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One of the holy grails of the Japanese early 70s psychedelic scene with tracks by Hadaka No Rallizes, Acid Seven, Minami Masato and Taj Mahal Travellers– originally released as in a tiny pressing commemorating the Oz Days benefit held for Tokyo's Oz Rock Cafe – which had purportedly been shut down do to unsavory activities of the chemical enhancement variety! Mind altering grooves galore – with each of the 4 artists originally getting a side of a record to do their thing, here divided on a 2CD set. CD

Quite possibly the greatest moment of genius ever from Black Sabbath – and a genre-changing record that influenced generations! The group are at their lean, raw best here – free from any cliches at all, and working in an incredibly heady brew of fuzzy guitar, romping bass, and dark drums – all topped by the instantly recognizable screech of the young Ozzy Osborne! Guitarist Tony Iommi virtually redefines rock use of the guitar with this record alone – and the Oz follows suit with some of the creepiest vocals set to record ever. Titles include the classics "Paranoid" and "Iron Man", plus "War Pigs", "Planet Caravan", "Electric Funeral", "Hand Of Doom", and "Rat Salad". LP, Vinyl record album

Quite possibly the greatest moment of genius ever from Black Sabbath – and a genre-changing record that influenced generations! The group are at their lean, raw best here – free from any cliches at all, and working in an incredibly heady brew of fuzzy guitar, romping bass, and dark drums – all topped by the instantly recognizable screech of the young Ozzy Osborne! Guitarist Tony Iommi virtually redefines rock use of the guitar with this record alone – and the Oz follows suit with some of the creepiest vocals set to record ever. Titles include the classics "Paranoid" and "Iron Man", plus "War Pigs", "Planet Caravan", "Electric Funeral", "Hand Of Doom", and "Rat Salad". LP, Vinyl record album

Don't know "toytown"? We didn't know the reference either, until we heard this totally wonderful set – and it turns out that the word is a great way to describe a unique moment in British music – one that mixes together whimsical psych, playful pop, and a whole host of groovy moments from artists familiar and obscure – woven together here in a massive collection that's filled with stunning surprises all the way through! The initial impulse is to collect cuts that have a slight nostalgia for childhood and innocence – but as with so much British music of the time, that also means that there's plenty of dark currents and spooky surprises along the way – a not-so-innocent quality in many tracks that really keeps things interesting and on edge all the way through! Yet rather than describe the music to death, we just invite you to dive in and swim through the 87 wonderful tracks in the package – work by a variety of artists that includes David Bowie, Timon, Astronaut Alan & the Planets, Idle Race, Wimple Winch, World Of Oz, The Herd, Fire, Jason Quest, Mark Wirtz, The Tots, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Good Time Losers, The Syn, Majority One, Clifford T Ward, Fire, Jigsaw, Kenny Everett, Simon Dupree, Tomorrow, David Matthews, The Riot Squad, Keith West, and a huge amount of other great acts too – all presented in full detail with the great booklet of notes that comes with the package. CD

Don't know "toytown"? We didn't know the reference either, until we heard this totally wonderful set – and it turns out that the word is a great way to describe a unique moment in British music – one that mixes together whimsical psych, playful pop, and a whole host of groovy moments from artists familiar and obscure – woven together here in a massive collection that's filled with stunning surprises all the way through! The initial impulse is to collect cuts that have a slight nostalgia for childhood and innocence – but as with so much British music of the time, that also means that there's plenty of dark currents and spooky surprises along the way – a not-so-innocent quality in many tracks that really keeps things interesting and on edge all the way through! Yet rather than describe the music to death, we just invite you to dive in and swim through the 87 wonderful tracks in the package – work by a variety of artists that includes David Bowie, Timon, Astronaut Alan & the Planets, Idle Race, Wimple Winch, World Of Oz, The Herd, Fire, Jason Quest, Mark Wirtz, The Tots, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Good Time Losers, The Syn, Majority One, Clifford T Ward, Fire, Jigsaw, Kenny Everett, Simon Dupree, Tomorrow, David Matthews, The Riot Squad, Keith West, and a huge amount of other great acts too – all presented in full detail with the great booklet of notes that comes with the package. CD

