do/Strange Things Happen". LP, Vinyl record album

Risque is a massive classic from Chic – a record that's worth it alone for the classic cut "Good Times" – a buoyant groover that was instantly timeless upon release, and went on to transform the sound of disco, hip hop, and many other styles to come! The whole thing's great, though – full of that perfect Nile Rodgers studio genius – with just the right sort of bass, beats, and riffing guitars – all peppered with vocals that really do a heck of a lot with just a little. In addition to "Good Times", other cuts include "A Warm Summer Night", "My Forbidden Lover", "What About Me", "My Feet Keep Dancing", and "Can't Stand To Love You". LP, Vinyl record album

Later work from Otis Clay, but also one of his greatest albums ever! The record features him with some fuller arrangements than usual – in less of a bluesy mode than during the Hi years, with a smooth sound that really brings out a whole new side of his style. The set was recorded in Chicago for the Japanese market – and the arrangements are by Benjamin Wright, Bill McFarland, and Clay himself. Includes the massive groover "The Only Way Is Up", an anthemic modern dancefloor number that later yielded a bit hit for Yazz – plus the tracks "Cheatin In The Next Room", "All I Need Is You", "Special Kind Of Love", "Messin With My Mind", "Turn Back The Hands Of Time", and "Check It Out". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite albums ever from The Crusaders – a set that really sums up all the tightness they'd forged in the 70s, while still showing a new sense of soul and funk as well – expertly balanced with flawless LA production! The album may well be the group's equivalent of a Steely Dan album – no surprise, given the work they'd done on sessions for that group – and the title cut is the massive extended version of "Street Life", with killer vocals from Randy Crawford – and other titles include "My Lady", "Night Faces", "The Hustler", and "Rodeo Drive". LP, Vinyl record album

Man, it's like a talent bomb exploded! This set's stuffed with work by some of the greatest jazz funk players of the early 70s – Johnny Hammond, Bob James, Deodato, George Benson, Joe Farrell, Stanley Turrentine, Freddie Hubbard, Grover Washington Jr, Hubert Laws, and others – all playing together at a massive live concert recorded in Hollywood in 1972! And although you might worry that the collection of so many great talents on one stage might just create confusion – don't! The quality of the work is excellent – almost better than the best of the CTI studio sides, with a lean, clean sound that's really really tight – never overblown, just sweet electric funk with loads of great space for solo work. This second volume of the 3 LP set includes takes of "Blues Force", "Rock Steady", "People Make The World Go Round" and a medley of "Ithe From Love Story", "Pavane" and "Fire & Rain". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky keyboards galore – and one of the greatest records ever from this legendary Brazilian jazz talent! The album follows nicely off Deodato's Prelude classic for CTI – and like that one, this set's built on long-flowing tunes that rise and fall with a wonderful sense of rhythm – a sublime electric piano groove that's quite different than anything Deodato recorded before – and possibly never realized this perfectly again after his CTI years. Other players include Stanley Clarke on bass, Billy Cobham on drums, and Hubert Laws on flute – and titles include the massive Latin funk track "Super Strut", plus the tunes "Pavane For A Dead Princess", "Skyscrapers", and a great version of "Nights In White Satin". LP, Vinyl record album

A second set of psychedelic folk grooves from Fat Mattress – featuring bassist Noel Redding, back working again with drummer Pete Kircher, a bandmate from The Lonely Ones before Noel went on the to massive popularity with the Jimi Hendrix Experience! Fat Mattress II has a couple of fuzzier jams, but for the most part sticks with the more breezy folk psyche sound of the debut. Really fine stuff, worth checking out! Titles include "The Storm", "Anyway You Want", "Leafy Lunes", "Naturally", "Roamin", "Happy My Love", "Childhood Dream", "She", "Highway", "At The Ball" and "People". LP, Vinyl record album

Not just disco nights, but some great mellow moments too – a wonderfully well-rounded classic from this great quartet – as tight and groovy as it is cool and classy! By the time of this debut, the group had already had plenty of 70s soul experience as The Rhythm Makers – a previous name for the lineup, and a combo with a great reputation for dancefloor grooves that were tight, but never too uptight – kind of the best funky soul styles of the time! This album definitely continues that tradition, with a sound that's leaner than most mainstream disco of the time – and really well put-together, in a way that also has them slowing down to hit some great ballads and mellower steppers too. The album features the massive disco title cut – "Disco Nights" – and a beautiful reworking of Billy Stewart's classic "I Do Love You" – with a sound that's faithful to the original, but a sweet stepping groove that's made it a favorite for years! Other cuts include "Boogie Oogie Oogie", "Spirit", "Make My Dreams A Reality", "It's Your Love", "I Do Love You", and "Wonderful". LP, Vinyl record album

A massive LP for Dobie Gray – following on the heels of his hit single, "The In Crowd". The tune's quite a recognizeable oldie – and the rest of the record has a similar LA pop soul sound, with arrangements and songs by Billy Page, and a groove that's like some of the rougher west coast soul coming out in the mid 60s on labels like Cash, Money, or Mira. Titles include "Monkey Jerk", "Be A Man", "Mr. Engineer", "See You At The Go Go", and "In Hollywood". LP, Vinyl record album

