... LP, Vinyl record album

Heavy psych from the Toronto scene of the 60s – a record that died instantly after it was recorded, but only because it was years ahead of its time! Bent Wind are incredible from the very first note – playing with this intensity that's really hard to sum up in words, often with guitar lines to rival the best of the new hard rock generation in the UK – but lyrics that are moodier and muddier, and which give these guys an almost spooky sort of feel! There's plenty of power on the record throughout – and a youthful freshness that comes through right away, even after all these years – on titles that include "Hate", "The Lions", "Goin To The City", "Riverside", "Mystify", "Touch Of Red", and "Sacred Cows". LP, Vinyl record album

Not a group from the Cali scene of the 60s, as their name might make you expect – but instead a very cool UK group, and one who've picked up some of the best sunshine pop inspirations of the period, then mixed them with trippier touches as well! The set begins early, at a time when the group were maybe more slavish to American inspirations – but then really stretches out near the end of the 60s and start of the 70s, when West Coast Consortium were also taking more chances with their music, and really experimenting with the way that production played with their vocals! And while they had a big single back in the day, West Coast Consortium never issued that much material – certainly not here in the US – which makes this huge 3CD set a real discovery, especially as it also include later recordings for the Trend label, material done as The Consortium, and even some unissued albums! There's a massive 76 tracks on the set, along with very detailed notes – and titles include "Philadelphia", "Money Matters", "Rings & Things", "Mr Umbrella Man", "Whatever Became Of Emily Jane", "Live & Let Live", "This Poor Man", "Scarlet Rider", "One Six Two", "Willow Wood", "The Elastic Band", "Beggar Man", "Cynthia Serenity", "I Don't Want Her Any More", and "When The Day Breaks". CD

The Zodiac never sounded so spooky – and the album's one of the first in a trend that explored astrology with funky musical backings! The music for the set was put together by moogy maestro Mort Garson – then making a transition from being a straight easy arranger in the early 60s, to more of a tripped-out pop-psychedelic artist of the latter part of the decade. Garson brings a nice funky undercurrent to the set – in a style that's similar to the work of David Axelrod, but which also uses a bit more electric instrumentation. Each track features a spoken bit on a Zodiac sign – written by Jacques Wilson, and spoken by Cyrus Faryar – and the album also features some nice moog work by Paul Beaver! Titles include "Aries", "Taurus", "Cancer", "Leo", and so on! (P.S.: The label says "Must Be Played In The Dark!") (Now Sound, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

Music from the Beau Brummels, We Five, the Vejtables, the Charlatans, Country Joe & the Fish, the Mojo Men, the Mystery Trend, Sons Of Champlin, Sly & The Family Stone, the Youngbloods, Blue Cheer & more. (Cassettes, Rock) Cassette

Two different albums on one CD – both of which are full of the legendary guitar work that made Duane Eddy huge in the early 60s! First up is Twenty Terrific Twangies – a UK collection that brings together some of the best early RCA material by Eddy – a good deal of which was handled by superproucer Lee Hazlewood – whose work with Duane predated his hits with Nancy Sinatra! Some cuts have vocals, most are instrumental – and titles include "The Feud", "Stretchin Out", "Guitar Man", "Country Twist", "Mirriam", "The Last Dance", "Twangsville", "Jerky Jalopy", "Boss Guitar", and "Rebel Rouser". On Water Skiing, Duane's twangy guitar sound is applied to the water skiing scene, in what was probably an attempt to establish a new trend away from surf or hot rod instrumentals. The sound, however, is very much in the surf/hot rod style – with lots of groovy "twang" out front, and zippy backgrounds that have a swinging sound to them. Titles include "Water Skiing", "Rooster Tail", "In Gear", "Jumping The Wake", "Banana Peels", and "Toe Hold Slide Slide". CD

A treasure trove of rare guitar instrumentals from The Keymen – a group who cooked up some mighty nice work in the New Mexico scene of the 60s! A fair bit of these cuts have never been issued before, but they're all pretty darn great – and recorded with a strong sense of echo that continues that southwest trend that Lee Hazlewood first helped forge back at the end of the 50s! The guitar is nice out front, and the echo really emphasizes its place on the tunes – on titles that include ten unreleased tracks, a few live numbers, and a rare single too. Titles include "Walkin Talkin", "Getting Together", "A Yank In London", "Surf Breeze", "One More Chance", "Penetration", and "By The Lonely Shore". CD

