Titles include "Mr Big", "All Right Now", "Fire & Water", "Remember", "Oh I Wept", and "Heavy Load". LP, Vinyl record album

The fab second album by the Free Design – one that has them moving confidently into the realm of groovy pop – magically touching songs with their unique innocent harmony approach, and completely transforming them in the process! The set includes wonderful versions of groovy 60s pop hits like "Windows Of the World", "Eleanor Rigby", and "California Dreamin" – but stands out even more for Chris Dedrick's original compositions – like "Quartet No 6 In D Minor", "A Leaf Has Veins", "An Elegy", "I Found Love", "You Could Be Born Again", and "Ivy On A Windy Day". Sublime throughout – and as the cover says – "The Freshest Sounds You've Ever Heard!" (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

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... LP, Vinyl record album

A totally great record, with very obscure origin – one that didn't come out until 1973, but which features 1969 studio jam session work with a huge amount of famous players – including Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton under fake names – plus Harvey Mandel, Jack Wilkins, Buzzy Feiten, and Todd Rundgren on guitars; Dr John, Moogy Klingman, and Keith Emerson on organ; Stu Woods and Richard Davis on bass; Chris Wood and Joe Farrell on reeds; and Linda Ronstadt, Eric Mercury, Tommy Cosgrove, and others on vocals! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

The very first album from Free Design – and the start of a mini-legend that's seen the group really growing in fame as the years move on! The group borrow some harmonies from earlier pop and jazz vocal groups, and work in a style that certainly nods to the sunshine pop generation – but with a more down to earth approach that's really wonderful and a lot more intimate – really unlocking the hip yet naive quality that's always made the group so unique. The original tunes here are maybe the most compelling – including "Kites Are Fine", "My Brother Woody", and "The Proper Ornaments" – but the group also does a nice job on remakes of "A Man & A Woman", "Michelle", and "Feelin Groovy". (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

One of the wildest of the classic Free Design albums, and one that will leave you scratching your head – thinking that these guys were either the biggest acid freaks around, or the most simplistic kiddie-minded adults you'll ever meet! We don't know what got into the water in the studio on this one, but the group are really expanding their minds here – taking on some groovy-as-groovy can be material – all with the sweet mixture of harmony vocals, easy instrumentation, and hippie-era naivete! The titles alone state the case – with tunes that include "Stay Off Your Frown", "Bubbles", "Kije's Ouji", "That's All, People", and "Butterflies Are Free" – plus a great cover of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". LP reissued on nice heavy vinyl, with a sweet gatefold cover! (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

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... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

One of the most mindblowing pop culture pastiches of the 60s – a record that's as absolutely mad as it is absolutely free – and proof that a whole new generation of musicians like Zappa were using the studio like an instrument itself! This is work that could have never existed away from record – as the mix of sounds, moods, and music comes together with a maddening frenzy – hardly the languid speed you'd expect from the early years of hippiedom – and instead, an inspirational stream of styles and ideas delivered with trademark Zappa dexterity and wit! The album's divided into two long passages – "Absolutely Free" and "The MOI American Pageant" – with tracks that include "Plastic People", "Amnesia Vivace", "The Duke Regains His Chops", "America Drinks & Goes Home", "Son Of Suzy Creamcheese", "Status Back Baby", and "The Duke Of Prunes". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A really great slice of unissued material from Lou Reed – demo recordings done in October of 1971 for RCA – initial material that would launch Reed's solo career on the label, with some familiar songs done in stripped-down versions that are totally great! At some level, the album's actually a perfect bridge between late Velvet Underground and early solo Lou – as there are some shared songs here, delivered by Reed with a surprisingly personal tone at times – especially unfettered by some of the larger production modes of the albums to come. Titles include two takes on "Ocean" and "Perfect Day" – plus versions of "I'm So Free", "Wild Child", "I Love You", "Lisa Says", "Berlin", "Kill Your Sons", "New York Telephone Conversation", and "She's My Best Friend" – and second takes of "Ride Into The Sun", "Going Down", and "I'm Sticking With You". LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

A lost hard rock gem from a Milwaukee quartet – produced by Kim Fowley with a sound that's as raw and garagey as his best indie productions from the mid 60s! These guys have all sorts of familiar elements in the mix – an influence from blues, a trippier style of guitar, and some nicely soulful currents in the vocals of Den Geyer – but there's a special brew that takes all of these qualities into special territory, making for the kind of standout set that was mysteriously overlooked at the time – but which makes for one of those rare treasures that lie far below the giants of the classic rock generation. Titles include "Gotta Be Free", "Hope For The Future", "Pearl", "Lady In The Dark", "I'm Walkin", "Trackin Shoes", "Sweet Mother Earth", and the jazzy guitar tune "Gazebo" – dedicated to the great Gabor Szabo! LP, Vinyl record album

