A pair of great albums from the overlooked Ars Nova – back to back in a single set! First up is the 1968 self-titled Ars Nova – a wonderful little set of post-folk rock – with lots of lovely baroque touches! Ars Nova were really short-lived group – known for only two rare records – but they've got a sound that perfectly sums up a generation! There's a wonderful LA late 60s sound here – somewhere between Love and The Byrds, with the baroque touches of the former and the best country influences of the latter – all wrapped up in earnest, honest songwriting that makes even the ambitious moments come across with surprising charm. A true lost relic, and the kind of record that should be in any late 60s cannon! Titles include "Album In Your Mind", "Pavan For My Lady", "General Clover Ends A War", "And How Am I To Know", "Fields Of People", "Automatic Love", and "Song To The City". Sunshine & Shadows is the second tripped-out set from Ars Nova – an under-remembered late 60s group who had a great talent for blending together a range of different styles! At some level, Ars Nova share qualities with some of the harder-jamming groups of their time – but they've also got a sound that expands to bring in folk, blues, jazz, and more baroque elements – played by the group with a lineup that includes some nice work on trumpet by Jimmy Owens, who at this point was a core member of the combo. Brooks Arthur handled the overall music direction, with a quality that recalls some of his work on Verve – and the album features the wonderful bossa-styled groover "Walk On The Sand", a romping soul jazz take on Jimmy Owens' "You Had Better Listen", and the cuts "Rubbish", "Please Don't Go Now", "Temporary Serenade", "She Promises Everything", and "Round Once Again". CD

Sweet and salty psych-soul-rock-funk from Adrian Quesada and Shawn Lee, working together as The Electric Peanut Butter Company! They're a company of just 2, handling every aspect themselves, but if you if ever heard anything by either party, you know this is going to have a huge sound. Lots of fuzzed out psych funk touches on this one – a mix of heady instrumentals and some fun vocal numbers. Shawn handles the singing, and the duo are both multi-instrumentalists and leftfield funk geniuses – managing to work with myriad influences without sounding exactly like anyone but themselves. The drums, guitars and keyboards are masterful here, but there's a lot of cool instrumental and production touches throughout. Vol 1 is actually the duo's second album – the first was Vol 2 (naturally!) – and it delivers on the diverse debut, and then some! Includes "Flexi Funk", "Beer Good", "Spread The Jam", "Stealio", "Tennis Elbow", "Mister Pink", "Austin City Limiter", "Go Go Go", "Damn Skippy", "Jenn Wu", "Fat Budda" and more. (Deep Funk, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Dusty Springfield on Atlantic Records – a match made in heaven, and one that's presented here perfectly in a batch of two dozen tracks that are all served up in their original mono mixes for 45rpm seven inch singles! Dusty had already been one of the most soulful singers on the UK scene in the 60s – and her Philips recordings are real favorites of ours – but when she moved to Atlantic, the label gave her some key soul-based backings – in Memphis, Philly, and Muscle Shoals – plus some great New York sessions too. Only eight of these mono versions have ever been on CD before – and the whole thing's presented with great sound and notes on this key period in Dusty's career – alongside tracks that include "Silly Silly Fool", "Brand New Me", "Bad Case Of The Blues", "That Old Sweet Roll", "Willie & Laura Mae Jones", "Haunted", "What Do You Do When Love Dies", "Son Of A Preacher Man", "Just A Little Lovin", "Breakfast In Bed", "I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore", "So Much Love", "What Good Is I Love You", and "Nothing Is Forever". (Vocalists, Rock) CD

The start of a whole new chapter – with "Shoot To Thrill", "Rock & Roll Ain't Noise Pollution", "Hells Bells", "Back In Black", and "Given The Dog A Bone". LP, Vinyl record album

Filled with classics – including "Girls Got Rhythm", "Highway To Hell", "Shot Down In Flames", "Touch Too Much", and "If You Want Blood". CD

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Laura Branigan gets some help here on arrangements from Harold Faltermeyer – who makes things a bit funkier than you might expect – although still very much in the kind of poppy style he used famously on some big 80s soundtracks! The mode works well for Laura – whose approach is always on the soulful side of pop, but still filled here with all the sense of drama that made Branigan huge on the charts at the time. Titles include "Heart", "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "The Lucky One", "Self Control", and "Satisfaction". This 2CD version features the main album on CD1 – and CD2 features rare material that includes "Hot Night", "Self Control (ext)", "Self Control (classic summer mix 1982)", "The Lucky One (Jack White mix)", "Satisfaction (special dance mix)", "When (single)", "Lucky One (John Robie mix)", and "Self Control (117 bmp club 1992)". CD

