A totally wonderful compilation – and a fantastic way to dip into the world of Japanese city pop – a genre that most of us missed back in the day, in large part because most of these records never made it to the record racks in the US! As fans know, the movement was a huge crest of creative activity in Japanese music – a way of refining some of the best modes begun in the 70s by artists like Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto (both of whom have a hand in some of the tracks here) – and mixing in some of the long love of American soul, funk, and jazz that had been brewing up for years. There's definitely a lot of soul inspiration on these cuts, even though lyrics are in Japanese – and the music also has some nice electric fusion moments too – although more of the sounds are from beats, keyboards, and basslines. Titles include an early cut by Pizzicato Five, "Boy Meets Girl" – plus "Love Sick" by Mari Iijima, "Pub Casablanca" by Osamu Shoji, "Tropical Love" by Teresa Noda, "Scandal Night" by Miharu Koshi, "Heartbeat" by Miho Fujiwara, "Tonkachi" by Atsuko Nina, "Bewitched" by Naomi Akimoto, "A Soka" by Susan, "Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino" by Yukako Hayase, and "Business Man (part 1)" by Makoto Matsushia. (Japanese, Funky Compilations) LP, Vinyl record album

A totally wonderful compilation – and a fantastic way to dip into the world of Japanese city pop – a genre that most of us missed back in the day, in large part because most of these records never made it to the record racks in the US! As fans know, the movement was a huge crest of creative activity in Japanese music – a way of refining some of the best modes begun in the 70s by artists like Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto (both of whom have a hand in some of the tracks here) – and mixing in some of the long love of American soul, funk, and jazz that had been brewing up for years. There's definitely a lot of soul inspiration on these cuts, even though lyrics are in Japanese – and the music also has some nice electric fusion moments too – although more of the sounds are from beats, keyboards, and basslines. Titles include an early cut by Pizzicato Five, "Boy Meets Girl" – plus "Love Sick" by Mari Iijima, "Pub Casablanca" by Osamu Shoji, "Tropical Love" by Teresa Noda, "Scandal Night" by Miharu Koshi, "Heartbeat" by Miho Fujiwara, "Tonkachi" by Atsuko Nina, "Bewitched" by Naomi Akimoto, "A Soka" by Susan, "Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino" by Yukako Hayase, and "Business Man (part 1)" by Makoto Matsushia. (Japanese, Funky Compilations) CD

A totally wonderful compilation – and a fantastic way to dip into the world of Japanese city pop – a genre that most of us missed back in the day, in large part because most of these records never made it to the record racks in the US! As fans know, the movement was a huge crest of creative activity in Japanese music – a way of refining some of the best modes begun in the 70s by artists like Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto (both of whom have a hand in some of the tracks here) – and mixing in some of the long love of American soul, funk, and jazz that had been brewing up for years. There's definitely a lot of soul inspiration on these cuts, even though lyrics are in Japanese – and the music also has some nice electric fusion moments too – although more of the sounds are from beats, keyboards, and basslines. Titles include an early cut by Pizzicato Five, "Boy Meets Girl" – plus "Love Sick" by Mari Iijima, "Pub Casablanca" by Osamu Shoji, "Tropical Love" by Teresa Noda, "Scandal Night" by Miharu Koshi, "Heartbeat" by Miho Fujiwara, "Tonkachi" by Atsuko Nina, "Bewitched" by Naomi Akimoto, "A Soka" by Susan, "Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino" by Yukako Hayase, and "Business Man (part 1)" by Makoto Matsushia. (Japanese, Funky Compilations) LP, Vinyl record album

The sounds here aren't that unusual at all – and in fact, they're mostly pretty darn groovy – a superb selection of sound library funk from the glory days of the European scene – collected here together in support of the book of the same name! In case you're new to the scene – the Euro sound library world of the 60s and 70s was a place where extremely creative musicians could come together and create their own sort of grooves without a worry for placement on the record charts – as most of these cuts were locked in the vaults, then licensed briefly for use on radio, TV, or commercials – which led to a few of these gems getting some famous, but anonymous play on classic cop or crime shows at the time. The compilation brings together some of the best examples of this scene – loads of cuts that have been our favorites over the years – a whopping 20 tracks that include "Half Forgotten Daydreams" by John Cameron, "Funky Fanfare" by Keith Mansfield, "Weeping Eelgrass" by Mladen Franko, "Mild Maniac" by Peter Patzer, "Dream Number Two" by Roland Hollinger, "Soft Wind" by Gary Pacific Orchestra, "Tropicola" by Stringtronics, "Survivor" by Klaus Weiss, "La Dimonstrazione" by Daniele Patucchi, "Feeling Tense" by Stefano Torossi, "Xenos Cosmos" by Janko Nilovic, "Night Breeze" by Franco Micalizzi, and "Fancy Good" by Electric Machine. (Sound Library, Funky Compilations) CD

Cheesy name – but a great set! And although "Blue Note" is in the title and the label, the package actually brings together a bunch of rare Latin sides from other labels in the Capitol/EMI camp – like World Pacific, Liberty, & Roulette. The overall groove is really wonderful – with a lively Latin jazz sound that's nicely spaced out, and a really rich selection of material that's pretty hard to find otherwise. Titles include "Soul Cha" by Joe Torres, "Latin Fever" by Jack Costanzo, "Agua Dulce" by Jazz Crusaders, "African Fantasy" by Bobby Montez, "Favela" by Clare Fischer, "La Bruja Negra" by Joe Torres, "Ritmo Bobo" by Sonny Stitt, "Blue Sands" by Charles Kynard & Buddy Collette, and "Trinidad" by Willie Bobo. 14 cuts in all – and a nice groove throughout! CD