Standout solo work from Mavis Staples – a set that really expands the Stax sound nicely with a bit of strings to sweeten up the groove! Steve Cropper's at the production helm, and there's still enough grit in the grooves to remind us we're down in Memphis – but the choice of tunes and range of Staples' vocals show a growing sense of power that's really great – a mode that pulls itself up past simple southern soul cliches, and aims nicely at the mainstream! Yet even in that mode, the album's never too commercial, and certainly not pop-oriented at all – just proof that Stax was growing wonderfully at the time, and had plenty to offer a great talent like Mavis. Titles include a funky version of "Son Of A Preacher Man", plus "Pick Up The Pieces", "You're Driving Me", "Security", "Until I Met You", "Sweet Things You Do", "Good To Me", and "Chained". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A damn funky record – way more so than you might expect from the "string" in the title! The group's kind of an answer to the Soulful Strings ensemble headed by Richard Evans for Cadet/Concept in Chicago – and like that group, it mixes up funky rhythms with some sweet large orchestrations – in a style that's almost a precursor of blacksploitation funk to come in the 70s! Paul Riser handles arrangements – very much in the same spirit of Evans – and he picks up a hip Motown groove that bridges sweeping soul and gritty funk – all played to perfection by an ensemble led by Gordon Staples, and featuring players from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra! There's lots of funky nuggets in the set – and titles include excellent originals like "Strung Out", "Toonie", and "Sounds of the Zodiac" – plus "The April Fools", "The Look Of Love", "Get Down", "If Your Love Were Mine", "Someday We'll Be Together", and "From A Heart That's True To Only You". LP, Vinyl record album

Cropper meets up with the deep soul of Pops Staples and the southern blues of Albert King – for a heavy-duty session that's clearly aimed at the crossover scene. The tracks have a nice raw electric sound – produced with that back-to-basics approach that you sometimes didn't even find on older releases. Titles include "Tupelo", "Big Bird", "Homer's Theme", "Water", and "Trashy Dog". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the last great 70s soundtracks on Curtom Records – a smoking little set that pairs the music of Curtis Mayfield with the vocals of Mavis Staples! Curtis is very much in charge of the record from the start, and works in a hard-stepping and righteous mode that recalls his earlier work on the Staples' soundtrack for Let's Do It Again – no surprise, given that Piece Of The Action was the next installment in the successful series of films that starred Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier! The sound here is nicely full, hitting that rich mid 70s Curtom mode that sounded so great on Leroy Hutson and Natural Four albums of the time – a slightly more sophisticated approach that mixed in a bit of strings with the heavier funk at the bottom. Titles include "Chocolate City", written by Curtis with Keni Burke and Henry Gibson, plus "Getting Deeper", "A Piece Of The Action", "Orientation", and "Of Whom Shall I Be Afraid". LP, Vinyl record album

A lost gospel treasure from this obscure Mississippi group – cut in the mid 70s, but with a stripped-down sound that's completely timeless overall! The Staples Jr Singers certainly have picked up some of the more righteous currents of mainstream soul and funk at the time – echoed both in their tremendous phrasing on the lyrics, and on some of the album's used of raw guitar licks next to their words – but the stripped-down vibe gives the record a feel that's almost more 60s deep soul overall – as befits their southern roots, and the album's issue on a small indie label! There's also maybe a bit less "church" on the record than the usual gospel outing of the time – more overall messages about love, unity, and feeling – which also gives the whole thing a very transcendent quality. Titles include "On My Journey Home", "When Do We Get Paid", "I'm Looking For A Man", "I Know You're Going To Miss Me", "Trouble Of The World", "I Got A New Home", and "I Feel Good". LP, Vinyl record album

The heartbreak in the title is very well-put – as Vince Staples goes back to the Ramona Park neighborhood from which he sprang – relating the vibe of his youth filtered through the sharper lens of his recent work – all at a level that makes for one of the strongest contemporary Cali statements in years! That nicely muddled SoCal production is perfect here – not just for the way that Staples puts over a lyric, but almost as the fog of a flashback dissolve, which almost has the album's guests coming in through some sort of a dream state – adding nice touches along the way, in a set that includes "Papercuts", "Aye", "Magic", "Nameless", "East Point Prayer", "Slide", "DJ Quik", "Rose Street", "Bang That", "Spirit Of Monster Kody", and "Player Ways". LP, Vinyl record album