An incredible collection of work from the great John Cameron – kind of a secret hero on the British scene of the late 60s and early 70s – as most of his work was done for bigger artists at the time, or came out on obscure sound library sessions! Yet despite that obscurity, Cameron was a true hero of the time – a jazz musician who was able to bring a fresh sensibility to the studio when supporting the work of key artists on their important records – maybe most famously in collaboration with Donovan, but heard here working with a variety of different rock, folk, soul, and other artists – all of whom really benefit from the John Cameron touch! We've always loved Cameron's work in the studio, are always thrilled to see his name on a record – and this collection is maybe the first to really showcase his contributions to the world in a really unified way – all with the usual Ace Records strong attention to details and great liner notes too. Titles include "Barnes Bridge" by Harold McNair, "Willow's Harp" by World Of Oz, "Boat Trip" by Gordon Haskell, "Ding Dong The Wicked Witch Is Dead" by Julie Felix, "The Observation" by Donovan, "Avenues & Alleyways" by Tony Christie, "Everybody Needs Somebody" by The Fascinations, "Isn't This Where We Came In" by Lionel Bart, "A Road To Nowhere" by Lesly Duncan, "Open Your Window" by Ella Fitzgerald, "Primrose Hill" by Kathe Green, "Cleopatra Jones" by Bobby Harrison, and "Brother" by CCS – plus "Half Forgotten Daydreams", "Heat Haze", and "Kes" by Cameron himself. CD

A very cool record – not the blues rock album you might expect from the group's name, although there's definitely some bluesy influences – but instead one of those really weird mixes of modes that you'll find in the best Uni groups of the period! There's some great organ and some very cool jazzy bits in the mix too – and titles include "Plastic Is Organic", "Love So Strong", "Darlin", "Tight Rope Walker", and "Swannanoa Tunnel". LP, Vinyl record album

A massive package of work from Bedlam – an early project from drummer Cozy Powell, and one with a legacy that's surprisingly bigger than the single album they issued back in the day! The first 2CDs feature both a new mix and 1973 mix of the self-titled Bedlam album – a searing set that stands as a great bridge between generations and styles on the UK hard rock scene! The group's most famous member is drummer Cozy Powell – the ersatz leader of the lineup – but the whole combo hits on all burners, with great lead vocals from Frank Aiello, guitar from Dave Ball, and bass from Dennis Ball – plus keyboards on the set from both Max Middleton and Felix Pappalardi – the latter of whom produced. Powell's drums are fantastic throughout – really driving the whole thing along – and Aiello comes across like some lost lead act from the glory days of the arena scene. The set features one killer break track called "Seven Long Years" – a stone jammer that begins with some great drums that break nicely into guitars – and other titles include "Believe In You", "Hot Lips", "Sweet Sister Mary", "Putting On The Flesh", "Set Me Free", and "The Beast". CD3 features a Live In London set from 1973; CD4 features a Live in New York set from 1974; CD5 features a related Big Bertha Live In Hamburg set from 1970; and CD6 features 16 more formative tracks from 1968 to 1970, recorded as Bedlam, Ace Kefford Stand, Big Bertha, and Ideal Milk. CD

A massive set, and one that features way more material than this legendary group released back in the day – all the full albums from Brinsley Schwarz, plus unissued studio material and other rarities too! The group were named after their guitarist, Brinsley Schwarz – but the group also featured key work from a young Nick Lowe, sounding wonderful here before going out as a solo act – and, with Schwarz, really helping to craft that smaller group, pub rock-styled approach that was such a strong antidote to prog and classic rock excesses of the period! There's a very down to earth vibe on many of these cuts – not entirely the roots rock of the US scene, but not far off – and also already echoing some of that tunefulness that Lowe would continue in his own recordings and productions – almost a secret evolution of a mod aesthetic, but hidden amidst other 70s trappings. Maybe we're pitching it wrong – but the records don't lie, and have plenty to tell here – full albums Brinsley Schwarz, Despite It All, Silver Pistol, Nervous On The Road, Please Don't Ever Change, The New Favourites Of Brinsley Schwarz, and It's All Over Now – plus dozens of bonus tracks, both live and studio – including work as The Brinsleys, The Hitters, and Limelight. 132 tracks on 7CDs, with very detailed notes! CD

