One of the few solo albums by Eric Kaz – a singer-songwriter who'd worked with Blues Magoos and American Flyer, always staying on the fringes of the mainstream, which is certainly where this album ended up. The set's got an honest, earthy sort of feel – produced by later Blue Note emprasario Michael Cuscuna, with a kind of an "hipster goes easy" sort of feel. Titles include "Tonight The Sky's About To Cry", "When I'm Gone", "Someday My Love May Grow", "Cry Like A Rainstorm", and "Cruel Wind". CD

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Ian Matthews got his start in Fairport Convention, but a record like this makes it clear that Matthews always needed to be a mainman of his own – as the record's got this focus, fullness, and lyrical quality that's only further by Ian's surprisingly strong role as a producer! There are a few older echoes here and there, but the whole thing is stepping up to a new generation of singer/songwriter material – personal, but confident – acoustically inflected, but never folksy at all – and filled with the sorts of songs that make it clear that you're in a new generation of self-expression! Titles include "Desert Inn", "Hearts", "Never Ending", "Reno Nevada", "Hinge (parts 1 & 2)", "Southern Wind", "Morgan The Pirate", and "If You Saw Thro' My Eyes". LP, Vinyl record album

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Early live work from The Stones – titles include "Not Fade Away", "Under My Thumb", "Get Off My Cloud", "Lady Jane", "The Last Time", "Time Is On My Side", "Satisfaction", "I'm Alright", and "19th Nervous Breakdown" – plus a nice take on the New Orleans soul tune "Fortune Teller"! LP, Vinyl record album

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With Branford Marsalis, Darryl Jones, Omar Hakim, Kenny Kirkland, and William Orbit. Remix by John Jellybean Benitez. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Never-heard music from the enigmatic Jim Sullivan – the singer/songwriter who disappeared in the New Mexico desert after giving the world his fantastic album UFO! The style here is a bit different than that one, and maybe even more to the heart of Jim's spirit – as the work was all recorded in 1969, with just vocals and guitar – in a way that lets the brilliance of Jim's songcraft come across even more strongly than before – but all without ever feeling like scratchy demo tapes, or half-finished ideas! Instead, the album stands as a much-needed addition to the tiny Sullivan catalog – and really has us wondering what else Jim would have given us, if the shadows of mystery hadn't taken him away. Titles include "Roll Back The Time", "Walls", "Sandman", "Jerome", "Close My Eyes", "What Is My Name", and "So Natural". CD

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Music from Chuck Prophet & Scott Matthews, Thin White Rope, Trick Bag, David Dreams, Monks Of Doom, the Corn Dollies, Bevis Frond, the Shamen, Giant Sand, the Membranes, 501 Spanish Verbs and more. CD

Tracks by Sonic Youth, The Cranberries, Cracker, Babes In Toyland, Matthew Sweet, Shonen Knife, and others. (Cassettes, Rock) Cassette

A set that steps out with a Curtis Mayfield reference in the title, but which goes into much heavier territory all – black rock, often mixed with a bit of funk, in the best tradition of some of the Hendrix-inspired groups who rose up at the start of the 70s! If you know the trippy psychedelic style of Merda, you'll get part of the vibe here – but as usual with Numero, the span is much wider-ranging overall – and the label's done a great job of uncovering a range of obscure African-American acts from the 70s who were firmly committed to the headier, heavier, fuzzier, freakier side of the spectrum! Titles include "I Can't Believe" by Flying Wedge, "Sweet Poison" by Iron Force, "Message To Planet Earth" by Solid Gold, "Ringing Bells (part 2)" by The Young Senators, "Rolling Love (part 2)" by Three Days Ahead, "It's A Dream" by Little Ed & The Soundmasters Band, "Funky Music" by The Basement, and "Chrystal Illusion" by Creative Unlimited. (Funky Compilations, Rock) 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". LP, Vinyl record album