A seminal collection of work from Buffalo Springfield – a group with a short-lived existence on the LA scene, but an impact that shaped the sound of mainstream rock for many years to come! That effect is no surprise – given that the lineup features a young Neil Young, Stephen Stills, and Richie Furay – moving from folk influences into trippier, headier territory – and paving the way for both classic and country rock to come! Here at the start, things are nice and lean – well-penned tunes that pack a heck of a lot into a very short space – given key production help from Jack Nitzsche, Brian Stone, Jim Messina, and even Neil Young himself. Titles include "For What It's Worth", "Mr Soul", "Broken Arrow", "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Win", "Expecting To Fly", "Go & Say Goodbye", "On The Way Home", "Sit Down I Think I Love You", and "Kind Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

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Titles include "Dark Star", "Just A Song Before I Go", "I Give You Give Blind", "In My Dreams", and "Carried Away". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Carry On", "Teach Your Children", "Helpless", "Almost Cut My Hair", and "Country Girl". LP, Vinyl record album

The only album ever issued by this very groovy group – a quartet who wandered from Philly to San Francisco in the late 60s – where they clearly picked up the right sort of energy to let their freak flag fly! Yet these guys aren't totally Bay Area, either – as they've got more of the east coast roots that echo their start in the Philly scene a few years before – almost that mix of tightness and hipness that graced some of the best Long Island groups who were finding their way into New York during the same generation. There's plenty going on here – especially some nice songwriting, and a way of appreciating influences from blues and soul music – yet never coming across as a blues rock band at all. Titles include "Baby Leroy", "Over The Hill", "Ship Of The Future", "West Wind", "Royal Fool", "Lebanese Packhorse", and "Smokehouse". CD

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Titles include the huge hits "Feels Like The First Time" and "Cold As Ice" – plus "The Damage Is Done", "Woman Oh Woman", "Long Long Way From Home", and "At War With The World". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the stranger albums on Atlantic at the start of the 70s – but a surprising hit as well! The group are a batch of Philly studio players who serve up instrumental versions of late 60s rock numbers, plus some of their own bits – all recording at the Sigma Sound studios, with arrangements from Richard Rome and Tom Sellers! It's our guess that some of the players are names we'd recognize from later 70s Philly soul – but here, they're working in a unique space that's partly fuzz instrumental, partly a bit more sensitive too – renditions that go way past the usual "let's remake the hits" style of other records, thanks to the arrangements. Titles include "Overture From Tommy", "Ohio", "Where The Woodbine Twineth", "Woodstock", "Mr Peppercorn", "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa", and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". (Now Sound, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic album from this legendary British group – a bluesy rock combo who grew up in the same space as Fleetwood Mac and Savoy Brown, but who never fully got their due on this side of the Atlantic! The group here is a unique lineup that only recorded this one album – a trio with John Glascock on bass and Paul Hancox on drums – two players who give leader Stan Webb plenty of space in the spotlight, which means a very strong emphasis on his mindblowing work on guitar! Webb's a musician with the chops of contemporaries Eric Clapton and Peter Green, and you can definitely hear that here – and, like his contemporaries, Stan is also really taking the music way past its bluesy inspirations – using the trio to maybe bring in more of a hard rock vibe, yet never going too far in that direction either. Titles include "Daughter Of The Hillside", "Crying Won't Help You Now", "The Loser", "Telling Your Fortune", and "Poor Boy". CD features bonus tracks – single versions of "Poor Boy" and "Telling Your Fortune". CD

