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The amazing first album from Big Star – a set that came out of nowhere, made hardly a ripple on the charts, yet went onto crash in big waves of sound for generations to come! The style here is unlike thing else before – hardly what you'd expect from the group's Memphis roots or Alex Chilton's previous performances – yet the group's music has become a generation-defining sound in the way it blends southern inflections with harder rock influences, and a lean, gritty quality that's arguably in a late 70s space between punk and power pop. Every element is wonderful – guitars that are powerful, but never indulgent – vocals that are moving, but never overly emotive – and a balance between sensitive and searing moments that even The Replacements could never hope to match. A landmark all the way through – with tracks that include "Feel", "Ballad Of El Goodo", "In The Street", "The India Song", "When My Baby's Beside Me", "Give Me Another Chance", "Don't Lie To Me", "Thirteen", "Watch The Sunrise", and "Try Again". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of really unusual albums from Mike Cooper – presented here in a single package! The core set, Life & Death In Paradise, is one of the last in a run of classics that Cooper gave the world at the start of his career – and has really unusual collaborations with members of the London jazz scene – including bassist Harry Miller, saxophonist Mike Osborne, and drummer Louis Moholo! The jazz component of the record is small – this is definitely acoustic singer/songwriter material, not the work the musicians might have issued on the Ogun label – but the set does represent a really nice shift for Cooper, and a great setting for the kind of offbeat songs he does so well. Titles include "Critical Incidents", "OMM Coda", "Suicide De Luxe", "Black Night Crash", "Rocket Summer", and the long "Life & Death In Paradise" suite. The package also features material from many years later – a live acoustic set recorded in Milan in 2018, showing Cooper still as a hell of a talent, with an even more complex understanding of the acoustic guitar – matched by his own unique vocalizations on some of the best tracks. Titles include "Peach Trees", "In Moments Of Reverie", "Lord Franklin", "Sage & Thyme", and "Industrial Hazard". CD

Lean later work from Philippe Doray and his anti-social associates – material that draws heavily on some of the cold wave electronics of the early part of the 80s, and which also has some of the playful presence of the German new wave too! The music is definitely out of time – very different than anything recorded in the French mainstream of the mid-80s – and delivered with a style that clearly knows the darker reaches of the sonic spectrum, but which never lingers there too long. Doray handles a variety of keyboards and synth, and since both straight and with a vocoder – alongside contributions from others on guitars, keyboards, saxes, and flute. Titles include "Flash Back", "Le Petit Geant", "Aurora Day (edit)", "Choc D'Amour", "Le Composant Compositeur", and "Secoue Le Flipeur". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet late entry in the girl group style of the 60s – rare material from The Goodees, recorded in Memphis and Muscle Shoals for the rock-oriented Stax affiliate Hip Records! Many of the arrangements have a gritty, Memphis rock & soul backdrop that's a nice counterpoint to the girls' trio vocals – which are sweet as syrup and loads of fun! Includes the great little teen mellow drama "Condition Red" (complete with car crash sound effects) and less archly thematic, straight up groovy songs like "Sad Song For Harry", "Double Shot", "My Boyfriend's Back", "Jilted", "Girl Crazy", "Worst That Could Happen", "Didn't Know Love Was So Good" and more from the original Candy Coated Goodies LP – plus non-album singles "Love Is Here", "Goodies" and others. Also includes 7 previously unreleased tracks! CD