A slightly headier sound than before from Chad & Jeremy – music that's still in a great mix of Brit Invasion and Sunshine Pop, but which also shows a somewhat deeper sensibility too – a desire to reach past the simpler pop modes that first got the pair going here in the US! Chad Stuart's listed as the music director for the album – and we're not sure if he's the one responsible for the sound, but there's definitely some great elements going on – bits of flute, harpsichord, flugelhorn, and more – all wrapped up beautifully with some great production that hangs the whole album in a warmly harmonic pillow of sound. Titles include "Ain't It Nice", "Distant Shores", "Morning", "Homeward Bound", "You Are She", and "Don't Make Me Do It". LP, Vinyl record album

A long-overdue look at a little-heard side of the career of 60s pop giant Lou Christie – his great but ill-fated recordings for Columbia Records – most of which appear here for the first time ever! Lou hit the label right after a massive hit for MGM – and Columbia gave him plenty of time in the studio, and continued his work with producer Charles Calello – the genius who crafted so many wonderful settings for Christie, as well as the Four Seasons at the time. Calello's genius is in full effect here – creating these incredible backdrops for Christie's stunning vocals – really pushing him past simple pop into a whole host of different modes that make the whole thing a great "what if" – had the label not given up on Lou so quickly. The CD features great sound, detailed notes, and 24 tracks in all – 15 of which appear here for the first time ever – a blindingly great mix of tracks that includes "I Remember Gina", "The Greatest Show On Earth", "Blue Champagne", "Tender Loving Care", "Gypsy Bells, "Escape", "Standing On My Promises", "Shake Hands & Walk Away Cryin", "Self Expression", "Yellow Lights Say", "Meditation", and "How Many Days Of Sadness". CD

The longest album ever from The Clash – a stunning triple LP set that really shows the group bristling with new ideas and energy throughout! There's a hell of a lot going on here – some cuts that are every bit as strong as the previous records, others that offer a few mis-steps but in a wonderfully playful way – and a few more that really hit this sort of unique mix of genres and politics that could only be summed up as Clash-like at its best! Bits of hip hop, reggae, new wave, funk, and more mix together beautifully – and the album's got a hell of a lot of charm and character, even if you're skipping past a few of the cuts you don't like as much as the others. 36 tracks in all – and titles include "The Magnificent Seven", "Hitsville UK", "Junco Partner", "The Leader", "Police On My Back", "Midnight Log", "The Call Up", "Washington Bullets", "Broadway", "Rebel Waltz", "Look Here", "The Crooked Beat", "Somebody Got Murdered", "Lose This Skin", "Charlie Don't Surf", "Kingston Advice", "Corner Soul", "Let's Go Crazy", "The Sound Of Sinners", "Living In Fame", "Silicone On Sapphire", and "Career Opportunities". LP, Vinyl record album

Leonard Cohen's debut for Columbia, one of the most astounding first albums if its era, and to this day a towering achievement in both songwriting and myth making! The production is that perfectly haunting mix of sparseness and grandeur, with Cohen's lyricism piercing and penetrating wonderfully – his voice never sounded better, and this is certainly one of the great "lightening in a bottle" efforts that was hard to top by Cohen or anyone else in the more poetic upper levels of pop music. Includes "Suzanne", "Master Song", "Winter Lady", "The Stranger Song", "Sisters Of Mercy", "So Long, Marianne", "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye", "Stories Of The Street", "Teachers", and "One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong". CD features two bonus tracks – "Store Room" and "Blessed Is The Memory". CD

The magnificent voice of Chris Connelly serves up a sublime tribute to the work of Nico – a set that's not a reworking of just her key classics, but which also includes a huge amount of original new songs by Chris as well! Connelly put together the double length set after being inspired by the book on Nico, You Are Beautiful & You Are Alone – and the spirit of that well-penned biography really moves throughout the tracks, as Chris balances his own originals with really different takes on the Nico tunes – all at a level that really comes across like some modern day masterpiece that feels like it was years in the making! If you've never heard Connelly sing, you'll be blown away – and the setting of the whole project really seems to have him at his best – in a selection of two dozen songs that include "Ripcord Ripcord", "The Last Mile", "Union Square West", "Eulogy To Lenny Bruce", "I Cannot Care For You", "The Falconer", "The Black Rooms Of Richeleiu", "Reims 12/74", "A Slow Jones In New York", "Running Pure", and "Andy Incidentally". CD

