... CD

An obscure bit of late 60s Stax! Steve Cropper's working away from the MG's here, in a mode that's slightly similar, but which has his guitar upfront in the mix on a batch of Memphis-style instrumentals – kind of his own take on the groove he was laying down with Booker T, but with a lot less organ in the mix! There's no mad funk on the album, but the whole thing's pretty darn nice – and is proof that Cropper was the key element in more than just a bit of the Stax sound at the time – a really strong artist who could more than stand on his own. Titles include "Crop Dustin", "Land Of 1000 Dances", "Rattlesnake", "Funky Broadway", and "Boogaloo Down Broadway". (Soul, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Four albums that show the continuing evolution of Earl Scruggs in the 70s – with a sound that's very different than his earlier music, and maybe even sharper instrumentation overall! First up is I Saw The Light – a record made after the famous banjo pioneer split with Lester Flatt, and was very popular with a young rock crowd – as evidenced by help he gets here from Linda Ronstadt and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – not to mention Gary and Randy Scruggs, Vassar Clements, and Norman Blake! The mix of famous names and the growing Scruggs Review sound is great – and the record is an unlikely but important entry in the rise of country rock during the early 70s, with a very different quality than some of Earl's earlier work. We might well thank the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – as the vibe is similar at times to their shifting music of the period – mixed with some Mike Nesmith inspiration, as a few of his tunes are included. Titles include "Lonesome & A Long Way From Home", "Silver Wings", "Never Ending Song Of Love", "Rock Sant & Nails", "Some Of Shelly's Blues", "It's A Picture From Life's Other Side", and "Propinquity". Features bonus tracks "The Cure", "I Saw The Light", "Fireball Mail", and "Tramp On The Street". On Live From Austin City Limits, the great Earl Scruggs takes on the growing Austin scene – which turns out to be a perfect fit for his Revue's blend of new country modes and older styles of instrumentation! Earl leads off the set with stunning work on banjo – maybe even sharper than earlier years – and the group lead off with some Dylan material at the start, showcasing some of their rock leanings – but soon bringing on other songs of their own, and making for this beautiful mix of key instrumental moments and lyrical passages. Lead vocals are from Gary Scruggs, and Randy and Steve Scruggs are in the group too – on titles that include "Nashville Skyline Rag", "I Shall Be Released", "Tall Texas Woman", "I Just Can't Seem To Change", "Black Mountain Blues", "Everybody Wants To Go To Heaven", and "The Swimming Song". Strike Anywhere is a mighty nice album from the great Earl Scruggs – recorded with his boys' Revue group, and a sound that really helps keep Earl's instrumentation fresh for the 70s! Years back, we never would have thought that mixing the legendary Scruggs banjo sound with keyboards would have worked – but the change here is a great one, as Earl makes the shift that a few of his traditional instrumental contemporaries were doing at the time – such as Vassar Clements or Bashful Brother Oswald – finding a new setting for the instruments that still shine out in the lead at all the best moments. Titles include a great remake of "Mandolin Wind" – plus "Muhammad Ali", "Bring It On Home To Me", "You Really Got A Hold On Me", "I Think Of You", and "Dreaming As One". On Bold & New, the great Chips Moman produced and recorded the record – a set that shows that move that Earl had made into country rock during the decade, delivered in the best possible hands! Vocals are from some of Earl's sons, and the man himself still gets gets in plenty of banjo solos too – as the group mix their own material with a few from Bobby Emmons, who plays organ, electric piano, and clavinet on the set. Titles include "The Cabin", "Our Love Is Home Grown", "That's Alright Mama", "Found Myself A New Love", "Games People Play", "Take The Time To Fall In Love", and "Louisiana Lady". (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

Label sampler with selections by Kensington Market, Joni Mitchell, Eric Andersen, The Collectors, Tiny Tim, David Blue, Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Arlo Guthrie, Randy Newman, The Fugs, The Electric Prunes, Tom Northcott, and Van Dyke Parks. LP, Vinyl record album