One of the most awe-inspiring Nuggets sets yet – a massive ode to the late 60s San Francisco scene – a wide, wide breadth of amazing singles from a disparate selection of acts – bound by a 120-page hardcover, richly illustrated book! Love Is The Song We Sing isn't at all the lumbering box of hippie nostalgia you might be expecting – it's weighted very heavily in leftfield obscurities, out numbering the big hits by at least 10-to-1 – with harshly buzzing tunes, groovy psychedelia, and topical folk tunes alike. The book is full of great photos, in buoyant color and stately black & white, with notes on each individual track, an essay & track commentary by Alec Palao, a piece by early Rolling Stone figurehead Ben Fong Torres, and an additional piece by Gene Sculatti. This is one of the best Rhino boxes we've ever seen, and that's saying something, isn't it – with amazing songs by Dino Valente, Country Joe & The Fish, Blue Cheer, Sly Stone, Ace Of Cups, Count Five, Moby Grape, Beau Brummels, Flamin' Groovies and many more! Disc one "Seismic Rumbles" includes "Let's Get Together" by Dino Valente, "You Were On My Mind" by We Five, "Number One" by Charlatans, "Can't Come Down" by Warlocks, "She's My Baby" by Mojo Men, "Human Monkey" by Frantics and loads more. Disc 2 "Suburbia" includes "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five, "Foolish Woman" by Oxford Circle, "Rubiyat" by Immediate Family, "Hearts To Cry" by Frumious Bandersnatch and more. Disc 3 "Summer Of Love" includes "Carl Street" by Mystery Trend, "Superbird" by Country Joe & The Fish, "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, "Summertime Blues" by Blue Cheer, "Underdog" by Sly & The Family Stone, "Loading Zone" by Bells and lots more. Disc 4 "The Man Can't Bust Our Music" includes "Evil Ways" by Santana, "Revolution" by Mother Earth, "I'm Drowning" by Flamin' Groovies, "Dark Star" (single version) by Grateful Dead, "Get Together" by The Youngbloods and more. 77 tracks on 4CDs! CD

Sublime country rock and superb vocals from the Everly Brothers – an album as close to our hearts as the much more hipster-celebrated work of the era by Gram Parsons, the Byrds and others! The Everlys grasped onto their significance throughout the 60s by hopping from trend to trend with little success – but they finally nailed it in 1968 with this effort. (Artistically, if not commercially.) The boys apply their staggering harmonies to country and country-ish material, adding their own unique spin to the tunes – and earnestly work in some montages of their family radio shows from the early 50s! It's easily their most endearing work of the 60s. Produced by Lenny Waronker with strings by Nick DeCaro. Includes wonderful versions of Jimmie Rodgers' "T For Texas", "Shady Grove", Randy Newman's "Illinois", Ray Price's "You Done Me Wrong", Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" and "Sing Me Back Home", plus "Ventura Boulvard" and "Turn Around" written by Ron Elliot of Beau Brummels. LP, Vinyl record album

The Zodiac never sounded so spooky – and the album's one of the first in a trend that explored astrology with funky musical backings! The music for the set was put together by moogy maestro Mort Garson – then making a transition from being a straight easy arranger in the early 60s, to more of a tripped-out pop-psychedelic artist of the latter part of the decade. Garson brings a nice funky undercurrent to the set – in a style that's similar to the work of David Axelrod, but which also uses a bit more electric instrumentation. Each track features a spoken bit on a Zodiac sign – written by Jacques Wilson, and spoken by Cyrus Faryar – and the album also features some nice moog work by Paul Beaver! Titles include "Aries", "Taurus", "Cancer", "Leo", and so on! (P.S.: The label says "Must Be Played In The Dark!") (Now Sound, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

(Vocalists, Rock) CD

The first proper album by Americana rock supergroup Golden Smog – featuring members of Wilco, The Jayhawks & Soul Asylum among others – very much living up to the kind of trends-be-damned album that would come from these guys circa 1995 – inspired by the best acoustic-leaning classic rock of the 70s, sans cliche and feeling fresh all over again! There's a lot to love here for fans of pre-Summerteeth era Wilco and American Recordings era Jayhawks – which is to say it soundly ignores the noisier sounds of the rock mainstream at the time for a more down home vibe. Includes "V", "Pecan Pie", "Glad U Sorry", "He's A Dick", "Red Headed Stepchild", "Williamton Angel", "Friend", "Nowhere Bound", "Radio King" and more. CD