A strange little record from the days when the music industry had so much money to throw around, they could make sessions like these! The record is sort of a space rock opera – featuring a huge cast of stars like Cooper, Moon, Hopkins, John Entwistle, Jim Dandy, Eddie Jobson, Elkie Brooks, Justin Hayward, Bill Bruford, and others. The overall feel of the work is a bit like the Rocky Horror Show – a high camp, heavy rock parody of a vintage artform (in this case, the radio space opera.) The musicianship is actually pretty darn strong, even if the overall concept is a bit silly. Tracks include "I'm Flash", "Country Cooking", "What's Happening", "Space Pirates", and "Blast Off". Also includes the great funky break track "Trapped" by Elkie Brooks, which we think was sampled by DJ Shadow! LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of albums from this near-forgotten group – both originally issued by Elektra, and presented here with bonus tracks too! First up is the self-titled Crabby Appleton – a set that's got a surprising sort of late psych vibe at times – almost as if the group were hanging on to some of the modes that first got them started, while also stretching out with some of the new sophistication that the 70s had to offer! That psych touch is maybe no surprise, though, given that the group's singer Michael Fennelly was in The Millennium – and works here with some heavier rockers who were in Stonehenge – all in a surprising mix of modes that really keeps things interesting throughout! Titles include the big single "Go Back", plus "Peace By Peace", "To All My Friends", "Some Madness", "Hunger For Love", "Last Night In Your Sleep Fred", "Some Madness", and "The Other Side". Next is Rotten To The Core, the second and last album from Crabby Appleton, and a record that's got the group picking up some harder edges than before – shedding some of the lighter psych elements for harder modes on the downturning grooves, almost as if the group had some blues inspirations they didn't showcase the first time around! The shift is one that has us almost thinking that the group could have hit the heights of 70s AM rock, had they held the course – with lots of surprising nuggets throughout, in a set list that includes "Makes No Difference", "Lucy", "It's So Hard", "Tomorrow's A New Day", "You Make Me Hot", "Gonna Save You", and "Love Can Change Everything". 2CD set features bonus material – "Go Back (alt mono single)", "Try (alt mono single)", "My Little Lucy (alt mono single)", "Some Madness (mono single)", "Can't Live My Life (alt mono single)", "Grab On", "Tomorrow's A New Day (alt mono single)", and "It's So Hard (alt mono single)". CD