An incredible late album from Bobby Darin – and a real treasure! The record was cut after Darin's mid 60s fascination with the work of Tim Hardin, most of which he re-recorded for Atlantic during that time – but it's got a similar style to the Hardin years, yet features some stunning original compositions by Darin. After the confidence of his early show days, it's amazing to hear Bobby D singing songs like this – filled with sadness, insecurity, and kind of a mind-numbing inability to cope with the times. Of course, part of this has to do with Darin's increasingly poor health conditions (he was predicted to live a very short life at an early age) – and the raw honest experimental quality of the album's a real testament to Darin's perpetual struggle to combine a strong professional bent to be a crossover entertainer with an increasing (and surprising) desire to emerge as a creative force on his own. Includes the sublime "I Can See The Wind", plus "Change", "Sunday", "Questions", and "The Proper Gander". (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Important early work from The Incredible String Band – three albums in one great package! First up is the first album from the Incredible String Band – a real treasure from the trio of Clive Palmer, Mike Heron and Robin Williamson – who each sing and write, and bring unique charm to their own material! The sound is very folksy, and really lives up to their name – mostly just music on fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and guitar – served up in a blend that both echoes British traditional styles, yet paves the way for new expressions in the acid folk generation to come – especially on the group's original material. The group are really wonderful at this point – with a sound that drew them wide acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic – and titles include "Maybe Someday", "October Song", "When The Music Starts To Play"", "Schaeffer's Jig", "Womankind", "The Tree", "Whistle Tune", "Dandelion Blues", "Good As Gone", and "Footsteps Of The Heron". Next is 5000 Spirits – a UK psychedelic folk gem that finds the group challenging conventions across the board – both artful and inviting, it's wonderful stuff! At this point, Clive Palmer had left, and Mike Heron and Robin Williamson contribute lead vocals with the additional vocalist Licorice also taking lead on a few tunes, the sound is fleshed out with more accompaniment and a rich warmth on a bevy of instruments – guitar, sitar, bowed gimbri, finger cymbals, tamboura, oud, rattles, flute, bass and piano. Includes the lovely and oft-covered "The First Girl I Loved", plus "Chinese White", "No Sleep Blues", "Painting Box", "The Eyes Of Fate", "The Hedgehog's Song", "You Know What I Could Be", "Gently Tender", "Way Back In The 1960s" and more. On Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, The Incredible String Band are paired down to the core duo of Mike Heron and Robin Williamson – using the studio as a most impressive adjunct member of the group at this point! This is an extremely talented pair – each playing myriad instruments – sitar, organ, guitar, hammer dulcimer, harpsichord, gimbri, whistle, pipe, oud, mandolin, mouth harps and more. Previous vocal collaborator Licorice sings on one song, and Dolly Collins and David Snell contribute flute organ, piano and harp – but the main duos incredible way of layering their magic with multitracking in the studio the real masterstroke of the effort. Titles include "Koeoaddi There", "Witch's Hat", "The Water Song", "Swift As The Wind", "Nightfall", "Waltz Of The New Moon", "Three Is A Green Crown" and more. (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

A hell of a collaboration between British legends Bert Jansch and John Renbourn – both working here together to completely redefine the sound of their music for the generation to come! This one album may well hold all the sense of subtle power and possibility that was about to flower in the Brit movement often known as "acid folk" – that reworking of older aesthetics with modern conceptions, and doing so mostly with their work on acoustic guitar – quite a feat, given the stripped-down instrumentation of the set! Bert sings a bit – in that incredible style of his – but the real attraction here is the guitar interplay, which is always fresh, never hokey, neither familiar American folk nor forced singer-songwriter backup material. Titles include a wonderful reworking of Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" – plus "Red's Favourite", "Orlando", "Soho", "Piano Tune", "East Wind", "After The Dance", and "The Time Has Come". (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

A huge record in its day – a set that took all the underground Brit indie psych revival modes, and found a way to spring them on the mainstream on both sides of the Atlantic! Not a huge hit in its day, but hugely influential – and a record that points the way towards sounds so many would soon follow. Titles include "In A Hole", "The Hardest Walk", "Taste The Floor", "Just Like Honey", "Never Understand", and "You Trip Me Up". LP, Vinyl record album

The complete recordings of Kursaal Flyers – one of the sharper, wittier groups of the UK pub rock generation – although one that never made the leap to our side of the Atlantic! There's a really special vibe going on here – the kind of group who were clearly raised on the roots of rock and roll, but who have a wit and talent that allows them to push things forward with all these little twists and turns, almost as if they're making a commentary on contemporary rock while serving up a pretty good entry in the genre! The group recorded for the same UK label that issued the early material by 10CC – and there's a similar balance going on here, right down to some really inventive production that makes the whole thing come together nicely. The package features four full albums by the group – Chocs Away, Great Artiste, Golden Mile, Five Live Kursaals, and A Former Tour De Force Is Forced To Tour – plus 17 more bonus tracks, and a big booklet of notes! CD

