Two jazz rock classics – back to back as a 2CD set! Solar Plexus was a pivotal album in the career of British jazzman Ian Carr – one that had him really opening up into some trippy, spacey grooves – adding in a lot of keyboards, kicking up the grooves, yet still never losing the strong jazzy finish that was the best part of his earlier work. Players on the set include trumpeters Harry Beckett and Kenny Wheeler, guitarist Chris Spedding, and keyboardist Karl Jekins, who really throws in some groovy lines on the set! Titles include "Elements 1 & 2", "Snakehips Dream", "Torso", "Spirit Level", and "Bedrock Deadlock". Belladonna is one of the heaviest electric sets from UK trumpeter Ian Carr – and that's really saying a lot, given how much heavy work he cut with his group Nucleus! The sound here is a groundbreaking mix of acoustic horns and keyboards – trumpet from Carr, and a mix of tenor, soprano, alto, and flute from Brian Smith – coming into contact with the Fender Rhodes of Dave MacRae and the Hohner electric of Gordon Beck! The pairing of keys is wonderful – and the whole thing is sewn together by the guitar of a young Allan Holdsworth, who's very much in the sway of Carr's sound here, instead of the later directions he'd take as a leader. The set might be worth it alone for the massive "Summer Rain" – a slow funk track that trips along beautifully – but the whole thing's great, and other titles include "Belladonna", "Mayday", "Suspension", and "Hector's House". CD

Seminal sounds from trumpeter Ian Carr and his Nucleus group of the early 70s – maybe one of the few jazz rock groups that was ever able to work with a fair bit of jazz in their sound! Unlike his contemporaries, who often started in rock first, then added some horns – Carr was already coming off an important 60s legacy, co-leading a group with tenorist Don Rendell – so the vibe here is like an extension of that very rhythmic, very tonal modern work – but with the addition of electrified instrumentation – thanks to the guitar work of Chris Spedding and keyboards of Karl Jenkins – who plays some fantastic electric lines throughout! The vibe is maybe a bit in the territory of early 70s electric work by Miles Davis and Donald Byrd (pre-Mizell for the latter) – but there's maybe a farther-reaching concept at play on many of the records, at a level that always helped the group cross over to the prog crowd, and move beyond just a straight jazz audience. Other key players include Brian Smith on tenor and soprano saxes – a really fantastic part of the lineup – plus Jeff Clyne on bass and John Marshall on drums – and as the albums move along a bit, the lineup shifts slightly, and also opens up to guests who include Kenny Wheeler and Harry Beckett on trumpets, Tony Levin on drums, and Norma Winstone on voice. And although some of the albums have been reissued before, this is the first set to really dive in completely – and bring together material from the Vertigo Records releases that include Elastic Rock, We'll Talk About It Later, Solar Plexus, Belladonna, Labyrinth, Roots, Under The Sun, Snakehips Etcetera, and Alley Cat. CD

One of the heaviest electric sets from UK trumpeter Ian Carr – and that's really saying a lot, given how much heavy work he cut with his group Nucleus! The sound here is a groundbreaking mix of acoustic horns and keyboards – trumpet from Carr, and a mix of tenor, soprano, alto, and flute from Brian Smith – coming into contact with the Fender Rhodes of Dave MacRae and the Hohner electric of Gordon Beck! The pairing of keys is wonderful – and the whole thing is sewn together by the guitar of a young Allan Holdsworth, who's very much in the sway of Carr's sound here, instead of the later directions he'd take as a leader. The set might be worth it alone for the massive "Summer Rain" – a slow funk track that trips along beautifully – but the whole thing's great, and other titles include "Belladonna", "Mayday", "Suspension", and "Hector's House". CD

Heavy hitting jazz rock from the UK underground of the early 70s! Elastic Rock is seminal early album from Ian Carr's legendary Nucleus group – playing here in a version that includes Karl Jenkins and Brian Smith on reeds, and Chris Spedding on guitar. The band had a landmark sound that mixed progressive jazz and tight full-on rock fusion into a style that was sometimes funky, sometimes avant, and often pretty darn exciting! This album has lots of nice electric piano lines, and plenty of choppy sax parts that hit a nice groove in the manner that would later be taken up by a lot of European reed players. Tracks include "Torrid Zone", "Stonescape", "Striation", "1916 – The Battle Of Boogaloo", "Persephones Jive", and "Earth Mother". We'll Talk About It Later follows in a similar vein, with slightly longer songs that offer a bit more room for improvisation – and grooves that are still nice and jazzy. Titles include "Song for The Bearded Lady", "Oasis", "Ballad of Joe Pimp", "Easter 1916", and "Lullaby For A Lonely Child". CD

Mad funk from the great Galt MacDermot – a wonderful selection of obscure tunes from some of his best funky soundtracks! Galt's work on Hair has been sampled heavily by a variety of hip hop producers over the years – but even better is his work for less famous soundtracks, a good variety of which are sampled here in a wonderfully-done set that focuses on the truly funky tracks that Galt wrote for these films – and which gets past the sometimes-off tracks that can occasionally get in the way of his lesser soundtracks. The package is a total jam throughout – filled with tunes that have weird rhythms, moody keyboards, and the kind of offbeat approach to funk that's always made his work so great. There's only a few tracks from previously reissued soundtracks like Woman Is Sweeter and Cotton Comes To Harlem – plus lots lots more from weirder films that include American Express, Nucleus, Fortune & Men's Eyes, Moon Over The Alley, and Rhinoceros! In true Galt MacDermot funky fashion, there's lots of great drum work on the set from Bernard Purdie – and titles include "Golden Apples", "Coffin Ed", "Dead End", "Fragments II", "Tango", "Ed & Digger", "Duffer", "Bedroom", "Queenie's Theme", "Fortune & Men's Eyes", "Rhinoceros Theme", and "Never Die Desire Not". CD