French rocker Johnny Hallyday hits the 70s, with a sound and style that's a bit funky, and a bit touched by some of the crossover American trends coming out of the LA rock scene. This one's arranged mostly by Mickey Jones and Tommy Brown, who'd done some excellent work with Hallyday on earlier records – and the music is kind of a post-Muscle Shoals/Memphis sound, with lots of honky tonk piano, bubbling organ riffs, and backings that are generally more in the soul/rock camp than in Hallyday's earlier pop rock style. Titles include "La Joi", "L'Autre Motif", "Flagrant Delit", "Fils De Personne", and "Fille De La Nuit". (French, Rock) CD

Melodic space rock from Secret Machines – who smartly developed a unique niche in the post millennium rock scene by pairing early 70s Eno style and Krautrock era moody atmospherics with accessible hooks and relatable lyricism – smartly eschewing trends and making it pretty timeless, so it's as listenable now as ever! Includes "Alone, Jealous & Stoned", "All At One (It's Not Important)", "Lighting Blue Eyes", "Daddy's In The Doldrums", "I Hate Pretending", "Faded Lines", "I Want To Know If It's Still Possible" and "1,000 Seconds". CD

The Feelies going strong in the late 80s – as timeless and influential as ever! Only Life might not be chiseled into the post punk/indie rock Pantheon as prominently as their underground iconic Crazy Rhythms, but this really is a classic we hold nearly as dear! The hypnotically layered guitars slow build to perfection, the production is neatly void of late 80s recording studio technological trends – which seems like a minor miracle, seeing how poorly so many of their peers' albums of the period have aged – and the always great Velvet Underground-inspired vocals even culminate in a nice cover of Lou Reed's "What Goes On". Greatness! Other titles include "It's Only Life", "Higher Ground", "Deep Fascination", "The Undertow","The Final Word" and "For Awhile". CD

Both of the rare original albums by this legendary 60s electronic group – out now on one lovely 18 track CD! The Apples were one of the most unique groups of their era, and they mixed electronics with a throbbing rock groove in a way that not only predicted lots of the musical trends of the 70's, but which has also been taken up again in the 90's by a host of young bands. The group has reformed these days, but these two albums are still their best. Titles include "Velvet Cave", "Oscillations", "Whirly-Bird", "Dust", "Misty Mountain", "Water", "Pox On You", "Confusion", and "Fantasies". CD

A beautifully burning double-length set from Soft Machine – proof that the group were really at the height of their powers during the early 70s – magically blending together jazz, rock, and fusion into one soaringly spacey new sound! The work here is a key fore-runner of countless trends to come – including recent keyboard-heavy work on the cosmic club scene – particularly 4 Hero and the generation of others that sprang up in their wake. Soft Machine have a similar British bent for blending styles here – using jazz elements that are on a par with their best contemporaries in the straighter part of that genre – but fusing them together with a more pulsating approach to rhythm that pushes all the solo bits wonderfully! There's a fair bit of groove heavy tracks here that still sound as fresh today as when they were recorded – and the album features great drums from John Marshall, keyboards from Mike Ratledge, bass from Hugh Hopper, and a wide variety of reeds from Karl Jenkins. The album's a rich tapestry of long and short tracks, all woven together – and titles include "All White", "Between", "Riff", "EPV", "Stumble", "5 From 13", "Riff II", "The Soft Weed Factor", and "Chloe & The Pirates". LP, Vinyl record album

