... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A real moment of genius, even though we hate to admit it! At the time of its release, we hated this record – but have really come to respect it as a way of condensing and refining energy from the prog rock generation, and finding it a way to have new life in the 80s! The lineup is an all-star one, with roots in Yes, King Crimson, and other key groups – John Wetton on vocals and bass, Geoff Downes on keyboards, Steve Howe on guitars, and Carl Palmer on drums – on titles that include "Heat Of The Moment", "Only Time Will Tell", "Wildest Dreams", "Sole Survivor", "One Step Closer", and "Here Comes The Feeling". LP, Vinyl record album

(Cassettes, Rock) Cassette

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... CD

Produced by Harry Nilsson – with lots of his own sense of humor! (Comedy, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

The cover looks cheesy, but the record's a great one for prog fans – a cool evolution of the early 70s mode into the more compressed style that Yes would hit with Trevor Horn, or Asia would unfurl in the 80s! The group features Terry Thomas on guitars and vocals, John Anderson on bass and vocals – often nicely doubled in a Jon Anderson way – with more guitars from Martin Smith, keyboards from Julian Colbeck, and drums from Steve Gadd – not the famous jazz drummer, but equally nice! There's a nice sense of compression in the production – almost 10CC – but the quirkiness of the songs also resonates with some of the Phil Manzanera solo work of the time. LP, Vinyl record album

A great record for prog fans – a cool evolution of the early 70s mode into the more compressed style that Yes would hit with Trevor Horn, or Asia would unfurl in the 80s! The group features Terry Thomas on guitars and vocals, John Anderson on bass and vocals – often nicely doubled in a Jon Anderson way – with more guitars from Martin Smith, keyboards from Julian Colbeck, and drums from Steve Gadd – not the famous jazz drummer, but equally nice! There's a nice sense of compression in the production – almost 10CC – but the quirkiness of the songs also resonates with some of the Phil Manzanera solo work of the time. CD

You might not be able to understand the lyrics, but you'll definitely be moved by the instant charm of Malaysian rocker Adnan Othman – a singer who works here in a groovy blend of fuzzy guitar, mod rhythms, and all the other great sounds we love from late 60s French and British tracks of the time! In fact, there may be more French elements at work here than some of the more typical Anglo-influenced singers in Southeast Asia at the time – especially those romping rhythms and jangly guitar lines of the yeh-yeh generation, which really get these tunes moving even before Othman comes in with his vocals. By the end of the set, Adnan's expanding his sound a bit – moving from the work with The Rhythmn Boys that takes up most of the collection, to singing with The Wanderers and Flamingoes – all documented nicely in the notes and images in the package. Titles include "Bila Kah Gembira", "Doa Ku", "Bershukor", "Sapu Tangan", "Hari Bahagia", "Berlenggang", "Merana", "Mormah", and "Hidupu Tambah Gembira". (Global Grooves, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

The brilliant solo debut of Martin Rev – a set that feels like it's peeled away all his best contributions from the first Suicide album, then found a way to serve them up with a slightly different vibe that really sets the album apart! There's lots of analog fuzz and echo – that same spacey style that made Suicide so great – but the keyboards dominate even more than before, as only one tune features vocals – which lets Rev do all these really cool things with the electronics – continuing his way of taking earlier prog, avant, and Krautrock experiments and fusing them into a leaner, meaner style for the punk generation! The album's got a very seminal sound – a key text in the cold wave generation – and titles include "Jomo", "Mari", "Baby O Baby", "Nineteen 86", and "Asia". CD

The brilliant solo debut of Martin Rev – a set that feels like it's peeled away all his best contributions from the first Suicide album, then found a way to serve them up with a slightly different vibe that really sets the album apart! There's lots of analog fuzz and echo – that same spacey style that made Suicide so great – but the keyboards dominate even more than before, as only one tune features vocals – which lets Rev do all these really cool things with the electronics – continuing his way of taking earlier prog, avant, and Krautrock experiments and fusing them into a leaner, meaner style for the punk generation! The album's got a very seminal sound – a key text in the cold wave generation – and titles include "Jomo", "Mari", "Baby O Baby", "Nineteen 86", and "Asia". LP, Vinyl record album

Heady sounds from the Cambodian scene of the late 60s – a set of work that mixes together modes that may well have Cambodia sounding like the the most psychedelic nation in Southeast Asia! The music here is of two types – one a transformation of older Cambodian styles with a strong influence from European pop and rock, the other a more direct version of psychedelic modes – with lots of heavy, freaky guitar lines in the mix! The vocals on both styles are often recorded with a version of echo that's much more East Asian than anything ever used in the Anglo world – and taken together, the two modes of expression make the whole album a really rich collection of fresh sounds. Titles include "I Wonder" by Eng Nary, "Navy A Go Go" by Sinn Sisamout, "Rom Sue Sue" by Liev Tuk, "Jam 10 Kai Thiet" by Ros Serey Sothea, "Yuvajon Kouge Jet" by Yol Aularong, "Jomreang Oun Chreang" by Choun Malai, "Do You No Wrong Again" by Thra Kha Band, and "De Quoi Pleures-Tu" by Baksey Cham Krong & Mol Kamach. (Global Grooves, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

