Heady and heavy work from Billy Bond and La Pesada Del Rock & Roll – a guitar heavy group from Argentina, and one with plenty of blues rock overtones! The guitars are definitely turned up to 11 here – jamming with an intensity to match some of the best hard rock sides from Peru reissued by the Lazarus label in recent years – and like those sets, there's a sound here that's an intensification of earlier beat group modes – taken into much harder territory for the 70s. The production is great – earthy, trippy, and a little bit spooky – and the album's got an oddly unsettling feel, one that's familiar at first, but then increasingly estranged as the record moves on. Quite compelling, and with 16 tracks that include "Dueno De Tu Piel", "El Parque", "Buen Dia Senor Presidente", "Divertido Reventado", "Salgan Al Sol", "La Maquina", "Voy A Ver Un Amigo", "Para Que Nos Sirven", and "La Marcha De San Lorenzo". CD

A wildly eclectic brew of driving heaviness, looser trippiness, and even some delicate moments from Billy Bond – a more freewheeling and ambitious mix of post psychedelic wildness from Brazil's Billy Bond & co! Volume 3 from 1972 is made up of 2 lengthy suites, " Lado 1 – Acustico" and "Lado 2 – Eectrica Camplementaria". The former is surprisingly lean in spots, with some folky psychedelia in the blender. The latter is full of abrupt, dramatic stop-start dynamics. Volume 4 from '73 includes "No Nos Paran Mas", "Hacia Algun Lugar", Gracias Al Cielo", "Estamos Hartos", "Ano 1939", "Algo Esta Por Suceder" and more. This one is more of a wild and wooly rock & roll set, and a deliciously unpredictable one! CD

Although there were plenty of easy and studio musicians who tried to cash in on the success of the Bond-era spy soundtracks, few did it as well as Billy Strange! He gets a helping hand here from Les Baxter and a boatload of west coast session greats like Carol Kaye, Tommy Tedesco, Dennis Budimir, Don Randi, Leon Russell, Hal Blaine and even Glen Campbell, on a bevy of popular spy and action themes – like "Thunderball", "Man Alone", "I Spy", "Get Smart", "Goldfinger", "The Ipcress File", "Our Man Flint", "OO7", "Run Spy Run", "The Rockford Files" and "The Prisoner" – all done by Strange with that great twangy guitar sound that he already had in the first place, and which was probably ripped off by John Barry for the Bond scores! CD

Seminal spy sounds from the 60s – a treasure trove of spy-themed tunes, and one that features loads of material you might not hear otherwise! The set doesn't feature the big hits from the James Bond films, and instead includes all the great little records that sprung up in the wake of those movies – cool jazz, vocal, and instrumental records that sometimes feature weird reworkings of more famous soundtrack numbers, sometimes lesser-known cuts from b-grade films, and sometimes fresh new spy numbers on their own! The style ranges from groovy guitar numbers to blaring jazzy tracks to slinky steppers that find a very cool balance between suspense and swing. Titles include "Dr Goldfoot & The Bikini Machine" by The Supremes, "The Last Of The Secret Agents" by Nancy Sinatra, "Theme From Danger Man" by Red Price, "A Man Alone" by John Barry, "Deadlier Than The Male" by The Walker Brothers, "Burke's Law" by Wynton Kelly, "We Should've" by Cleo Laine, "Our Man Flint" by Billy Strange, "Theme From Where The Spies Are" by Jimmy Smith, "The Liquidator" by Shirley Bassey, "I Spy" by Roland Shaw, "Come Spy With Me" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and "High Wire" by Brian Fahey. CD

The first great, label-spanning compilation of great 50s & 60s tracks by a variety of artists with some little in common in some cases, but share at least one unbreakable bond – they recorded these tracks with the incredible James Burton on guitar! It's got fiery, pivotal rockabilly Dale Hawkins and Bob Luman, pop takeover numbers by Ricky Nelson, rustic charisma from Lee Hazlewood, benchmark honky tonk from Merle Haggard, harmony country rock from Buffalo Springfield and much more – including numbers credited to James Burton himself and with Ralph Mooney. Includes "Susie-Q" by Dale Hawkins, "Red Hot" by Bob Luman, "Cannonball Rag" by James Burton, "Blood From A Stone" by Ricky Nelson, "A Child's Claim To Fame" by Buffalo Springfield, "Swamp Surfer" by Jimmy Dobro, "Someday, Someday" by The Shindogs, "Just For A While" by Carol Williams, "Tryin' To Be Someone" by David & Lee and more. CD