Sacrilicious psychobilly sleaze from The Cramps – tearing into the 80s with Songs The Lord Taught Us – one their best ever albums! The Cramps may have ticked off aging proto rock fans of the time with their ghoulish take on the style, along with their punk demeanor, but producer Alex Chilton sure did "get it", right? As if we didn't already adore that dude! CLASSIC! Titles include "TV Set", "Rock On The Moon", "Garbage Man", "I Was A Teenage Werewolf", "Mystery Plane", "I'm Cramped", "Tear It Up" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The breakout album for The Cryan Shames – a wonderfully groovy harmony pop combo from the 60s – one with a sound that's very much the best Sunshine Pop of LA, even though these guys hail from our hometown of Chicago! The vocals come together with a really magical feel – sometimes mellow and drifty, ala The Association – sometimes vibrant and soaring, in a really catchy way! The whole album's great – with just a touch of Brit invasion guitar jangle behind the vocals at times – and titles include "Heat Wave", "We'll Meet Again", "If I Needed Someone", "Hey Joe", "Sugar & Spice", "July", "I Wanna Meet You", and "Ben Franklin's Almanac". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic array of really cool songs – all written and recorded by Tom Dawes of The Cyrkle – as part of a big career as a jingle writer after his group cut a famous theme song for 7 Up! The music here is great – work from a time when jingles for TV and radio ads were like mini songs in and of themselves – often as catchy as anything on the charts, if not more so – so that the tunes you'd hear for a few short seconds would stick in your head all day long! If you dig sunshine pop, there's plenty to love here – and remember that the great Roger Nichols also gave the world a wonderful tune that was originally designed as a jingle. Some of the tracks here never made it to the TV screen, others are classics – and the set includes songs written for Windex, GI Joe, Alka Seltzer, Calgon, Stridex, Murine, Hartford Insurance, Thom McCann, Life Savers, Timex, Ford, and many others. (Sound Library, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite records of all time! We've got to admit, this one's an acquired taste, but if you dig cool LA studio pop from the early 70's, this record's a real treasure! Nick DeCaro was probably best known to the world as an instrumental arranger for A&M (he did a lot of the Claudine Longet albums), but this record from the early 70's has him singing in a set of cool spacey tracks that mix studio pop and jazz for a sound that's unlike anything else we've ever heard before. Nick's backed by a tight group that includes LA jazz players like Arthur Adams, Wilton Felder, Paul Humphrey, Harvey Mason, and David T. Walker – and the sound is very compressed, very laidback, and very very hip. Tracks include "Under The Jamaican Moon", "Wailing Wall", and great versions of "Getting Mighty Crowded" and Stevie Wonder's "Angie Girl". Remember, it's an acquired taste, but if you like stuff like middle period Steely Dan or Maria Muldaur, you'll really dig this one! (Now Sound, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

A rare Japanese-only album from this 70s AOR legend – a set issued after Ned Doheny's big album for Columbia Records, but a set that feels as if it came just a few years after! During a generation where most folks were relying on streamlined production and instrumentation, Doheny still crafts things here with a really warm feel that works beautifully with his well-penned tunes, and his special approach to blue-eyed soul – easygoing Cali-style at its best, served up on a set of all-original material! Titles include "Love's A Heartache", "Back To The World", "Til Kingdom Come", "Follow Your Heart", "Whatcha Gonna Do For Me", "Heartbreak In The Making", and "Life After Romance". CD features five bonus tracks – including acoustic versions of "Get It Up For Love", "If You Should Fall", "Postcards From Hollywood", and "Whatcha Gonna Do For Me" – plus "Whatcha Gonna Do For Me (TV mix)". CD

Maybe one of our favorite Doors records of all time – if only for the long Fender Rhodes solo by Ray Manzarek on the album's final track, "Riders On The Storm"! Yet the whole album is pretty darn great, too – the last to feature Jim Morrison, who would leave the planet shortly after the album was released! There's a looser, more mature feel to the whole record – still lots of the territory the group had explored on previous albums, but also maybe more relaxed in the studio – knowing when to go for a hook when needed, but also letting some of the tunes really find themselves too. Titles include the hits "Riders On The Storm", "LA Woman", and "Love Her Madly" – plus "The Changeling", "Been Down So Long", "Cars Hiss By My Window", "The WASP", "L'America", and "Hyacinth House". LP, Vinyl record album

Godlike work from the legendary Nick Drake – and exactly the kind of record that's made him a continuing legend over the years! The style is completely its own – not really folk or rock, but not really jazz either – yet served up with plenty of jazzy phrasing that's helped keep Drake's music fresher than most as the decades move on – and which makes each song here a really rich discovery – even if, like us, you've heard the album hundreds of times in the past! The production is wonderful – with slight underscorings of strings that help unlock dark corners of the songs – and tracks include the classic "River Man" – easily one of Nick's best songs ever – plus "Fruit Tree", "Day Is Done", "Three Hours", "Saturday Sun", and "Time Has Told Me". A record we'd never part with – ever! LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing collection – filled with rare material, live recordings, and other gems that will help expand the all-too-small catalog of Faces albums! Completely essential if you love The Faces – with lots of new stuff. CD