A dozen hits. CD

A surprisingly great batch of kick ass rock and roll tunes – southern fried, but done with a cosmic undercurrent that makes for a mighty weird approach! The drums are amazing – fierce right from the get-go, in a way that has made the record a favorite with break collectors for years – and the fuzzy guitars really step out strongly too – with just a slight southern twang, and a great edge that keeps things pretty funky at parts! Bobby Caldwell is in the group on percussion, piano, vibes, and bells – and he also co-wrote most of the songs on the album – and titles include the classic "Dancing Madly Backwards", plus "Myopic Void", "Frozen Over", "Thousand Days Of Yesterdays", "As The Moon Speaks", and "Astral Lady". CD

A classic set from British singer/songwriter Michael Chapman – his last recorded for the Harvest Records label, but done in a way that has the sort of rootsy undercurrents you'd be more likely to find in work from the US! Chapman plays both acoustic and electric guitar, often blended together in ways that echo his folk roots, but push things into a headier space overall – especially when some of the larger arrangements come into the mix – used sparingly, but in ways that show the deeper currents of the lyrics. Paul Buckmaster handled these orchestrations, with just the right touch – and titles include "Polar Bear Fandango", "Indian Queens", "Wrecked Again", "Time Enough To Spare", "Night Drive", and "Mozart Lives Upstairs". 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

The final chapter of Lula Cortes amazing run of music in 70s Brazil – a small label release that brilliantly blends together a range of psychedelic influences – all with a gritty edge that's quite different than what you might expect from the date of the album! Things here are every bit as tripped out as on some of Lula's other albums from years before – trippily poetic, occasionally folksy, and sometimes touched with heavier electric moments that really offset the gentler, more organic moments. The reissue features full notes on the music by Cortes himself – and the package offers a rare chance to hear an album whose original pressing was supposedly destroyed before it was ever released! Really great sound, and a lovely package that more than lives up to Lula's amazing music. (Brazil, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Four incredible albums from the young Georgie Fame – plus a bonus CD of rare material, bonus tracks on all CDs, and 18 previously unreleased tracks – all in a box set with a 48 page book, 5 postcards, and a poster too! First up is Rhythm & Blues At The Flamingo – blistering early work from a young Georgie Fame – a set that definitely lives up to the Rhythm & Blues in the title! The set was recorded live at London's hip Flamingo club – and Georgie and The Blue Flames are very much in command of the crowd – burning with the intensity of a American small organ combo, especially the early 60s variety that often played equal parts soul jazz and R&B! Georgie's on the Hammond, and also sings with a rough-edged style that's plenty soulful, and incredibly appealing – a mode that oozes charisma, but never sounds fake or forced. Titles include "Do The Dog", "Eso Beso", "Work Song", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Shop Around", "Humpty Dumpty", and "You Can't Sit Down". Fame At Last is a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and R&B – all filtered through a mod sort of London freshness, as early proof that the city could always take some great things from our own musical roots, and feed it back to us with a whole new flavor! Georgie's no copycat here, though – and the sound is instantly Fame-like – a style that's really not the sort that any Americans were doing at the time, and certainly never this well. Hard-burning Hammond colors most of the tunes here – played with a tightly vamping quality – but it's Georgie's charmingly crackling vocals that really win us over! Titles include "Gimme That Wine", "Pink Champagne", "Monkeying Around", "Green Onions", "Let The Sunshine In", "Get On The Right Track Baby", "I'm In The Mood For Love", and "I Love The Life I Live". Sweet Things is a definite sweet thing from Georgie Fame – a record that has him filling in his sound even more than before, with tremendously soulful results! The backings here are bigger than before – a bit tooled in an American soul mode, but still with that beautifully raspy Georgie Fame touch – lots of jazzy inflections on the vocals, and a way of handling a tune, even a familiar one, and really working it on his own level. Hammond still fills in most of the tunes, but other instrumentation includes some nice African percussion from Speedy Acquaye, saxes from Pete Coe, and some nice bold drums from John Mitchell. These come out to the forefront on the classic funky tune "Music Talk" – and still sound great on other numbers that include "The World Is Round", "Last Night", "Dr Kitch", "My Girl", "Ride Your Pony", and "Sweet Thing". Sound Venture is one of the jazziest early albums from Georgie Fame – a set that has him singing with the big band of Harry South, at a level that's a lot more complicated than some of his other work with The Blue Flames! The style here still has that mod 60s London feel, but it also has some deeper inflections as well – modes borrowed a bit from Jon Hendricks or Mose Allison, yet served up with even greater complexity – at a level that really points towards the tremendous growth Fame would unleash over the next few years. Members of the group include Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tony Coe, Dick Morrisey, Kenny Wheeler, and many other key Brit jazz figures of the time – and titles include "Three Blind Mice", "Dawn Yawn", "Feed Me", "Lovey Dovey", "Lil Darlin", "Lil Pony", "I Am Missing You", and "Many Happy Returns". CD5 is Bend A Little – a package with 20 unusual titles – demos, rare tracks, and outtakes – including unreleased tracks, IBC recordings, and even two German tracks too! Plus, each individual CD comes with bonus tracks – 40 bonus tracks, in addition to the 20 more titles on the Bend A Little set – a huge amount of material! (Vocalists, Rock) CD

