The second album from Too Short, and like the first, a set that firmly established both the Cali scene and the Bay Area as a hotbed of harder-hitting hip hop! And sure, there were countless later gangsta acts that slide into the sorts of cliches that often marred the genre – but back at the start, folks like Too Short, Ice T, and NWA were really exploding with a sense of message that was quite a surprise to anyone whose ears were pointed to the east – really opening the door for countless other scenes to add their two cents – including the big wave that would soon rise from the south. The whole thing still sounds surprisingly fresh all these many years later – and titles include "Life Is Too Short", "I Ain't Trippin", "Nobody Does It Better", "Cuss Words", "City Of Dope", "Don't Fight The Feelin", "Rhymes", and "Pimp The Ho". LP, Vinyl record album

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Not the first album from Too Short, but his first on a big label, and a set that undeniably set the tone for years of west coast hip hop to come! The record was a surprising Bay Area entry in a scene that was mostly rising up from LA – and although Too Short was always a bit more tied to his personal interest than a larger political stance, the overall approach definitely marks a certain spirit on the Cali scene! There's a nicely lean approach that sounds so great – drum machine beats, basslines, and the occasional cut or scratch – all the better to allow Too Short's street tales and profane rhymes pave the ground with singular power and charisma! Titles include "Freaky Tales", "Partytime", "You Know What I Mean", "Dope Fiend Beat", "Little Girls", "The Universal Mix", and "Playboy $hort II". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from Too Short, and like the first, a set that firmly established both the Cali scene and the Bay Area as a hotbed of harder-hitting hip hop! And sure, there were countless later gangsta acts that slide into the sorts of cliches that often marred the genre – but back at the start, folks like Too Short, Ice T, and NWA were really exploding with a sense of message that was quite a surprise to anyone whose ears were pointed to the east – really opening the door for countless other scenes to add their two cents – including the big wave that would soon rise from the south. The whole thing still sounds surprisingly fresh all these many years later – and titles include "Life Is Too Short", "I Ain't Trippin", "Nobody Does It Better", "Cuss Words", "City Of Dope", "Don't Fight The Feelin", "Rhymes", and "Pimp The Ho". CD

The funkiest album that Syl Johnson ever recorded – filled with short, tight cuts that play more like a stack of funky 45s than the standard soul album of the time! The record draws from the great run of singles that Syl cut for Twinight Records at the end of the 60s – some of the hardest soul coming out of Chicago at the time, with a gritty feel that's right up there with some of James Brown's best late 60s work – or even better, some of the other obscure acts working in the American underground at the time. A few tunes are familiar from their popularity as classic 45s – but the album's got lots more wonderful numbers that are lesser-known – and all of them are great! Titles include the classic Syl Johnson sample cut "Different Strokes" – plus "Dresses Too Short", "I Can Take Care of Business", "Soul Drippin", "Sorry Bout Dat", "Same Kind Of Thing", and "Come On Sock It To Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Bring on the sun if it burns this strongly – as we're more than happy to get extra toasty in the light of such wonderful tracks as these! The set's a stunning look at the massive musical shift on the UK scene in the year of 1967 – a time when psych was certainly making its influence felt, but groups were also opening up in all these other sorts of ways too – really getting past the jaunty rhythms and catchy lyrics of a few years before – and instead somehow managing to make all these amazing things happen in just the space of a short 7" single! Some of the artists here are artists who were making more mainstream music a few years earlier, others are new acts that would soon become superstars, and a few more are genius groups who burst out strongly, then disappeared from view – all brought together in a great 3CD package, with 79 tracks in all, and very detailed notes. Artists include The Herd, Idle Race, Dave Davies, John Williams, Svensk, Universals, Australian Playboys, Tony Rivers, Great Uncle Fred, Artwoods, 23rd Turnoff, Vocal Point, Zombies, Nirvana UK, Lisa & Francesca, The Mirage, Virgin Sleep, Accent, Our Plastic Dream, David Bowie, Living Daylights, John's Children, Episode Six, Orange Bicycle, The Poets, Genesis, Crocheted Doughnut Ring, Piccadilly Line, Scott Henderson, Made In Sheffield, Caleb, and many others! CD