One of the great, lost, under-discovered albums on Atlantic from the late 60s – the little-circulated debut of singer Scott Fagan – a very unusual talent who mixes soulful currents with a very personal singer-songwriter approach! Scott's sound is never too polished – he's certainly not trying to be a blue-eyed soul act here – but the music has these currents of organ, electric bass, and occasional groovy rhythms that make for a very compelling counterpoint to his raspy, island-bred vocals. All tunes are originals by Scott – and arrangements are by Horace Ott on most numbers, which might account for the soulful vibe. The album is completely unique – one of those sets that, if you dig it, you'll never find anything to match it – and titles include "In My Head", "South Atlantic Blues", "Crying", "Nothing But Love", "Tenement Hall", "Crystal Ball", and "In Your Hands". LP, Vinyl record album

A deep dive into the genius of Faust – material recorded by the groundbreaking experimental collective at their home base during the early 70s, none of issued at the time! The work here stands as a seminal addendum to the too-small catalog of the group's material from these days – and the sounds within really show Faust at their most creative – moving through the kind of sonic territory that you'd know from their records, but presented here as if you've discovered an album that you somehow passed by! Some tracks are spare and moody, others driving and jamming – and throughout the material, Faust show that really unique ear for mixing live instrumentation and studio experimentation – all at a level that was very much their own, even in the heady company of the Krautrock generation. The material was originally part of the expensive Faust box set, but is presented here as a standalone release – and titles on volume two include "Danach", "Lampe An Tur Zu Leutte Rein", "Wir Wollen Mehr Volumen Kriegen", "Arrampicarsi Sul Vesuvio", "As Tu Vu Mon Ombre", "Ma Trompette", and "Dampf". CD

A really fantastic chapter in the career of the legendary Bill Fay – material that might have formed a lost third album, had any record company chosen to respond at the time – and which, presented here, really serves to illuminate a lost chapter in Bill's musical lineage! The set has Fay working with a small group of younger musicians who were originally fans who were disappointed that Decca never released another album after Bill's first two – so they got in touch, and set about helping Fay find a new vision in his music with their help! The sound is often stark and lean, with more of an edge than Fay's first two records – still graced with those enigmatic vocals and really haunting songwriting, but with moodier elements that really give the music some bite. The original batch of recordings has been expanded out here by a number of other rare recordings from the same time – really unique bits of varying length – and if you love Fay's music, you'll find plenty to love within! CD

A really fantastic chapter in the career of the legendary Bill Fay – material that might have formed a lost third album, had any record company chosen to respond at the time – and which, presented here, really serves to illuminate a lost chapter in Bill's musical lineage! The set has Fay working with a small group of younger musicians who were originally fans who were disappointed that Decca never released another album after Bill's first two – so they got in touch, and set about helping Fay find a new vision in his music with their help! The sound is often stark and lean, with more of an edge than Fay's first two records – still graced with those enigmatic vocals and really haunting songwriting, but with moodier elements that really give the music some bite. The original batch of recordings has been expanded out here by a number of other rare recordings from the same time – really unique bits of varying length – and if you love Fay's music, you'll find plenty to love within! LP, Vinyl record album

A groovy little group from the northeast scene in the 70s – one who mix jazz and funk touches with some more roots-oriented material at times – all handled with instrumentation that's impeccable throughout! If these guys were out in Cali, they'd no doubt be working in the big studios of the time – or maybe would have even scored some sort of major label contract – yet the really wonderful thing about the record is that it's much more homegrown, and completely charming in the process – especially since their sound is very tight, but without too much overdone production. Titles include the great groover "Crazy Days" – plus "Blue Eyed Lady", "Fly Away", "Finding My Way Back Home", "I Can't Live Without You", "Nice Guys & Fools", and "Go On Away". Great reissue adds a number of bonus tracks to the original album! CD