Hard to deny the lasting power of this crucial album from The Beatles – a set that unleashed some of their trippiest sounds and most tender moments too! The mix of wit and honesty is wonderful – and the sonic range is dynamic as the archetypal cover image – a package that's had an undeniable impact on modern music for the past few decades! Titles include "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "She's Leaving Home", "Lovely Rita", "When I'm Sixty Four", "A Day In The Life", and "Fixing A Hole". CD

Hard to deny the lasting power of this crucial album from The Beatles – a set that unleashed some of their trippiest sounds and most tender moments too! The mix of wit and honesty is wonderful – and the sonic range is dynamic as the archetypal cover image – a package that's had an undeniable impact on modern music for the past few decades! Titles include "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "She's Leaving Home", "Lovely Rita", "When I'm Sixty Four", "A Day In The Life", and "Fixing A Hole". LP, Vinyl record album

Hard to deny the lasting power of this crucial album from The Beatles – a set that unleashed some of their trippiest sounds and most tender moments too! The mix of wit and honesty is wonderful – and the sonic range is dynamic as the archetypal cover image – a package that's had an undeniable impact on modern music for the past few decades! Titles include "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "She's Leaving Home", "Lovely Rita", "When I'm Sixty Four", "A Day In The Life", and "Fixing A Hole". CD

Hard to deny the lasting power of this crucial album from The Beatles – a set that unleashed some of their trippiest sounds and most tender moments too! The mix of wit and honesty is wonderful – and the sonic range is dynamic as the archetypal cover image – a package that's had an undeniable impact on modern music for the past few decades! Titles include "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds", "She's Leaving Home", "Lovely Rita", "When I'm Sixty Four", "A Day In The Life", and "Fixing A Hole". Plus, this very special anniversary edition features a whole new stereo mix from the original tapes! CD

A wonderful early project from Carole King – work that predates her well-known solo career of the 70s, and which is infinitely hipper overall! The groove here is a blend of the soulful roots that Carole was crafting for other artists on her compositions of the 60s – mixed with some of the hipper singer-songwriter modes of the late 60s – put together at a level that still quite far from cliches that would later mar the genre. The group's a trio – with Carole on piano and vocals, Danny Kootch Kortchmar on guitar and added vocals, and Charles Larkey on bass – and the overall feel is somewhere in the neighborhood of Roger Nichols & The Small Circle Of Friends, with a similar sense of freshness that would hardly be replicated again. Lou Adler did some great production on the record – and tracks include the group's great version of "Snow Queen", plus "Why Are You Leaving", "I Don't Believe It", "All My Time", "Victim Of Circumstance", "Now That Everything's Been Said", and "Man Without A Dream". LP, Vinyl record album

The debut album from Crabby Appleton – and 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". 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

Early solo work by Jesse Ed Davis – two albums in a single set! The self-titled Jesse Ed Davis set is one of a few records as a leader ever issued by the guitarist – a player who worked on countless other albums by big names in the late 60s and early 70s – but who has a very special flavor on his own! Davis is maybe best remembered as an important native American musician on the scene at the time – but his work here stands strongly with that of some of his hipper contemporaries – such as Eric Clapton, Leon Russel, and Gram Parsons – all of whom make an appearance here! Titles include the completely sublime "Golden Sun Goddess", worth the price of the album alone – plus "Tulsa County", "Every Night Is Saturday Night", "Crazy Love", "Reno Street Incident", and "Washita Love Child". Ululu has Jesse working with a number of his famous friends – including Leon Russell and Mac (Dr John) Rebennack – both of whose work the album owes a lot to. Jesse's got a down-home approach to his work – and sings a set of original tunes, plus versions of tracks by Merle Haggard, Leon Russell, Levon Helm, and Taj Mahal – which should give you a good idea of his frame of reference. Titles include "White Line Fever", "My Captain", "Sue Me Sue You Blues", "Ululu", "Alcatraz", and "Strawberry Wine". CD

