Not the original Quatermass EP from The Heliocentrics – but material that takes off in an even fuller, heavier direction – and which may well be the funkiest sounds we've heard from these guys so far! The music is stunning right from the very first heavy bassline and sharp drum crackle – more focused, more full-on, and more funky than before – with this mindblowing mix of super-tight rhythms and nicely trippy work on keyboards and guitar – all freaky and fuzzy, but always with a sense of purpose, too – and never just crazy for the sake of crazy! These guys really hit a new high with this set – simply wonderful, and at a level that has us falling in love with them all over again. Titles include "The Pit", "Gas Bottle", "Discovery", "Phenomenon Of Man", "Telekinesis", "Night & Day", "Looking Back", "Mass Psychosis", and "The Final Conclusion". (Deep Funk, Rock) CD

The great Arto Lindsay solo, and at a level that really has his unique character coming out more than ever – definitely different than some of the more song-based records he gave us decades back, and very much in the territory of the sounds that made him such a force during the no wave generation! Arto sings and plays guitar – but the results are hardly as ordinary as that might make you expect – as Lindsay moves from noise one minute to sweeter crooning the next – all with an understanding of the boundaries of sound, and the pleasures in stepping back after reaching them in performance. Every track is a new surprise – and titles include "A Mirror Trying To Do Its Job", "Parallel", "Nothing", "The Famous Land Of Evening", "Your Hair Sticks To My Cheek", "Many Body", and "Yoga". (Jazz, Rock) CD

Magnificent early work from Eugene Chadbourne – a set that was recorded on Christmas Day, 1977 – and only issued a decade later on cassette – but sounds that are every bit as mindblowing as the material on Chadbourne's first few albums! The music here is heavy on compositions from Thelonious Monk – and the set also features Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Ornette Coleman tunes too – all reworked by Chadbourne with this incredible acoustic guitar style – very freewheeling, but still tied to the roots of jazz through a sense of melody – in ways that are maybe even more illustrative of his role in the scene than some of his other work. At one level, there's an acoustic guitar craft here that stretches back to the early blues recordings, but through a strong sense of avant freedom – ala Captain Beefheart – but Eugene's care with the tunes, mixed with his expressive phrasing, also put him in a space that's somewhere between the world of Derek Bailey and Fred Frith, and that of jazzman Barney Kessel, whose name he's holding in the poster on the cover. Titles include "5th Of Beethoven", "Reflections", "Off Minor", "San Francisco", "Hackensack", "Dewey Square", "Central Park West", "Brilliant Corners", and "Light Blue". Also includes a number of Chadbourne originals – and unissued tracks as well! (Jazz, Rock) CD

Not the original Quatermass EP from The Heliocentrics – but material that takes off in an even fuller, heavier direction – and which may well be the funkiest sounds we've heard from these guys so far! The music is stunning right from the very first heavy bassline and sharp drum crackle – more focused, more full-on, and more funky than before – with this mindblowing mix of super-tight rhythms and nicely trippy work on keyboards and guitar – all freaky and fuzzy, but always with a sense of purpose, too – and never just crazy for the sake of crazy! These guys really hit a new high with this set – simply wonderful, and at a level that has us falling in love with them all over again. Titles include "The Pit", "Gas Bottle", "Discovery", "Phenomenon Of Man", "Telekinesis", "Night & Day", "Looking Back", "Mass Psychosis", and "The Final Conclusion". (Deep Funk, Rock) CD

One of the great fake live albums of the 60s – a set that promises to be a concert performance from the title and cover, but which actually just features The Seeds playing live together in the studio! Yet that little trick is hardly a problem – because the album's the last-ever from this seminal group, and captures them in a format that really lets them take off! Their studio sessions were always great, but this one's got a special edge from letting all the instruments work together in the same space at once, with no edits or dubs. The core combo sounds wonderful – searing guitar, trippy keyboard lines, and all the sneering vocals the young Sky Saxon can muster – served up over tracks that include "Mr. Farmer", "No Escape", "Satisfy You", "Night Time Girl", "Up In Her Room", "Gypsy Plays His Drums", "Mumble And Bumble", "Forest Outside Your Door", "900 Million People Daily All Making Love", and "Pushin' Too Hard". LP, Vinyl record album

The great lost folk rock album from Jim Sullivan – who himself, literally went lost several years later – a set that's beautiful, yet just loose and ragged enough! It's a bit of a hybrid of folk and country rock, particularly in the acoustic guitars and laidback, warm vocals by Sullivan – but it's also got some Cali warmth – sweet strings and some horns and flute, pairing up with the looser, back porch style at the core quite wonderfully. Some great players from the LA studio scene played on the sessions – including members of the iconic Wrecking Crew – and it sounds like it! UFO came out on the small Monnie label, made hardly a dent, and after another record for the Playboy label, Sullivan disappeared, never to be heard from again in 1975 – lending a bit of a spooky air to the album, but the backstory truly not relevant to the quality – it's excellent, with or without the lore! Includes "Jerome", "Plain As Your Eyes Can See", "Roll Back The Time", "Whistle Stop", "Highways", "UFO", "So Natural", "Johnny" and "Sandman". LP, Vinyl record album

