Great stuff – one of the amazing early albums from the team of Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger – kind of a next-generation to the Brit beat group sound of the mid 60s – one that moves beyond simple R&B modes, to bring in more sophisticated soul and jazz touches! Driscoll's vocals are amazing – some of the boldest belted out in the British scene at the time – and Auger's Hammond work really cooks throughout – at a level that easily makes him one of the best UK organists to hit the scene, amidst some very heady company in the 60s. There's a few bluesy moments, but our favorites are the funky ones – especially the group's reading of "Season Of The Witch", which is tremendous. Other cuts include "In & Out", "Black Cat", "Goodbye Jungle Telegraph", and "Break It Up". (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Tweedy, Coldplay, The Hives, Cat Power, The Flaming Lips, Gnarls Barkley, Vampire Weekend, Wilco, Leighton Meester, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney & Wings, The Black Keys, and more. (Soundtracks, Rock) CD

A classic rock power trio – with titles that include "Black Cat Moan", "Lady", "Sweet Sweet Surrender", "Lose Myself With You", "Livin Alone", "Oh To Love You", and surprising takes on Stevie Wonder's "Superstation" and Curtis Mayfield's "I'm So Proud". CD

Fantastic sounds from Terry Allen – one of the key underground Texas talents who were helping transform the style of country music in the 70s – and one of the few who maybe never fully got his due! Terry's from the same scene as David Allen Coe, Billy Joe Shaver, and Guy Clark, but his music is much more underground than theirs – maybe only ever designed to be put forth in an intimate club setting, late in the night – where the very conversational style of Allen's songs almost make them feel like barroom musings of a cat who's seen a heck of a lot of life on this planet, but still very able to peer into the souls of those he comes across. This double-length set is Allen's masterpiece – originally issued on a small pressing back in the 70s, and very much an alt-country relic – but from a time when such a thing didn't even exist. Titles include "Cocktails For Three", "High Plains Jamboree", "Amarillo Highway", "Lubbock Woman", "Rendezvous USA", "The Girl Who Danced Oklahoma", "Truckload Of Art", and "The Pink & Black Song". Great reissue – with corrected sound, and a huge booklet of notes on Allen – with essays by David Byrne and others. (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

Motherlode tapped out of the recording came after this excellent second album – and they're every bit as wonderful here as on their debut – working with a really unique blend of rock and soul – and getting a groove that few other groups of the time could touch! The harmonies are superb – much more early 70s soul than the look of the group on the cover – and while they bring in some rockish touches in the instrumentation, they also blend it with more soulful currents too – including some nice funky moments in the rhythms, and great southern style use of organ and saxophone. The whole album's great – filled with under-discovered gems – and titles include "Quality Of Leadership", "Righteous Land", "Been So Long", "Robert E Lee", "Black Cat", "Hiro Smothek", and "Lilac Wine". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Includes tracks by Black Sabbath, Scott Walker, Minnie Riperton, Robert Wyatt, Lee Hazelwood, Cat Power, the Troggs, Japan, Nino Rota, and the Cure. (Funky Compilations, Rock) CD