A killer set of southern rock – even if the whole thing was recorded in London, while the group was on tour with Eric Clapton! Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett are at the height of their powers here – really reworking rootsy southern elements into the kind of sharp-edged 70s sound that made them such an important part of the scene at the time – even though they never went as mainstream to get the kind of crossover fame as some of their contemporaries! But it's that true-to-roots quality that really keeps things great here – as they work with famous help from Eric Clapton and Dave Mason on guitars – alongside sounds by southern stalwarts who include Bobby Whitlock on organ, Jim Price on trumpet, Bobby Keys on saxes, and Jim Gordon on drums. Titles include "Things Get Better", "Little Richard Medley", "Coming Home", "That's What My Man Is For", and "I Don't Want To Discuss It". CD

A killer set of southern rock – even if the whole thing was recorded in London, while the group was on tour with Eric Clapton! Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett are at the height of their powers here – really reworking rootsy southern elements into the kind of sharp-edged 70s sound that made them such an important part of the scene at the time – even though they never went as mainstream to get the kind of crossover fame as some of their contemporaries! But it's that true-to-roots quality that really keeps things great here – as they work with famous help from Eric Clapton and Dave Mason on guitars – alongside sounds by southern stalwarts who include Bobby Whitlock on organ, Jim Price on trumpet, Bobby Keys on saxes, and Jim Gordon on drums. Titles include "Things Get Better", "Little Richard Medley", "Coming Home", "That's What My Man Is For", and "I Don't Want To Discuss It". LP, Vinyl record album

Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett certainly have some heavy friends here – a stunning host of guest help on the record, who make the whole thing come together with a sweet blend of southern rock and soul! The duo were always almost more of a soul act than a rock one, and that quality really shows through here – as they tear it up with help from The Memphis Horns, plus Duane Allman on slide guitar, Bobby Whitlock on organ, Charlie Freeman on guitar, and even a bit of guest help from King Curtis on tenor and Little Richard on piano! Tunes include some great originals that show why the Bramlett's were the premier roots rock act of the time – mixed with a few nicely-chosen cuts by other folks – in a lineup that includes "Lay Down My Burden", "God Knows I Love You", "Hard Luck & Troubles", "Soul Shake", "Miss Ann", "Living On The Open Road", "Free The People", "The Love Of My Man", and "Living On The Open Road". CD

Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett certainly have some heavy friends here – a stunning host of guest help on the record, who make the whole thing come together with a sweet blend of southern rock and soul! The duo were always almost more of a soul act than a rock one, and that quality really shows through here – as they tear it up with help from The Memphis Horns, plus Duane Allman on slide guitar, Bobby Whitlock on organ, Charlie Freeman on guitar, and even a bit of guest help from King Curtis on tenor and Little Richard on piano! Tunes include some great originals that show why the Bramlett's were the premier roots rock act of the time – mixed with a few nicely-chosen cuts by other folks – in a lineup that includes "Lay Down My Burden", "God Knows I Love You", "Hard Luck & Troubles", "Soul Shake", "Miss Ann", "Living On The Open Road", "Free The People", "The Love Of My Man", and "Living On The Open Road". LP, Vinyl record album

Fuzzy and genuinely well-crafted private press grooves from the Emerson brothers – with crazy good hooks, some surprisingly solid musicianship – and songs that range from straight-up catchy, though fuzz-drenched rock, to funk and soul! Donnie Emerson is the lead singer, guitarist and bass player, along with some synth – and on the best tunes, he's got a confident, laidback and warm style on vocals that truly doesn't feel the voice of a kid still in his teens – with brother Joe on drums and other friends on backing vocals here and there. Here's a record that profoundly transcends the private press novelty and the goofy jumpsuits they're rocking on the front cover! Includes "Good Time", "Give Me The Chance", "Baby", the instrumental groover "Feels Like The Sun", "Love Is", "Don't Go Lovin' Nobody Else", "Dream Full Of Dreams" and "My Heart". CD