The great lost folk rock album from Jim Sullivan – who himself, literally went lost several years later – a set that's beautiful, yet just loose and ragged enough! It's a bit of a hybrid of folk and country rock, particularly in the acoustic guitars and laidback, warm vocals by Sullivan – but it's also got some Cali warmth – sweet strings and some horns and flute, pairing up with the looser, back porch style at the core quite wonderfully. Some great players from the LA studio scene played on the sessions – including members of the iconic Wrecking Crew – and it sounds like it! UFO came out on the small Monnie label, made hardly a dent, and after another record for the Playboy label, Sullivan disappeared, never to be heard from again in 1975 – lending a bit of a spooky air to the album, but the backstory truly not relevant to the quality – it's excellent, with or without the lore! Includes "Jerome", "Plain As Your Eyes Can See", "Roll Back The Time", "Whistle Stop", "Highways", "UFO", "So Natural", "Johnny", "Sandman" and more. CD

Two classic albums from the great Gene Clark – back to back in a single set! First up is White Light – a key part of that scattered legacy that really helped cement his individual genius after leaving The Byrds! Much of the record is a spare and intimate affair – with Gene's warm vocals accompanied by his own gently picked acoustic guitar, along with producer Jesse Ed Davis (who does a masterful job in the booth on this one) also on guitar. The tunes are also sweetened by waltzy basslines, and Byrds-y keyboard riffs by Ben Sidran, but Gene's wonderful vocals and his amazingly strong songwriting are obviously the biggest draws – not standard country or roots rock, and instead delivered with a sense of sophistication that's almost a genre unto itself. Titles include the amazing "For A Spanish Guitar" – plus "The Virgin", "With Tomorrow", "White Light", "Where My Love Lies Asleep", "1975", and a great reading of The Band & Bob Dylan's "Tears Of Rage". Roadmaster is a warm, wonderful set of Gene Clark recordings from the early 70s – material that probably should have been issued as a proper album in the States back in the day, as sounds pretty much as solid to us as some of his great work in preceding years – but was issued only in Europe at the time! Roadmaster was pulled together from 1972 sessions that were essentially abandoned, but it's truly top notch Cali country rock featuring Byrds and Burrito Brothers in the sessions. Titles include "She's The Kind Of Girl", "Full Circle Song", "Roadmaster", "In A Misty Morning", "She Don't Care About Time", "Shooting Star", "Rough And Rocky", "One In A Hundred", "I Remember The Railroad" and more. CD

A record that was years ahead of its time – in part because Karen Dalton's a singer with a style that's wonderfully hard to peg! The set was issued on Capitol Records at a time when the label was doing great work with Fred Neil – but Dalton's got this blues-inflected style of singing and a kind of inflection that also maybe echoes Billie Holiday a bit – yet all at a level that's very laidback and easygoing, so that Karen never sounds like some of her contemporaries who were trying a bit to hard to reach for the more soulful side of the spectrum! Instrumentation is mostly acoustic, gut there's some great use of electric bass and a bit of electric guitar – which makes Dalton's 12 string and banjo performances come across more like some of the hipper acoustic sessions on Vanguard at the time. Tunes include a few originals two Fred Neil covers, and a well-chosen Tim Hardin track too – in a set list that includes "In The Evening It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best", "Little Bit Of Rain", "Blues On The Ceiling", "Sweet Substitute", "Ribbon Bow", "I Love You More Thank Words Can Say", and "Down On The Street". LP, Vinyl record album

Great sounds from one of the best years in Elvis' comeback career – 23 tracks, presented in a really great way – all from Memphis sessions produced by Chips Moman! CD

The complete Monument recordings of southern soul-tinged swamp rock trailblazer Tony Joe White – in a wonderful box set from the deep catalog explorers at Rhino Handmade! Swamp Rock contains everything from the Black & White, Continued and Tony Joe LPs – with dozens of previously unreleased work from the era. Unlike the most famous dude we can think of who wears the swamp rock genre tag, Tony Joe White really was reared in the swamp country of Louisiana – and genuineness shows on these fine recordings! His vocals here have a bit of that laconic storyteller vibe of a Bobby Bare type character – but the production and arrangements have a real feel for the Stax and Muscle Shoals sounds. It's a blend of styles that's quite unique – and well worth rediscovery! Includes all the tracks from Tony Joe's 3 LPs for Monument plus a swampful of great bonus numbers from those sessions and more – a whopping 81 tracks on four CDs! Disc one includes the Black & White LP and much more: "Willie And Laura Mae Jones", "Soul Francisco", "Whompt Out On You", "Wichita Lineman" and more. Disc 2 features the Continued LP and more: "Elements And Things", "Woodpecker", "Old Man Willis", "Woman With Soul" and much more. Disc 3 includes the Tony Joe LP tracks and more: "Stud-Spider", "Widow Wimberly", "Save Your Sugar For Me", "Hard To Handle" and more. Disc 4 includes a slew of previously unreleased material cut at Barclay Studios in Paris, plus live work from Tony Joe at the Isle Of Wight: titles include "Mississippi Delta", "Chain Of Blues", "Ballad Of Hollis Brown" and more from the Barclay sessions, plus "Boom Boom", "I Want You", "Groupy Girl" and more from Isle Of Wight. CD

