Includes 24 tracks from Buddy Guy, Larry Johnson, India Arie, Keb Mo, Mavis Staples, Solomon Burke, Mos Def, Gregg Allman, Natalie Cole and Odetta. (Blues, Soundtracks) CD

That's a cheesy 80s action shot on the cover, and the music within really carries through on that promise – from the starting cut "Black Inferno", which is a very groovy clubby sort of cut – to the more stark, keyboard-driven grooves from the brothers DeAngelis! The duo did plenty of great cop/crime work in the 70s – and hear they follow the more lean styles of their contemporaries in the early 80s – using lots of keyboards, basslines, and drum machine bits to make most of the music – kind of a John Carpenter mode, but a bit fuller and more groovy – definitely in keeping with the duo's legacy! There's two versions of "Black Inferno", one nice and long – plus 24 more instrumentals from the film. CD

That's a cheesy 80s action shot on the cover, and the music within really carries through on that promise – from the starting cut "Black Inferno", which is a very groovy clubby sort of cut – to the more stark, keyboard-driven grooves from the brothers DeAngelis! The duo did plenty of great cop/crime work in the 70s – and hear they follow the more lean styles of their contemporaries in the early 80s – using lots of keyboards, basslines, and drum machine bits to make most of the music – kind of a John Carpenter mode, but a bit fuller and more groovy – definitely in keeping with the duo's legacy! There's two versions of "Black Inferno", one nice and long – plus 24 more instrumentals from the film. LP, Vinyl record album

A classic 60s soundtrack from maestro Ennio Morricone – and a set of music that's lasted a lot longer than the film – which starred John Cassavettes in the role of Machine Gun McCain! Morricone's really coming into his own here – and uses some of the drama of his western work, blended with his growing ability to craft a simple, haunting melody – often the kind of dreamy tune you'd hardly expect to find in a movie like this! A few tense moments move into a slight atonal range – but most numbers have that cool, compressed style that made Morricone so great in the late 60s – with bits of Hammond, guitar, strings, and even some slight horns. The set's got two vocal numbers sung by Jackie Lynton – titles include "La Ballata Di Hank McCain", "Come Quando Fuori Piove", "Irene", "Defilee", "Gli Intoccabili", "Rosemary", "Come Lei", and "Sogno Dopo Sogno". Also includes a number of bonus tracks! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most striking records we've ever heard from Swiss music legend Bruno Spoerri – a set that's very different from both his straight jazz recordings and his more experimental work – and instead a soundtrack for an obscure 60s film about a strangler in London! There's definitely a lot of mod elements in the music on the groovy cuts, which are then turned towards more sinister purposes on the spookier ones – so that an organ line can move from swinging to spare and moody, and a bassline can follow in just the same way! There's great use of Spoerri's famous sonic palette here – built up in ways that are almost a precursor to the more striking sonic modes of the Italian scene in the early 70s – and the set fatures 20 tracks in all, including "Plane To Peru", "Brogues In Robes", "Reading The Killer", "Spiral Staircase", "Check Out The Gravel Pit", "To The Brothers Of Compensatory Righteousness", "Don't Blame Jane", and "Kiddie's Beat". LP, Vinyl record album

There's lots of wild electronics here, and plenty of other great sounds too – served up in a host of very cool tracks from a range of short animated features from Poland – not kiddie cartoon music, but work that's often got a very spare and spacey sort of vibe! The set's awash in keyboard sounds and other electronic modes – sometimes playful, but often times a bit more open, and almost experimental – lots of moogy touches on the 70s work, and some more digital-styled keyboards as the 80s move in – presented at a level that's right up there with some of the best East European sound library material we love from the Gad label! The set features work from "Defekt" by Marek Wilczynski, "Knock Down" and "Studium" by Zenono Kowalowski, "Ptak" and "Palacz Guzla" by Zbigniew Lampart, "Idylla" by Tadeusz Kocyba, and "Zielony Dywersant" by Boguslaw Pasternak. LP, Vinyl record album

A record that's not only a landmark in Jamaican music – but also a set that was to reggae what Curtis Mayfield's Superfly was to 70s soul! In other words, the set not only raised the bar for all the competition, it also ended up in a lot more record collections than most of them too – maybe in part because it was a soundtrack, as was Superfly – but also because it has this global power that makes it a defining album of the genre! Jimmy Cliff is obviously the mainman here, but there's help from other key players in the growing reggae scene – and titles include Jimmy's classic "You Can Get It If You Really Want", in two versions – plus two takes on "The Harder They Come", "Many Rivers To Cross", and "Sitting In Limbo" – plus "Sweet & Dandy" and "Pressure Drop" by The Maytals, "007" by Desmond Dekker, "Johnny Too Bad" by The Slicers, "Draw Your Brakes" by Scotty, and "Rivers Of Babylon" by The Melodians. (Reggae, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest soundtracks ever for a Burt Reynolds film – an a hip mix of soul and jazz tracks that's gone onto become a classic over the years! The album's a compilation of sorts, but most of the material was recorded fresh for the film – and the different artists really work together here to forge some great backdrops for the action on the screen! Al Capps handled the larger charts, but most numbers really spotlight an individual artist – and highlights include Randy Crawford singing a new version of "Street Life" – different than the one with The Crusaders – Sarah Vaughan singing "Love Theme From Sharky's Machine", Peggy Lee vocals on "Let's Keep Dancing", and Julie London singing "My Funny Valentine" – as one of the first recordings after many years of retirement. Other great numbers include "Dope Bust" by Flora Purim & Buddy DeFranco, "Sharky's Theme" by Eddie Harris, "Before You" by Sarah Vaughan & Joe Williams, "8 To 5 I Lose" by Joe Williams, and the instrumental cuts "Sexercise" and "High Energy" by Doc Severinsen. LP, Vinyl record album