Fuzzy and genuinely well-crafted private press grooves from the Emerson brothers – with crazy good hooks, some surprisingly solid musicianship – and songs that range from straight-up catchy, though fuzz-drenched rock, to funk and soul! Donnie Emerson is the lead singer, guitarist and bass player, along with some synth – and on the best tunes, he's got a confident, laidback and warm style on vocals that truly doesn't feel the voice of a kid still in his teens – with brother Joe on drums and other friends on backing vocals here and there. Here's a record that profoundly transcends the private press novelty and the goofy jumpsuits they're rocking on the front cover! Includes "Good Time", "Give Me The Chance", "Baby", the instrumental groover "Feels Like The Sun", "Love Is", "Don't Go Lovin' Nobody Else", "Dream Full Of Dreams" and "My Heart". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the most obscure work ever recorded by Lebanese singer/songwriter Roger Fakhr – late 70s recordings that were originally only circulated on tape within a small community of friends and supporters, and material that has a vibe that almost feels like some of the best late 60s material from the American scene! Roger sings in this beautifully moody vocal style that's maybe somewhere between Bill Fay and Fred Neil – and the instrumentation, while gentle, is also well-pointed – so that slight electric elements mix with acoustic guitar in a very cool way, and always with a sense of arrangement and production that really distances these tracks from any sort of home recordings or demos. Plus, vocals are in English throughout – which furthers the Cali vibe of the material – and the whole thing could well be the record that gets the rest of the world to pay attention to Fakhr's overlooked genius! Titles include "Down To My Bones", "You Look So Funny", "Had To See Harry", "Drinking Tea", "Rainhill", "Road Of Farewell", and "East Of Any Place". (Global Grooves, Rock) CD

Some of the most obscure work ever recorded by Lebanese singer/songwriter Roger Fakhr – late 70s recordings that were originally only circulated on tape within a small community of friends and supporters, and material that has a vibe that almost feels like some of the best late 60s material from the American scene! Roger sings in this beautifully moody vocal style that's maybe somewhere between Bill Fay and Fred Neil – and the instrumentation, while gentle, is also well-pointed – so that slight electric elements mix with acoustic guitar in a very cool way, and always with a sense of arrangement and production that really distances these tracks from any sort of home recordings or demos. Plus, vocals are in English throughout – which furthers the Cali vibe of the material – and the whole thing could well be the record that gets the rest of the world to pay attention to Fakhr's overlooked genius! Titles include "Down To My Bones", "You Look So Funny", "Had To See Harry", "Drinking Tea", "Rainhill", "Road Of Farewell", and "East Of Any Place". (Global Grooves, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Includes their classic "Well Respected Man", the great "See My Friends", and other titles that include "I Need You", "Who'll Be The Next In Line", "Wait Till The Summer Comes Along", "Never Met A Girl Like You Before", "Such A Shame", and "It's All Right". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest albums from The Kinks – the kind of material that pulled them strongly past their bluesy, garagey roots – into a role that has them giving some of the clearest, keenest visions of 20th Century British society – with all of its joys and worries! The tunes here are wonderful – well-penned little odes to the common man and fading scenes and styles of the UK – presented together as a sublime portrait of a late 60s England that hardly any other group would try to touch – all with wit and wisdom from the great Ray Davies, and loads of tuneful work from the rest of the band. Titles include "Do You Remember Walter?", "Picture Book", "Sitting By The Riverside", "Village Green", "All Of My Friends Were There", and "The Village Green Preservation Society". LP, Vinyl record album

More Kinks music than you could ever hope for in one package – a whopping 3CD set that brings together every bit of music associated with the landmark Village Green Preservation Society album! The original record is one of the best-ever British pop albums from the 60s – and it has the Kinks moving past their garage rock roots into a whole new realm of picture postcard pop perfection! The 15 songs on the original LP are the blueprint for closeted Brit postwar worry, anxiety, and disillusion – classics like "Do You Remember Walter?", "Picture Book", "Sitting By The Riverside", "Village Green", "All of My Friends Were There", and "The Village Green Preservation Society". This new CD moves past those 15 tracks to feature a total of 52 titles in all – including mono and stereo mixes of tracks on the record, alternate takes, remakes, and obscure cuts like "Groovy Movies", "Spotty Grotty Anna", "Days", "Mr Songbird", "Polly", and "Berkley Mews". Great stuff all around – and a dream for Kinks fans like us! CD

25 tracks total including "Apeman", "Lola", "See My Friends", "You Really Got Me", "Waterloo Sunset", "Everybody's Gonna Be Happy", "Long Tall Sally", "David Watts", and more. CD

