A fantastic follow up to Queen's Night At The Opera album – and like that one, a complete sonic masterpiece from start to finish – the kind of record that has the group hitting on all burners, and forging a non-stop blistering assault of sounds that would forever cement their legacy in 70s music! There's not one element here that seems to be amiss, or dominating in the lead – the vocals might shine one minute, guitars the next, drums following – but it's the overall blend and shift of sounds throughout that really keep things exciting. As such, it's almost impossible to single out a key cut or song – because the whole thing works together so well – with selections that include "Tie Your Mother Down", "Long Away", "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy", "White Man", "Somebody To Love", "White Man", "Teo Torriatte", "Drowse", and "You Take My Breath Away". LP, Vinyl record album

Righteous poetry and jazz from Eugene Redmond – aka Illu Gan Gan – a very spiritual figure from the early 70s Bay Area scene! The album was recorded live in the studio, in a style that has Redmond introducing his work, then moving into dramatic recitations backed up by small combo jazz instrumentation that includes guitar, percussion, and soprano sax. The feel is open and free, almost an African-American take on the beat poetry style of late 50s San Francisco – but with themes that are more righteous, and a bad-talking style that puts the record in the same sphere as contemporaneous work by Camille Yarbrough, Jayne Cortez, Wanda Robinson, and even Iceberg Slim. Titles include "Hummin Hookin & Cookin", "Sun Ritual", "Epigrams For My Father", "River Of Bones & Flesh & Blood", "The Edge Of Myself", and "All Athighed In Black". LP, Vinyl record album

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A great early album from the 10" LP years of Blue Note Records – Kenny Drew's entry in the label's excellent "new faces" series – and one that really shows the pianist at his best! We like the work here even better than some of Drew's slightly-later sides for the Riverside label – as he's got this wonderful mix of bop tightness with the lyricism that would grace his music in years to come – getting superb support in a trio that features Curley Russell on bass and Art Blakey on drums. Titles include "Gloria", "Be My Love", "Yesterdays", "Everything Happens To Me", "Stella By Starlight", and "Drew's Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

The second long player by The Faces – and one of their best! The group hits a real peak on Long Player, balancing real emotional grit with their unrivaled rock swagger – and they're just flat out fierce on the best songs here! On one hand, there grooving along so loosely that it feels like it could fall apart at any moment, but the the intensity of the rhythms and the force of Rod's vocals keep it all together. Exhilarating stuff! Includes "Bad N' Ruin", "Tell Everyone", "Sweet Lady Mary", one of the best-ever covers of "Maybe I'm Amazed", "Had A Real Good Time", "On The Beach", a rollicking version of Big Bill Broonzy's "I Feel So Good" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

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A posthumous collection of work from The Faces – a set of some of their best material from the early 70s, served up as a swan song to the great group who was bound to implode at some point in their career! Rod Stewart is amazing here – even more ferocious than on his own early solo work – and the Ronnies, Wood and Laine, are both superb – at a level that always has us trading our old Rolling Stones records for Faces albums – even at a ratio of three to one. Titles include "Cindy Incidentally", "Pineapple & The Monkey", "Flying", "Sweet Lady Mary", "You Can Make Me Dance Sing Or Anything", "Stay With Me", "Had Me A Real Good Time", "Silicone Grown", "Around The Plynth", "Miss Judy's Farm", and "Ooh La La". LP, Vinyl record album

The searing second album from Sugarloaf – a set that has Jerry Corbetta wailing even more heavily on the organ than before, and the group working with the kind of razor-sharp intensity that made them such a big act at the time! Corbetta also handles most of the lead vocals, but the group draws plenty of strength from an ability to harmonize warmly too – not in the softer modes of some of their contemporaries, but with a soaring vibe that really works well with the edges on the guitar, and the full-on bass and drums that propel the whole album along! A gem of a record that was big at the time, and never gets the due it deserves all these many years later – with cuts that include "Rusty Cloud", "Hot Water", "Spaceship Earth", "Woman", "Music Box", "Tongue In Cheek", and "Mother Nature's Wine". LP, Vinyl record album

A really great groove from guitarist Gabor Szabo – a set that has the musician working with legendary producer Wayne Henderson, in a mode that moves into soul while still keeping all the best jazz elements intact! Szabo plays acoustic guitar alongside electric from Marlon McClain, with both players wrapped up nicely by Fender Rhodes work from the great Bobby Lyle – whose keyboard lines really act as the glue for all the grooves, while Henderson works to give them all the right sort of punch from the bottom! The mix of talents here comes together perfectly – like some of the best work on the Fantasy label at the time, or maybe a bit like some of the Mizell productions – but in a different way. Titles include "The Biz", "Magic Mystic Faces", "Gloomy Day", "Desiring You", "Misty Malarky Ying Yang", "Alicia", "The Last Song", and "Estate". LP, Vinyl record album

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An incredible record – and one of the real high points in the career of trumpeter Donald Byrd! The album's the third one he cut with producer/arranger Larry Mizell – and of all Byrd's work with Mizell, this one's the funkiest, the tightest, the most soulful, and the most perfectly realized vision of the soaring sound the duo were aiming for! Every track is a winner – and the album glides along with a slippery sinewy groove, never pausing for a weak moment or a misplaced note, shimmering with pride in its own genius. Byrd's trumpet soars over the top, banking gracefully over waves of funky drums, spacey keyboards, and extremely well-placed vocals – all brought together perfectly by Mizell, with a tightly fused style that few people have ever been able to match in the studio since! Tracks include "Change (Makes You Want To Hustle)", "Dominoes", "Wind Parade", "Places & Spaces", and "Night Whistler". LP, Vinyl record album

