With Nick Fraser on drums. CD

Features Peter Bernstein on guitar, with Eric Alexander on tenor, Steve Davis on trombone, Larry Goldings on organ, and Billy Drummond on drums! CD

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Recorded Live 16 November 1974 at Empire Pool - Wembley, London, UK. CD

One of the most jazz-based groups of the German prog scene of the early 70s – heard here on a rare outing that features Mal Waldron playing electric piano with the group! Despite Waldron's presence, though, the real keyboard star of the set is Jimi Jackson – who plays mellotron and organ on the record, and sounds especially wonderful on the side-long track "The Call" – a fantastic 17-minute track that arose out of collective improvisations by the group! Instrumentation on the whole set is great – and includes the keyboards, plus heavy bass, vibes, marimba, guitar, sax, and even a bit of electric violin! Titles include "Radio Marrakesch/Orient Express", "Dreaming Girls", and "The Call". CD

Three later albums from the Brain label, and with a smoother, tighter feel than earlier records – but still with some nice 70's electronics, and a proggish tip that's a bit jazzy. CD

The first rumblings of genius from German electronic giants Cluster – but oddly, a record recorded without any synthesizers at all! The team of Dieter Moebius and Hans-Joachim Rodelius are both playing organ here – as well as cello and Hawaiian guitar, and some "audio-generator" and amplifier effects – and they're recording with some excellent production help from the legendary Conny Plank, who uses all sorts of weird techniques to mess up the sound in really great ways. Ordinary notes are completely abstracted here – given cosmic tones and echoey rumblings that are far more challenging than most of the later work by Cluster, especially the pair's more ambient late 70s recordings. The 3 long songs are identified only by their timings – "15:33", "7:38", and "21:17". CD

2 classics by the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – back to back on one CD! At the time they were taking Paris by storm, the Art Ensemble recorded these brilliant albums – both of which are some of their strongest early work, far more well-formed than any of their individual expressions recorded earlier in Chicago! The CD features the group at their best – playing very tightly, but also with a sense of whimsy and imagination, and the kind of free-thinking exploration that informed a whole generation of jazz musicians, offering a different mode of expression than the spiritualism of the post-Coltrane years. Includes "A Brain For The Seine", a real classic by the band – plus "Jackson In Your House", "Get In Line", "Song for Charles", "Dexterity" and "Old Time Religion", and "Rock Out". CD

A massive tribute to the long career of Dennis Bovell – the British artist who first rose up in the late 70s group Matumbi, then went on to share his production talents with a host of other artists in the decades that followed! This double-length set brings together a career-spanning set of tracks that all were handled by Bovell – a first half that features his own recordings under a number of groups, and a second half that features Bovell production and studio work with a range of other artists too – including some rare and unissued material, in a package put together by Dennis himself! Titles include the Bovell cuts "Run Rasta Run" with African Stone, "Come With Me" as Dennis Curtis, "The Grunwick Affair" and "Za Lon" with 4th Street Orchestra, "Blood Ah Go Run/Blood Dem (12" mix)" by Matumbi, and cuts "Brain Damage", "Chief Inspector", "Dub Master", "Silly Dub", "Caught You In A Lie", "After Tonight (acoustic version)", "Raindrops", "Eye Water", and "Pow Wow" – all issued under Bovell's name. The second half features titles that include "African Queen" by Errol Campbell, "Africa Is Our Land" by Joshua Moses, "Take Five" by Young Lions, "Portrait Of You" by Gladwin Wright, "Hooked On You" by Delroy Wilson, "Cry" by Angelique, "A Little Way Different/Differentah (12" mix)" by Errol Dunkley with Julio Finn, "Silly Games" by Janet Kay, "Get Up Stand Up" by I Roy, and "Positive Vibrations" by Pebbles. CD