A groovy little group from the northeast scene in the 70s – one who mix jazz and funk touches with some more roots-oriented material at times – all handled with instrumentation that's impeccable throughout! If these guys were out in Cali, they'd no doubt be working in the big studios of the time – or maybe would have even scored some sort of major label contract – yet the really wonderful thing about the record is that it's much more homegrown, and completely charming in the process – especially since their sound is very tight, but without too much overdone production. Titles include the great groover "Crazy Days" – plus "Blue Eyed Lady", "Fly Away", "Finding My Way Back Home", "I Can't Live Without You", "Nice Guys & Fools", and "Go On Away". Great reissue adds a number of bonus tracks to the original album! LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of albums from Frijid Pink, plus bonus tracks too – all served up in a single set! First up is the self-titled debut – a heady set from the Detroit scene, yet one that also instantly has the group stepping away from their contemporaries! There's plenty of the freak and fuzz that you'd guess from bigger acts who emerged on the US scene from the Motor City in the years before – but the vocals from Tom Beaudry maybe have this more focused, soaring style that also prefaces some huge shifts in American hard rock at the time – soulful, but not with a soul influence, if that makes sense at all – and perfect next to the incredible guitar work from Gary Ray Thompson. Titles include "Drivin Blues", "I'm On My Way", "God Gave Me You", "I Want To Be Your Lover", "Boozin Blues", "House Of The Rising Sun", "Tell Me Why", and "Cryin Shame". Next up is Defrosted – a record that has some blues influences at the core, but which also really moves past that energy right away – by folding in some of the hipper, headier styles that Frijid Pink had picked up while working on the Detroit scene at the end of the 70s! The vocals are raw in a great way, and the guitar work follows suit nicely – on titles that include "Sloony", "I'll Never Be Lonely", "Black Lace", "Sing A Song For Freedom", "I Haven't Got The Time", "Pain In My Heart", and "We're Gonna Be There". CD features very detailed notes – and bonus tracks that include single mixes of "Heartbreak Hotel", "I Love Her", "Lost Son", "We're Gonna Be There", "Shorty Kline", and "Music For The People" CD

One of the greatest French female singers of the 60s – presented here in a classic collection of work! If you've gotta dig one gal vocalist of the Parisian scene of the time, Gall is definitely your girl – as her brash, bold style of singing really sums up the hippest, grooviest French styles of the time! Many tracks here were penned by some of the best French arrangers and composers of the period – including a fair bit by Serge Gainsbourg, who really helped Gall find her groove, and moved her from being just another girl singer to one of the more powerful 60s voices in French pop! There's even a few funky numbers in the mix, and the rest mostly have a modly snapping 60s groove – of the sort that's being heavily revived these days – and titles include "Pense A Moi", "Laisse Tomber Les Filles", "Attends Ou Va T'En", "Nous Ne Sommes Pas Des Anges", "Poupee De Cire Poupee De Son", "N'Ecoute Pas Les Idoles", "Baby Pop", "Les Sucettes", "Cet Air-La", "Bebe Requin", and "24/36". (French, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

One of those great 80s albums that really helped Jerry Garcia demonstrate his commitment to deeper currents of American acoustic music – sounds that always colored his contributions to the Grateful Dead, but which by this point have emerged as a fantastic second side of Jerry's genius! And sure, the guy's a superstar, so most folks would lend their ears to anything he does – but the sounds here are really balanced so that Garcia is hardly the leading light of the set – trading guitar lines and vocals with David Nelson, in a group that also features John Kahn on bass, Kenny Kosek on fiddle, David Kemper on snare drum, and Sandy Rothman on mandolin, dobro, and banjo – all of which really add a lot to the set. Titles include "Bright Morning Stars", "Turtle Dove", "Rosa Lee McFall", "Deep Elem Blues", If I Lose", "Ragged But Right", and "I Ain't Never". LP, Vinyl record album