Jan Akkerman did plenty of unusual projects in the 70s, and this album may well be the best of them – an outing with vocalist Kaz Lux, whose unique phrasing really helps give the music a lot of focus! Akkerman's still hanging nicely between rock, funk, and jazz – but the use of vocals means that some of his guitar lines are a bit more spacious in ways that we really love, especially when they mix in these cool cosmic passages with the MPS-like keyboards of Jasper Van't Hof. The album's hardly a straight fusion album, but it's also not really a rock one either – more like a fusion set with vocals in all the right places – on titles that include "Guardian Angel", "Tranquilizer", "Can't Fake A Good Time", "Naked Actress", "Wings Of Strings", and "Strindberg". LP, Vinyl record album

The Allman Brothers at their best – and a key 70s set that may well have the group working at their peak! All their best southern roots are firmly tied together here – not just the country-touched approach to rock that was the group's calling card, but also their ties to some of the Georgia soul scene as well – an element that really surfaces in some of the album's piano lines and rhythms, which really help underscore the depth of the tunes – and give the group a solid footing that's stronger than some of their more cliched contemporaries. These tunes hold up wonderfully over the years – and have a visionary approach that almost sparkles even more strongly here in the 21st Century than when we first started digging their sounds on radio back in the 70s. Titles include "Southbound", "Jessica", "Pony Boy", "Wasted Words", "Ramblin Man", "Come & Go Blues", and "Jelly Jelly". LP, Vinyl record album

Kind of hard to put a finger on the style of Jho Archer – which is probably why they used the phrase "many talents" in the title of this one! Jho's got a bit of Caribbean in his vocals – traces of calypso and Haitian soul, inflected with a hipper French approach to the backings, which are handled by H Rostaing, in a manner that reminds us of some of those used on the recordings of Henri Salvador. Jho sings in English and French – and the best cuts are nicely swinging. Titles include "Work Song", "Le Condamne", "The Peanut Vendor", "Cousin", "Ibo Lele", and "Sky Boat Song". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky African work from Fred Fisher – a Nigerian trombonist who crafted his own unique groove at the end of the 70s! Fred both sings and plays trombone – the latter with a Fred Wesley-like soulfulness – and his rhythms here are really wide-ranging, and embrace a host of new styles coming into play at the time – including a fair bit of influences from American soul! Some cuts have a rootsy groove, while others move into tighter dancefloor territory – never in a commercial style at all, but with traces of boogie and other 80s modes in the mix. Vocals are sometimes in English, which furthers the global appeal of the music – and the set brings together tracks from 4 different albums by Fisher. Titles include "Say The Truth", "Asa Sa", "Iye Ye Mu Elediamemisise", "No Way", "Let Love Free", "WTFS", "Beautiful Dancer", "Happy Blue Night", "The Beginning Ishan", "Ehimedede", "Babajoo", and "Ebi Lolo". 2LP set features 12 tracks in all. Note: The music on the whole set is great, but there are a few tracks that suffer sound-wise from some distortion in the masters used. Most of the other tracks are fine, though. LP, Vinyl record album

A groovy little vocal group with a swinging 50s sound – working here with some great jazzy arrangements from trombonist Kai Winding! The style of the set prefaces Winding's pop/jazz sides for Verve in the mid 60s – but has a sound that's somewhat similar – with lead vocals by the male/female Axidentals group, and some trombone-based jazzy backings that showcase Winding's horn amidst a larger brass section. There's a great poppy punch to these tunes – and the Axidentals themselves can be credited for some extremely inventive vocal arrangements at times – in styles that go way beyond those of conventional groups of the period, in a mode that reminds us of some of the work by the Kirby Stone Four or the John LaSalle Quartet. Titles include "Walkin", "Out Of This World", "You Gotta Wail", "No Moon At All", "Day In Day Out", and "Close To You". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare Italian-only album from Chet Baker – wonderfully cooking small group work that's a far bit greater than his more familiar "with strings" session recorded in Italy during the same period! The album's got Chet working with an array of great players from the local scene – including Gianni Basso on tenor sax, Renato Sellani on drums, and Glauco Masetti on alto sax – all in a groove that shows plenty of traces of that opened-up sound that Baker was exploring in the very late 50s – the modes he was crafting in his group with Phil Urso on tenor, as he started to get a bit more bit in his style! Yet there's also a nicely compressed approach going on here too – that west coast sound that was a strong influence on the Italian players of the postwar years, but which was unfolded to new ends in their hands. Titles include "Lady Bird", "Line For Lyons", "Tune Up", "Cheryl Blues", "Indian Summer", and "Pent Up House". LP, Vinyl record album