Aerosmith's second album – and a prime slab of badass mid 70s rock – coming close to, maybe even equalling Toys In The Attic as ultimate Aerosmith badassery! It's got a tighter, punchier sound than their debut – courtesy of producer Jack Douglas – who would continue to produce Aerosmith in their pre-blowout 70s best. It opens up with one of their staples, "Same Old Song And Dance" and other tracks include their kickass cover of "Train Kept A Rollin'", plus "Lord Of The Thighs", "Spaced", "Woman Of The World" and "Pandora's Box". LP, Vinyl record album

Earl Sweatshirt has always been at the forefront of hip hop – and here, he really continues that legacy, by also reaching backwards for the production skills of The Alchemist – whose special touch on the record really creates a whole new milieu for Earl's lyrics! There's a dreamlike quality to the record, but one that's also stripped-down enough to feel personal – a refinement of Alchemist's style, often with a great focus on just one or two instrumental elements – almost like spare spicing to really keep the vocals in the lead. Titles include "Dead Zone", "Free The Ruler", "27 Braids", "Mac Deuce", "My Brother The Wind", "100 High Street", "Sentry", "Sirius Black", "The Caliphate", and "Mancala" – the last two of which feature Vince Staples! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most compelling Fela albums of the 70s – and one that's got a very different feel than some of his others. The album features one long track – "Coffin For Head Of State" – and although the track still has the usual Fela staples of horn riffs, chopping vamps, and electric piano – it's also got a sad dirge-like sound that is incredibly soulful, and filled with sorrowful emotion that you don't normally catch on Fela's albums. Side two is especially great – as it's mostly instrumental, and features some great interplay between a spacey electric piano and the horn section. LP, Vinyl record album

The fourth Prince soundtrack in less than a decade – and a record that follows nicely after Purple Rain, Batman, and Parade, but with a slightly different spirit too – thanks to an ever-expanding Paisley Park family that included George Clinton, Morris Day, and Mavis Staples! The older funk acts are fine, and add to the spice – but it's clear that the main attraction here is Prince, although The Time are pretty darn welcome too! The set features vocal performances from Tevin Campbell, George Clinton, Mavis Staples, TC Ellis, and Robin Power – and titles include "New Power Generation", "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got", "Love Machine", "Tick Tick Bang", "Shake", "Thieves In The Temple", "Still Would Stand All Time", "Graffiti Bridge", and "The Latest Fashion". LP, Vinyl record album

Darn nice work from The Staple Singers – a record that seems to take the leaner, meaner sound learned by the group during their soundtrack years, and turn it back towards the fuller, more righteous sound of the Stax years! The album was recorded at Muscle Shoals, with very solid production and instrumentation throughout – a top-shelf effort that shows that even at this later date, a group like The Staples can still get some good sounds out of the studio. A few tracks are a bit mis-stepped, especially when Mavis steps out a bit too strongly in the lead – but overall, there's plenty of nice surprises on the record – and tracks include "Chica Boom", "Don't Burn Me", "Handwriting On The Wall", "Mystery Train", "I Want You To Dance", "Love Being Your Fool", "Showdown", "Unlock Your Mind", and "Leave It All Up To Love". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best-ever albums by the Supremes – and filled with stone classics, to boot! As the title states, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard team up with Holland Dozier Holland – and they really to create the sound that would put them and Motown on the map. A couple of the biggest hits are laid down, but album also features tracks that are arguably even better to hear these days – as they spin out that quintessential Motown sound but aren't hampered by the ubiquity of the oldies radio staples! Titles include "You Keep Me Hanging On", "Love Is Here And Now You're Gone", "I Guess I'll Always Love You", "I'll Turn To Stone", "It's The Same Old Song", "Love Is In Our Hearts", 'There's No Stopping Us Now" and "Love Is Like A Heatwave". LP, Vinyl record album

Solo recordings with a side's worth of originals and standards on the flipside. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "The Vapors" with Vince Staples, "Bed Peace" with Childish Gambino, "Stay Ready (What A Life)" with Kendrick Lamar, and "WTH" with Ab-Soul. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Brilliant garage psych from Blues Magoos – a group that's raw and punchy enough to pummel, but pulled off some sweeter numbers and lighter harmonies incredibly well! Walloping drums, excitable vocals and wailing organ grooves – the cracked the charts, but still bring a fully charged proto punk vibe. Totally excellent, the kind of thing we wish were staples of oldies radio, but for whatever reason are left to deeper rock diggers to discover all these years later. Includes "Sometimes I Think About", "Love Seems Doomed", "Worried Life Blues", "Tobacco Road", "One By One" and "I'll Go Crazy". LP, Vinyl record album