A key lost chapter in the career of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – material recorded for the Marmalade label in the years before they burst forth to greater fame in 10CC – all with a very different vibe than the sound of that later group! There's still plenty of the heavenly quality of Godley & Creme material going on here – but with a vibe that's maybe got some of the same post-folk elements as the coolest LA Sunshine pop – almost as if Godley were singing on a Millennium album, but with all the spaced-out, completely sublime approach that Creme would bring to the sessions. Titles include "Cowboys & Indians", "Take Me Back", "Today", "Hot Sun", "Virgin Soldiers", "To Fly Away", "Seeing Things Green", and "Animal Song". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty fierce and fantastic album from Golden Earring – one that's very different than you might think if you only know the group from their later hits on radio! The sound here is completely full-on – heavy drums, rumbling bass, and stunning guitar work from George Kooymans – touched with some jazzier elements at times on flute and organ, which links the record a bit to that moment when the UK scene had turned blues inspirations to prog explorations – yet served up by Golden Earring with a much more hard rock approach throughout! Titles include a side-long workout on "Eight Miles High", which takes up all of side two – plus "One Huge Road", "Everyday's Torture", "Landing", and "Song Of A Devil's Servant". LP, Vinyl record album

A Sunshine Pop classic from The Gordion Knot – an album that's overflowing with warm late 60s harmonies, all produced to perfection by ex-Hi-Los member Clark Burroughs! The album's got a style that takes the modes Burroughs and his group forged back in the 50s, and updates it with a groovier, modder sort of style – a gently swinging late 60s sound that brings in some trippier elements, and some occasional singer/songwriter inspirations. JD Weatherly steps out in front of the group on bolder lead vocals on a few numbers – but even on these, there's strong harmony support underneath – and some wonderfully dynamic backings that soar up, and support the whole thing on a really groovy pillow of sound! Titles include "It's Gonna Take A Lot", "The World Keeps Spinnin", "Strong Wind Blowin", "One Way Street", "Carraway Stream", "Carnival Lights Again", "Broken Down Ole Merry-Go-Round", "If Only I Could Fly", and "We Must Be Doing Something Right". CD

A Sunshine Pop classic from The Gordion Knot – an album that's overflowing with warm late 60s harmonies, all produced to perfection by ex-Hi-Los member Clark Burroughs! The album's got a style that takes the modes Burroughs and his group forged back in the 50s, and updates it with a groovier, modder sort of style – a gently swinging late 60s sound that brings in some trippier elements, and some occasional singer/songwriter inspirations. JD Weatherly steps out in front of the group on bolder lead vocals on a few numbers – but even on these, there's strong harmony support underneath – and some wonderfully dynamic backings that soar up, and support the whole thing on a really groovy pillow of sound! Titles include "It's Gonna Take A Lot", "The World Keeps Spinnin", "Strong Wind Blowin", "One Way Street", "Carraway Stream", "Carnival Lights Again", "Broken Down Ole Merry-Go-Round", "If Only I Could Fly", and "We Must Be Doing Something Right". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that asks a musical question with the title – although one that provides an answer that's different than you might expect if you're a fan of soul music! Still, if you've been a lover of Grand Funk right from the start, you'll find plenty to please your ears here – a slight 80s twist in the production and instrumentation – less organ and more keyboards, but still plenty of guitars – and the usual top-shelf vocal presentation from Mark Farner at the head of the group. Titles include "Borderline", "El Salvador", "Don't Lie To Me", "Life In Outer Space", "Innocent", and "Still Waitin". LP, Vinyl record album

The fantastic debut of Gypsy – a group who blend wonderful harmonies with really well-crafted inspiration – very much in the jazz-inspired jamming of some of the headier California groups, like Spirit or Santana at their best! The group use a swirling blend of organ and guitar next to their really beautiful vocals – warm and sweet at some of the best moments, but never in a way that ever feels like soft rock – given the intensity of the instrumentation! The album was issued on the Metromedia label, and never got the attention it would have deserved had it hit the racks from a company like Columbia or Warner – but it's every bit as great as some of their giants from the time, with titles that include "Last December", "Man Of Reason", "Third Eye", "Tomorrow Is The Last To Be Heard", "Here In My Loneliness", "Dead & Gone", "Dream If You Can", "Decisions", and "Gypsy Queen". CD