The biggest sounding Blondie album by far – and a radical leap from New York new wave scene band to a wildly ambitious pop pastiche machine! The band always had a fearless way of filtering far-reaching pop sounds into their material, even when they were still on the CBGBs scene, and while their stylistic reach grew with each successive album, Autoamerican really takes it to extremes. It's somewhat notorious for favoring session players over the core band, but given how crazy the stylistic breadth is – no disrespect to that incredible core band – it's a creative win, as much BECAUSE they bit off more than they could chew production wise, as it is despite that. It's most famous (or infamous, depending on who's talking about it) for "Rapture", and other tracks include "Europa", "Live It Up", their classic, breezy cover of "The Tide Is High", "Here's Looking At You", "Faces", "Follow Me" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A killer debut from Brick – the start of a massive run at the end of the 70s, a time when the group was easily one of the biggest acts to come out of the up-and-coming Atlanta scene! Like some other Atlanta acts of the time, Brick had a way of fusing older funky soul on a tighter modern groove – coming up with a sound that was nice and lean – perfect for these key transitional years of funk – with influences that were felt for years, in places as far away as the west coast! Case in point is the album's classic "Dazz" – one of those cuts that never gets old – nestled nicely in a lineup that also includes "Music Matic", "Here We Come", "Good High", "That's What It's All About", "Brick City", and "Sister Twister". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Hank Crawford's first big records of the 70s – a really great set that helps him shake off some of his stock modes of the 60s and find a very different groove! A big part of the album is arranger Don Sebesky, who gives Hank a backdrop that's sophisticated and smooth, yet still pretty soulful in all the right places – a style that's almost a bit like mainstream soundtrack work of the time, but a bit more jazz focused overall. Hank's solos are right out front on most tracks – blown with that nicely pinched tone that made him a standout back in the day – and other players include Richard Tee on both organ and piano, as well as Idris Muhammad and Bernard Purdie on drums. Titles include "Uncle Funky", "Imagine", "The Sun Died", "Brian's Song", and "Ham", which was arranged by Pee Wee Ellis. LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite albums ever from The Crusaders – a set that really sums up all the tightness they'd forged in the 70s, while still showing a new sense of soul and funk as well – expertly balanced with flawless LA production! The album may well be the group's equivalent of a Steely Dan album – no surprise, given the work they'd done on sessions for that group – and the title cut is the massive extended version of "Street Life", with killer vocals from Randy Crawford – and other titles include "My Lady", "Night Faces", "The Hustler", and "Rodeo Drive". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few albums as a leader from trumpeter Don Fagerquist – a player who's best known for his work in larger groups, but who steps out here leading a tight octet of his own! The set's certainly got traces of Don's work within larger west coast groups of the time – but also shares some of the more open and spontaneous styles of his labelmates' work on the Mode label at the time – kind of an opening of the west coast approach of the 50s, still with a focus on arrangements and the overall feel of the work – but also in a way that swings easily and openly! Members of the group include Herb Geller, Bob Enevoldson, Marty Paich, and Mel Lewis – and tracks include "The Song Is You", "Easy Living", "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes", and "All The Things You Are". Great cover, too! LP, Vinyl record album

A nice set that brings together Hawk Flies High plus earlier material from 78s! The core record is a key album in the reintroduction of Coleman Hawkins in the late 50s – recorded in a style that still bears a lot of traces of earlier years, but at a time when Hawk was being claimed as a key influence by a variety of younger modernists! The set's got a sense of freedom that's really surprising – especially on the longer numbers, which unfold with some playful instrumental twists that seem to come especially from trumpeter Idrees Sulieman and trombonist JJ Johnson – both of whom are great on the record. Other players include Hank Jones on piano, Barry Galbraith on guitar, and Oscar Pettiford on bass – and titles include "Juicy Fruit", "Think Deep", "Blue Lights", "Sanctity", and "Chant". Other material is from 40s 78s – very nicely presented! LP, Vinyl record album

Early Detroit soul – the second LP by the great Marv Johnson, one of the first talents to be supervised by a young Berry Gordy! In fact, it could be said that everything Berry put into his work with Marv led to the formation of Motown – as Marv's mixture of smooth vocals and swinging soul really prefaces a lot of the work to come out of the motor city during the 60s, no surprise, since he's got some of the Motown crew writing songs for him! Includes "Baby Baby", "River Of Tears", "This Heart Of Mine", "Ain't Gonna Be That Way", "I Love The Way You Love", "When You've Lost Your Love", "Easier Said (Than Done)", 'All The Love I've Got" and "Let Me Love You". LP, Vinyl record album

A groundbreaking record from Kraftwerk – a set that unified the 70s worlds of analogue electronics and prog rock – yet somehow managed to set the scene for a whole new sound to come! The album's a treasure all the way through – slow-building, and with beautiful bubbling moments that have these surprisingly simple hooks – heard to best effect in the album's classic title cut "Autobahn" – but echoed nicely through the album's other longer tracks too – "Kometenmelodie 1 &2", "Mitternacht", and "Morgenspaziergang". LP, Vinyl record album

Yusef Lateef's one and only album for the Charlie Parker label – cut during a period when he's been making real waves in the jazz scene with work on Prestige and Savoy! The set's a bit more straight ahead than some of Lateef's more exotic sides of the time – focusing on his work on tenor, and going for a soulful hardbop approach that relatively upbeat and swinging, with traces of the work that Lateef was doing in the Cannonball Adderley group of the time. Players on the album include Vincent Pitts on trumpet, John Horman on piano, Ray McKinny on bass, and either George Scott or Clifford Jarvis on drums – and all tunes save two are originals, with titles that include "Outside Blues", "Blue Rocky", "Introlude", "Train Stomp", and "Trudy's Delight". LP, Vinyl record album

In case you think the folks at Chess were putting too fine a point on the earthy origins of Ramsey's jazz, the title's actually one that follows from an earlier album Ramsey cut for Mercury – and features a similar cover of a shovel digging in the dirt! The tracks are a great blend of the rich approaches to piano jazz performed by the Lewis trio with Eldee Young and Red Holt – with some tracks bluesy, some tracks upbeat, some whimsey, and a few that groove in very surprising places. Titles include "Volga Boatman", "Around The World In 80 Days", "Hello Cello", "Blues For The Nighty Owl", and "Gonna Set Your Soul On Fire". LP, Vinyl record album