A seminal album – a late 60s classic meeting of the brain trust of the avant garde jazz scene in New York, recorded for the young JCOA label – and put forth as one of their early attempts to prove that musicians could be in charge of the means of production! Michael Mantler provided the core composition, and directs the group – but the lineup is a who's who of forces who'd record for ESP, Impulse, and other labels – with bold solos from Don Cherry on cornet, Gato Barbieri on tenor, Larry Coryell on guitar, Roswell Rudd on trombone, Cecil Taylor on piano, and Pharoah Sanders on tenor – in a larger lineup of players who also include Steve Marcus, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman, Alan Silva, Carla Bley, Beaver Harris, Charles Davis, Robert Northern, Kent Carter, and many other key avant musicians! Titles include "Communications 8", "Communications 9", "Communications 10", and "Communications 11".' CD

Electronic dance music for both lobes of the brain not to mention the posterior. CD

The Neptunes' first release as NERD! The music and verses are completely different from their big hits productions for others in the early 00. All these years later, we're still not sure what they're up to here – are they serious and making music they love or thumbing their noses at the music industry with a huge inside joke? Either way, it's good to hear some dope original hip hop that doesn't fit into any of the normal club/radio/underground/abstract hip hop categories. Includes "Lapdance", "Things Are Getting Better", "Brain", "Provider", "Truth Or Dare" (feat. Kelis & Pusha T), "Tape You", "Run To The Sun", "Baby Doll", "Am I High" (feat. Malice), "Rock Star", "Bobby James", "Stay Together". NOTE: This is the "Live" US version with a nice range of styles – with live band accompaniment by the band Spymob – and sounds from a lighter funky soul style, to rough, guitar and drums heavy rap rock (in a good way – not that played out, rap metal way). CD

A nice live snapshot of a later P Funk incarnation, circa 1983 – with players like Dennis Chambers and Michael Hampton aboard the mothership with Clinton's family of funk all stars! The rest of the crew includes includes stalwarts Bernie Worrell, Eddie Hazel, Blackbird McKnight, Maceo Parker, Mudbone Cooper and George Clinton working hard to extend their legendary style of live funk into the 80s. There's a slow build up of energy that's works well – kicking off slowly but surely with a laidback intro and band intro before busts open in a big way, and from there it's one exciting classic after another 'til the very end! Includes lengthy live riffs on P-funk classics like "Cosmic Slop", "(Not Just) Knee Deep", "Maggot Brain", "Atomic Dog"and "Flashlight", "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)", "Do That Stuff", "Cosmic Slop" plus a medley of "Let's Take It To The Stage", "Mothership Connection (Starchild)" and "I Call My Baby Pussycat" in a nearly 100 minute set! CD

An oft-overlooked gem from Parliament – released during the year 1976, and sometimes hidden between monster LPs like Funkentelechy and Mothership Connection – but every bit as great as those two classics! The album's got that tightened-up P-Funk sound that was working so perfectly at the time – still with all the fuzzy haired elements of earlier years, but presented with a bit more focus – and a powerhouse swing that really drives the tracks home with a funky groove on the bottom! There's a flowing sort of energy here that almost makes you think that the whole thing just emerged naturally from the brain of George Clinton – but all ensemble players have a strong hand in the action, and really get some great moments in on the set. Cuts include "Gamin' On Ya", "Do That Stuff", "Children Of Production", and "I've Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body)". CD

The title here is interesting – given that Matthew Shipp's been giving us new concepts in jazz piano for decades – yet there also is a way that this set differs from some of Shipp's classic recordings – maybe in part because it seems to hew to older piano trio traditions at times, especially the modern generation of Monk and Herbie Nichols – while also really expanding the sound, thanks to the inventive contributions of all three musicians – not just Shipp on piano, but also Michael Bisio on bass and Newman Taylor Baker on drums! Titles include "The Function", "Primal Poem", "Sea Song", "Brain Work", "Coherent System", and "Tone IQ". CD