Some of the most tripped-out music ever from The Holy Modal Rounders – and that's saying a lot, given the nature of the group! This unique early album on ESP features two side-long tracks – both of which are mini-suites of sort, and filled with odd sounds, weird themes, and a strange mixture of hippie instrumentation and sci-fi experimentation! The group for the record is a quartet – with the core combo of Peter Stampfel on violin and vocals and Steve Weber on guitar, augmented by playwright Sam Shephard on drums and Lee Crabtree on piano and organ – plus extra vocals from the trio of Antonia, Barbara, & Wendy. The music is in the best free-thinking style of other rock on the ESP label in the 60s – and titles include "Jimmy & Crash Survey The Universe" and "The Second-Hand Watch". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the most tripped-out music ever from The Holy Modal Rounders – and that's saying a lot, given the nature of the group! This unique early album on ESP features two side-long tracks – both of which are mini-suites of sort, and filled with odd sounds, weird themes, and a strange mixture of hippie instrumentation and sci-fi experimentation! The group for the record is a quartet – with the core combo of Peter Stampfel on violin and vocals and Steve Weber on guitar, augmented by playwright Sam Shephard on drums and Lee Crabtree on piano and organ – plus extra vocals from the trio of Antonia, Barbara, & Wendy. The music is in the best free-thinking style of other rock on the ESP label in the 60s – and titles include "Jimmy & Crash Survey The Universe" and "The Second-Hand Watch". LP2 features Live In 1965 – Some of the earliest music ever from The Holy Modal Rounders – a rare live performance from 1965, recorded at the Chess Mate nightclub in Detroit, and featuring only the duo of Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber! The music here is a bit more folksy and a bit less trippy than some of the Rounders' later recordings, but it still shows a decidedly left-field approach – not just in the subjects of the tunes, but also in the way the guitar, banjo, and fiddle are used – almost as additional voices at times, instead of conventional folk instrumentation. Titles include "Crowley Waltz", "Black Eyed Suzy", "My Mind Capsized", "Fishin Blues", "Rum Mountain", "Random Canyon", "Skin Game", "Indian War Whoop", and "Flop Eared Mule". LP, Vinyl record album

Rockabilly legend Billy Joy definitely rocks – hardly a household name in the 50s, but a killer figure in the rock and roll underground – and one whose fame has just grown more and more over the years! The package is a beautifully-done tribute to Benny's genius – and presents the most hard-rocking of his important 50s recordings, as well as a host of unreleased tracks from later demos too! Joy's guitar work alone is amazing, but when it's coupled with the kickass rhythms of the tunes, the music really takes off to a whole new level – burning with the power you'd expect from the classic Johnny Burnette Trio – and that's before Benny's gritty vocals even come into play! CD features 30 tracks in all – including some lost recordings from the 70s – titles that include "Rollin To The Juke Box Rock", "Dark Angel", "Miss Bobby Sox", "Little Red Book", "Button Nose", "Come Back", "Wild Wild Lover", "In Study Hall", "Crash The Party (unedited)", "Spin The Bottle (Nashville demo)", "Big John Taylor", "High High School Baby", and "Nosey Nosey Neighbors". CD

A great look at the huge second wave of UK punk after the bigger labels were leaving the music behind at the end of the 70s – a bold surge of independent sounds from the underground, including a fair bit of work that was really pushing the boundaries of the music and its politics at the time! Some of these groups are strongly in the spirit of 1977, others are even more radical, and still others are maybe more rough around the edges with an agenda that's a bit hard to figure out – a bit like the way that the LA hardcore scene was changing at the time too. The package provides a huge amount of detail on the moment – a lavish book-style set with pages of notes on the groups and their music, and lots of great images too – all to support a whopping 117 tracks by the likes of Urban Dogs, Anthrax, Anti Pasti, Poison Girls, Cockney Rejects, The Toy Dolls, Blitz, The Ejected, Chelsea, Rudi, GBH, 4 Skins, Charge, Vice Squad, The Mob, UK Subs, Blitzkrieg, The Insane, Damned, Erazerhead, The Samples, Chaotic Dischord, The Adicts, Anti-Nowhere League, Angelic Upstarts, Rabid, Violators, Crash TV, Icons Of Filth, Ultra Violent, Omega Tribe, Subculture, Criminal Justice, and dozens of others! CD