An amazing document of a unique musical moment – an entire jazz festival, virtually dedicated to Peter Brotzmann himself! The legendary Brotzmann not only curated the festival – filling it with some of his key collaborators and musical contemporaries – but he also plays on a fair bit of the titles here, too – in different groupings that reflect not only his long history in the European avant scene, but also his ties to Chicago, and his work with Japanese improvisers too! The package is wonderful – the next best thing to being at this exclusive event in person – and the set features 5CDs worth of music from the festival, with performances by Sonore (with Brotzmann, Ken Vandermark, & Mats Gustafsson), Chicago Tentet with John Tchicai, solo work by Jeiji Haino, the Hairy Bones quartet with Brotzmann and Toshinori Kondo, the Full Blast Trio, the DKV Trio, Caspar Brotzmann Massaker, and various other groupings with players who include Jeb Bishop, Joe McPhee, Mars Williams, Jason Adasiewicz, Nasheet Waits, Masahiko Satoh, Bill Laswell, and many others. CD

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Great live work from Kenny Dorham – wonderfully recorded by Danish Radio from an early 60s performance in Copehagen – one that also features flugelhorn from Allan Botschinsky as well! The mix of trumpet and flugelhorn is totally great – a shifting, shimmering palette of colors and sound that steps right out with a bold, righteous energy – that sense of force that Dorham was beginning to show in some of his American recordings too – before his studio appearances were cut down all too quickly. Rhythms are extremely tight too – with Tete Montoliu on piano, Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass, and Alex Riel on drums – and the tracks are nice and long, with versions of "Short Story", "Bye Bye Blackbird", "Manha De Carnival", and "The Touch of Your Lips". CD

A great "new" album from the legendary Seeds – not new recordings, but a fresh collection that brings together a fair bit of rare and unissued tracks – along with some of their classics, and some rare pre-seeds material too! The collection is pulled from a soundtrack for the film – the documentary titled The Seeds Pushin Too Hard – but the whole thing works perfectly as a double-length Seeds album on its own – especially as it features a few tracks by other artists that also offer a great bookend to their short but fantastic musical legacy! If you know know The Seeds, you'll recognize their sound instantly – as it was a crucial west coast blast of psych garage that influenced many other groups for years to come – but which is still best heard from the group themselves. Titles include the 14 minute full length version of "Evil Hoodoo" – plus "Pushin Too Hard, "No Escape (take 3)", "Mr Farmer", "Tripmaker (live)", "Out Of The Question (alt mix)", "Can't Seem To Make You Mine", "Try To Understand (take 3)", "Thousand Shadows (1993 mix)", "Up In Her Dream", "Satisfy You (take 3)", "The Gardener (take 1)", "Night Time Girl (take 8)", "Fallin Off The Edge Of My Mind (take 12)", "A Faded Picture", and the very cool "YMCA Spot/Sky Speaks". Also includes "They Say" by Ritchie Marsh, "The Perfect Wave" by Neil Norman, "Baby Please Don't Go (live)" by Muddy Waters, and "The Ballad Of Sky Saxon" by Kim Fowley. CD

The early 90s debut of UGK and early triumph for Pimp C & Bun B, even if it was a little bit ahead of its time! Given a massive platform by Jive at the time, UGK proved a little Too Hard To Swallow for the mainstream early on, finally breaking out with Ridin' Dirty a few years later, but this is a solid set with the dope production and gritty, but on point rhymes. A tight 12 tracks in all: "Cramping My Style", "Feel Like I'm The One Who's Doin' Dope", "I'm So Bad", "Trill Ass Ni**a", "976-Bun B", "Something Good (Pimp C's rmx)", "Something good (extended version)", "Use Me Up", "Pocket Full Of Stones", "Short Texas", "Cocaine In The Back Of The ride" and "It's Too Hard To Swallow". CD

