Ukelele covers of "Exodus", "Positive Vibration", "No Woman No Cry", "Buffalo Soldier", "Burnin' & Lootin", and "Nice Time". CD

One of the grooviest records ever – a sublime blend of African percussion, soulful orchestrations, and Dorothy Ashby's amazing electric harp! By the time of this landmark album, Dorothy had been knocking around the jazz world for a number of years, but it wasn't until she hooked up with Richard Evans at Cadet Records that her sound really began to cook – breaking down genres and expectations in the trademark style of the best late 60s sides from the Chicago underground. The record's got a bit of funk, a bit of jazz, and a heck of a lot of soul – and the setting works perfectly for Dorothy's harp, giving it a lot more room to work around than some of her smaller jazz combo albums. The album includes two great originals – "Soul Vibrations" and "Afro-Harping" – both of which have a nice funky edge, and a groovy soulful bounce – and other tunes include "Lonely Girl", "Life Has Its Trials", "Look Of Love", "Come Live With Me", and a great version of Freddie Hubbard's "Little Sunflower". (Jazz, Now Sound) CD

A beautiful little album of sweet late 60s easy – originally recorded by British producer Mike Hurts for Phase 4 at the end of the 60s, but never issued until now! The set has a really warm and glowing sort of groove – one that's a fair bit more dynamic than most of the rest of the Phase 4 sets, with evocative qualities that almost push the record more into the soundtrack side of the spectrum. Hurst's arrangements of the tunes are often quite driving, but never too dramatic – and although the set's an orchestral one, there's a great sense of pacing, timing, and rhythm to all the numbers. Titles include "April Fools", "Cool", "Sound Of Silence", "Wednesday's Child", "Good Vibrations", "Image", "Mission Impossible", and "Theme From The Wild Ones". CD

A groovy record from the International Pop All Stars for Decca's Phase 4 label of percussion & strings oriented LPs! Vibrations Around The World has a groovy, moddish, cheeky charm with an international focus, picking themes to represent countries as if this were some kind of easy listening Olympics! "Aquarius" reps the USA, "Greensleeves" is for the UK, "Tulips From Amsterdam" represents Holland, "One One Samba" stands for Brazil, and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The German easy groove of James Last gets a smooth 70s twist in this album of slick jazz funk numbers recorded with fusion players like Lee Ritenour, James Gadson, Tony Levin, Paulinho Da Costa, and Ernie Watts. The overall sound is a lot better than you'd expect – and the album's got a nice funky copy show sound in the best parts. Includes the slow spacey funk number "Glow", plus "Infight", "Falling Star", "The Seduction", "Dancing Shadows", and "Vibrations". LP, Vinyl record album

Pre-moog work from Hugo Montenegro – but a set that's still pretty darn groovy! The Beach Boys reference in the title is very well put, as Hugo's using some cool harmony vocals for the record – a chorus that definitely takes some of its inspiration from Brian Wilson, singing here both with lyrics, and some wordless modes – not on every track, but used enough to give the record a really Sunshine Pop sort of appeal! Other instrumentation is great too – electric bass underneath fuller strings, offbeat woodwinds, fuzzy guitar, and even a bit of whistling – which has a cool sort of electronic feel. The blend of sounds is amazing – very unique, and already showing that Montenegro's one of the hippest talents of the 60s. Titles include "Classical Gas", "Rosemary's Baby", "Night Rider", "Lady in Cement", "A Future Left Behind", "Tony's Theme", and "Good Vibrations". LP, Vinyl record album

Groovy 2LP set that includes some of the best work that Hugo Montenegro did for RCA during the 60s – including a number of nice cuts from some of his famous soundtracks! Titles include "Theme From The Fox", "Lady In Cement", "Good Morning Sunshine", "Aquarius", "Come Spy With Me", "Good Vibrations", and "Happy Together". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the legendary Perry & Kingsley moog records, with all of their early experiments with the instrument, and all of the weird tape cut-ups and production effects, over some versions of cool sixties pop stuff, and a host of original tracks. Titles include "Pioneers Of The Stars", "Fallout", "One Note Samba", "Umbrellas of Cherbourg", "The Savers", and "Toy Balloons". Also with a nice version of "Mas Que Nada"! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the legendary Perry & Kingsley moog records, with all of their early experiments with the instrument, and all of the weird tape cut-ups and production effects, over some versions of cool sixties pop stuff, and a host of original tracks. Titles include "Pioneers Of The Stars", "Fallout", "One Note Samba", "Umbrellas of Cherbourg", "The Savers", and "Toy Balloons". Also with a nice version of "Mas Que Nada"! LP, Vinyl record album

The funky sitar of Ananada Shankar – recorded in the 80s, but with all the brilliance of his 70s work! Like his other great albums, the production's a mix of soundtrack and funky instrumental styles with more traditional Indian ones – and the bulk of the set comes off sounding like some lost Bollywood score from the 70s – funky and spacey at the bottom, without as much of the clunky styles that you might expect from the cheesy 80s image on the cover. The set includes the long mellow tune "2001", plus shorter groovier numbers that include "Planet X", "Flights Of Fantasy", "Universal Magic", "The Voyager", "Vibrations", and "Explorations". (Global Grooves, Now Sound) LP, Vinyl record album

Beautiful Verve madness, and a darkly twisted batch of easy instrumentals, put together by the silent genius Pat Williams. The songs are mostly covers – like "Whiter Shade of Pale", "Get Back", "Joy Joy", and "River Deep Mountain High" – and the record's got a great version of Edu Lobo's "Ponteio". Dick Hyman plays organ, and there's lots of other nice jazz players in the group! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful world of weird and wild tracks from the 45rpm underground – exactly the kind of unusual records that first got Lux and Ivy inspired when they were first forming The Cramps! The mix of artists here is great – there's a bit of soul, a bit of rock, a touch of exotica, and plenty other unusual styles too – and cuts are marked both with unusual instrumentation and production techniques, and just an all-out effort to have as much fun as possible in the recording studio! Titles include "Leather Jacket Cowboy" by Pepper Pots, "You Tarzan Me Jane" by Glen Willings, "Mr Cool" by The Leeds, "Sugar Diabetes" by Eddie Banks, "Voo Doo Drums" by Aki Aleong, "Lose My Mind" by Herbert Henson, "Sound Off" by Titus Turner, "Pulp Wood Charley" by Wee Willie, "Pug Nose & Pony Tail" by Wally Hughes, "Atlantis" by The Blue Bells, "Shawnee" by The Premiers, "Cave Man" by The Vibrations, "The Inebriated Surfer" by Tornadoes, and "Black Lace" by April Stevens. (Rock, Now Sound) CD