A stunning collection of work from one of our favorite bands of the 60s – a group who sprung up on the San Francisco scene of the mid 60s, then evolved with an amazing sound in just a few short years! The set begins with the group's three albums for the Autumn label – Introducing, Volume Two, and Beau Brummels 66 – and packs those with 47 related demo tracks, outtakes, and alternates – giving a really amazing picture of the group at the start! Then, the package moves into their two tremendous albums for Warner Brothers – Triangle and Bradley's Barn, both of which are real highlights on the late 60s creative landscape of the label – presented here with 32 associated demo tracks and rarities from those sessions! Then, the set moves into a 1965 demo session for Autumn Records, with over two dozen songs in development form in the studio. CD7 features solo work from Ron Elliott and Sal Valentino of the group – including some unheard material! CD8 features 28 more tracks – all single cuts from the group, including cancelled releases, and some solo singles from Sal Valentino. 228 tracks in all – all newly mastered, with many titles on CD for the first time ever! 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 warm, wonderful set of Gene Clark recordings from the early 70s – material that probably should have been issued as a proper album in the States back in the day, as sounds pretty much as solid to us as some of his great work in preceding years – but was issued only in Europe at the time! Roadmaster was pulled together from 1972 sessions that were essentially abandoned, but it's truly top notch Cali country rock featuring Byrds and Burrito Brothers in the sessions. Titles include "She's The Kind Of Girl", "Full Circle Song", "Roadmaster", "In A Misty Morning", "She Don't Care About Time", "Shooting Star", "Rough And Rocky", "One In A Hundred", "I Remember The Railroad" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the great fake live albums of the 60s – a set that promises to be a concert performance from the title and cover, but which actually just features The Seeds playing live together in the studio! Yet that little trick is hardly a problem – because the album's the last-ever from this seminal group, and captures them in a format that really lets them take off! Their studio sessions were always great, but this one's got a special edge from letting all the instruments work together in the same space at once, with no edits or dubs. The core combo sounds wonderful – searing guitar, trippy keyboard lines, and all the sneering vocals the young Sky Saxon can muster – served up over tracks that include "Mr. Farmer", "No Escape", "Satisfy You", "Night Time Girl", "Up In Her Room", "Gypsy Plays His Drums", "Mumble And Bumble", "Forest Outside Your Door", "900 Million People Daily All Making Love", and "Pushin' Too Hard". CD

Fantastic stuff! Smiley Smile is the issued version of Smile, a classic – and even though some may gripe that it's missing the 50% extra material that was supposed to be on the Smile set, it's still utterly fantastic! Titles include "Vegetables", "Heroes & Villains", "Fall", "Little Pad", "With Me Tonight", and "Wind Chimes". Wild Honey is a great lost album, too – one that has the Beach Boys going back to more stripped-down sounds, but still staying kind of odd and eerie, on tracks like "Let The Wind Blow", "I'd Love Just Once To See You", "Country Air", "Aren't You Glad", and "Here Comes The Night". CD also features 6 bonus tracks, including alternate takes from the Smile sessions! CD

The great lost folk rock album from Jim Sullivan – who himself, literally went lost several years later – a set that's beautiful, yet just loose and ragged enough! It's a bit of a hybrid of folk and country rock, particularly in the acoustic guitars and laidback, warm vocals by Sullivan – but it's also got some Cali warmth – sweet strings and some horns and flute, pairing up with the looser, back porch style at the core quite wonderfully. Some great players from the LA studio scene played on the sessions – including members of the iconic Wrecking Crew – and it sounds like it! UFO came out on the small Monnie label, made hardly a dent, and after another record for the Playboy label, Sullivan disappeared, never to be heard from again in 1975 – lending a bit of a spooky air to the album, but the backstory truly not relevant to the quality – it's excellent, with or without the lore! Includes "Jerome", "Plain As Your Eyes Can See", "Roll Back The Time", "Whistle Stop", "Highways", "UFO", "So Natural", "Johnny" and "Sandman". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Paul Williams' greatest albums – produced by his friend and frequent collaborator Roger Nichols, with a style that's very much like the best work the pair recorded together! The songs are some of Williams' best – really warm and intimate numbers, done in a heartfelt style that lacks all the cloying touches of some of his later work – or that of bad interpretations of his work by other artists. Arrangements are by the cream of LA hipsters – Nichols, Perry Botkin, Chad Stuart, and Artie Butler – and the record has a mutedly groovy feel! Titles include "Time", "Roan Pony", "I Know You", "To Put Up With You", "Someday Man", and "So Many People". This great remastered UK edition has 12 bonus tracks: instrumental versions of "Someday Man", "So Many People", "Mornin' I'll Be Movin' On" and "To Put Up With You", sessions recordings of "Someday Man" and "The Drifter", plus mono versions several album tracks and a couple demo versions. (Vocalists, Rock) CD