An imagined take on the Mid-East scene – not authentic tracks, but a mix of postwar recordings in a variety of styles – most of which mix rocking rhythms with the kind of exotic touches that fed fantasies back in the day when the area was known as Asia Minor! As with other "destination" series collections, the mix of work here is wonderful – all sorts of cool and unusual tunes, of the sort you might have found in The Cramps' record collections – music that moves between rock and soul, instrumental and vocal, jazz and exotica – as they chart a path for a desert caravan to follow! 32 tracks in all – and titles include "Pasha" by The Ramrocks, "Rockin In Bagdad" by Jerry Reid, "Turkish Doghouse Rock" by Kent Westberry, "Ali Baba" by Dave & The Customs, "Ali Baba's Boogie" by Preston Love", "Camel Walk (part 1)" by The Saxons, "Ali Ben Ghazi" by Jack Hammer, and "Habibi Twist" by The Latins. CD

Way more than just the rock and roll promised in the title – as the music here is surprisingly heartfelt, surprisingly moving, and surprisingly effective – even if we don't know the language! There's definitely a rock style on most tunes, but the music is hardly the kind of knockoff psych or garage from the Vietnam era of Southeast Asia – and instead often has this really organic, well put-together quality that makes these tunes stand strongly on their own! The package is designed to accompany the film of the same name – about the lost history of Cambodian rock at the time – but there's such a great array of notes in the package, the whole CD set is more than visually stunning on its own – and packed with great cuts that include "Crazy Loving You" by Drakkar, "Dance A Go Go" by Sinn Sisamouth, "Don't Be Angry" by Ros Serey Sother, "Unique Child" by Huoy Meas, "The Story Of My Love" by Chhoun Malay, "BCK" by Baksey Cham Krong, "Console Me" by Sieng Fannthy, and "Cyclo" by Yol Aularong. (Global Grooves, Rock) CD

Heady sounds from a variety of different scenes – served up here in a compilation that was one of the first to turn western ears onto the sounds of the east! The music is a fuzzy blend of sounds from Southeast Asia, Korea, India, and even Turkey – and the package was one of the first times we'd ever heard some styles that have now become much more common in the psych market – the kind of groundbreaking overseas moments that we love on labels like Guerssen/Pharaway or Finders Keepers! Titles include "Simla Beat Theme" by The Fentones, "Gonul Sabreyle Sabreyle" by 3 Hur El, "26 Miles" by The Quest, "Korean Titel A2" by Jung Hyun & The Men, "Istemem" by Erkin Koray, "Magic Colors" by Teddy Robin & The Playboys, "A2" by Cambodian Rocks, "Blind Bird" by The Mpos, and "You Know What I Mean" by Justin Heathcliff. LP, Vinyl record album

Mindblowing minimalism from the legendary Sandy Bull – an artist who might have had acoustic roots in folk music, but who was instantly turning his music into something else – drawing on modal styles of Eastern music, European generations of expression on guitar, jazz-based improvisation – and maybe even prefiguring work to come from composers like Terry Riley and La Monte Young! This album's one of Bull's first, and it's pure genius right from the start – with a side-long performance on the incredible "Blend", which features slight drums from jazz musician Billy Higgins – which Sandy extrapolates these long passages on acoustic guitar. Side two features the fantastic "Carmina Burana Fantasy" on banjo – a kind of trans-historical performance that's right up there with John Fahey's best of the decade – alongside equally mindblowing "Non Nobis Domine" and "Little Maggie" – and the closing electric guitar genius of "Gospel Tune". (Folk/Country, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Haunting work from Jimmy Campbell – an overlooked British songwriter at the end of the 60s, and one with a really unusual approach to his music! At some level, Jimmy's got some of the folksy touches of the Nick Drake generation – a sound that might have been right at home on Island Records – but at another level, his style here is very much his own too – a bit more sensitive, and delivered with this odd vocal quality that's unlike anything we can think of – as unique to Jimmy as Tom Rapp's voice was to Pearls Before Swine, or Biff Rose's was to his own great late 60s sides! Instrumentation is relatively spare on most numbers – just acoustic guitar and a bit of rhythm, yet hardly in typical folksy modes – and titles include "When I Sit Down To Reason", "Adrian Henri's Party Night", "On A Monday", "Lyanna", "Dear Marge", "Penny In My Pocket", "Another Vincent Van Gough", and "Michelangelo". CD