The early 90s debut of UGK and early triumph for Pimp C & Bun B, even if it was a little bit ahead of its time! Given a massive platform by Jive at the time, UGK proved a little Too Hard To Swallow for the mainstream early on, finally breaking out with Ridin' Dirty a few years later, but this is a solid set with the dope production and gritty, but on point rhymes. A tight 12 tracks in all: "Cramping My Style", "Feel Like I'm The One Who's Doin' Dope", "I'm So Bad", "Trill Ass Ni**a", "976-Bun B", "Something Good (Pimp C's rmx)", "Something good (extended version)", "Use Me Up", "Pocket Full Of Stones", "Short Texas", "Cocaine In The Back Of The ride" and "It's Too Hard To Swallow". LP, Vinyl record album

The lovely Aaliyah left our planet all too soon, and left behind a number of unissued tracks as well – material intended for a future album, and which was combined here with a few other tracks to make for a posthumous tribute to her too-short legacy in R&B! The practice is, unfortunately, a common one in the worlds of R&B and hip hop – and although the set's maybe not a standard album by Aaliyah, it's certainly a great addition to the lineup. Titles include "Miss You", "Come Over", "Rock The Boat", "Erica Kane", "We Need A Resolution", "Got To Give It Up (rmx)", "Back & Forth", "Are You That Somebody", "I Care 4 U", "One In A Million", "At Your Best", "Don't Know What To Tell Ya", "Try Again", and "All I Need". LP, Vinyl record album

A great way to dive into the world of city pop music from Japan – that big flowering of new sounds and fresh ideas that really marked a key creative moment on the scene from the early 70s onward – a huge legacy that's only getting appreciation in recent years by English-speaking audiences! This beautiful book presents listings for almost 700 albums in all – with a listing of key classics, then important records by some of the best artists – starting from the early years, and running up through the CD generation as well – with full color reproductions of all the albums featured in the book! The listings offer key information on each record – sometimes English, sometimes Japanese – along with a short review of each record too, in Japanese. You can mostly read the text using an app on your phone, such as Google Translate – but even just for the pictures, the book is a wonderful guide to the music – one that will really help you start digging for obscure gems from Japan! Softcover, 238 pages, with full color images throughout. Book

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

The Attack are one of those bands from the key psych years of the UK scene who never fully got their due – a combo who got a big label contract, and recorded in ways that really perfected their sound – yet also sidelined before most of their music had a chance to find the audience it deserved! There's plenty of fuzz, rawness, and driving energy here – almost modes of Creation turned to headier territory, but on short tunes that pack plenty of punch with a mighty nice bite! The set brings together material that might have become a full length set – titles that include "Magic In The Air", "Feel Like Flying", "Freedom For You", "Too Old", and "Go Your Way". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing early work from Azymuth – rare demo recordings done at the home studio of keyboardist Jose Roberto Bertrami, in the short space before the group issued their legendary debut! The tracks here are as much jazz funk as they are the later modes that Azymuth would put forth – killer instrumentals that are really driven by great keyboard lines from Bertrami, who'd already been making music in other formats for years – and who works here on Fender Rhodes, Arp, Clavinet, Hammond, and a range of other keyboards too! The drums are fantastic, too – handled by a young Ivan Conti, who gets help on percussion from an early fourth member of the group, Ariovaldo Contesini – and as you might guess, the incredible basslines of Ivan Mamao Conti really help the whole thing groove. All material is very well-recorded – these aren't rough or unfinished tracks at all – and the whole thing should just be thought of as a first chapter for the group, right before they started putting out their famous records. Titles include "Prefacio", "Castelo", "Melo Do Cuica", "Xingo", "Laranjeiras", "Eqiupe 68", "Unknown Song For Mario Telles", "Manha", "Duro De Roer", "Quem Tem Medo", "Juntos Mais Uma Vez", and "Bateria Do Mamao". CD