Barclay James Harvest sound almost a bit more melancholy here than on previous records – maybe just because the leadoff hit track "Hymn" has a brooding message on drug deaths – but also because there seems to be a slightly more intense quality to their overall approach! The group are in very comfortable, confident territory – so much so, they can slow things down a bit and move with a brooding sense of soul that almost seems a precursor to the power ballad scene that would emerge a few years later. These tracks are still nicely free of the schmaltz of those – but definitely have a sense of compression that points the way forward – on titles that include "Hymn", "Love Is Like A Violin", "Leper's Song", "Taking Me Higher", "Spirit On The Water", "Sea Of Tranquility", and "Hard Hearted Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

Hilarious! This is the soundtrack to a goofy late 60s shocker film about the time when hippies and young folks would take over America. Les Baxter handled the musical score for the film, but the real treat is the schlocky rock tracks – written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, with arrangements by Mike Curb in that fuzzy Tower/AIP mode! The lyrics are hysterical, but also oddly catchy, even though they're trying to make fun of 60s rock. Titles include "Psychedelic Senate", "Fourteen Or Fight", "Wild In The Streets", "Sally LeRoy", and "Free Lovin". (Soundtracks, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Chuck Berry is definitely on top with this classic Chess Records set – an album that shows that Berry always had a lot more to offer than some of his oldies rocker contemporaries! Sure, there's a few hits here, but the overall quality of the music is more in the mode of Chess blues of the time – lots of raw backings that are as heavy on piano lines and romping rhythms as they are Chuck's own searing lead guitar – a sound that definitely sets the tone for generations to come, and which is always heard best here in its early hoke-free setting. The whole album's wonderful, and even familiar hits sound newly brilliant in this context – a smoking lineup that includes "Jo Jo Gunne", "Around & Around", "Hey Pedro", "Anthony Boy", "Sweet Little Rock & Roller", "Almost Grown", "Roll Over Beethoven", and "Maybellene". (Soul, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Brilliant 60s pop from the team of Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart – best known for their key early songwriting work for The Monkees, but a heck of a great duo on their own! Boyce & Hart have a sparkly, sunshiney sound that's very much a part of The Monkees generation – a beautiful post-folk, post-surf blend of styles, and one that's served up with all the warmth and charm that made The Monkees so great – yet also with some cool twists and turns that make a record like this so great – the kind of chance-taking that A&M sometimes allowed its artists to take at the time! Backings are super-groovy – arranged by Artie Butler and Don McGinis – and titles include "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonite", "Teardrop City", "I Wanna Be Free", "The Countess", "Population", and "Two For The Price Of One" – a great cover of a Larry Williams & Johnny Watson soul tune! LP, Vinyl record album

The one-and-only album by upstate New York's wonderfully trippy psych-folk Chrysalis – a buried rock treasure from 1968. Definition is a strange title for the record, as the group refuses to be bound to any one – mixing laidback, trippy psychedelia, oddball folk, and meandering strains of free and old timey jazz influences! Led by rhythm guitarist J Spider Barbour, the group featured vocals by Nancy Nairn and standard psych rock arrangements, plus leftfield acoustic instrumentation and trippy keyboards! The main album includes the tracks "That Will Be The Morning", "Lacewing", "Lake Hope", "Piece Of Sun" and "Dr. Roots Garden". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "I Feel Free", "NSU", "Dreaming", "Cat's Squirrel", "Toad", and "I'm So Glad". LP, Vinyl record album

Bob Dylan's fourth record, and close runner up to Freewheelin' as the masterpiece of this early stage of his career. While the overly arch Times They Are A Changin' pretty much stood as the cornerstone of classifiable folk rock at the time, Another Side is just that. Dense, elliptical, and downright surreal at times, with some of the protesty stuff that made the media so happy & hungry, but much more layered and poetic. Another side is also much more reverent of and indebted to the Harry Smith field recordings that Bob studied so hard, the stuff that finally caught on with the general public in the early 90s. Titles include "Spanish Harlem Incident", "It Ain't Me Babe", "Ballad In Plain D", "Black Crow Blues", "I Don't Believe You", "Motorpsycho Nitemare", "To Ramona", "Chimes Of Freedom", "My Back Pages", and "I Shall Be Free No 10". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that really has Fairport Convention knocking it out of the park – making a bold turn towards British traditional music, but in a way that imbues these relics with a whole new life of their own! The album came at a key turning point – after an accident that took one of their members, and which almost saw the group disband – but instead turn towards the past for even deeper inspiration than some of their contemporaries, whom they'd covered on other records – at a level that seems to set Sandy Denny free into this sublime territory of her own! Denny's vocals are incredible – like a thing unlocked from some ancient vault – and they're given this wonderful focus through the growing complexity of Richard Thompson's guitar work, and the understated brilliance of Ashley Hutchings' bass – both of which bring in these modal inflections that are very 60s, and hardly conceived of as accompaniment with the original tunes. The result is tremendous – tunes that are completely transformed, as a touchstone for generations. Titles include "Matty Groves", "Reynardine", "Come All Ye", "The Deserter", "Tam Lin", and "Crazy Man Michael". (Folk/Country, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Although Motown wasn't necessarily the best place for an artist like Jose to be recording at the time, they actually did a pretty decent job of keeping the same sort of vibe that you'd hear on some of Jose's best work for RCA during the mid 70s. Titles include "Free My Freedom", "Ain't That Peculiar", "I Second That Emotion", "The Drought Is Over", and a great version of "I Wanna Be Where You Are". LP, Vinyl record album