RTJ come on with the force of a hurricane on the very first track – and don't let up throughout the course of this completely sharp 4th LP – a record that may owe plenty to the spirit of 2020, even if just as an antidote to what ails us! EL P and Killer Mike sound more urgent than ever before – clearly brimming over with energy and a sense of message – so much so that the album's guests almost dim in comparison – although we do appreciate the work from Mavis Staples, 2 Chainz, Greg Nice, DJ Premier, and Pharrell Williams! The record is full of sharp samples and production modes that punch with the force of a fist – and titles include "Out Of Sight", "Holy Calamafuck", "Goonies Vs ET", "Walking In The Snow", "Ju$t", "Yankee & The Brave", "Never Look Back", "Ooh La La", "A Few Words For The Firing Squad", and "Pulling The Pin". LP, Vinyl record album

Anthrax's I'm The Man EP may be dumb fun, but it's high-minded dumb fun, and done with geniune love for classic rap. . .gutsy stuff from these true godfathers of thrash metal, from a time when their peers took themselves way too freaking seriously. Well, either gutsy, or maybe they just didn't give a s**t, which makes it all the more amusing. Punchy riffs, an obvious take on Billy Squier's "Big Beat" in the drums, and their knowingly goofy attempts at Beastie Boys-style comic rap. If rap metal began and ended right here we'd be better off, but we won't blame Anthrax for all the bad stuff to come! Includes "I'm The Man (Censored Radio Version)", "I'm The Man (DEF Uncensored Version)" – plus live versions Anthrax staples "Caught In A Mosh", "I Am The Law" and "I'm The Man". LP, Vinyl record album

George Jones sings with a big array of top-shelf talents – Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Paycheck, Mavis Staples, Emmylou Harris, James Taylor, Tammy Wynette, Linda Ronstadt, and even Elvis Costello! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A record that begins with a question, and follows through with a sublime mix of social politics and spiritual energy! Pops Staples asserts himself a bit more than before with his songwriting here – including the title classic "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)", which went onto become one of THE anthems of the Civil Rights era! That energy follows in more original songs by Pops, and in his great reworkings of older traditional numbers – on a set that also has the group working with producer Billy Sherrill, who seems to give them even more power than before, but without commercializing their music at all. Titles include "Why", "I've Been Scorned", "I'm Gonna Tell God", "Move Along Train", "Step Aside", "King Of Kings", "What Are They Doing", and "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". LP, Vinyl record album

A soundtrack put together by Al Kooper for this unusual late 60s film about a white landlord in a neighborhood of color – one that has all the tense-but-funky moments you might expect! Al's music is in the lead, but apart from his vocals, what we really dig are the instrumental tunes – played by Al and The Landlords – a group that includes Eric Gale, Chuck Rainey, Joe Farrell, and Frank Owens. These tracks are short and funky – and include the titles "The Landlord", "Walter G's Boogaloo", and "Soul Hoedown", all nice funky numbers. Lorraine Ellison sings "Doin Me Dirty" and the famously sampled "Let Me Love You", and The Staples end out the record with "God Bless The Children". LP, Vinyl record album

A righteous early classic from The Staple Singers – a record that rings out with a spiritual note in the title, but one that also covers a whole host of social issues with its power too! The music has that sublime blend that the group perfected right from the start – almost a secret inclusion of a larger social agenda, presented amidst gospel tunes re-arranged by Pops Staples – plus a few of his own great tracks too. The result is a record of timeless power – different from the group's later 70s soul hits, but equally great – with titles that include "More A Hammer Than A Nail", "Nobody's Fault But Mine", "As A Eagle Stirreth Her Nest", "Do Something For Yourself", and "This Train". LP, Vinyl record album

The fourth Prince soundtrack in less than a decade – and a record that follows nicely after Purple Rain, Batman, and Parade, but with a slightly different spirit too – thanks to an ever-expanding Paisley Park family that included George Clinton, Morris Day, and Mavis Staples! The older funk acts are fine, and add to the spice – but it's clear that the main attraction here is Prince, although The Time are pretty darn welcome too! The set features vocal performances from Tevin Campbell, George Clinton, Mavis Staples, TC Ellis, and Robin Power – and titles include "New Power Generation", "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got", "Love Machine", "Tick Tick Bang", "Shake", "Thieves In The Temple", "Still Would Stand All Time", "Graffiti Bridge", and "The Latest Fashion". LP, Vinyl record album