Wonderful! Shawn Phillips started his career as a shaggy folk rocker with a bit of a jazzy twinge – but this album collects odd bits and pieces that were left off of earlier albums, and works perfectly as a record that shows a whole new side of his genius! The album shows Phillips as a master of the funky jazz groove – and although he's still singing on some of the songs, he also lets loose with a number of instrumental cuts, laid out in a tight well-produced mode that puts them up there with some of the best work coming out on labels like Fantasy or Blue Note during the mid 70s. The centerpiece of these is the massive long cut "We Came To Say Goodbye", which builds and builds over the course of 15 minutes, with cool keyboards, great guitar, and the kind of tightly compressed grooves you'd expect to find on a Headhunters album (no surprise, since Headhunters Mike Clark, Bill Summers, and Paul Jackson are on the cut!) Other instrumental tracks include "Prelude To A Leaving" and "Italian Phases" – and strong vocal numbers include "Parisian Plight 1" and "Your Eyes". LP, Vinyl record album

An early breakthrough for ZZ Top – a raucous hard electric blues rock classic that was popular at the time, if not critically beloved – finally getting its deserved respect nowadays for timeless grit and groove! The opening couple of classics "Waitin' For The Bus" and "Jesus Just Left Chicago" flow one to the other seamlessly and set the mood perfectly, and it's pretty much one great tune after another from there, including "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers", "Master Of Sparks", "Hot, Blue And Righteous", "Move Me On Down The Line", "Precious And Grace", the almighty, never to diminish "La Grange", "Sheik" and "Have You Heard". LP, Vinyl record album

Snotty New York rock with more than just an undercurrent of comedy running through the beefy tunes, and a heavy dose of good ole cockrock swagger fueling the proceeding! This record by the Dictator's is truly, completely punk – even though the groove is closer to the crotch thrusting of a garage version of Bad Company than it is to the CBGB's varieties. The Dictators are punks in the truest sense – sarcastic a**holes that perfected sneering irony a couple decades before smug indie rockers killed it forever. Handsome Dick Manitoba and the boys run through 9 numbers on this classic debut LP: "The Next Big Thing", "I Got You Babe", "Back To Africa", "Master Race Rock", "Teengenerate", "California Sun", "Two Tub Man", "Weekend" and "(I Live For) Cars & Girls". LP, Vinyl record album

Insane grooves from arranger Mustafa Ozkent – an artist who was to Turkey what Lalo Schifrin was to the US in the 70s! Like Lalo, Mustafa had a great ear for mixing funkier rhythms and fuller orchestrations – often with odd instrumental twists and turns that bubble over with a fair bit of electricity over heavy percussion – kind of in an Incredible Bongo Band way, but with some moogier touches overall! The record's an instrumental masterpiece through and through – filled with enough heavy breaks to satisfy even the pickiest crate-digger, but also the more complicated arrangements to appeal to fans of funky 70s soundtracks! Titles include "Uskudar", "Burcak", "Dolana", "Carsamba", "Lorke", "Ayas", "Emmioglu", and "Karadir". LP, Vinyl record album

The second and best album by Morphine – rightly remembered as a much needed antidote to the grunge and mainstream alternative rock that was taking over pop culture at the time – and an enduring, ageless classic that would stand out in any era! Morphine's previous album was nearly as great, but Cure For Pain is nearly perfect. Mark Sandman's 2-string slide bass sound is indeed perfectly paired with his own vocals, the sax and drums doing the rest of the work instrumentally – there was only a couple years in which they'd really surprise us sonically with this setup, but what an amazing couple of years – and albums! Includes "Dawna", "Buena", "I'm Free Now", "All Wrong", "Candy", In Spite Of Me", "Thursday", "Cure For Pain", "Sheila", "Let's Take A Trip Together". LP, Vinyl record album

70s issue of this masterpiece of psychedelic pop – a set that really captures that key shift from R&B-influenced sounds to much headier territory on the UK scene! Spooky Tooth came to this debut with a fair bit of previous activity in other groups – and there's a core energy here that still holds onto the soul-influenced grooves of the mod scene – which makes for some romping cuts that are almost freakbeat tunes, but which are twisted nicely with some fuzzier production and longer-haired expressions! The vocals have a nice undercurrent of soul – unabashedly powerful, but years before such a style would sound cliche – and the drums, bass, and guitar leap into the fray with equally wonderful energy. The approach is a bit like Procol Harum at the start, but more individual – and titles include "Too Much Of Nothing", "Society's Child", "Bubbles", "Forget It I Got It", "It Hurts You So", "Sunshine Help Me", and "Love Really Changed Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A masterpiece of mid 70s jazz rock – from an obscure combo that features work by fusion legend Todd Cochrane Bayete! Bayete recorded two wonderful albums for Prestige before this set – and although the record has him moving into a much more rock-based style than on his fusion sessions, there's still a really cosmic groove at play here – infused with Bayete's soulful vocals and strong keyboard lines! Titles include "My Pearl", "Comin Through", "One And One", "Geni Geni", "There's A Way", "ITD", "Automatic Man", and "Atlantis Rising Theme". (Soul, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album