The sensuous soul gem from Barbara Mason – a sweetly soulful groover all the way – and one of her strongest records! Give Me Your Love gets our love for a bunch of reasons, but especially for the title track – which is reworking of Curtis Mayfield's "Give Me Your Love" – which is arranged by Curtis himself. Vince Montana does most of the other arrangements, and you can see traces of Barbara's move into clubland later in the decade – but this one's more about lush, deeply soulful sounds. Leon Huff is on piano and keys, the tunes have incredible backing vocals with Barbara Ingram, Bunny Sigler, Kenny Gamble and others in the chorus – but this is Barbara's show all the way – emoting soulful magic out front! Titles include "Let Me In Your Life", "Bed and Board", "Who Will You Hurt Next", and "You Can Be With the One You Don't Love". LP, Vinyl record album

This double-length set brings together two albums' worth of work that Carmen McRae recorded for the Groove Merchant label in the early 70s! The style here is strongly jazzy, but with a firm dose of soul too – all in a mode that follows nicely from Carmen's late 60s sessions for Atlantic Records, but with a sound that's almost even more focused and in the pocket. The band is largeish, but the rhythms are tight – and even the mellower tunes seem to have a nice sort of lilt at the bottom, one that goes great with the way that Carmen spaces out her vocals on the set. Players include Joe Pass on guitar, Larry Bunker on vibes, Zoot Sims on tenor, and Dick Shreve on piano – and the CD features 19 tracks that include "Hey John", "Inside A Silent Tear", "The Right To Love", "You & I", "Sunshine Of My Life", "The Good Life", "It Takes A Whole Lot Of Human Feeling", "Livin", "Masquerade", "You're Mine You", and "There Will Come A Time". LP, Vinyl record album

Even at this early point in their career, the Modern Jazz Quartet were plenty proud of their relation to and reception in Paris – almost rubbing their international fame in the faces of other American combos with the title and cover of this record! The set's still got the quartet at their crisp early best – before any of the sometimes too academic or too serious tones of later sides – and tracks are mostly shortish, ringing out with especially nice vibes from Milt Jackson. Titles include an early reading of the title cut "Concorde", plus an extended "Gershwin Medley", and the tracks "All Of You", "I'll Remember April", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", and "Ralph's New Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

An extremely haunting version of the score to Porgy & Bess – recorded by the Modern Jazz Quartet at the height of their powers, in a gently soulful version that really takes off from the original. The group have a very free approach here – one that uses Gershwin's originals as a set of loose guidelines to work from – shading in the spaces with their own tones and colors on vibes, piano, bass, and drums. The album features some great modern takes on "Summertime" and "It Ain't Necessarily So" – and other tracks include "O Bess, Where's My Bess", "I Love You Porgy", "My Man's Gone Now", and "There's A Boat Dat's Leavin Soon For New York". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest records in the 60s surf/hotrod/motorcycle years of instrumental sets – an album that's partly sound effects from races, and partly instrumental music! There's no credits as to the players, but we're guessing it's the cream of the crop of LA studio musicians, of the sort who usually worked for Liberty! LP, Vinyl record album

Rare pre-Verve material from the great Oscar Peterson – a host of early tracks recorded for RCA in the 50s! If you think that Peterson only emerged fully-formed in the hands of Norman Granz during the 50s, then think again – because this work really shows a young player already hitting tremendous heights – full, fluid, and very commanding – at a level that's kind of a rougher around the edges version of his Verve years – but in a great way! Peterson echoes some of his predecessors a bit – and you can hear a bit more proximity to Erroll Garner or Eddie Heywood in the way he embraces the rhythms with his solos – but the overall presentation is still pure Oscar. Titles include "China Boy", "I Got Rhythm", "My Blue Heaven", "Honeydripper", "Humoresque", and "The Sheik Of Araby". LP, Vinyl record album

Pink Floyd rose out of the same London scene that gave the world a huge amount of psychedelic records in the late 60s – but with a set like this, they're clearly head and shoulders above most of their contemporaries – already working with a boundless sense of imagination and impeccable instrumentation, on a record that's full of delight and surprise at every single twist and turn! The group still sport Syd Barrett vocals and lyrics here, but are also really opening up their guitar spaceship too – soaring to the heavens on the tremendous "Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun" – and sending the whole thing home with the cuts "Let There Be More Light", "Corporal Clegg", "Jugband Blues", "See Saw", and "A Saucerful Of Secrets". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing debut from Rufus – a group so great, they were virtually a genre unto themselves during the 70s! Rufus came from the same totally hip Chicago scene that gave the world Minnie Riperton and Earth Wind & Fire – and like both of those greats, these guys have a way of drawing from mighty deep roots, then creating an incredible sound that's completely fresh – a mode that's funky in all the right places, plenty soulful from Chaka Khan's great lead vocals, yet fused together with a freshness that marks Rufus as one of the most inventive acts of their generation! And sure, lots of other folks copped their act as the years went on – but nobody could do it like these guys – as you'll hear on cuts that include "Haulin Coal", "Satisfied", "Feel Good", "Keep It Coming", "Slip N Slide", and "There's No Tellin". LP, Vinyl record album