The amazing first album from Big Star – a set that came out of nowhere, made hardly a ripple on the charts, yet went onto crash in big waves of sound for generations to come! The style here is unlike thing else before – hardly what you'd expect from the group's Memphis roots or Alex Chilton's previous performances – yet the group's music has become a generation-defining sound in the way it blends southern inflections with harder rock influences, and a lean, gritty quality that's arguably in a late 70s space between punk and power pop. Every element is wonderful – guitars that are powerful, but never indulgent – vocals that are moving, but never overly emotive – and a balance between sensitive and searing moments that even The Replacements could never hope to match. A landmark all the way through – with tracks that include "Feel", "Ballad Of El Goodo", "In The Street", "The India Song", "When My Baby's Beside Me", "Give Me Another Chance", "Don't Lie To Me", "Thirteen", "Watch The Sunrise", and "Try Again". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of really unusual albums from Mike Cooper – presented here in a single package, one record on vinyl, one on CD! The core set, Life & Death In Paradise, is one of the last in a run of classics that Cooper gave the world at the start of his career – and has really unusual collaborations with members of the London jazz scene – including bassist Harry Miller, saxophonist Mike Osborne, and drummer Louis Moholo! The jazz component of the record is small – this is definitely acoustic singer/songwriter material, not the work the musicians might have issued on the Ogun label – but the set does represent a really nice shift for Cooper, and a great setting for the kind of offbeat songs he does so well. Titles include "Critical Incidents", "OMM Coda", "Suicide De Luxe", "Black Night Crash", "Rocket Summer", and the long "Life & Death In Paradise" suite. The LP package also features a bonus CD with material from many years later – a live acoustic set recorded in Milan in 2018, showing Cooper still as a hell of a talent, with an even more complex understanding of the acoustic guitar – matched by his own unique vocalizations on some of the best tracks. Titles include "Peach Trees", "In Moments Of Reverie", "Lord Franklin", "Sage & Thyme", and "Industrial Hazard". LP, Vinyl record album

Robert Smith and the group are still going strong here – changing up some of the rhythms a bit for the 90s generation, but still holding on to all of their best charms – and really hitting that tuneful crossover mode that made them so huge the decade before! Tracks include "Trap", "Treasure", "Bare", "Jupiter Crash", "Mint Car", "Strange Attraction", "The 13th", "This Is A Lie", and "Club America". CD

Bubblegum glam badassery from Suzi Quatro – her namesake and possibly best album – leading off with the killer "48 Crash" and barely letting up from there! Punchy, arse kicking and catchy rock & roll from a real 70s pioneer! It's a ridiculous shame that on our shores, Suzi is better remembered for Happy Days than this damned record! Other tracks include "Glycerine Queen", "Shine My Machine", "I Wanna Be Your Superman", "All Shook Up", "Skin Tight Skin", "Get Back Mama", "Shakin All Over" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Lux and Ivy serve up a whole host of records from death row – not the famous hip hop label, but the end of the line for those that pay the ultimate price for their crimes – served up here in a weird and wild blend of rare 45s from the postwar years! The music here is almost in Bear Family territory, but a bit wider – rock, blues, rockabilly, country, and other styles all mixed together – with a really wonderful blend of offbeat singles that we might never have heard otherwise! The set's one of the best Lux & Ivy collections in awhile – and features 28 tracks that include "Death Row" by Jimmy Minor, "Big Mouth Bill" by Phil McLean, "The Legend Of The Birds & Bees" by Hank Hornsby, "So Tuff" by The Furys, "Down In The Basement" by King Coleman, "Devil Is A Busy Man" by Sunnyland Slim, "Stack A Records" by Tom Tall, "The Last Drag" by The Voxpoppers, "Rompin" by Jerry Warren, "Ragged & Hungry" by Lightning Junior & The Empires, "The Plea" by The Chantels, and "Crash Out" by Jaycee Hill. CD

Way more than just the usual punk collection you might expect – not just LA hardcore or New York downtown, and instead a really wide range of work from the American underground of the 70s – including some really key tracks by artists who were working in a punkish mode a few years before the style ever had a name! Soul Jazz have really done an excellent job with this set – scanning a wealth of rare indie singles to come up with a set of tracks that virtually writes the history of the emergence of punk rock on the American shores – work that owes very little to the UK wave, and which instead really reflects the unique hybrid of styles that infected US material from the start. There's loads of cuts on here that we'd totally forgotten about – all brought together with the usual great Soul Jazz sense of history, reflected in the notes – and titles include "Let's Get Rid Of New York" by The Randoms, "I'm A Bug" by The Urinals, "Cakes In The Home" by Crash Course In Science, "Not Now No Way" by The Pagans, "Flash Of The Moment" by Pastiche, "Neutron Bomb" by The Controllers, "Action" by The Knots, "Dog Meat" by Flamin Groovies, "Kill The Hippies" by The Deadbeats, "US Millie" by Theoretical Girls, "Wild Weekend" by The Zeros, "Ice Age" by The Bizarros, and "Hillside Strangler" by Hollywood Squares. CD