Fantastic work from one of the grooviest singers of the 60s – the amazing Mina, a vocalist who hardly made waves on this side of the Atlantic, but who served up a wealth of wonderful material from the Italian scene at the time! You might know Mina from a few key soundtrack contributions she made over the years – her vocal range is stunning – and arrangements here are often by important forces from the Italian cinema scene – like Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni, Augusto Martelli, and Bruno Canforna – all of whom give Mina these full, rich backings that really match the vivid quality of her voice! But there's also groovy elements at the core, too – styles that are similar to French or British female pop of the period – especially with some of the soul currents of the latter – but shaped differently, given both Mina's style, and the Italian language and the way it comes across in song. The package is long overdue – maybe the first-ever done for the international market on Mina's music – and as with all work on Ace, the presentation is great, with very detailed notes that will teach you plenty while you enjoy the songs – a lineup that includes "Se Telefonando", "E L'Umo Per Me", "Io Sono Quel Che Sono", "No", "Citta Vuota", "Tu Farai", "Beve Amore", "Addio", "Insensatez", "Se C'E Una Cosa Che Mi Fa Impazzire", "TA Ra Ta Ta", and "La Banda". (Vocalists, Rock) CD

The first two albums from Mr Fox – UK folk contemporaries of Fairport Convention and Pentangle, but a group who are maybe even more committed to the traditional roots in their sound! The self-titled Mr Fox features vocals from both Bob and Carole (later Carolanne) Pegg – singing together and trading leads in a way that really elevates the majesty of the music – which, according to them, comes from the ancient world of the Yorkshire dales – a quality that definitely comes through in the way they vocalize the words. Instrumentation is mostly acoustic, but these guys use electric bass in the best ways of their bigger contemporaries – really setting the music apart from familiar folk, and giving it a sinister edge at the bottom – and occasionally peppering things with organ lines too. Titles include "The Hanged Man", "Join Us In Our Game", "The Ballad Of Neddy Dick", "Mr Fox", and "Salisbury Plain". The Gipsy is a record that expands the sound nicely from the group's debut – adding in some slight electric touches in surprising places – including the fiddles and organ – and also using some original material by the group that really burns with a nice deep edge. There's an attempt here to move past conventional acid folk styles – although never in commercial ways – just compelling juxtapositions of instrumentation and vocal interplay, which almost seems to unlock more of a pagan vibe in their sound! Titles include "House Carpenter", "The Gipsy", "Aunt Lucy Broadwood", "Mendle", and "All The Good Times". CD

Brilliant work from Nirvana – a duo who bring together so many wonderful elements of late 60s Brit pop – from weird trippy touches to tuneful melodies to superb full arrangements – handled here by giants Mike Vickers, Johnny Scott, and Tony Visconti! There's a bounce and a push to all the cuts here – tunes that might be self-indulgent or too weird in other hands, but which bristle with catchy, creative energy throughout – of the sort that should have made these guys huge at the time – and which certainly should have earned them a bigger place on our side of the Atlantic! We love this stuff in the way we like Donovan with Mickie Most, or maybe late 60s Hollies – but Nirvana is weirder than both – as you'll hear on tracks that include "Illinois", "The World Is Cold Without You", "Christopher Lucifer", "Aline Cherie", "Tres Tres Bien", "It Happened To Sundays Ago", "Love Suite", and "Black Flower". CD

Great late 70s work from John Prine – a set that signals his shift to Asylum Records from Atlantic, but with a quality that's still got all the best open, honest touches that Prine brought to American music when he emerged from the Chicago scene! Production is by Steve Goodman – an old buddy from Chicago – and the presentation is mostly pretty stripped-down, and with a focus on Prine's always-biting lyrics, and his wonderful vocal presentation. Titles include "Fish & Whistle", "Iron Ore Betty", "If You Don't Want My Love", "The Hobo Song", "Crooked Piece Of Time", "Sabu Visits The Twin Cities Alone", and "That's The Way That The World Goes Round". (Folk/Country, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