Amazing early work from Azymuth – rare demo recordings done at the home studio of keyboardist Jose Roberto Bertrami, in the short space before the group issued their legendary debut! The tracks here are as much jazz funk as they are the later modes that Azymuth would put forth – killer instrumentals that are really driven by great keyboard lines from Bertrami, who'd already been making music in other formats for years – and who works here on Fender Rhodes, Arp, Clavinet, Hammond, and a range of other keyboards too! The drums are fantastic, too – handled by a young Ivan Conti, who gets help on percussion from an early fourth member of the group, Ariovaldo Contesini – and as you might guess, the incredible basslines of Ivan Mamao Conti really help the whole thing groove. All material is very well-recorded – these aren't rough or unfinished tracks at all – and the whole thing should just be thought of as a first chapter for the group, right before they started putting out their famous records. Titles on this first volume include "Prefacio", "Castelo", "Melo Do Cuica", "Xingo", "Laranjeiras", "Eqiupe 68", and "Unknown Song For Mario Telles". LP, Vinyl record album

A lesser-known moment of genius from John Barry – quite different than his work for the James Bond films of the time! Barry's working here in a mix of more ambitious orchestral themes – dark, brooding, and moody – but also interspersed with some lighter jazzier numbers that are really great too! The film had a short life as a blockbuster – surprising, given that it was directed by Arthur Penn, written by Lillian Hellman, and starring Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda, and Angie Dickinson amidst a host of other well-known talents – but the real charm is almost Barry's music, which olds up really well over the years! Our favorite titles include "Saturday Night Philosopher", "Look Around", "The Beating", "Blues For Bubber", and the sweetly jazzy "I'll Drink To That". And oddly, there doesn't seem to be a single traditional "chase" number in the whole film! LP, Vinyl record album

Late work from the amazing Rolf Billberg – material recorded in the final years of the Swedish altoist's all-too-short career! As you'll hear from the very first notes in the set, Billberg's a hell of a player on the alto – an artist with the sharp crispness of a Lee Konitz, but the fluid, ever-shifting style of Stan Getz – a mode that makes him a killer talent right out of the gate, perfect for both upbeat swingers and more laidback ballads! The set has a number of Konitz compositions in the mix – clearly Rolf showing his debt to one influence – but the overall feel is quite different than any Lee Konitz albums we've ever heard – thanks partly to tight rhythms from the other players. The first batch of tracks are from a quintet with trumpeter Jan Allan, the next batch a quartet with pianist Knud Jorgensen, and the last with a quintet that features Allan Botschinsky on flugelhorn and Ole Molin on guitar. Titles include "Ablution", "Fobic", "Hi Beck", "Nursery Rhyme", "Chicarones", "Far Jag Lamna Hangra Blommar", "Stella By Starlight", and "Palo Alto". CD

An all-star group take on the music of Duke Pearson – paying wonderful tribute to the kind of special, soulful grooves that Duke cooked up during his too-short career on Blue Note Records in the 60s! The lineup here is top-shelf, and very much in keeping with the sort of strong combos that Pearson would put together – both for records under his own name, and as a producer for Blue Note – and the lineup here features Diego Rivera on tenor and soprano sax, Art Hirahara on piano, Boris Kozlov on bass, and Vinnie Sperrazza on drums – a no-nonsense group who really focus in on the best elements of the songs, then let loose with great solo work. Jon Davis replaces Hirahara on three tracks on the set on piano – and titles include the great tune "Is That So", plus "You Know I Care", "Sweet Honey Bee", "ESP", "Chili Peppers", "Ready Rudy", and "Idle Moments". CD

Maybe one of the most hard-burning performances ever recorded by this legendary South African jazz combo – a set dedicated to trumpeter Mongezi Feza, a key member of the group who'd passed away just a short time before the recording! The session was done in London, right after all four remaining members had come together for a memorial for Mongezi – and throughout the set, you can feel the raw emotion that's driving the performance – bold, freewheeling and very expressive sounds from the lineup of Dudu Pukwana on alto sax, Chris McGregor on piano, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – all players who pick up extra percussion and vocalize at points – almost in the tradition of the AACM, but more emotive too. The set features a double-length performance, titled "Blue Notes For Mongezi" – divided into four movements. LP, Vinyl record album

