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A seminal set from the Sunset Strip scene of the 60s – and just the kind of record that shows why the changes taking place in Cali were so important to the growth of so much other music at the time! A few years before, and The Grass Roots would have been a pop folk combo re-tuning traditional tracks for the coffeehouse scene – but here they're taking off with some post-folk modes that are partly sunshine pop, partly the headier currents that were the darker side of the west coast – all put together with superb production by PF Sloan and Steve Barri – who also penned some of the best tunes on the record. Titles include the great "Where Were You When I Needed You" – plus "Only When You're Lonely", "Look Out Girl", "Ain't That Loving You Baby", "I've Got No More To Say", "I Am A Rock", "Tell Me", and "Mr Jones". LP, Vinyl record album

A totally excellent bit of funk from Chico Hamilton – working with a great group that more than helps their leader live up to the album's title! The record's a real lost gem – and it's got Chico working in much funkier territory than before, grooving with complicated rhythms, and a heavy sound that features lots of work on organ and guitar. Lowell George (of Little Feat fame) is playing slide guitar in the group, giving the sound a great, muddy propellant – which only gets stronger with the help of Simon Nava and Sam Clayton on congas, plus heavy organ and piano by Stu Garner, Jerry Aiello and Bill Payne. Includes the killer Latin groover "Conquistadores 74", plus "Stu", "Feels Good", "Fancy", "Stacy", Gengis" and "I Can Hear The Grass Grow". LP, Vinyl record album

A group that's not really folk, but who definitely have a special magic of their own – a collective ensemble who played on the Italian scene of the 70s, and who bring together free improvisation with a range of other earthy and organic elements! There's definitely some global currents going on here – and at points, the record's not far from some of the Don Cherry experiments of this nature – especially on passages that are heavy on percussion elements. But the size of the ensemble really gives them a strong force once they get going – and the saxes and flutes are sometimes merged with use of voice – only conventionally singing on one more straight ahead track on the record. Most musicians are ones that we don't recognize from other jazz efforts of the time – but the group does include flute from Nicola Stilo, who later played with Chet Baker – plus soprano and alto from Giancarlo Maurino, tenor from Mario Fulci, and altos from Sandro Satta and Luciano De Bonis. Titles include "Inno Per L'Imperatore", "Grass Leaf Rag", "Alice Alice Che Piange E Che Ride", "Free Bop New Bop", and "Monkey". CD

A group that's not really folk, but who definitely have a special magic of their own – a collective ensemble who played on the Italian scene of the 70s, and who bring together free improvisation with a range of other earthy and organic elements! There's definitely some global currents going on here – and at points, the record's not far from some of the Don Cherry experiments of this nature – especially on passages that are heavy on percussion elements. But the size of the ensemble really gives them a strong force once they get going – and the saxes and flutes are sometimes merged with use of voice – only conventionally singing on one more straight ahead track on the record. Most musicians are ones that we don't recognize from other jazz efforts of the time – but the group does include flute from Nicola Stilo, who later played with Chet Baker – plus soprano and alto from Giancarlo Maurino, tenor from Mario Fulci, and altos from Sandro Satta and Luciano De Bonis. Titles include "Inno Per L'Imperatore", "Grass Leaf Rag", "Alice Alice Che Piange E Che Ride", "Free Bop New Bop", and "Monkey". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful session by Andrew Hill – recorded in 1968, but issued only briefly in 1981 – and out of print for years! The session is a key one in understanding Hill's work – as it's a bridge between the arch modernism of his early Blue Note sides, and the more soul-oriented playing of the Grass Roots album. The set features wonderful frontline work in the trumpet of Charles Tolliver, and tenor and soprano of Joe Farrell – both players who open up the sound at the same time they're giving it a nice bottom – egged on by the rest of the combo, which includes Victor Sproles on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The album's an enchanting one – not as dark as early years, but still with a compelling vision that's all Hill's own. Titles include "Dance With Death", "Love Nocturne", "Black Sabbath", "Partitions", and "Fish N Rice". CD features a bonus alternate take of the title cut. CD