The amazing first album from Big Star – a set that came out of nowhere, made hardly a ripple on the charts, yet went onto crash in big waves of sound for generations to come! The style here is unlike thing else before – hardly what you'd expect from the group's Memphis roots or Alex Chilton's previous performances – yet the group's music has become a generation-defining sound in the way it blends southern inflections with harder rock influences, and a lean, gritty quality that's arguably in a late 70s space between punk and power pop. Every element is wonderful – guitars that are powerful, but never indulgent – vocals that are moving, but never overly emotive – and a balance between sensitive and searing moments that even The Replacements could never hope to match. A landmark all the way through – with tracks that include "Feel", "Ballad Of El Goodo", "In The Street", "The India Song", "When My Baby's Beside Me", "Give Me Another Chance", "Don't Lie To Me", "Thirteen", "Watch The Sunrise", and "Try Again". CD

What? A brand new album from Jimi Hendrix? Didn't he, uh, check out a few decades ago? Well, turns out that the Experience folks have found some amazing work on the vaults – really incredible tracks that are way more than just a rehash of previous releases, aren't demo recordings at all – and are instead some wonderful work that really comes together well as a long-overdue full album! The set's a stunning smoker through and through – filled with the kind of deft guitar work that made Jimi a legend right from the start – and stuffed into tunes that pack as much of a punch as any of the famous Hendrix singles that have kept spinning for so many years. All tracks are studio recordings, all previously unreleased – and titles include new songs like "Somewhere" and "Hear My Train A Comin", plus studio takes of "Inside Out" and "Bleeding Heart" – and lots more great tracks that include "Earth Blues", "Let Me Love You", "Izabella", "Crash Landing", "Easy Blues", and "Mojo Man". CD

Metallica takes a break from cementing the legacy of thrash metal, after their Master Of Puppets tour, with this fun covers EP paying homage to few of their own heroes – from UK metal heroes Diamond Head and Holocaust, to hard rock forbears Budgie, to postpunk iconoclasts Killing Joke, to horror punk icons The Misfits! Includes "Helpless", "The Small Hours", "The Wait", "Crash Course In Brain Surgery" and "Last Caress/Green Hell". CD

Mott The Hoople in all of their 70s glory – Ian Hunter with superb songwriting skills, and vocals delivered in a way that have a lot more bite than his later solo work – all wrapped up in this fuzzy, compressed, glam-styled production that's totally great! Sure, David Bowie had the Spiders From Mars – but Mott The Hoople were the real deal, and were totally committed to this mode to the hilt – as you'll hear on titles that include "Pearl N Roy", "Born Late 58", "Marionette", "Through The Looking Glass", "Roll Away The Stone", "Crash Street Kidds", and "Trudi's Song" – plus 7 bonus tracks! CD

A trio of key albums from Mott The Hoople – presented here in a high-audio package! First up is Hoople – Mott The Hoople in all of their 70s glory – Ian Hunter with superb songwriting skills, and vocals delivered in a way that have a lot more bite than his later solo work – all wrapped up in this fuzzy, compressed, glam-styled production that's totally great! Sure, David Bowie had the Spiders From Mars – but Mott The Hoople were the real deal, and were totally committed to this mode to the hilt – as you'll hear on titles that include "Pearl N Roy", "Born Late 58", "Marionette", "Through The Looking Glass", "Roll Away The Stone", "Crash Street Kidds", and "Trudi's Song". Next is All The Young Dudes – maybe the most classic of all the Mott The Hoople albums of the early 70s – thanks in part to the classic title track, which was given to the group by David Bowie – who also supported the group with some fantastic production on this record too! Yet that hit is only one of many gems within – all delivered in a style that shows that Ian Hunter and the group were maybe in the territory of Mick Ronson and Bowie before they find their way with Ziggy – delivered here perfectly on tunes that have all the best elements of glam, but maybe more hard rock permanence and lyrical sensitivity too! In addition to "All The Young Dudes", the set also features a great remake of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane" – and the cuts "Soft Ground", "Sea Diver", "Sucker", "Jerkin Crocus", and "Momma's Little Jewel". Last up is Mott – a fantastic classic – the kind of record that will remind you that Mott The Hoople were way more than a glam band with a big radio hit – as there's a depth, complexity, and completely satisfying quality to the record that holds on all the way through! Sure, the group's got fantastic guitar – courtesy of Mick Ralphs, who was setting a tone that so many others would copy in years to come – but there's way more going on here, and the group are really getting a sense of their power and identity – even if they were never hitting the full chart status they deserved. The whole thing's great – lots of perfect moments from Ian Hunter – and titles include "Hymn For The Dudes", "Whizz Kid", "All The Way From Memphis", "I Wish I Was Your Mother", "Ballad Of Mott The Hoople", and "Honaloochie Boogie". CD