Four incredible albums from Hammond legend Brian Auger – a key link between jazz and the headier sounds of the UK scene at the end of the 60s! First up is Open – one of the amazing early albums from the team of Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger – kind of a next-generation to the Brit beat group sound of the mid 60s – one that moves beyond simple R&B modes, to bring in more sophisticated soul and jazz touches! Driscoll's vocals are amazing – some of the boldest belted out in the British scene at the time – and Auger's Hammond work really cooks throughout – at a level that easily makes him one of the best UK organists to hit the scene, amidst some very heady company in the 60s. There's a few bluesy moments, but our favorites are the funky ones – especially the group's reading of "Season Of The Witch", which is tremendous. Other cuts include "In & Out", "Black Cat", "Goodbye Jungle Telegraph", and "Break It Up". Definitely What is a landmark batch of funky organ work that made big waves in both the rock and jazz worlds at the time! Auger's really stretching out here – getting past the simple R&B of his roots, and going into a bubbling funky style that's clearly touched by chromatic inspirations from Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith – both of whom are referenced by some of the song structures on the set. The album's filled with killer organ-based instrumentals – some lean and stripped down, others full and rich – and all of them coming across with a richly soulful sound that you'd hardly expect from a member of the British rock scene! Titles include "Day In The Life", "Red Beans", "Definitely What!", and his classic "Bumpin' On Sunset". Streetwise is filled great funky grooves by the legendary Trinity group – featuring excellent keyboard work by Brian Auger, recorded during the period when he was really beginning to stretch out a bit, and hit a much more open-ended kind of sound. Julie Driscoll is still on vocals, singing in her raw sound, but Brian's Trinity group gets a fair number of nice instrumental moments on the set – which are greatly appreciated! Titles include the classic and sample laden "Light My Fire", "Czechoslovakia", "Finally Found You Out", "In Search Of The Sun", "Ellis Island", "I've Got Life", and "Save The Country". Befour is the third album from Brian Auger & The Trinity – and the first to feature the group recording without vocals from Julie Driscoll! The sound here is just as soulful as before – a tight take on American soul jazz and funky soul of the 60s – pushed along by Auger's mighty work on the Hammond organ, and featuring (this time around) some male lead vocals, which seem to give the album an even deeper feel than earlier work! Auger's included some great covers of American tunes like "I Want To Take You Higher", "Listen Here", and "Maiden Voyage" – all redone with some great Brit beat group touches – and the album also features a great take on Faure's "Pavane", and Auger's own "Just You Just Me". (Jazz, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A lost prog nugget from a group who mix keyboards and woodwinds in a really great way – almost complicated, but with a down to earth quality overall – and one that seems to work especially well with the French language lyrics of the set! The record's one of those obscure French sets from the mid 70s with a sound that almost seems out of time – made far away from the mainstream, without any idea of the punk or disco changes that were taking place elsewhere – and with that more intellectual, more personal approach that often marked records of this nature as both a standout strength, and quality that would keep them from forever getting picked up by bigger labels for global circulation. Yet that balance is what makes the record so great, especially decades later – with titles that include "Divertimento", "Tramontane", "Laure", "Naissance", "Premiers Pas", and "Dernier Village Premieres Neiges". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The fourth nearly flawless album of heavy genius from Black Sabbath – featuring some of the mightiest rock riffs ever! Vol 4 is just the tiniest of notches below Master Of Reality and Paranoid in overall greatness – which is the tiniest of possible complaints given that those previous two albums are among the few truly perfect rock and roll albums ever recorded! But this one has "Supernaut". Enough said. Other titles include "Wheels Of Confusion", "Tomorrows Dreams", "Changes", "FX", "Snowblind", "Cornucopia", "Under The Sun" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Pure magic from Thin Lizzy – and a set that has them in the same cool, compressed territory they unlocked on their classic Jailbreak album! Like that set, all the best elements here are firmly in place – fantastic vocals and basslines from Phil Lynott, searing guitar from Gary Moore, and a sense of focus and songwriting that really keeps things interesting – edgey, but catchy – never too commercial, but always right on the money. The whole thing's done with complex songwriting and great time changes – exposing a deeper, almost jazzier influence to the group's sound – that special Thin Lizzy different that always set them apart. Titles include "Do Anything You Want To", "Toughest Street In Town", "Get Out Of Here", "Roisin Dubh", "With Love", "Waiting For An Alibi", and "S&M". CD

Frenetic and energetic work from James White and the Blacks – a seminal album in the post-punk New York scene, and one of the fiercest documents of the no wave sound! White combines jagged punk rock guitars with some more funk-inspired rhythms and odd traces of free jazz – all sifted into one genre-f*cking album that grabs you from the get-go! The sound is incredible – an inspiration for countless other groups, but rarely duplicated as well – with tracks that include "Bleached Black", "White Devil", "Almost Black", "Heat Wave", "Stained Sheets", and "Contort Yourself". LP, Vinyl record album

Wildly eclectic compilation with tracks by Charles Bradley & The Menahan Street Band, Ethan & Maya Hawke, Mac DeMarco all covering tracks by Rodriguez, Betty Davis, Haruomi Hosono and others in the LITA catalog! LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool concept album from the Chicago scene of the late 60s – a set that has dreamy sunshine pop harmonies blended with some darker psychedelic elements – all at a level that resonates strongly with the Dunwich production the whole thing received! There's almost a UK late 60s vibe to the whole thing, although the harmonies are pure US sunshine too – served up by a variation of The Castaways, who you'll know from earlier catchy classics! Guitar lines – both acoustic and electric – and other production elements provide a nicely sinister core – and the whole thing is a lost gem really worth rediscovering. Titles include "Recess With Mrs Grim", "Death & The Reality", "Time Marches On", "Theme From House Of Leather", "Sarah's On Her Knees", "She Lives With Me", and "There Is Love In The Country". CD