One of Emmylou Harris's best loved albums, and for good reason – it's a major departure from the some of the more straightforward, if neo classic country of her late 80s and earlier 90s work, taking on a more atmospheric sound with producer Daniel Lanois. Lanois deserves credit for inspiring a new direction for Emmylou, but Wrecking Ball is her show – and of all the folk, country and roots-oriented artists Lanois worked with over the years, Harris is the one with a voice big enough fill the atmosphere, and intimate enough to pull it back down to earth. Includes "Where Will I Be", "Goodbye", "All My Tears", "Wrecking Ball", "Goin' Back To Harlan", "Blackhawk", "Orphan Girl", "May This Be Love" and "Waltz Across Texas". (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

One of the rarest Lee Hazlewood albums, and one of the coolest, too – the set falls a bit later than some of his other work on the Swedish scene – and, like Cowboy In Sweden, it's also a soundtrack too – but the vibe is different than that one, and almost shows this maturation of Lee's style – as if he's absorbing even more unusual elements during his time overseas, and finding a way to keep growing his sound away from his American years in LA! All the Hazlewood craft for songs and nicely wry vocals is still very much in place – but there's also some nice shifts in the arrangements, too – deepening things some fuller elements at times, yet stepping back into tighter elements at others. Titles include "Soul's Island", "A House Safe For Tigers", "Our Little Boy Blue", "Sand Hill Anna & The Russian", "Absent Friends", and a nice remake of "The Nights"! (Vocalists, Rock) CD

Amazing sounds from Lee Hazlewood – some of his most offbeat, unbridled recordings ever – and that's saying a lot if you've already heard his classics for Mercury, MGM, and Reprise! The package here brings together rare work from Lee's own LHI label – packaged beautifully with a rich set of notes, session details, and some amazing photos that follow in the spirit of the nutty-looking cover image! Hazlewood's voice is sublime throughout – that deeper-than-deep quality that always leaves us breathless – perfect for the sly wit and and "aw shucks" sensibility of the tunes – and also for unlocking the growing adult sensuality that Lee was letting into his work at the time. A few female singers step forth in that great Hazlewood duet mode – Nina Lizell, Suzi Jane Hokom, and Ann Margret – who each sing on a few tracks – but Lee's in the lead on most numbers, and titles include the previously unreleased "I Just Learned To Run" – plus "The Bed", "Sleep In The Grass", "The Night Before", "If It's Monday Morning", "Won't You Tell Your Dreams", "Hey Cowboy", "No Train To Stockholm", "What's More I Don't Need Her", "Trouble Maker", and "Nobody Like You". (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

If this is reality, lead us onward – as the set is a mindblowing batch of trippy psych-funk from The Heliocentrics – even more offbeat and experimental than before, in ways that make the combo the true heirs to the legacy first begun by Stark Reality! The album's definitely funky at the core, but it's also filled with loads of amazing sounds – instruments tuned weirdly, played weirdly, and produced weirdly – so that over the heavy drums, there's often lots of freaky, fuzzy bits and tripped-out sounds – in ways that make the record feel like some lost acid trip outtakes from the Westbound studios of the early 70s – or like some obscure funk band that dropped acid at Andy Warhol's loft! The packaging offers up a visual example of what your ears will be going through when you tune into the music – and titles include "Mysterious Ways", "Collateral Damage", "Black Sky", "Calabash", "Path Of The Black Sun", "Mr Owusu I Presume", "Eastern Begena", and loads of cool interlude tracks too. (Deep Funk, Rock) CD

A true classic by Jimi with the original Experience lineup – the third of three straight up masterpiece LPs to comeout in just over a year's time by the group! You could call the leftfield astral effects in the mix experimental if you had to – innovations in the studio with echo, that hallucinatory backwards sound effect and other stranger bits – but the passionate, naturally expressive playing and singing by Jimi makes it all fell just right, and the Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell still don't get enough credit for being at the heart of such greatness. A massive 2LP effort that includes "Voodoo Chile", "Crosstown Traffic", "Electric Ladyland", "Little Miss Strange", "Moon Turn The Tides", "Still Raining Still Dreaming" and "All Along The Watchtower". CD