More of a journey than just a straight record – as this incredible 3CD set brings together all the recordings that went into Big Star's amazing Third (or 3rd if you please) – one of the best one-time lost rock albums of the 70s! How this could have ever been thought of as anything less than essential is a mystery – and the 3 discs here really show the amazing work that went into recording the whole thing There's this weary quality to the vocals and songwriting of Alex Chilton that's sublime – paired with a raw, rocking underbelly – and finished with strings, horns and other Memphis-y accents. You could think that it all sounds like an ill fit – but no, it's glorious! Titles on the core album include "Stroke It Noel", their great cover of the Velvets "Femme Fatale", "Thank You Friends", "Jesus Christ", "Holocaust", "Blue Moon", and "Take Care". But the package goes way past that – to feature the core album in 20 master tracks (more than the original) – plus 24 more tracks that are "demos to sessions to roughs" – and 25 more tracks that are "roughs to mixes". You'll hear lots of songs change along the way – and the whole thing comes in a book-style package, with detailed notes from both the original session participants, and artists influenced by the group! CD

A really unusual later chapter in the career of guitarist Robby Krieger – a post-Doors album done for Blue Note Records – and a set that's got more than enough jazzy touches to live up to its placement on the label! Krieger's guitar gets plenty of workout on the album's fusion-styled grooves – often a lot more jazz than the rock you'd expect, with some especially great keyboards from Stu Goldberg and Sal Marquez – the latter of whom handled most of the soulful arrangements on the set. There's a bit of vocals – sometimes by a chorus, sometimes processed in a way that's almost vocoder – and the whole thing owes a lot more to mid 70s funky fusion than any of Robby's work with the Doors. Titles include "The Ally", "Low Bottomy", "Big Oak Basin", "Spare Changes", "Uptown", and "Gumpopper". LP, Vinyl record album

The lasting legacy of Screaming Lord Sutch – and an album that's almost equally well-known for its work by a host of famous guests – including Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, John Bonham, and others! Page is perhaps the most involved here – as he produced the set with Sutch, co-wrote some tracks, and plays some mighty searing guitar – as does Beck, which makes the album almost worth it alone for all the wonderful solos! But Sutch himself is pretty great too – kind of a mish-mash of late 60s nasty camp references, with the same sinister vibe as Kim Fowley – and an equally freewheeling approach to a tune that makes the album a heck of a lot of fun. Titles include "Gutty Guitar", "Flashing Lights", "Wailing Sounds", "Thumping Beat", "Union Jack Car", and "London". CD

Dreamy electronics from Leon Lowman – a batch of tunes that were all recorded in a small Rhode Island studio at the cusp of the 80s, and which feature a fair bit of Fender Rhodes and Arp throughout! The tunes are an unusual mix of jazz and spacier modes – done in a style that's often more structured than other indie keyboard albums of this type, as Lowman brings in some great grooves at just the right moments – and makes a few of these tunes surprisingly soulful – almost a laidback small combo version of some of the more cosmic grooves that were showing up in clubs at the time. The record's got a killer remake of "Bumpin On Sunset" that's worth the price of admission alone – and other tracks are mostly originals, and include "Andrea", "Listen", "Narrow River", "Friends", "Fluorescent Funk", "Back To The Grassland", and "Liquid Diamonds". LP, Vinyl record album

Jimmy Webb's third and final album for Reprise – and a set that's got an even more personal, intimate feel than the first two! Most of the tracks here almost have an "artist at home" sort of quality – as if they were recorded in Jimmy's living room while trying out a few tunes on the piano, with a few friends to help him out. The songs overall are almost a bit bolder this way – not in the arrangements, but in the forcefulness of Webb's persona in this setting – and in the heavy use of piano lines on the best tracks. A few cuts have strongly pronounced country themes, and titles include a remake of "Galveston", his version of "Love Hurts", and the tracks "Song Seller", "When Can Brown Begin", "Piano", "Catharsis", "Once In The Morning", and "Hurt Me Well". LP, Vinyl record album