A trio of albums from John Stevens' Away – all packaged together in a single CD set! First up is the initial outing from the group – a surprising little set from drummer John Stevens – quite different work than his more outside, freewheeling material in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble! This group hits that second chapter of British jazz rock that the Vertigo label did so well – a style that's much more mature than most American variants of the mode – neither stock rock fusion, nor smooth soul – and instead this approach that's still quite complicated and challenging at times, even though the music can have a nicely tight focus! The group features some excellent alto from Trevor Watts – who brings in lots of sharp edges – and the set also features Peter Cowling on bass and Steve Hayton on guitar. Titles include "Tumble", "It Will Never Be The Same", and "Anni". On Somewhere In Between, drummer John Stevens hits a lot of bases on a great second album with his Away group – almost funky at points, almost outside at others, and always working with the group in a searing, searching mode that's a cut above the usual fusion of the time! There's a bit more electricity on the set this time – electric bass from Nick Stephens and guitar from David Cole – but the energy of the set is still very spontaneous, and driven by Stevens' creative work on drums – and given plenty of bite from the soprano and tenor sax of Robert Calvert. The set's got a plenty fresh vibe – very much like labelmates Nucleus at this point, with lots of sharp edges and complicated patterns – but a sound that's still very down to earth. Titles include "Spirit Of Peace", "Chick Boom", "Can't Explain", and "Now". Mazin Ennit is definitely as amazing as the title proclaims – a bit leaner than before, with this wonderful use of two basses alongside the drums of John Stevens – all in a groove that refines older Brit jazz rock modes, but without losing any sort of edge! There's a complexity here that still lives up to Stevens' rich legacy in music – and the group features lots of sweet reedwork from Robert Calvert, who blows both soprano and tenor. Titles include "Away", "Sunshine Sunshine", "Whoops A Daisy", "Light Relief", and "Temple Music". CD features bonus tracks – "Anni (parts 1 & 2)" featuring John Martyn, and "Can't Explain (parts 1 & 2)" featuringt Terri Quaye. CD

Blistering work from the British jazz scene of the mid 70s – a moment when there was still plenty of exciting music going on, if you just knew where to look! Pianist John Taylor works here with a fair bit of Fender Rhodes – using the instrument in these long blocks of sound that are superbly bumped forward by the bass of Chris Laurence and drums of Tony Levin – then given all these fantastic flourishes by Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and flugelhorn, Chris Pyne on trombone, and Stan Sulzman on tenor, soprano, and flute – all players who bring a stunning amount of color into the music – opening up the tunes with these really strong currents of soul! The vibe is a bit like some of the electric work by Nucleus – but more jazz, less prog – on titles that include "The Other One/1", "Interfusion", "Fragment", "For Chris", "Irene", "Room For Improvement", and "Happy Landing/Easter Eve". CD

British music breaking through – served up here in a set of sounds that really reflect the massive musical year of 1971! As you might guess from the "underground" in the title, the collection's a bit one-sided – as it's not out to document the hits of the time, but instead the work that was bubbling under and having such a huge impact on the world – even if some of these artists never saw the fame they deserved, or were a few years away from bigger success with the tracks on the set! The package is heavy on work from the psych-into-prog years – much of which never falls into the excesses of either – and there's also a few hard rockers, some jazzier bits, and lots more surprises along the way – served up in a set list of 52 tracks by artists who include Keef Hartley, Jade Warrior, Pink Fairies, Procol Harum, Family, Samurai, Emerson Lake & Palmer, Nucleus, Yes, Status Quo, Cressida, BB Blunder, Beggars Opera, Pretty Things, Spring, Hawkwind, Audience, Atomic Rooster, Patto, Caravan, John Martyn, Peter Hammill, and many others. CD

The great second chapter of the UK mode scene in the 60s – and a batch of work that's even headier than the first – not really mod at all, but instead a lot more psych-styled, and taking off into the farther reaches of British styles of the time! Eddie Piller put the whole thing together with as much care as the initial volume – right down to the notes in the cool book-styled package, and the very well-chosen array of 98 rare cuts within. Things get nice and weird and wiggy at points – as the groups here may have started with more R&B-styled inspiration, but are starting to trip out a bit more as the psych years move in – making for some really cool combinations of sounds that keep things interesting throughout! The whole thing's overflowing with greatness – work from artists who include The Fire, July, The Montanas, Californians, Ossie Layne Show, Locomotive, Timebox, Jason Crest, Terry Reid, Scott Walker, Blonde On Blonde, Collosseum, Satisfaction, Nucleus, Nirvana, Mark Wirtz, The Attack, Gods, Alex Harvey, The Creation, Ice, Rupert's People, Idle Race, Plastic Penny, Wimple Witch, Poets, Sorrows, and dozens of others. CD