Unreleased material by Ike & Tina Turner – hard, funky, and very fierce! The sound here is similar to some of the pair's more famous albums of the time – but it's also rawer and rootsier, as befits the demo status of these recordings. If you've ever gotten turned off by the production of some of Ike's studio records, you might well dig this one a lot – as it's got the raw funky promise that's often missing from other sets. CD features 17 cuts in all – and titles include "He Makes Me Holler", "Baby Makes Me Feel Good", "Ya Ya", "Sit & Hold Your Hand", "Money", "Brain Game", "It's Groovier Across The Line", "Proud Mary (funky version)", and "Woke Up This Morning". CD

A really unusual album from the mighty Chick Corea – a set recorded at the end of the 60s, at a time when Chick's star was just beginning to rise – but in a style that's both very different than his famous material of the 70s, and his avant fame as part of the group Circle! Chick's definitely got some of the harder, freer tones that he brought to Circle – but overall, there's more of a sense of spiritual jazz to the record – as Chick plays acoustic throughout, in a wonderful lineup that features Woody Shaw on trumpet, Hubert Laws on flute, Dave Holland on bass, and both Jack DeJohnette and Horacee Arnold on drums! The whole thing's got a vibe that's a lot more like Strata East than most other records that Sonny Lester ever produced – and titles include "The Brain", "Song Of Wind", "Converge", and "Sundance". CD

The second LP from Cypress Hill, and as far as we're concerned, the last good one. Muggs' beats get a bit darker on this album, but are still sharp enough to cut through even the thickest clouds of smoke. 14 tracks in all, including "I Wanna Get High", "I Ain't Goin' Out Like That", "Insane In The Brain", "When The Sh** Goes Down", "Hits FromThe Bong", "A To The K", "Hand On The Glock" and "Break 'Em Off Some". CD

A massive double length set from Funkadelic! As if the group's vision wasn't already expansive enough in their early Westbound years, they really make incredible use of the space of this 2LP set to show off their talent for funky invention, fuzzed-out guitar, and mind-bending look at the world around them – taking off into a heady array of topics and settings that are even more chilling than before. If Maggot Brain can be taken as a document of Detroit after the apocalypse, this set should be read as a wider statement on the climate in America that was leading up to it – all served up with some of the group's funkiest rhythms on record to date! Titles include "You Hit the Nail On the Head", "A Joyful Process", "Loose Booty", "I Call My Baby Pussycat", "Biological Speculation", "Philmore", "We Hurt Too", "Everybody Is Going To Make It This Time", "Miss Lucifer's Love", "and "If You Don't Like the Effects Don't Produce the Cause". And even though the CD presents the full 2LP set on one disc, it's still got room for 2 bonus tracks – 45 rpm versions of "Loose Booty" and "A Joyful Process"! CD

Classic-styled space rock from Golem – epically paced, trippy, expertly done wigged out instrumental rock that was purportedly laid down by heavies from the soon-to-be legendary krautrock scene working pseudonymously after hours in the studio! The album's a bit of an enigma – a set that's become famous over the years for its quality, but shrouded in enough mystery that some have doubted its story – although overall, the music here feels like the best early 70s space rock on labels like Brain or Egg – with lots of layers of keyboards and guitars over building drums and basslines. Produced by Genius P Orridge – and titles include "Orion Awakes", "Stellar Launch", "Godhead Dance", "Jupiter & Beyond", and "The Returning". CD

Jon Hassell on trumpet and keyboards, Pete Scaturro on keyboard bass and electric bass, Brain on drums, Joe Gore on guitar, and BLK Lion on keyboard samples and programming. CD

Hard to find a stronger early album by Sly Stone – as this one has him still funking hard, but also getting his soul bag together a bit more – hitting some really righteous vibes that mix together politics and partying in an incredibly seductive way! The album's filled with anthemic numbers like "Sing A Simple Song", "Stand", "Don't Call Me N*gger Whitey", and "Everyday People" – classic crossover material for the heady crowd of the late 60s – and it also includes a very cool 13 minute track called "Sex Machine", which is a messed-up stoner funk number that shows Sly's ties to the Fillmore freakout scene! CD also features 5 bonus tracks – including "I Want To Take You Higher (single)", "Soul Clappin 2", "My Brain (inst)", "Stand (single)", and "You Can Make It If You Try (unissued single version)". CD