A record that has Family very much at the top of their game – and working in a format that some of their contemporaries were trying on record at the time – serving up one side of live material, and one set in the studio! Although the group are sometimes linked to the prog scene of the time, there's a quality here that's often more hard rock overall, especially on the live material – very thunderous drums and heady guitar work, and vocals from Roger Chapman singing at the rawer side of his spectrum! Titles include "Part Of The Load", "Willow Tree", "Good News Bad News", "Holding The Compass", "Anyway", and "Normans". 2CD edition is overflowing with bonus material – the cuts "Normans (US LP edit)", "Hung Up Down (1970 single)", "Strange Band (studio)", and "The Weavers Answer (1970 single)" – plus a bonus CD with a dozen more tracks from a BBC Top Gear session in September, 1970! CD

Titles include "Soulin", "Thunder Island", "Night Shift", "Babylon", "Love Is Cold", "Happy Too", "Cozumel", and "Magic Moment". 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

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A nicely focused little collection on the great Ferlin Husky – one that brings together some of his more upbeat tunes from the early generation of rock and roll – although the music is still pretty darn country overall! Or rather, hillbilly – said in the most respectful way of the time – as the cuts often have some bumping basslines that are clearly borrowed a bit from rockabilly, and have that wonderfully full Capitol Records production style of the late 50s – which can illuminate even a casual moment in a tune, and make Ferlin's wit and personality really come through in the vocals! The CD's one of the best collections we've ever seen to focus on this side of Husky's great, and overlooked talent – and titles include "I Feel Better All Over", "Slow Down Brother", "Cross Eyed Gal From The Ozarks", "Detour", "Prize Possession", "Black Sheep", "Eli The Camel", "Excuse Me Stranger", "Wang Dang Doo", "I Will", and "Muki Ruki". (Folk/Country, Rock) CD

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Titles include "Try", "Maybe", "To Love Somebody", "Little Girl Blue", and "One Good Man" – plus the 3 bonus tracks "Dear Landlord", "Summertime" and "Piece Of My Heart". CD

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