Life after Peter Gabriel – with Phil Collins doing a surprisingly great job on vocals – free from all the tripe of later years! The group are still very much in the mode of their early prog years, but balance things out with a few catchier tunes – a mode that's a bit like the Selling England By The Pound album, sans Gabriel. Collins is learning how to express himself soulfully, but not in a commercial way – and the few off moments are more than balanced with some wonderfully tight instrumental work – on tracks that include "Dance On A Volcano", "Robbery Assault & Battery", "Ripples", "Trick Of The Tail", and "Mad Man Moon". LP, Vinyl record album

The classic debut from one of the weirdest concept groups of the 60s – a mime rock band brought together by producer Lew Futterman – who'd also worked on some killer funky jazzy sessions with Brother Jack McDuff! The style here is psychedelic pop through and through – and although the group didn't speak, they do sing (is that really mime?) – and work in a groovy sing-song blend of reeds and rockish rhythms, one that definitely has some of the same sharp changes and funky undercurrents you'd find in Futterman's jazz projects – although honed down here into much shorter Sunshine tunes! The album's a very unique little record – and oddly the group flourished for years. But somehow this first record has a charm that's really undeniable – and is maybe still their best effort ever. Titles include "White Winged Doves","Dream Of Tomorrow", "Pray For Rain", "How Does It Feel To Be Free", "I Ride To Nowhere", "Come & See Me", and "Jelly Jam". LP, Vinyl record album

One of those "greatest hits" of Greatest Hits collections – as Smash Hits has come to be regarded by many as a key entry in the cannon of classic rock – thanks to tremendous work from Jimi, bassist Noel Redding, and drummer Mitch Mitchell! Every track here is a gem – definitely the "smash" promised in the title, as the record's filled with Hendrix treasures that include "Purple Haze", "Fire", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Stone Free", "Crosstown Traffic", "All Along The Watchtower", "Red House", "Foxy Lady", and "Hey Joe". 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". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that's not a complete metamorphosis for Iron Butterfly, but one that definitely has the group stretching out with even more force and confidence than before! The group were maybe one of the few to come to hard rock via psych, instead of the blues rock path that so many others took at the time – and that difference is key here, as the songs really resonate with the potential for trippiness, but have this great sense of focus – one that makes the vocals sound even more potent than ever. There's still plenty of great organ work too – and titles include "Free Flight", "Shady Lady", "Best Years Of Our Life", "Slower Than Guns", and "Stone Believer". LP, Vinyl record album

The first real moment of genius from Elton John – a record issued with an understated cover and title, but which set the scene for all the greatness to come from the singer in the 70s! The strength of the Bernie Taupin partnership is on full display here – through a set of amazing tunes that are still some of Elton's greatest – delivered with vocal performances that are open, honest, and free of any sense of self-consciousness – matched by arrangements that use strings in ways that are subtle and sublime. The whole thing is a masterpiece – with titles that include "Your Song", "Sixty Years On", "First Episode At Hienton", "I Need You To Turn To", "Take Me To The Pilot", "Border Song", "The Greatest Discovery", and "The Cage". LP, Vinyl record album

Ray Davies is really coming into his own by the time of this third album by The Kinks – penning almost all the tunes in the set, and really starting to stretch out with some of his more unique ideas! The songs are already beginning to show that picture postcard side of British pop that was the Kinks stock in trade during their best years – and the themes and subjects are really expanded from the group's music of the previous years – already shaking off their American influence, and bringing the world a decidedly English version of rock and roll. Of course, the album does feature the group's wonderful cover of "Milk Cow Blues" – still a nice link to the earlier years – plus the Davies originals "When I See That Girl Of Mine", "I Am Free", "Till The End Of The Day", "The World Keeps Going Round", "I'm On An Island", "It's Too Late", "You Can't Win", "Where Have All The Good Times Gone", "Gotta Get The First Plane Home", and "Ring The Bells". LP, Vinyl record album

Mother Lode has a somewhat more fuller sound overall – one that's got bits of the western touches you might expect from the prospecting reference in the title – tunes that almost have a Deadwood way of echoing the past, but which come across with a much more 70s LA vibe overall. The setting's a good one to help Kenny Loggins avoid the pitfalls of cliche – and tracks include "Growin", "Be Free", "Changes", "Fever Dream", "Move On", and "Get A Hold". 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

A split album – one side live, one in the studio – one that features guest work from Graham Nash, Spencer Davis, and Rita Coolidge – on titles that include "Pearly Queen", "Just A Song", "To Be Free", "Headkeeper", "World In Changes", and "Feelin Alright". LP, Vinyl record album