One of Chick Corea's first true moments of genius – a record that has the pianist stepping out into more experimental territory, after doing years of 60s material in a more soul jazz and Latin-styled mode! The tracks have a great sense of arrangement, but also balance that with really well-crafted solos that get nice and free – played by a lineup that includes Woody Shaw on trumpet, Benny Maupin and Hubert Laws on reeds, and Jack DeJohnette on drums – really opening up to Corea's fresh sense of rhythm! The whole thing's great – and titles include the long tracks "Is", "Jamala", "The Brain", "This", "It", "Song Of The Wind", and "Sundance". Features lots of bonus tracks too! CD

One of our favorite early Funkadelic albums – and a real turning point for the group! Gone are the trippier guitar solos of earlier days, and in their place is a tighter approach to funk – one that has the band grooving hard and soulfully on shorter tracks that perfect the dark vision hinted at in the Maggot Brain years! The tunes are shorter, funkier, and catchier – and the vocals are especially great – so much so than on the title cut "Cosmic Slop" has harmonies so great you'd swear you were listening to late-Motown Temptations! Other tracks continue with a great soul-based focus, and include "You Can't Miss What You Can't Measure", "Nappy Dugout", "No Compute", and "Can't Stand the Strain" – and the record is packaged in a mind-blowing wraparound cover by Pedro Bell, the first of many the band would use! Includes a bonus track – the 45 rpm edit of "Cosmic Slop"! CD

An instant classic the day it was released – and a perfect blending of the group's older freaked-out style with a slick late 70s funk sound that started showing up in the work of many other groups. "One Nation Under A Groove" is a monster cut with a hook that won't quit, and the LP version runs way over 7 minutes long. Other tracks are equally great, and the whole thing's woven together with the same sort of skill as some of the best Parliament albums from the mid 70s. Tracks include "Into You", "Grooveallegiance", and "Cholly". Plus, this CD reissue also includes the bonus cuts from the original 45rpm ep that came with the album – including "Maggot Brain (live)" and "Doodoo Chasers". CD

A seminal album from Parliament – one that's very very different than the freaky fuzz of their Osmium debut – and which has the tight ensemble really coming down on the money, in the best funky 70s George Clinton mode! The record features a much more stripped down sound – nice and funky, with a blueprint of the bass-driven groove that would dominate the P-Funk sound of the 70s. Bootsy's on bass, and the group features Eddie Hazel, Bernie Worrell, and other likely suspects – all working with a news sort of sharpness compared to earlier P-Funk material – virtually the blueprint for everything else to come. Clinton, Hazel, and Worrell produced – and titles include the monster jammer "Up For The Down Stroke", plus other goodies like "The Goose", "Testify", "Presence Of A Brain", and "All Your Goodies Are Gone", as well as bonus tracks "Up For The Down Stroke" (alternate mix), "Testify" (alternate mix), and previously unreleased track "Singing Another Song". CD

A return to grittier, more focused rock by Pearl Jam after taking a surprisingly loose approach on the underrated No Code – definitely among their finer records to come after the post-grunge boom years earlier in the decade! Pearl Jam is arguably at their best when they're balancing a genuine love for creatively daring rock with an unabashed love for fist-pumping scream along anthems, and they unyieldingly nail that on Yield. A late 90s rock classic. Includes "Brain Of J", "Faithfully", "No Way", "Given To Fly", "Wishlist", "Pilate", "Do The Evolution", "MFC", "Low Light", "In Hiding", "Push Me, Pull Me", "and "All Those Yesterdays". CD