Early work from reedman Tony Scott – recorded in the years when he was much more of a regular on the New York scene – before he started working in trippier styles for the 60s! The album features Scott in a host of different settings – from quartet, to tentet, to orchestra grooving – in a mix of modes that embraces both modern jazz inventions and some of the previous styles of the swing generation – both of which Scott handles very well on clarinet, with the same sort of generation-spanning confidence you'd get from Buddy DeFranco at the same time. Bill Evans plays piano on most tracks – a notable early date as a sideman, and one of his excellent pairings with Scott – and Gigi Gryce plays alto on some of the large group tracks. Originals mix with standards in the lineup – and titles include "Vanilla Frosting On A Beef Pie", "Poinciana", "Walkin On Air", "Round Midnight", "My Old Flame", "Moon Walks", and "Rock Me But Don't Roll Me". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible record – the kind of album that only Blue Note could put out, and an instant classic that will sound wonderful forever! The album's truly one of the great ones – one of those Blue Notes that still makes you stop and pause when you hear it, even though you've heard it a million times in Starbucks and places like that. Horace Silver is working here at the height of his powers – lyrical, free, yet also damn soulful, in a style that makes for some of the most evocative jazz-based grooves cut to wax at the time. Carmell Jones is in the group, and plays some of his best trumpet ever – and Joe Henderson really drives the whole session home with some incredible tenor work. Other group members include Teddy Smith on bass and Roger Humphries on drums – and titles include the instantly famous "Song For My Father", plus "Que Pasa", "The Kicker", and "Calcutta Cutie". LP, Vinyl record album

A smash hit from Silver Convention – thanks to the dark pop disco hit "Get Up & Boogie", the leadoff tune on this surprisingly strong set! The strength of the album really comes from the masterful blend of strings, beats, and piano from arranger/producer/keyboardist Silvester Levay – who manages to keep a lot of space in the grooves, and create a sense of darkness in places you wouldn't expect – almost a coldness that predates the European dancefloor sound of the 80s, and warmed up nicely by the trio of ladies singing lead vocals. Titles include "Get Up & Boogie", "Play Me Like A Yo Yo", "No No Joe", "Old Wine In New Bottles", "Thank You Mr DJ", and "You Turned Me On By You Can't Turn Me Off". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Jimmy's most classic albums for Blue Note – and a key example of why his solo skills on the organ surpassed most of his contemporaries! The record's got a stripped-down trio group of Jimmy, guitarist Quentin Warren, and drummer Donald Bailey – working through mostly familiar numbers, but taking them to places previously unheard of! The best example of this is the album's amazing version of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" – a classic groover that takes the old snoozer and pumps it up with a snapping rhythm, then features Jimmy really working the whole thing over with an incredible solo! A similar format's applied to numbers that include "Mack the Knife", "Night in Tunisia", "What's New", and "Makin Whoopee" – and the album soars with an easy groove that's every bit of Jimmy at his best! LP, Vinyl record album

Some sweet Liquid Sounds from pianist Paul Smith – one of the grooviest players to recorded for Capitol Records in the 50s! At some level, Smith has a sound that really prefaces lots that would go on in the west coast scene of the 60s – an approach to jazz that's still somewhat composed, but which has a breezier feel than most of the other players of his time – openly swinging with a lightness that's mighty nice, in ways that never get too stiff or stodgy. Think of this one as a precursor to Verve Records grooves from a decade later – and you'll see what we man – as Paul's piano moves nicely with guitar from Tony Rizzi, flute from Julie Kinsler, alto from Ronny Lang, and clarinet from Abe Most and Willie Schwartz. Titles include "Little Slam", "The Gnat", "Betsy Moo", "No Trump", and "Why Shouldn't I". LP, Vinyl record album

An onslaught of fuzz from the reformed version of Spooky Tooth – a group that has Gary Wright very firmly back in the lead on vocals, and the new addition of Mick Jones on guitar – whose lead lines give the group a whole new sense of power! Wright and Jones worked together in Wonderwheel, and are a perfect pair here – with Mick's well-crafted lines underscoring Wright's vocals perfectly – all at a level that prefaces some of the bigger arena rock to come by a few years, but which also falls into none of its cliches at all! Wright's ear for a well-penned tune is still very firmly intact – and the rest of the group deliver some mighty heavy energy on the rhythms – on titles that include "Old As I Was Born", "Wild Fire", "Holy Water", "Times Have Changed", "Moriah", and "Cotton Growing Man". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic first album from Pete Townshend – one that showed the world that he was a hell of a force to be reckoned with, even away from The Who! There's some elements here that link back to Pete's work with the band, but the music here is already showing lots of new ideas brewing in his solo space – some of the greater sensitivity of Townshend's solo voice – which might not always get showcased when Roger Daltrey was taking the lead – and also some different musical strands that might not have been right for The Who. Ronnie Lane takes the lead on "Evolution" – which you'll recognize from the world of The Faces – and other titles include the original acoustic version of "Pure & Easy", plus "Nothing Is Everything (Let's See Action)", "Time Is Passing", "Forever's No Time At All", "There's A Heartache Following Me", "Content", "Parvardigar", and "Sheraton Gibson". LP, Vinyl record album