A heady brew of rare electronic tracks – and a package that's every bit as wonderful as the first Cold Waves volume! Like that set, this one really digs deep in the post-punk electronic underground – and features a lot of tracks that are appearing here on vinyl – either because they only saw original issue as cassette material, or because they were never issued at all – lost in the shifting sands of the time, in a generation that was dominated by bigger names like Cabaret Voltaire or New Order! These guys travel in similar, but much darker territory – and songs are often the best stark illustration of the cold wave style – on titles that include "Find Some Body" by Mystery Plane, "Pulse" by Berserk In A Hayfield, "Radio" by Void, "Elixir Vapor" by Disintegrators, "Transvision" by Void, "Undercurrents" by Body Electric, and "Out Of Space & Out Of Time" by The Lord. CD version includes the bonus "Fatal Crash Immersed The Start (Bass Mix)" by Modern Art. CD

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Here's a guy with a great gimmick – whistling! Jack Smith was a youngster, but he could blow with the best of them – whistling his way through the massive international pop hit "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" – a tune that's as groovy as it sounds, with a crashing goofy approach that's really really great! Smith wets his whistle on 11 other tracks on this one and only album – mixing in a bunch of cool arrangements from Ivor Raymonde that have a nice 60s Brit feel. Titles include "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman", "Song Of The Steppes", "Happy Wanderer", "Union Jack", and "Early One Morning". LP, Vinyl record album

The first album that Momus recorded for Creation Records – a label that provided him with a much stronger springboard than before – which was perfect for the way the singer blended very offbeat lyrics with compelling mainstream songcraft! Momus was always very different than most of the Brit 80s scene in which he worked – influenced strongly by the French work of singer/songwriters like George Brassens, Jacques Brel, and Serge Gainsbourg – but graced with a very British wit, which made for an especially biting style that worked well with the themes of his songs. Momus has a vocal style that's maybe somewhere in Donovan territory, but sharper – and he draws from a variety of European song modes, fitted to the situation of each individual songs – as you'll hear on classics like "Situation Comedy Blues", "Three Wars", "The Gatecrasher", "Flame Into Being", and the Serge Gainsbourg-like "Closer To You". LP, Vinyl record album

Anonymous experimentalists The Residents cover, satirize and stage an arty assault on the classic rock and pop regime! The group dispenses with all subtlety here, mocking the heck out of a couple decades worth of American pop culture soundtrack fodder. Anything that could be construed as "the sound of an era" gets skewered mercilessly – drag strip rockers become car crashes, pop songs are recast as creepy noise and other clearly satirical waves rush in throughout the 2 long pieces, but other movements are less obviously sarcastic, and even more innovative. It'd be smug if it wasn't so damn good! CD

Beat Happening's brilliant second album – raw, beautiful and timeless indie pop at its late 80s best! It's stunning how many underground rock bands still try their damnedest to sound like Beat Happening – but Calvin, Heather and Bret make it sound easy! It's certainly more full sounding than their debut, but it's still got a perfect less is more. Raw drums, barely chiming guitars and plaintive voices elevate naive little gems to the the avant pop heavens. Includes "Indian Summer", "Bewitched", "Hangman", "Crashing Through", "Cat Walk", "Midnight A Go-Go", and "The This Many Boyfriends Club". LP, Vinyl record album