A record with a freaky sort of cover, but one that's got this very laidback, down to earth vibe – almost like a small funk combo taking on territory from 70s AOR, but serving things up with a much looser, easygoing sort of style! The vocals are great – blue-eyed soul, and compressed down into the instrumentation, which includes keyboards, guitar, and light strings – plus occasional flute and trumpet – all handled with this stripped-down vibe that almost makes you feel like you're sitting in with a big label act like America or Hall & Oates as they're cooking up some mellow soul tracks in the studio. Titles include "Rialto Winds", "Gift Of Life", "Peach Optimo", "Hanging On", "NyNy", "I Will Be", and "Too Yung". CD

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A long-overview testament to the genius of Miguel Atwood Ferguson – a string player whose work has graced countless other great spiritual jazz projects from the west coast scene, and one who finally gets a chance to showcase his beautiful sense of creation in all its glory! The massively extended set is worth all the room that Miguel has been given – as the package features over three hours of music that flowers with all sorts of emotion, especially joy and hope – with Atwood-Ferguson working with help from friends who include Bennie Maupin and Kamasi Washington on reeds, Jeff Parker on guitar, and a whole host of musicians – including Domi & Beck, Carlos Nino, Thundercat, Jamire Williams, Jamael Dean, and others! There's a majestic quality to the record, but also a very personal tone too – as if Miguel has taken the wide range of his experience over decades on the scene, and woven it into a brilliant sonic poem of his own – served up here on 52 selections that leave us breathless! CD

Wonderful stuff – and one of our favorite-ever Marvin Gaye albums! This is the legendary two-record set that Marvin wrote and recorded as an alimony payment to his ex-wife Anna Gordy (the story's pretty long, and we won't get into it here – suffice it to say that when stars get a divorce, watch out!) Although the album was thought of as a no-brainer quickie at the time – and predicted to fail so that Anna wouldn't get any cash from it – the record is an extremely well-crafted one, filled with extremely personal songs that also have a warm soulful finish, in the style of Marvin's work on the LP I Want You (which is kind of a nice bookend to this one – as it was an extended love poem to the young girlfriend that caused him to split up with Anna!) Hard and soulful, the record's a searing testimony to the relationship between Marvin and Anna, and a painful document of the troubles between them – set to some mellow grooves that are easily some of Marvin's greatest of the 70s! The set's filled with great "lost" Marvin Gay songs, too – like "Sparrow", "When Did You Stop Loving Me", "Anger", "You Can Leave, But It's Going To Cost You", and "Time to Get it Together". CD

Right from the start of his career, poet Allen Ginsberg experimented with recording and music – maybe not a surprise, because as a young beat poet, he grew up in the era when long playing records were really taking off – yet still delivered in a way that was often very different than recorded projects by contemporaries like Lawrence Ferlinghetti or Jack Kerouac! For one thing, Ginsberg was never afraid to sing – which he definitely does here – and as a poet with an already-striking voice for reading, his vocals really follow suit – as does his collaborative spirit that ran through all generations of his creativity – leading him to work on some of these tracks with artists as diverse as Paul McCartney, Elvin Jones, Bob Dylan, Arthur Russell, and Philip Glass. The set was done in collaboration with Ginsberg's estate, and brings together both vocal and spoken selections, some never issued before – with selections that include "First Party At Ken Kesey's With Hell's Angels", "Raghupati Raghava", "Ballad Of The Skeletons", "Hum Bum", "Birdbrain", "Grey Monk", "Prayer For John Sinclair", "Put Down Yr Cigarette Rag", "Gospel Noble Truths", and "Ballad Of The Skeletons". CD