Very cool early work from Vangelis – an album recorded right after he left Aphrodite's Child, and with a sound that's not that different than the group's final album 666 – especially in the compelling sonic range that's used throughout! Some tracks are straight ahead, some are experimental, and there's some very interesting keyboards, guitars, and unusual production. Titles include "The City", "Come On", "We Were All Uprooted", "A Song", "Watch Out", "Sunny Earth", and "Ritual". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes performaces with The Rhythmakers, Little Chocolate Dandies, Red McKenzie & His Mound City Blue Blowers, Ted Lewis & His Band, and Jack Teagarden & His Orchestra. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the wildest albums ever recorded by French tenorist Barney Wilen – a mix of avant jazz and sound effects, set to wax in tribute to Lorenzo Bandini – a famous Italian racer who died tragically during the 1967 Monaco Grand Prix! Wilen was an automobile enthusiast in the late 60s, and happened to be recording the race on a Nagra for himself – but, after witnessing the death of Bandini, Wilen decided to incorporate his tape of the race into an extended performance dedicated to the late driver. The sound is quite unusual – much farther out than any of Barney's other albums – and the tapes of the race are joined with free-flowing tenor, and piano – plus bits of organ and prepared piano as well – all played by by Francois Tusques along with Wilen, with support from Beb Guerin on bass and Eddy Gaumont on drums. The real star, though, is Bandini's Ferrari, which races in and out of the jazz playing, coming to a mournful end with the termination of the piece. The album's a totally unique recording – and stands as one of the most unusual moments in the history of Wilen's career, and the legendary MPS label! Titles include "Start", "Tribune Princiere", "Hair Pin", and "Canyon Sound & Destiny". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked gem from Blue Note – a special live performance that brings together some of the label's funkiest and most soulful artists of the 70s! The set's somewhat unusual for Blue Note at the time – especially given the label's increasingly studio-driven approach to jazz, with projects by the Mizell Brothers and others – yet given that bent, the whole thing's a great illustration of the vibrancy of all these artists always from the studio – playing live and extremely funky! As the title implies, the set was recorded live at the Roxy in LA – with players who include Donald Byrd, Ronnie Laws, Gene Harris, Bobby Hutcherson, and Alphonse Mouzon – all coming together in warm unity to show that the spacious sounds of Blue Note could also be crafted in a live setting, and not just under closely-watched studio help arrangers and producers. Carmen McRae sings on a number of tracks, and the album overall does a good job of presenting the material in concert-like setting – and some of the longer tracks feature some mighty nice jamming solos. Titles include "New York City", "Without A Reason", and "Just Like The Sun" by Alphonse Mouzon; "Them There Eyes", "Music" and "Paint Your Pretty Picture" by Carmen McRae; "Always There", "Captain Midnight", and "Night Breeze" by Ronnie Laws; "Blue Note 76" by Blue Note All-Stars; and "Places & Spaces" and "Dominoes" by Donald Byrd – both oddly recorded at Central Park! LP, Vinyl record album

Includes selections by The Rock Shop, His Majesty's Coachmen, Trojans Of Evol, Primates, Canterbury Fair, Soultans, Veil, Apperson Jackrabbit, Blues Company, What's New, Joey Welz & The Time Machine, Epics, American Way, Sonny Villegas, and The Menaces. LP, Vinyl record album

With performances by Rory Gallagher, Strider, Greenslade, Status Quo, The Faces, Andy Brown, Lesley Duncan, and Tim Hardin. LP, Vinyl record album

Label sampler with cuts by Faces, Captain Beefheart, Halfnelson, Malo, Dionne Warwick, Little Richard, Kenny Young, America, Ry Cooder, Peter Yarrow, Judy Collins, Doug Kershaw, Jerry Garcia, Crazy Horse, and Tracy Nelson. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic second set from keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones – a musician we first came to love in the UK-based Ezra Collective, and one who's now effortlessly bridging a space between jazz and soul! The record's got a vibe that's as cosmic as its cover – but one that comes not just through creative keyboard work, but from a great overall conception of the songs – so that Joe's music flows out with a warm style that embraces our ears, then takes us on a journey to the heavens! This isn't the usual keyboard jazz, with references heavy on the past – as Armon-Jones is as forward-thinking as his best contemporaries on the London scene. The set features great guest vocals from Georgia Anne Muldrow on the tune "Yellow Dandelion" – and other guest appearances by Nubya Garcia, Jehst, and Obongjayar – on titles that include "Try Walk With Me", "Gnawa Sweet", "Icy Roads", "To Know Where You're Coming From", "The Leo & The Aquarius", and "Self Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from this ultra-hip trio – an amazing combination of keyboards, bass, and drums – served up in styles that are rooted in funk and jazz, but go to so many other places as well! The drums crackle with a quality schooled in 70s breaks and beats, stripped down to their core – and the mix of keyboards echo a range of innovators from CTI to Money Mark, with a spacious flow that leaves plenty of room for the basslines to drive the tunes! Other instrumentation includes bits of guitar and percussion from the group, plus some guest tenor and strings as well. Titles include "Hedron", "Differently Still", "Confessions", "Triangle", "Can't Leave The Night", "CS60", and "Since You Asked So Kindly". LP, Vinyl record album

An unusual little record from Art Blakey – a live set recorded at the Lighthouse in 1966, with a band that includes the surprising lineup of Keith Jarrett on piano and Chuck Mangione on trumpet! If you're surprised at the mix of players, and figure that they won't groove with Blakey's soulful approach – don't worry, as Art's still strongly at the helm, and manages to get incredibly tight performances out of both of them – really forging them strongly into a Jazz Messengers groove! The group also features Frank Mitchell on tenor and Reggie Johnson on bass – and Mangione wrote a number of the tracks for the album, including "Buttercorn Lady", a nice funky soul jazz groover, "Recuerdo", with a bit of a Latin feel, and "Between Races", a charger in typical Jazz Messengers style! LP, Vinyl record album

A surprisingly nice little album from Brubeck – one that's mostly comprised of old-fashioned type tunes, but which all take on a hip new light in the hands of his classic quartet! As usual, Paul Desmond's one of the main assets of the set – working with Brubeck to forge a slightly off-beat and swinging approach that brings plenty of nice moments to tunes like "Gone With The Wind", "Ol Man River", "Shortnin Bread", "Camptown Races", and "The Lonesome Road". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best later albums by Chocolate Milk – a bit different than their earlier work with Allen Toussaint, but still bouncing along in a sweet 80s groove, with more than enough traces of their roots as a funky combo! Leo Nocentelli's sitting in on guitar, adding some nice licks to keep some tracks a bit more firmly grounded in a New Orleans funk tradition, alongside some more modern production touches – and the album's got a compelling vibe that's partly pointed towards the boogie generation of the 80s, but with a heavier funk component overall! Titles include "Let's Go All The Way", "Like My Lady's Love", "Honey Bun", "Running On Empty", "Blue Jeans", and a version of Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long". LP, Vinyl record album