A wonderful session by Andrew Hill – recorded in 1968, but issued only briefly in 1981 – and out of print for years! The session is a key one in understanding Hill's work – as it's a bridge between the arch modernism of his early Blue Note sides, and the more soul-oriented playing of the Grass Roots album. The set features wonderful frontline work in the trumpet of Charles Tolliver, and tenor and soprano of Joe Farrell – both players who open up the sound at the same time they're giving it a nice bottom – egged on by the rest of the combo, which includes Victor Sproles on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The album's an enchanting one – not as dark as early years, but still with a compelling vision that's all Hill's own. Titles include "Dance With Death", "Love Nocturne", "Black Sabbath", "Partitions", and "Fish N Rice". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful session by Andrew Hill – recorded in 1968, but issued only briefly in 1981 – and out of print for years! The session is a key one in understanding Hill's work – as it's a bridge between the arch modernism of his early Blue Note sides, and the more soul-oriented playing of the Grass Roots album. The set features wonderful frontline work in the trumpet of Charles Tolliver, and tenor and soprano of Joe Farrell – both players who open up the sound at the same time they're giving it a nice bottom – egged on by the rest of the combo, which includes Victor Sproles on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The album's an enchanting one – not as dark as early years, but still with a compelling vision that's all Hill's own. Titles include "Dance With Death", "Love Nocturne", "Black Sabbath", "Partitions", and "Fish N Rice". CD features a bonus alternate take of the title cut. CD

Titles include "Livin Above Your Head", "I'll Remember You", "The Grass Will Sing", "Baby Come Home", "Stop The Cock", "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", and "Too Many Times Diana". LP, Vinyl record album

A fascinating look at the long legacy of live recordings of the Grateful Dead – initially a small community within the group's fan culture, now an industry unto itself – and one that's kept the groups revenues flowing for many years after their demise! The book really digs deep, and is especially good at bringing together information on the original grass roots movement to capture the group in concert setting – the recordings and tape trading that took place between fans, and which evolved in a really fascinating way as the decades moved on! Softcover edition is 216 pages, with very copious notes – and some black and white images. Book

An incredible look at the format of vinyl – put together by a guy who's got one of the hippest record collections we've ever seen! John Corbett's been writing about music, art, and other formats for decades – but his real labor of love is vinyl records – a format he continued to embrace even at the height of the CD era – so much so that he talked Downbeat magazine into letting him write a special column on musical delights that had never made it to the digital format! Corbett helped plenty of music get reissued on CD himself – thanks to countless label projects – but he also always held a special place in his heart for the kinds of records that never got reissued – and those are the sorts of titles featured here – a massive run of music that runs from jazz to funk, American and European, totally obscure to completely common – presented beautifully together in this massive book! The volume doesn't just bring together Corbett's columns, but also offers up full color reproductions of all the record covers, along with a few other details too – to support efforts on dozens of artists – a huge list that includes Melvin Jackson, Bill Leslie, Black Grass, Night Blooming Jazzmen, Phil Seamen, Khan Jamal, Klaus Doldinger, The Mad-Hatters, Tommy Jones, Guy Warren, The Three Souls, United Front, Johnny Lytle, London Experimental Jazz Quartet, Paul Smoker, AK Salim, Noah Howard, Jack Wilson, and many others – a good number of whom have yet to be reissued. The book is wonderful – and Corbett's longtime declaration of being a vinyl freak is more important than ever, given the rebirth of the medium! Book is 250 pages, softcover, with color images. Book

You could go 'round and 'round with music historians arguing whether or not this album, or Java Java Java or Aquarius Dub was the first full length dub LP, but it makes no difference to us, this is one mighty set of Perryisms, wrought in the pre-Black Ark era. There's a dozen of the Upsetter's finest rhythms rendered in dub versions here, and though he's uncredited on the sleeve, we've read that King Tubby was responsible for the wonderful reverb and mixing console action taking these tracks to the next level. Essential! Includes "Blackboard Jungle Dub (version 1)", "Rubba, Rubba Words", "Cloak A Dagger (version 3)", "Dreamland Dub", "Fever Grass Dub", "Sinsemilla Kaya Dub", "Moving Forward", "Kasha Macka Dub" and "Setta Iration Dub". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unusual soundtrack from the great John Barry – maybe not what you'd expect for a British film set in the 19th Century! A large part of the soundtrack have these great brooding orchestrations – the kinds of passages that Barry would often unfurl in a James Bond film when the big evil devices were being put into place, or when the lair of a villain was first exposed – all these wonderfully well-crafted tones in the orchestrations with an especially strong ear for the lower end of the spectrum. And then, the second half of the set moves into even ore unusual territory – songs that have maybe a touch of South African swing, but with a mod 60s style, and lots of electric guitar – a very startling change, but a groovy one too, and making for some wonderfully swinging numbers! Titles include "Wagons Over", "Big Shield", "High Grass", "Monkey Feathers", "Zulu Maid", and "Stamp and Shake". LP, Vinyl record album