A rare television soundtrack from Italian jazzman Sandro Brugnolini – easily some of his most hard-hitting work, and a mighty cool record to boot! Brugnolini mixes small combo jazz and some darker orchestrations in a shifting palette of sounds from track to track – which means that some numbers are hard groovers, others have this brooding quality, and still others have this incredible tinkling piano that seems to float in the air – maybe the most gentle passages of the record, but also some of the most eerie too – especially in the way that Sandro mixes darkness and light with effortless ease! Most numbers are short, and work together beautifully – a very vivid record, even away from the images on the screen. Titles include "Aggressione", "Tallonato", "La Notte Muore", "Colluttazione", "Quasi Un Sogno", "Incidente Provocato", and "Tempus Fugit". CD

Exactly the kind of record that makes us love sound library records so much – and definitely the sort that sets the style apart from anything else we can think of! Both Sandro Brugnolini and Giorgio Carnini turn in some great work here – a mindblowing mix of modes over the space of ten short tracks – some tunes a cascading array of instrumentation, in a hip groove that's neither American jazz or soundtrack funk, but a special space of its own! Other tunes use an electronic approach that's years ahead of its time – as groovy as 60s analogue, but a lot darker, too – in ways that the rest of the world might not touch until the German new wave. The balance is almost even between swinging groovers and darker electronic cuts – and titles include "Grinta", "Azione CIA", "Scalo Clandestino", "Alambicco Cibernetico", "Strutture Generative", "Omicido Bianco", and "CIA Massacre". LP, Vinyl record album

The first four albums from this crucial group – along with four more CDs of rare live material too! First up is the self-titled Cactus – the first album from this legendary group – an important American hard rock powerhouse, driven by the famous rhythm duo of Tim Bogert on bass and Carmine Appice on drums – both of whom roll out of the gate here with amazingly frenetic energy! They're maybe only topped by the guitar work of Jim McCarty, whose searing lines are clearly learned from blues inspirations, then turned up in both speed and power – to match the vocals and harmonica of Rusty Day! There's nothing going on here that sounds like blues rock at all – even though the set begins with a cover of "Parchman Farm" – next to other titles that include "My Lady From South Of Detroit", "No Need To Worry", "You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover", and "Let Me Swim". On One Way Or Another, Cactus are totally at the top of their game – and the guitar of Jim McCarthy really sets the record on fire, right from the very first note – at a level that should have made Jim one of the real guitar hero legends of his generation! Yet there's also power from the whole group going on too – tight rhythms from the team of Carmine Appice and Jim Bogert, the latter of whom starts to bring in his own vocals a fair bit more, offering backup to the raspy lead of Rusty Day. And while there's a few currents that show their older influence from blues, the sound here is massively hard rock all the way through – making the record a great illustration of the way that slavish blues rock gave birth to a fresh new jamming sound in a matter of just a few short years. Titles include "Rockout Whatever You Feel Like", "Song For Aries", "Feel So Bad", "Rock N Roll Children", and "Hometown Bust". Restrictions is next, and despite the title, there's no restrictions at all – as Cactus seem to be even more confident, more able to stretch their wings and fly than ever before – even adding in some extra piano and keyboards at points to the core guitar-heavy sound of the quartet! All the group's best elements are very firmly in place – searing guitar, righteously confident vocals, and a strutting sensibility that makes this early 70s album way ahead of the game in terms of territory that so many bigger groups would later copy for their own classic records. Titles include "Guiltless Glider", "Evil Alaska", "Sweet Sixteen", "Bag Drag", "Restrictions", and "Mean Night In Cleveland". Ot N Sweaty is a record that's got a bit of a shift in the classic Cactus lineup – as the group's still driven strongly by the work of Carmine Appice on drums and Tim Bogert on bass, but get guitar power from Werner Fritzschings, who's a pretty amazing player – next to some added keyboards from Duane Hitchings, and vocals from Peter French – a singer who's ballsy power might be even more in line with the group than their previous lead singer! The album's got an unusual approach in that side one was recorded live, side two in the studio – each with a nicely different flavor as a result – on titles that include "Swim", "Our Lil Rock N Roll Thing", "Bedroom Mazurka", "Telling You", "Bad Stuff", and "Bringing Me Down". 8CD set is overflowing with great material – bonus tracks added to three of the four albums in the collection, than a further 4CDs worth of live material – titled Fully Unleashed – The Live Gigs Vols 1 & 2. The live material is great – and really shows the tightness of the group at their best! CD