Demonic sounds, but surprisingly sweet as well – done with this easy-flowing style that's really wonderful – and much more similar to the seductive sound library work of Alessandro Alessandroni, than to some of the starker, darker horror of the time! There's definitely some spooky passages, but they're almost always warmed up in really nice ways – both with keyboards, and with these wordless vocals from the lovely Giulia De Mutiis, who drifts through the record like some sexy ghost. Her vocals almost give the whole thing a more dream-like feel at times – not too atmospheric, but with clouds of sweet sounds that blow through the space in a wonderful way. Titles include "Demon Night II", "Demon Arise", "Dark Dreamer", "Devil's Nightmare", and "Erotic Demon". LP, Vinyl record album

Over the years, we've come to realize that the best thing about the Peanuts cartoons isn't the actions of Charlie Brown and Lucy, but the wonderful music from Vince Guaraldi – perhaps the one aspect of the cartoons that's kept on giving over the years, and which we can proudly carry into adulthood! Vince's music is sublime – often simple, but groovy – a mix of rhythmic vamps and more lyrical passages that perfectly underscore the melancholy that graced the characters of Charles Schultz, and which perhaps defines them even better than the clunky stories or voiceovers on the screen. This set features all the best numbers from the glory days of those cartoons – mostly holiday numbers, but some other gems too – titles that include "Skating", "Little Birdie", "Baseball Theme", "Linus & Lucy", "Happiness Is", "Oh Good Grief", "Christmas Is Coming", "Great Pumpkin Waltz", "Thanksgiving Theme", and both vocal and instrumental versions of "Christmas Time Is Here". (Jazz, Soundtracks) LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing sounds from Polish composer Andrzej Korzynski – penned for a legendary horror film from the early 80s! The movie goes way beyond typical grit and gore – with a surreal bent that's made it the stuff of much discussion over the years – and Korzynski's music definitely lives up to the spirit of the images on the screen – mixing 80s electronics with offbeat strings, odd percussion, and other compelling bits – often used in very short songs that shift often throughout the course of the album – easily making the record one of the most playful we've ever heard from Finders Keepers – yet also one of the darkest too! A few sweet keyboard melodies offset some of the spookiness in a nice way – and titles include "Helen Has Green Eyes", "Opetanie 1", "The Night The Screaming Stops", "Blue Ford B AZ6", "Heinrick's Demise", "Mark Looks In The Fridge", "What Is It", and "Closely Observed Anna". LP, Vinyl record album

Music that's a definite "sekrety" to most of us western listeners – as the set brings together some rare and overlooked soundtrack material from the great Polish composer Andrezj Korzynski – served up here in a range of modes that really show him going strong well into the 80s! A number of tracks showcase that great ear for odd, offbeat sounds that has made Korzynski such a key rediscovery in recent years – served up both on electric instrumentation with nice variations in styles and techniques, but also with some larger orchestrations that are pretty darn great too. As with other Gad label titles, the presentation here is wonderful – and the 2CD package features 54 tracks in all – titles from the projects Akademia Pana Kleksa, Pan Kleks W Kosmosie, and Podroze Pana Kleksa – plus bonus material too! CD

A crime thriller, but one with a beautiful score from Bruno Nicolai – slinky and 70s at times, and with some really gentle tension at others! This is definitely one of the works that has Nicolai stepping nicely away from Morricone – using some warmer elements in some of his best themes – almost dreamy at times, which is odd given the lack of romance in the film – put together with masterful timing, and this haunting sense of space that makes the music almost better than the images were in the film! And yes, the story is that old Agatha Christie chestnut Ten Little Indians – but forget the overdone trope of the store, as the music is totally great – completely different than the more hackney 70s whodunit soundtracks of the time. LP features 16 tracks in all! LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderful sounds from the films of Jacques Tati – a set that overflows with the kind of warmly wistful tunes that really help define the images on the screen! Music is by Francis Lemarque, Francois Rauber, Charles Dumont, and others – and overall, the music is mostly in a small combo mode – with instrumentation that includes piano, vibes, guitar, and accordion – used in very whimsical ways throughout, with a quality that's almost as visual as the images on the screen – almost little cartoons in music, but with that warmer, more sentimental quality that made Tati's films so much more than slapstick. The collection runs much further in time than previous Tati collections – material from films that include Traffic, Play Time, Jour De Fete, Mon Oncle, Parade, and Les Vacances De Monseuir Hulot. Titles include "Paris Circus", "Super Market", "Play It In Time", "Musette", "Tournez Les Maneges", "Bereceuse", "Theme Oriental", "Take My Hand", "La Cours D'Auto", "Tournee Rapide", "Chanson Des Forains", "Voitures Ballet", "Mon Oncle", and "Pianissimo". CD

That's a sexy-looking lady on the cover – sliding on her cutoffs after a rendezvous in the dark – and the sound of the album definitely fits the image, at least at the start! Stelvio Cipriani begins the music like the story – a bit light and romantic at first, then sliding into tension as the album goes on – marking a point in the narrative where sex turns to suspense, which Stelvio follows by picking up the action on some of the tunes, and dropping into darker moments at others! Edda Dell'Orso delivers a fair bit of wordless vocals on the album, next to keyboard lines from Cipriani – and the whole thing almost feels like a late 70s update of the modes she might have crafted with Ennio Morricone a decade before. CD features 17 tracks in all – and wonderful sound! CD