A really great early album from Ryuichi Sakamoto – done during a time when his creative powers seemed to be non-stop, and he was always opening up new sonic territory with each new record! This set brings in some great guitar and "angry animals" from Adrian Belew – a factor that helped the record get some attention over on our side of the Atlantic – but the overall sound is very much in the legacy of Ryuichi's other albums – filled with plenty of electric percussion, keyboards, and other bits – on tunes that are always a bit off-kilter, but always tuneful – often using vocals and effects in ways that push way past conventional pop of the period – and equally comfortable with long instrumental moments too. Titles include "Living In The Dark", "Slat Dance", "Venezia", "Tell Em To Me", "The Garden Of Poppies", and "Relache". 2CD version – with the rare instrumental album! CD

A fantastic early chapter in the solo career of Paul Simon – an unusual 60s album made away from Art Garfunkel, and only released in the UK at the time! Word has it that Paul was never happy with the record, but we find it to be amazing – and this surprising link between his young talents and the growing wave of British folk geniuses, like John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, or John Martyn – as Paul mostly sings and plays guitar with very little in the way of other instrumentation – transforming the familiar songs recorded by Simon & Garfunkel into material that might be more at home on Transatlantic Records during the same time – very personal, very moody, and surprisingly dark overall. Titles include "Patterns", "He Was My Brother", "A Most Peculiar Man", "Sound Of Silence", "A Church Is Burning", "April Come She Will", "Leaves That Are Green", "Flowers Never Ben With The Rainfall", and "A Simple Desultory Philippic". LP, Vinyl record album

The starkest, sparest ever by Bruce Springsteen – sans accompaniment for the most part, having famously opted to release the haunting guitar, voice and harmonica demos as the actual album – and it's devastatingly strong to this day! The hallmark facet is that it's a largely solo acoustic record, the the great thing about that is how distinctively Springsteen sounding it is – with the all the earnestness of his more anthemic material, and more – just done with a sometimes somber, always intimate approach. One of those records that deserves all of the lofty praise! Includes "Nebraska", "Atlantic City", "Mansion On The Hill", "Johnny 99", "State Trooper", "Used Cars", "Open All Night", "My Father's House" and "Reason To Believe".. CD

The second album from Trapeze – stripped down to a trio here, and coming across with a quality that really showcases the hard rock directions that lead singer Glenn Hughes would have in years to come! The drums are great – thanks to work from Dave Holland – and the guitars burst in with just the right searing moments, as Hughes sings with more soul than before, and maybe a quality that sounds a bit like Paul Rodgers on some of the more hard-rocking tunes. The album's probably the group's best-remembered – and the one that got the most circulation over here on this side of the Atlantic – an overlooked hard rock classic, with very strong vocals in the lead! Titles include "Seafull", "Black Cloud", "Jury", "Your Love Is Alright", "Makes You Wanna Cry", and "Medusa". This edition features loads of bonus tracks – with mono and stereo edits of "Black Cloud" on CD2, plus live material from a Pop Workshop and Flushing, NY performance – and CD3 features five more tracks recorded live in 1971! CD

Key years in the Bert Berns story – that magical mid 60s period when Berns was coming up with some killer soul sides, and a few famous rockers too! The sound here is tremendous – kind of a "wall of sound" to New York soul – that marvelous style that's also known as uptown soul, for its careful production and sense of class. Some of the most important Berns moments are collected here, alongside lesser-known gems that really round out the sound – including 8 tracks appearing on CD for the first time, which should be plenty to peak the interest of any 60s soul collectors (as if the great Ace notes and package weren't enough!) Production is wonderful throughout, and the set list features some killer Atlantic/Atco singles – plus other gems from smaller indies of the period – cuts that include "Mojo Mama" by Don Varner, "No One Could Ever Love You" by Freddie Scott, "Show Me Your Monkey" by Kenny Hamber, "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" by Solomon Burke, "It Was Easier To Hurt Her" by Garnett Mimms, "I Went Out With My Baby Tonight" by Moses K & The Prophets, "Run Mascara" by The Exciters, "Cry No More" by Ben E King, "Mr Success" by Bobby Harris, "Gone Gone" by Roy C, "Better Not Believe Him" by Barbara Lewis, "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison, "I Got To Go Back" by Otis Redding, "If I Would Marry You" by Tammy Montgomery, and "Come On Girl" by The Knight Brothers. (Soul, Rock) CD