The rare first version of Message From The Tribe – still done with all the Detroit underground qualities of the better-known versions – but with a completely different song list overall! As with the more-circulated versions, the record is the brainchild of saxophonist Wendell Harrison and trombonist Phil Ranelin – and the pair work together with other key players from the spiritual avant scene in their city at the start of the 70s – Marcus Belgrave and Charles Moore on trumpets, Will Austin on bass, Ike Daney on drums, and Charles Eubanks on some mighty nice Fender Rhodes! All group members handle other instrumentation too – usually a bit of percussion– and Jaemel Lee comes in with some vocals and poetry as well. The album features two side-long suites – the 20 minute "Evening With The Devil" on side one, with passages that include "Mary Had An Abortion", "Angry Young Men", and "Where Am I" – and the 21 minute "What Now" on side two – with passages that include "What We Need", "Angela's Dilemma", and "How Do We End All Of This Madness". CD

Classic early 70s space rock from Hawkwind – mixing punchy, fuzzy aggression with trippy post psych soundscapes – with less keyboard-heavy prog noodling and tighter vibe! Doremi Faso Latido is the first Hawkwind album with Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister in the lineup, and although we can't say that this is why it's got a tighter sound, it's probably fair to speculate. It's great, whatever may make it so! Includes "Brainstorm", "Space Is Deep", "Lord Of Light", and "Down Through The Night". CD

A seminal set from Hawkwind – a record that virtually defines the term "space rock", and which went on to create a whole genre unto itself! The live setting is perfect for the group – as they open up on long tracks that blend together odd touches, sci fi elements, and some mighty heavy rock lines too – all with some trippy vocals that really send things over the top! Lemmy's a mad genius at this point – and the record's got a ballsy power that's quite different from more prog-based groups who travel down similar paths, but never with ferocity like this. Titles include "Earth Calling", "Born To Go", "Down Through The Night", "The Awakening", "Upside Down", "10 Seconds Of Forever", "Brainstorm", "Seven By Seven", "Sonic Attack", Welcome To The Future", "You Shouldn't Do That", "Time We Left This World Today", and "Master Of The Universe". CD

A seminal set from Hawkwind – a record that virtually defines the term "space rock", and which went on to create a whole genre unto itself! The live setting is perfect for the group – as they open up on long tracks that blend together odd touches, sci fi elements, and some mighty heavy rock lines too – all with some trippy vocals that really send things over the top! Lemmy's a mad genius at this point – and the record's got a ballsy power that's quite different from more prog-based groups who travel down similar paths, but never with ferocity like this. Titles include "Earth Calling", "Born To Go", "Down Through The Night", "The Awakening", "Upside Down", "10 Seconds Of Forever", "Brainstorm", "Seven By Seven", "Sonic Attack", Welcome To The Future", "You Shouldn't Do That", "Time We Left This World Today", and "Master Of The Universe". Packaged in a nice foldout sleeve, with printed inner-sleeves, poster, program and insert of notes mostly in Japanese. CD

Juan De La Cruz is a band, not a guy – and they're one of the hardest rocking combos of the far east in the early 70s! The trio's propelled strongly by some razor-sharp guitar from Wally Gonzales – a player who stands mightily with some of the biggest British names of a few years before – but who's all the more compelling because of his lack of commercial fame in this scene. Vocals are often in that same blues-into-rock mode initiated by the Rolling Stones – but are often taken to weirder, wilder territory overall. Titles include "Round & Round", "I Wanna Say Yeah", "Take You Home", "Shake Your Brains", and "Big Boss Man". CD

A sweet bit of funk from Hawaii – and a legendary bit of free soul that's been winning global fame for decades! Lemuria is the brainchild of Kirk Thompson – who plays piano, bass, keyboards, and vibes on this very spiritual set of tracks. Master Henry Gibson was one of the executive producers, and he also plays conga on the set – which recalls some of the more spiritual collective funky projects from the early 70s Chicago scene, given a bit of a tropical twist. Many tracks feature vocals by "The Ladies Of Lemuria" – a lovely trio that's got a bit of an Emotions sort of sound – but the jazziness of the tracks is a lot freer than the backings the Emotions ever got, with more of a west coast Fantasy Records kind of approach, touched with some Stevie Wonder-like warmth. Really great all the way through – and impeccably put together, despite the indie origins of the record. Titles include "Get That Happy Feeling", "Hunk Of Heaven", "Dreams", "Mister U", "The Making Of You", and "Mystery Love". CD