The final recording from the good Captain and his last crew, and one of our favorites. Sideways rhythms collide with arthritic guitar parts in a remarkable gumbo topped off by Don Van Vliet's unique lyrical vision. A modern classic! Includes "Ice Cream For Crow", "Semi Multi Coloured Caucasian", "Hey Garland, I Dig Your Tweed Coat", "The Past Sure Is Tense", "The Witch Doctor Life" and "81 Poop Hatch". LP, Vinyl record album

An early 70s gem from Captain Beefheart – not as wild-eyed and whacked out as the late 60s glories – but still a good stretch weirder than most of the post psych, blues-steeped rock of the time! Ultimately, it's still Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, despite it being billed solely to Captain Beefheart on the cover (and his only album NOT co-billed with The Magic Band) – and we'd say it's their first album to go for a consistent mood from beginning-to-end, and we love it for that! If the Trout Mask Replica and Lick My Decals Off Baby records are the more feral early twin masterpieces – we'd say this one and Clear Spot are the wiser and more focused siblings, but no less classic! Tracks include "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby","Grow Fins", "There Ain't No Santa Clause On The Evenin' Stage", "Blabbern Smoke", "Alice In Blunderland", "The Spotlight Kid", and "Glider". Great 2LP version features lots of rare tracks – the never issued full length versions of "I'm Gonna Booglarize You" and "Pompadour Stomp" – plus the instrumental "Semi Multicolored Caucasian", and the tracks "Harry Irene", "Best Batch Yet (version 1)", "I Can't Do This Unless I Can Do This/Seam Crooked Sam", "The Witch Doctor Life (inst)", and "Two Rips In A Haystack/Kiss Me My Love". LP, Vinyl record album

(Cassettes, Rock) Cassette

Jack White following his farthest reaching eclectic tendencies wherever they'll lead him – as has been his modus operandi for years – but this time farther away from the raging, if still pretty idiosyncratic guitar rock of Lazzaretto and much of his past catalog to a more wildly diverse, intentionally all over the place sound! Starting with a rock & soul anthem complete with a gospel style chorus that leads to a leaner synth rock ballad, Boarding House Reach reaches from there to call-and-response funk rock, to folk soul hybrids, to straighter hard grooving rock and beyond. 13 tracks in all: "Connected By Love", "Why Walk A Dog?", "Corporation", "Abulia And Akrasia", "Hypermisophoniac", "Ice Station Zebra", "Over And Over And Over", "Respect Commando", "What's Done Is Done", "Humoresque" and more. CD

The second album from Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, not as much of an electro groove filled affair as the first, but still a great batch of quirky techno-electro Asian pop with lots of great bubbling synth touches! 8 tracks in all including "Behind The Mask", "Day Tripper", "Technopolis", "Multiples", "Citizens Of Science" and "Solid State Survivor". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from Harumi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi, not as much of an electro groove filled affair as the first, but still a great batch of quirky techno-electro Asian pop with lots of great bubbling synth touches! 8 tracks in all including "Behind The Mask", "Day Tripper", "Technopolis", "Multiples", "Citizens Of Science" and "Solid State Survivor". LP, Vinyl record album

Cambodian rock, pop and psychedelia from the 60s & 70s – compiled by the members of Dengue Fever, LA's modern torchbearers of rare prime rock era rarities from Cambodia! It's wonderful stuff – like a lot of the sounds from the pulpy garage rock era Asian underground, most tunes have love female vocals, but the instrumentation varies from raw r&b & kind of moddish influenced sounds, to more psychedelic electric guitar and hazy melodies, bits of funk, and strains that come closer to traditional Cambodian sounds. The tracks were culled for rare cassette tapes, and the sound quality is top notch! Titles include "Give Me One Kiss" by Dara Chom Chan, "Don't Speak", "Jombang Jet", "I Will Marry You" and more by Pan Ron, "Shave Your Beard", "Flowers In The Pond", "I Will Starve Myself To Death", "Cold Sky" and more by Ros Sereysothea. 12 tracks in all. (Global Grooves, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary compilation – and one that marked the start of the huge On-U Sound legacy to follow throughout the 90s! The work here is maybe even more messed-up than some of the later productions by Adrian Sherwood – as there's maybe a bit more post-punk influence in the blend, alongside plenty of that Jamaican groove that was so important to both Sherwood and the UK scene at the time, already getting manipulated here in the way that made the producer and label such an important aesthetic force in years to come! Titles include "Bed Bound Saga" by Machine Gun Hogg & Co, "Woodpecker Sound" by Jah Woosh, "Quit The Body" by The Chicken Granny, "Dreams Are Better" by London Underground, "Demonic Forces" by Alan Pellay, "Afghani Dub" by The Mothmen, "The Dice" by Judy Nylon, "Yipee I Aah" by New Age Steppers, "Quante Jubila" by Prince Far I & Creation Rebel, and "Asian Rebel" by Suns Of Arqua. (Reggae, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album