A really cool concept album from the Chicago scene of the late 60s – a set that has dreamy sunshine pop harmonies blended with some darker psychedelic elements – all at a level that resonates strongly with the Dunwich production the whole thing received! There's almost a UK late 60s vibe to the whole thing, although the harmonies are pure US sunshine too – served up by a variation of The Castaways, who you'll know from earlier catchy classics! Guitar lines – both acoustic and electric – and other production elements provide a nicely sinister core – and the whole thing is a lost gem really worth rediscovering. Titles include "Recess With Mrs Grim", "Death & The Reality", "Time Marches On", "Theme From House Of Leather", "Sarah's On Her Knees", "She Lives With Me", and "There Is Love In The Country". LP, Vinyl record album

An unusual little set from Pennsylvania's Case – a group who were decidedly younger and maybe geekier than some of their heady contemporaries in the early 70s underground – and who come across here with a garagey vibe that maybe recalls indie sets from the decade before! The album was recorded on a four track in the group's school music classroom over Christmas break – which gives the whole thing a nice sense of "room", and a relatively live feel – more like you were catching these youthful cats starting to practice before a gig. Titles include "Crystal Ball", "Coming Home", "Ali On The Run", "Lover", "Out Of It", and "Someday". CD

The amazing debut of Be Bop Deluxe – a record that's made up of all sorts of familiar parts, yet somehow really manages to set itself apart as a whole! The young Bill Nelson is at the top of his game here – a hell of a guitarist, which we sometimes forget in his later work – and a vocalist with a sinister edge that gives the record a sense of darkness that matches the compressed production and overall moody vibe – a child of the Bowie/Bolan generation, but one that's a real black sheep of the family too! The strength of the record is impossible to sum up in easy words – but it's there for the hearing, right from the very first note – on titles that include "Jet Silver & The Dolls Of Venus", "Axe Victim", "Love Is Swift Arrows", "No Trains To Heaven", "Jets At Dawn", "Rocket Cathedrals", and "Third Floor Heaven". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best American psyche albums we've heard from the late 60s – a near-perfect record that's head and shoulders above the rough experimentation of most other groups from the period! Colours spell their name with a definite British twist, and there's clearly a Beatles influence going on here – a sound that's almost pre-Sgt Peppers, but which has wonderfully complicated time changes, vocal parts, and production techniques that must have cost a pretty penny to such a little-known group! Horns and strings are arranged by Dave Roberts, and handled with a sensitivity that almost matches The Zombies' best at times – and the tunes themselves are a fresh variety of odd themes, including one number about robbing a liquor store. Titles include "Brother Lou's Love Colony", "Bad Day At Black Rock Baby", "Love Heals", "Rather Be Me", "I'm Leaving", "Cataleptic", "Don't You Realize", and "Lovin". CD

An overlooked gem from The Holy Modal Rounders – the group's fifth album, and a set that shows them moving into a slightly more subtle style than before – but still with plenty of their trademark touches intact! The work often has a sweetly folksy feel – one that conjures up the city-to-country modes of some of the Marin County bands of the time – with some sensitive lyrics and instrumentation, all produced beautifully down in Nashville by the legendary Bob Dorough – who was doing some surprising rock projects around this time. Despite the joke of the title, there actually is a timeless quality to this set – one that might almost make the record a good place to start if you've always been curious about the Rounders, but a bit intimidated by the fame of their earlier classics. Titles include "Black Bottom", "Spring OF 65", "Boobs A Lot", "Alligator Man", "City Blues", "The Whole World Oughta Go On Vacation", and "Melinda". LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderfully dark harmonies from The Mamas & The Papas – one of those amazing late 60s albums from the group that was pop on the outside, but something very else underneath – a wonderful blend of modes that was hardly duplicated this well again! There's a slightly spooky feel to some of the music – even their leadoff cover of "Dedicated To The One I Love", which has an eerie quality that's way different than any previous readings – possibly a hint of the trouble between the group members – although maybe that's reading too much into it! Whatever the case, though – there's a special magic here that goes way beyond any understanding of the group you may have from oldies radio, and the set features some great original compositions by the young John Phillips too. Titles include "Creeque Alley", "Boys & Girls Together", "Look Through My Window", "Sing For Your Supper", "Free Advice", "Did You Ever Want To Cry", and "String Man". LP, Vinyl record album

Metallica's breakout smash, the album that catapulted the band and the thrash metal genre to the top of the charts. While the production shines just a little brighter then the first few albums, the band is far from extinguishing their torch as metal trailblazers – to this point, there's very few songs as heavy as "Enter Sandman" got into regular airplay rotation and the most of the album hits even harder, even as they fully embraced the more melodic capabilities they barely touched on in the past. Includes "Enter Sandman", "Sad But True", "Nothing Else Matters", "Don't' Tread On Me", "Holier Than Thou" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album