Massive later music from Coleman Hawkins – a date that might be easy to overlook, given the unassuming package – but one that really features that newfound mix of modernism and soul that graced the later years of Hawk! The setting is a bit unusual, but that's part of the charm – as Hawkins' tenor comes into play with the trumpet of Thad Jones, piano and vibes of Eddie Costa, bass of George Duvivier, and drums of Osie Johnson – a group who are mostly easygoing, and really let Coleman take the lead – although Jones gets in a few great moments too! Titles include "Cloudy", "Almost Dawn", "Stake Out", "Cross Town", and "Shadows". LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent work from this smooth Chicago vocal group! The album may well be the best the group ever recorded – and it features some stellar ballad work produced with a nice spacey tone, almost in a Rose Royce mellow mode – by Jerry Butler's Fountain Productions team and by Clarence Johnson, who brought the group up from the beginning! The real strength of the album, though, is the group's vocals – wonderfully harmonious, but with a rougher edge and a deeper soul than many other 70s groups of the same type. The album includes the massive semi-hit "Guess Who's Back In Town" – plus other good ballads like "How Do You Think You're Gonna Find Love", "Let's Work It Out", and "Distant Melody". The album also features some uptempo numbers – and other tracks include "Run & Tell That", "Dance A Thon", and "No Limit". LP, Vinyl record album

A true classic by Jimi with the original Experience lineup – the third of three straight up masterpiece LPs to come out in just over a year's time by the group! You could call the leftfield astral effects in the mix experimental if you had to – innovations in the studio with echo, that hallucinatory backwards sound effect and other stranger bits – but the passionate, naturally expressive playing and singing by Jimi makes it all fell just right, and the Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell still don't get enough credit for being at the heart of such greatness. A massive 2LP effort that includes "Voodoo Chile", "Crosstown Traffic", "Electric Ladyland", "Little Miss Strange", "Moon Turn The Tides", "Still Raining Still Dreaming" and "All Along The Watchtower". LP, Vinyl record album

Plenty to party with here – snapping Miami grooves from KC and the band – still very much in a classic 70s mode! There's a bit more strings here than before, and almost more emphasis on lyrics – even though those are still pretty repetitive, the sort of chants that KC always got going out in the clubs. And although there's no massive hits here, the album does feature the wicked title cut "Do You Wanna Go Party" – a track that has a funkier edge than the rest, a cool moogy bit, and a stretched out groove that even features a kalimba solo! Other titles include "Hooked On Your Love", "Ooh I Like It", "Please Don't Go", and "I've Got The Feeling". LP, Vinyl record album

Ha! This one really takes us back! The set was a massive breakthrough for August Darnell – one of his biggest hits since his day with Dr Buzzard's Original Savannah Band, with an equally appealing approach to the dancefloor. Tracks mix early 80s New York club styles with Darnell's mad retro/exotic take on the world – coming out with a sound that's slightly hokey, but equally catchy! Includes the hits "Annie (I'm Not Your Daddy)", "I'm A Wonderful Thing Baby", and "Stool Pigeon" – plus the cuts "Imitation", "I'm Corrupt", "No Fish Today", and "Loving You Made A Fool Out Of Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Incredible work from Ben E King! Forget that you've heard the title track a million times, because the album's a treasure all the way through – packed with beautiful tunes arranged and produced by the Lieber-Stoller tune, in that mix of baion rhythms that they were crafting in the uptown studios for the Drifters during the early 60s. The leadoff cut is the amazing "Amor", a lightly grooving number that should have been massive – and just about every other cut is a similar Latin-tinged number. Titles include "Come Closer To Me", "Sway", "Love Me, Love Me", "Frenesi", "Souvenir Of Mexico", and "Basame Mucho". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest albums ever by Labelle – known especially for the massive funky title cut, which has been an in-demand groover for years! "Moonshadow" begins with a nice funky piano intro, then rolls into a 10 minute groove that's really tasty – filled with lots of jazzy riffing, tasty conga, and a weird monologue by Patti that runs through different parts of the body and why you should appreciate them! The cut was lost on American audiences of the 70s, but became a huge one in the European jazz dance scene of the late 80s, probably because most of them couldn't understand how silly Patti's vocals were! The cut's nice and funky, though – and there's some other nice ones on the record, too, including "Sunday News", "Touch Me All Over", and "Peace With Yourself". Much more interesting than most of their stuff, with a hip mixture of jazz, soul, and hard grooving! LP, Vinyl record album

The third in Led Zeppelin's spectacular run of early albums – each one either matching or topping its predecessor, depending on one's personal favorite – and a record with an influence that's as massive as the sound! The record's got a pair of of Zep's best-remembered songs in "Immigrant Song" and their take on the traditional "Gallows Pole", but the whole thing is great – and a great balance of their earlier bombast with a lot more acoustic moments. Other tracks include "Friends", "Celebration Day", "Tangerine" and "Hats Off (To Roy Harper)". LP, Vinyl record album