A blast from The Fireballs – pulp guitar instrumentals culled from the group's work at Norman Petty's legendary Clovis Studios – unreleased numbers from The Fireballs, rare cuts credited to Guitars Inc and lead guitarist George Tomsco, plus the entire Wide World Hits LP credited to The String-A-Longs! First up is a diverse set of guitar instrumentals from The Fireballs, from surf styled wavemakers to twangier gems and straight up groovers, many almost completely unheard before. Titles include "Torquette", "Poquito", "Stormy", "Mexican Firefly", "Love Child" and more. Also includes early 60s cuts "Little Toy" and "Holiday Love" by Guitars Inc, "Lonely Fire" by George Tomsco and the late 60s exotica release on Atco, Wide World Hits – buyers probably had no idea this was an instrumentals album recorded by the pseudonymous The Fireballs! Includes the tunes "Black Grass", "More", "Silence Is Golden", "Love Is Blue", "Places I Remember", "I'll Be There", "Groovin", and "Someone Stronger". CD

A wonderful session by Andrew Hill – recorded in 1968, but issued only briefly in 1981 – and out of print for years! The session is a key one in understanding Hill's work – as it's a bridge between the arch modernism of his early Blue Note sides, and the more soul-oriented playing of the Grass Roots album. The set features wonderful frontline work in the trumpet of Charles Tolliver, and tenor and soprano of Joe Farrell – both players who open up the sound at the same time they're giving it a nice bottom – egged on by the rest of the combo, which includes Victor Sproles on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The album's an enchanting one – not as dark as early years, but still with a compelling vision that's all Hill's own. Titles include "Dance With Death", "Love Nocturne", "Black Sabbath", "Partitions", and "Fish N Rice". CD features a bonus alternate take of the title cut. CD

One of the greatest in Scientist's early 80s run of essential dub records! In The Kingdom Of Dub find's Scientist working his dub alchemy on a dozen Roy Cousins productions laid down by Sly & Robbie, Santa & Flabba, Ranchie McLean,Pablo Black and Skully. It's an excellent set of deep space dubs – and all the more exciting, given the too rarely heard source rhythms! Includes "18 Drumalie Avenue Dub", "14 Grass Quit Glade Dub", "Chariot Dub", "Thunder & Lightning Dub", "Disciple Dub", "Burning Sun Dub", "Next Door Dub", "11 Guava Road Dub", "Jurusalem Dub" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection of cuts from a time when the new wave of Jamaican dancehall was really taking off – and a time when the music was shifting from a reworking of older styles and rhythms to a completely new style of expression overall! The package is overflowing with key creations from the Mighty Two team of Joe Gibbs and Errol Thompson – 22 of which appear here on CD for the first time ever, and much of which were issued as rare singles that hardly saw much global circulation back in the day – which makes the whole thing a really crucial grass roots look at the way dancehall was changing on the Kingston scene at the end of the 70s! Many of the singers are working in that mode that would really begin to explode in the 80s, as dancehall reached a larger audience in the US and UK – but the approach here is much more down to earth, and has nice ties to the grittier productions of the dub generation too. The set features 46 tracks in all – with work from Ranking Joe, Errol Scorcher, Cornel Campbell, Kojak & Liza, Welton Irie, Lui Lepke, Barrington Levy, Prince Mohammed, Junior Murvin, Danny Mangaroo, Sammy Dread, Echo Minott, Joe Tex & U Black , Eek A Mouse, and many others! CD