The classic first album from Delegation – a great male soul trio from the late 70s, and one who sound great on both sweet mellow tunes and more upbeat ones! Delegation have a sound that's quite unique, especially on this album – a groove with slightly tropical traces on some numbers, and a way of putting over a tune that borrows a bit from the earlier east coast harmony scene, but which wraps things up in a completely different style of production. The balance is hard to describe accurately, but it's definitely a standout for the time – and a real maturation of an earlier male soul group mode. Titles here include the famous break track "Oh Honey", plus "The Promise Of Love", "Mr Heartbreak", "Where Is The Love", "Soul Trippin", and "Let Me Take You To The Sun". LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderful early electronic works by Tod Dockstader – with a turgid sound that's very reminiscent of some of the early French Musique Concrete recordings from the 50s. Waves of sound collide and clash, opening up dark modern soundscapes that seem to point towards an outside referent – but which end up collapsing under the weight of the machine! Titles include "Piece 1", "Piece 2", "Piece 3", etc. LP, Vinyl record album

Bass-heavy funk from Ebonee Webb – one of the more all-out funk acts of the Capitol 80s groove scene – but a group who could also sound great on some of their mellower numbers! The group really put the bass and guitar work upfront in the tunes – and about half of the tracks on the record really foreground this element, and have a focus that seems more intent on the frenetic basswork than the vocals. Not that that's a problem, though, because at the group's best, they've got a repetitive focus on rhythm that almost places them more in the Zapp generation style. Titlesinclude "Gonna Get Cha", "Anybody Wanna Dance", "Woman", "Throwdown", "Keep On Steppin", and "Do Me Right". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic legacy of music from the UK scene – even though it's a pretty darn secret one as well! The Electric Banana were a very unique studio group – a combo who featured Phil May and Dick Taylor of the Pretty Things, right at a time when that group were at the height of their fame – working as a faceless studio combo with other musicians for the DeWolfe Sound Library label – all to create these tight, short rock tracks that would later end up getting used in film soundtracks and TV programs all through the 70s! This album features half vocal tracks, half instrumental – both the same tunes, but with vocals stripped out on side two. LP, Vinyl record album

A great British sound library gem – with some key funky tracks, and a few more sprightly numbers! Most are in a bigger ensemble mode, but with fuzzy guitar – and there's a bit of electronics on one number too. LP, Vinyl record album

Probably the rarest of all albums by the Last Poets – so rare that it often doesn't show up in lists of their work, and that it's never reissued with the frequency of their other early titles. Jalal is firmly in place by this point, and his hip rhyming poetry has brought a new level of musicality to the group that shows up best in the album's jazzier numbers and nice traces of funk. The politics are still as strong as ever – they're just tempered with a bit more concern for phrasing, and a tighter approach to overall delivery. Titles include "Uncle Sam's Lament", "In Search Of Knowledge", "The Courtroom", "African Slave", "Death Row", and "Tranquility". LP, Vinyl record album

A Philly soul classic from The Manhattans – one of their best 70s albums, and a record that showed that they were firmly out of the indie ghetto, and totally on top of their game! The record features arrangements and production by Bobby Martin and Bert DeCoteaux – bubbling along in that soaring style that you'd recognize best from Philly International albums of the time, but which also has some nice traces of the mellower ballad work that first put the group on the map. Every tune is perfect – the kind of sublime soul that easily explains why a record like this could be found in every single record collection of every single soul listener of the time – and titles include "La La La Wish Upon A Star", "We'll Have Forever To Love", "Take It Or Leave It", "Reasons", "Wonderful World Of Love", "Searching For Love", and the incredible "Kiss & Say Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliant title for this brilliant album from Thelonious Monk – a set that really has him coming back strongly in the second half of the 50s – with a new talent for arrangements that really goes past his previous work! Monk's piano and compositions are every bit as great as before – but what really makes the album amazing is his ear for horn lines – particularly the alto of Ernie Henry and tenor of Sonny Rollins, both of whom add in an additional angular quality to Monk's groove. Clark Terry replaces Henry on a few numbers – and the rhythm is from the wonderful team of Oscar Pettiford and Max Roach – on classic long takes of "Brilliant Corners", "Ba-Lue Bolivar Blues Are", "Pannonica", and "Bemsha Swing". LP, Vinyl record album

