Killer set of modern house tracks – put together by Stuart Patterson, the driving force behind Soulsonic, one of London's best house music nights of the past 10 years! Patterson's got a keen devotion to classic house grooves and modern tracks that draw deeply from the history of disco and boogie – and the package is a stunningly produced set of tasty club tracks that you'll be hard pressed to find on the original 12" singles. Includes Frankie Knuckles' classic "Only The Strong Survive", plus "The Path" by Sandy Riviera, "Lost In the Loft" by Weekender, "Felony Funk" by Swag, "Spread Love" by Black Sun, "Don't Go Lose It Baby" by Hugh Masekela, "Dis Poem" by Mutaburuka, "Your Love" by Terence Parker, "Grey" by Circulation, and "The Voice" by ATFC. Plus, the CD set features one CD of unmixed tracks, plus one bonus CD of mixed tracks! (Funky Compilations, Soul) CD

A mindblowing solo set from Curtis Mayfield – a record that not only foregrounds all the subtle politics he'd been forging in the Impressions during the 60s – but one that also really has Mayfield exploding as a force to be reckoned with in the studio! The album's a personal masterpiece – to the career of Curtis what the early solo albums of Issac Hayes were to his own genius – a bold, unfettered statement of pride and power – of the sort that would both make Mayfield and the Curtom Records label forces to be reckoned with in the 70s. Every cut is a classic – and titles include "Move On Up", "If There's a Hell Below We're All Gonna Go", "Miss Black America", "Wild & Free", "Give It Up", "The Makings Of You", "The Other Side Of Town", and "We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue". Extra tracks include demo versions of "Power to the People", "Underground", "Readings in Astrology", "Suffer", and the single version of "(Don't Worry) If There Is a Hell Below We're All Going To Go". CD

The soundtrack to This Is It – the celebratory release of the King Of Pop's rehearsal footage from the days before his untimely death – which also serves as sort of a best of Michael's years at Epic/Sony! It does a fine job of touching on the each of the diverse styles Michael handled in his Epic years, the pioneering guitar accented pop soul magic to the more tender numbers, but, the boon for This Is It is the title track. It's a previously unreleased number with backing harmonies by the Jackson's, a fairly gentle and memorable tune, plus some disc 2 demos. Titles include "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", "Jam", "They Don't Care About Us", "Human Nature", "Smooth Criminal", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Beat It", "Black Or White", "Earth Song", "Billie Jean", "Man In The Mirror" and "This Is It" (main and orchestra version). Disc 2 includes demos for "She's Out Of My Life", "Wanna Be Startin Somethin" and a "poem" version of "Planet Earth". CD

Heavy duty fuzzy soul from Black Merda (aka Mer-Da) – the massive Black Merda and Long Burn The Fire LPs back-to-back on one CD! The Black Merda album has a distinct batch of influences that run from Funkadelic, to Hendrix, to Chicago electric blues – but since the recording (from 1970) was contemporaneous with most of those influences, we should give the group more credit than just listing others with a similar sound! Includes the great stoned track "Cynthy-Ruth", plus "Prophet", "Reality", "I Don't Want To Die", and "Over & Over". Long Burn The Fire is another great batch Hendrix-inspired funky rock, released under the moniker Mer-Da! The sound is definitely rock-heavy – with lots of trippy guitars riffing away in heavy fuzzy style – but the album's also a classic in the black rock vein, and there's enough funk in the mix to keep it on your turntable if you dig the rockier sound of the funky grooves! Cuts include "The Folks From Mother's Mixer", "Lying", "We Made Up", and "Long Burn The Fire". 19 tracks in all! CD