Classic Philly soul from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – a killer batch of studio tracks, despite the live image of the group on the cover! The album's got a slightly more expansive feel than some of the other Teddy Pendergrass-era albums by The Blue Notes – almost a mini-symphony of soul, and one that takes arrangements from Bobby Martin, Norman Harris, and Vince Montana – and wraps the vocals up in a soaring, righteous sort of feel! The rougher, more personal Teddy Pendergrass style of I Miss You is folded a bit more into the harmonies of the rest of the group here – and the result is a powerful wave of soul that pushes The Blue Notes right to the top of the pack. The album features classics like "The Love I Lost" and "Is There A Place For Me" – plus other nice material like "Concentrate On Me", "It All Depends On You", and "I'm Weak For You". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of 70s gems from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes! Black & Blue is classic Philly soul from Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – a killer batch of studio tracks, despite the live image of the group on the cover! The album's got a slightly more expansive feel than some of the other Teddy Pendergrass-era albums by The Blue Notes – almost a mini-symphony of soul, and one that takes arrangements from Bobby Martin, Norman Harris, and Vince Montana – and wraps the vocals up in a soaring, righteous sort of feel! The rougher, more personal Teddy Pendergrass style of I Miss You is folded a bit more into the harmonies of the rest of the group here – and the result is a powerful wave of soul that pushes The Blue Notes right to the top of the pack. The album features classics like "The Love I Lost" and "Is There A Place For Me" – plus other nice material like "Concentrate On Me", "It All Depends On You", and "I'm Weak For You". On Wake Up Everybody, Teddy Pendergrass and crew get a bit more political than on earlier releases, and adopt the righteous bubbling soul groove that had put the O'Jays over the top a few years earlier – with incredible results! The title cut – "Wake Up Everybody" – would prove to be a great example of the political Philly International hit formula applied to socially conscious themes, but the record probably scored even bigger with the club crossover hit "Don't Leave Me This Way". Other tracks include "Keep On Lovin You", "Tell The World How I Feel About Cha Baby", "I'm Searching For A Love", and "You Know How To Make Me Feel So Good" – the latter two of which also feature female vocals by Sharon Paige. Bobby Martin, Norman Harris, and Ronnie Baker did the arrangements – and this was Teddy's last LP with the group. CD

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A pair of charmers from legendary producer Lloyd Charmers – served up here with lots of bonus tracks too! First up is the classic Sweet Bitter Love from Marcia Griffiths – a set that helped cement her reputation as one of the most soulful female singers in Jamaican music at the time – and one that really helps bridge worlds by serving up some great reggae-styled takes on American soul music! Marcia serves up sublime takes on tunes by Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Roberta Flack, and others – completely reworked by Charmers' instrumentation – which also includes some wonderful keyboards! Titles include "Play Me", "Gypsy Man", "Sweet Bitter Love", "Green Grasshopper", "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely", and "Everything I Own". Far & Distant features wicked guitar work from Willie Lindo – spun out here over an all-instrumental set that almost feels more like Jamaican records of the late 60s than you'd guess from the mid 70s date of the album! The grooves are definitely more 70s – certainly with a strong reggae current – but the spare, stripped-down manner of presentation takes us back more to some of the instrumental rocksteady records – especially in the way the production allows for lots of focus on the core musician – which means you really get to hear all the wicked, trippy currents of Lindo's instrument – used in a heady style that almost makes him come across like the Phil Upchurch of the Jamaican scene! Lloyd Charmers produced, and also plays piano and organ – and titles include "Drum Song", "Darker Shade Of Black", "Midnight train To Georgia", "Samba Pati", "Chopper", "Hear I Am Baby", "Charmers Mood", "Mystic Mood", "Breezing", and "Holly Holy". 2CD edition features 20 more bonus tracks – 17 of which are new to CD – a full alternate mix of the Marcia Griffiths album, the tune "Midnight & You" by Willie Lindo, and more Lloyd Charmer productions from rare 7" singles – work by Big Youth, Drifting Blenders, Bob Andy, BB Seaton, Errol Thomas, and others. CD

Numero Records parodies both the Las Vegas Grind series of compilations, and the 50s sci-fi artwork of EC Comics – and turns out a surprisingly great set of tracks in the process! The material here is from the more garagey side of the Numero spectrum – tracks that are heavy on twang and guitars – sometimes instrumental, sometimes with raw early rock vocals – all laid out in a rock-solid collection that maybe beats some of the more long-running compilation series of this nature. In keeping with those, Numero has been completely restrained on including any real information on the tracks – just a groovy little comic insert that follows in the style of the cover – alongside titles that include "Classie's Whip" by Classie Ballou, "The Grasshopper Twist" by The Blazers, "Jump Back" by Eugene Blacknell, "Rock & Roll Guitar" by Johnny Knight, "The Boogie Twist (part 1)" by Cal Valentine, "Slap Stick" by Dino & The Deltones, "Bui Bui" by L Hollis & The Mackadoos, "Hot Links" by Soul Heirs, and "Aw Shucks" by JJ Jones. CD