Way more than the disco cash-in some folks thought at the time – and a surprisingly classic set that perfectly sums up the late 70s Stones ethos – and, in a way, the vibe of a changing New York! Titles include "Miss You", "Beast Of Burden", "Shattered", "Imagination", "Lies", "Far Away Eyes" and "When The Whip Comes Down". LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark album from Timmy Thomas – one that mixes together electronics and soul in this wonderfully unique mellow groove – a style that's hardly ever been matched again, and which may well put this album at the same level as Shuggie Otis' classic Inspiration Information set! Timmy's working here in a very unusual format – one that takes spare drum-machine beats, adds in warm keyboard chords, and graces the whole thing with smooth vocals to give it a real dose of soul! The contrast between the colder beats and Timmy's sweetly crackling voice is amazing – and creates a sound that echoes with love, loss, and loneliness – making the album one of the finest to come from the growing Miami scene of the 70s. Includes the landmark title cut "Why Can't We Live Together", plus "Dizzy Dizzy World", "The Coldest Days Of My Life", "Funky Me", "Take Care Of Home", "In The Beginning", and "Cold Cold People". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest records ever from the legendary De Wolfe sound library in the UK – a set that's great not only for the work of Brit maestro Roger Webb, but also for the vocals delivered by Barbara Moore – a legendary session singer with a hell of a jazzy touch! Webb's charts are always full of life and color, and showcase his own roots in jazz – served up here with all sorts of fast-stepping rhythms that really let the vocals of Moore take off in wonderful ways – always without lyrics, as Barbara has this way of singing wordlessly that makes her voice act like another instrument next to the horns and keyboards in the arrangements. Wonderful throughout – with titles that include "Dreamy", "Play Girl", "Autumn Aria", "Up West", "Think Twice", "Flipper", "Sandy", "Gentle Soul", and "Sounds Easy". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most wonderful Phil Woods albums ever! No kidding – this is amazing! Woods played on lots of other records – and often in settings that made you wonder why people thought he was so great – but on this one, he's totally in the spotlight, fronting a mellow easy quartet that lets him play some incredible solos that go places we couldn't even imagine! The whole album's a fantastic treat – deeply soulful and introspective in a way that you can hardly imagine from most of Woods' other work in the 50s – and done with a rare energy that's made it one of our favorite albums for years. Every track sparkles – and the album's filled great tracks like "Gunga Din", "Waltz For A Lovely Wife", "Squire's Parlor", "I Love You", and "In Your Own Sweet Way". LP, Vinyl record album

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Lots of cool keyboards in a variety of groovy modes! LP, Vinyl record album

Tim Blake looks like he's sitting at the helm of a spaceship on the cover – and in a way, that's what his music was at the time – a way of taking off to the skies on waves of electronics, in the kinds of sounds that Blake first created in his Crystal Machine project, but which have an even sharper focus here! The album's got more vocals than Tim's previous effort, and in a way that's what really sets it apart from the rest – as Blake's got this warmly positive approach that would be at home in progressive folk, but which here comes across with a very unique style – given the mostly electronic setting of the album! All the banks of knobs, slides, and keys pictured on the cover are used to strongly skillful effect – on titles that include "Generator", "Passage Sur La Cite", "New Jerusalem", "Song For A New Age", and "Lighthouse". LP, Vinyl record album

The start of a legendary run from superjazz brothers Randy and Michael Brecker – trumpeter and tenorist, respectively – already players who'd worked on a hell of a lot of previous sessions, both as a pair and on their own – finally stepping here into some well-deserved fame in the spotlight! The duo have a great lineup here – equally well-skilled contemporaries who include Don Grolnick on keyboards, David Sanborn on alto, Harvey Mason on drums, and Will Lee on bass – all working in a mode that's soulful fusion throughout, with just a bit of vocals at a few points, but mostly instrumental overall. The whole thing's got an approach that's smooth and tight, but never in a slick way – a groove that still sits wonderfully well after all these years! Titles include "Sneakin Up Behind You", "Rocks", "Levitate", "Some Skunk Funk", "Sponge", "A Creature Of Many Faces", and "DBB". LP, Vinyl record album

A stone classic from The Brecker Brothers – working here at a new level for 70s jazz fusion! Sure, it's as slick as it can be – with touches of club and disco grooves to give an even smoother edge to the jazz funk of the Brecker Brothers – but thanks to some solid soloing that's not afraid to go for the easy spots, the album's a lot more solid than an number of sound-a-like copycat LPs to come out at the time! There's more than enough interesting jazz funk numbers on here to keep you happy if you dig a soulful fusion groove, and with Steve Gadd and Lenny White on drums, the beats are heavy enough in the right places. Titles include "Tabula Rasa", "Finger Lickin Good", "Funky Sea, Funky Dew", "Squids", "Petals", and "As Long As I've Got Your Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A great 2-fer – with 2 different classics from Dave Brubeck! First up is Gone With The Wind – a surprisingly nice little album from Brubeck – one that's mostly comprised of old-fashioned type tunes, but which all take on a hip new light in the hands of his classic quartet! As usual, Paul Desmond's one of the main assets of the set – working with Brubeck to forge a slightly off-beat and swinging approach that brings plenty of nice moments to tunes like "Gone With The Wind", "Ol Man River", "Shortnin Bread", "Camptown Races", and "The Lonesome Road". Time Out is easily the crowning moment of genius for the legendary Dave Brubeck Quartet – the moment when all things came together magically, and the group somehow elevated themselves to a whole new level in jazz! At the time of the set, Brubeck, Paul Desmond, and the rest had already been making plenty of waves with their creative yet swinging approaches to modern jazz – heard on a number of successful albums for Fantasy and Columbia in the 50s. But with this record, they really knocked one out of the park – blending Desmond's cool alto, Brubeck's unusual piano phrasing, Joe Morello's melodic drum work, and Eugene Wright's pulsating bass into a waltzing, almost modal groove that crossed over to many camps at the time! The classics "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo Ala Turk" were both hits on their own – but all titles are great, and include "Kathy's Waltz", "Strange Medow Lark", "Everybody's Jumpin", and "Pick Up Sticks". LP, Vinyl record album

A mid 70s set from Can that's still very much in the best spirit of their earliest work – mostly longish tracks and all quite hypnotic – wonderful stuff from the team of Irmin Schmidt, Jacki Liebezeit, Holger Czukay, and Michael Karoli. Sure, Damo's not on vocals any more, but the instrumentation's still pretty darn great – and Can is also working more explicitly established global genre elements, but still really sounds like no one other than Can. Traces of reggae mix alongside many other rhythmic elements, jagged experimentalist touches, 70s ambient energy, and imaginative jams galore from one of the most creative combos of its time! Titles include "Chain Reaction", "Quantum Physics", "Dizzy Dizzy", and "Splash". LP, Vinyl record album