The title's certainly got it right – as the set's overflowing with killer UK tracks from a time when the scene was heavily influenced by American soul, jazz, blues, and R&B – served up here on a host of singles that go way past the bigger names of that generation, and which really show the diversity and complexity of the underground groups who were making London hum in the mid 60s! And despite a strong influence from America, most of these acts aren't just aping music from our shores, and instead are already taking it to new and exciting places – using core elements in very different ways, at a level that would end up being a path forward for prog, psych, and other styles to come! The limited 2LP set features 34 tracks in all – and titles include "Oh Yeah" by The Others, "Unchain My Heart" by Trendbender Band, "Work Song" by James Royal, "I Still Want You" by Mickey Finn & The Blue Men, "Things She Says" by The In Crowd, "Crawdaddy Simone" by The Syndicats, "That Driving Beat" by The Favourite Sons, "I Take What I Want" by The Artwoods, "Number One" by Stormsville Shakers, "See Saw" by The Union, "Ain't Love Good" by Lucas & The Mike Cotton Sound, "Gotta Brand New Man" by Barry St Loun, "Last Night" by Laurel Aitken & The Soul Men, "Turn On Your Lovelight" by Wynder K Frog, "Something For Nothing" by Carl Douglas & The Big Stampede, "Good Lovin Never Hurt" by The Soul Brothers, "Hold On" by Ruperts People, and "She's A Girl" by The Attraction. LP, Vinyl record album

The landmark first album from The Band – and along with the follow-up, it's among the greatest records of its time – which is all the more astounding given how independent of late 60s trends it is! Each member of The Band brings such inimitable textures – Garth Hudson's imposing organ grooves, Richard Manuel's aching tenor vocals, Rick Danko's voice and distinctive bass lines, Levon Helm's behind-the-beat drumming and the country wisdom of his voice, Robertson's guitar mastery – this really was THE Band. Includes "Tears Of Rage", "In A Station", "The Weight", "Long Black Veil", "Chest Fever", "Lonesome Suzie", "This Wheels On Fire", "I Shall Be Released" and more. CD

New Wave hits Brazil – in case you couldn't tell by the album's op-art cover, and Dusek's sunglassed trendoid image on the front! The album seems to be relatively tongue in cheek – although it's a bit hard to tell if you don't speak the language – and titles include "Rock Da Cachorra", "Barrados No Baile", "Nao Minta Vovo", "Cabelos Negros", and "Enfant Terrible". (Brazil, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic collection of work from The Rah Band – a late 70s group who were never that big on the US scene, but who were a key part in helping the UK move from earlier electronic experiments into some of the more catchy grooves of the decade to come! At the start, Rah Band had maybe more of an electronic approach that was tied to the generation of moog instrumentals and other crossover instrumental records – thanks in part to the skills of mainman Richard Hewson – but as these records progress, the group also pick up plenty of warmer instrumentation too, especially on guitar and saxes – so that there's a fusion current at times, but mixed with elements that would show up more strongly in 80s electro soul too – all of which make the group a very important precursor to so many trends to come! The three albums in this set – Crunch & Beyond, Rah Band, and Going Up – are all filled with plenty of sweet keyboards, and an increasing sense of groove – and the package also adds in rare bonus tracks to each full album, then includes two full CDs of remix tracks and rarities – all of which makes for a massive package of 71 titles in all – the most we've ever seen from the group on CD! (Soul, Rock) CD

A weird and wonderful little record – one that combines noisy industrial moments with acoustic folksy elements – all in a way that's not unlike the direction Current 93 would take later on in the 80s! Regrelh somehow manage to evoke both a primitive pagan past and an eerie apocalyptic future – working in some of the same genre-crossing styles as the hipper side of their French scene a few years before – but with a vibe that's completely their own, and completely stunning throughout! The vocals at times are almost medieval, yet the record also uses guitar and electronics too – which makes for a stunning blend of modes that's unlike anything else recorded at the time. As with most French underground work of the time, the record's very much in its own space apart from trends in the UK or US – as you'll hear on titles that include "Esmai", "Del Sieu Tort Farai Esmenda", "Pois Tals Saber Mi Sortz E'M Creis", and "Elogi De La Guerra". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge dip into the German rock scene of the late 50s and early 60s – a time when the nation was really getting back on its feet, and setting into the same sort of crazy consumer trends that also fueled the fires of rock and roll back in the US! The music here has a really nice range – some cuts are covers of American rock tracks, but with a nice difference in the way the language is structured – others are more homegrown German varieties, and a few are by less-likely artists, jumping into the fray to show the rest of the world that the German scene can romp its rhythms with the best! We'd not heard most of these tracks before – and the whole thing is every bit as revelatory as previous volumes – with 32 tracks, by artists who include Ted Herold, Harry Gluck, Conny Quick, The Gisha Brothers, The Rattles, Billy Sanders, Peter Kraus, The Javalins, Ronny Twen & Die Playboys, Ralf Bendix, and many others! CD