Numero Records parodies both the Las Vegas Grind series of compilations, and the 50s sci-fi artwork of EC Comics – and turns out a surprisingly great set of tracks in the process! The material here is from the more garagey side of the Numero spectrum – tracks that are heavy on twang and guitars – sometimes instrumental, sometimes with raw early rock vocals – all laid out in a rock-solid collection that maybe beats some of the more long-running compilation series of this nature. In keeping with those, Numero has been completely restrained on including any real information on the tracks – just a groovy little comic insert that follows in the style of the cover – alongside titles that include "Classie's Whip" by Classie Ballou, "The Grasshopper Twist" by The Blazers, "Jump Back" by Eugene Blacknell, "Rock & Roll Guitar" by Johnny Knight, "The Boogie Twist (part 1)" by Cal Valentine, "Slap Stick" by Dino & The Deltones, "Bui Bui" by L Hollis & The Mackadoos, "Hot Links" by Soul Heirs, and "Aw Shucks" by JJ Jones. CD

Mighty nice work from The Brother Boys – a contemporary group, but one who've got a sound that's very steeped in older folk and country styles – all at a level that makes them a perfect group to focus on in this excellent series! As you might guess from their image on the cover, the group work heavily with acoustic instrumentation – in ways that move forward from postwar bluegrass and hillbilly styles, but which often have some of the sensitivity of the hipper country-inspired singer/songwriter scene – with echoes of Gene Clark or Gram Parsons from time to time! The double-length package features lots of work from the group's earliest years, and later material too – a total of 51 tracks that include "Pinto Pony", "Blue Days Black Nights", "Two Men", "Majestic", "The Diamond Stream", "Blue From Now On", "Band Box", "Moosnhine Grin", "I Just Roll Along", "Conversation With Death", "The Ramshackle Shack", "Crazy Heart", "Darkest Day", and "Gonna Row My Boat". CD

All 3 Move albums remastered and collected in 1 massive set! This anthology includes basically everything you could ever want by these psychedelic pop maestros – including their self-titled 1st LP, Shazam, Looking On, singles, un-issued tracks, as well as the 1st ever CD version of the live Something Else EP – showcasing each phase of the group's influential career. Essentially the brainchild of songwriter/lead guitarist Roy Wood, the Move were arguably one of the best and most important British groups of the late 60s to never make a dent on the American charts, combining shimmering psych-pop with a harder edge and a sometimes morbid lyrical twist (as evident on the first 2 discs). The 3rd CD contains the band's final album and 1st to feature a new member – guitarist Jeff Lynne (formerly of the Idle Race and future of Electric Light Orchestra) – whose cheerier pop notions proved an interesting, if not frustrating counterpoint to Wood's darker, ironic sensibilities. Wood and Lynne's growing fascination with orchestral rock would cause them to disband the Move in 1972 and form ELO – opening up a new chapter in the history of British rock, but this anthology contains a whopping 54 tracks including; "I Can Hear The Grass Grow", "Lemon Tree", Walk Upon The Water", "Flowers In The Rain", "Fire Brigade", from The Move, "Blackberry Way", "Cherry Blossom Clinic Revisited", and "Beautiful Daughter" from Shazam, and "Brontosaurus", "Looking On", and "Feel Too Good" from Looking On – Essential stuff! CD

There's two stylish British hipsters on the cover, but the album's filled with classic American jazz tracks – each hand-picked by Martin Freeman and Eddie Piller, and served up with plenty of soul! The work here begins in hardbop territory, and moves through 60s soul jazz and more righteous moments in the 70s – and while there's a few more recent tracks, the vibe of the record is very vintage throughout – and really reflects that longtime London love of obscure American records – sounds from a scene that has really taught us a lot over the decades! There's a few tracks here we haven't seen in years, and some great old favorites too – and titles include "Now At Last" by Blossom Dearie, "Trees & Grass & Things" by Charles Williams, "The Hipster" by Harold McNair, "Chains" by Blacks & Blues, "Bend Your Head Down Low" by Geoffrey Stoner, "Sphynx" by Brand New Heavies, "Look At Me Look At You" by Marlena Shaw, "Get Up Off Your Knees" by David Axelrod, "Psychedelic" by Lee Morgan, "Terra Firma Irma" by Joe Gordon,"The Rhythm Changes" by Kamasi Washington, "Just In Time To See The Sun" by Leon Thomas, "Mother Of The Future" by Norman Connors, and "Mi Hermano" by Blue Mitchell. LP, Vinyl record album