One of the only albums of jazz we've seen from the Korean scene of the 70s – and a really special little record that aims to echo some of the most spiritual modes from the US scene of the time! The record's the brainchild of arranger Lee Pan Guen – who doesn't play on the record, but leaves the music to a hip lineup that features trumpet, tenor or soprano sax, piano, bass, and drums plus percussion – often used in a way that's either modal or slightly lyrical, depending on the tunes. A few tracks are remakes of American numbers, but done at a level that's very personal and fluid – echoing the spiritual currents of the original tunes on the set – and titles include "Han O Baek Nyun", "My Favorite Things", "Gasiri", "Bin Ba Da", "Arirang", and "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise". CD

The Silver Convention groove is nicely opening up on this set – with an approach that actually seems a bit jazzier than the group's first two albums, bringing more of a focus on the keyboards of Silvester Levay – who's really the brainchild behind the whole group anyway! At some level, Levay seems to be more influenced by the best American club work of the time – especially the Salsoul records that just kept on getting better and better, deeper and deeper with each year. The orchestrations have a bit more soul than before, and mix nicely with the group's trademark Euro-disco sound. Levay wrote all the music on the set, co-produced, and arranged – and his well crafted keyboard lines are the brightest spots in the whole set. Titles include "I'm Not A Slot Machine", "The World Is A Madhouse", "Plastic People", "Fancy Party", "Everybody's Talkin About Love", "Dancing In The Aisle", and "Land Of Make Believe". CD

A great overview of one of Motown's hippest soul groups! The Undisputed Truth were the brainchild of Norman Whitfield – and the group were the perfect platform for the "right on" soul that Whitfield was starting to craft in Detroit at the end of the 60s. Whitfield mixed the group's male/female vocal style with a wealth of work on heavy bass, echoey drums, and fuzzy guitars – often having them sing songs with hipper, more contemporary themes, in the same mode as the political conscious soul he'd been working on with The Temptations. This 19 track set is a wonderful collection of the best Motown moments by The Undisputed Truth – with a strong selection of tracks that includes "Smiling Faces Sometimes", "Girl You're Alright", "Law Of The Land", "Help Yourself", "Higher Than High", "Let's Go Back To Day One", "You Got The Love I Need", "You Make Your Own Heaven & Hell", "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", "What's Going On", "I'm A Fool For You", "Spaced Out", and "UFO's". CD

A wonderfully spaced-out album of electronic rock from the early days of Island Records! White Noise are a bit like Silver Apples – mixing trippy rock with odd electronic twists that are all very much in a heady late 60s sort of way. But the "rock" component of the album is a very small one – and the record's got equal parts of the audio trickery of contemporaneous work by Bruce Haack or Jon Appleton. Most of the record is the brainchild of David Vorhaus, but the record also features a bit of drum work by Paul Lytton (who would later do a lot of electronics himself), plus oddly-keyed strings and some goofy vocals from Annie Bird. Tracks include "Love Without Sound", "Here Come the Fleas", and the very long cuts "The Visitation" and "Black Mass". CD

Not much of a cover photo, but one of the most amazing collections so far from the Numero Group – a richly archival project that finally brings to light the lost efforts of the short lived Tap Records label! Tap was the brainchild of Jeremiah Yisrael – an ambitious producer, and legendary perfectionist – so much so that he often put more effort into these indie productions than you'd find at bigger label projects of the time! Most material here dates from the years 1981 and 1982, and the music is a mix of club, modern soul, boogie, and a bit of hip hop – nearly all of which hardly got any exposure at the time. The booklet not only tells the tale of the label and Yisrael's career, but also Numero's efforts in resurrecting these lost tapes from a very moldy near-death experience – a narrative that's almost as exciting as the music in the package. And the package is pretty great too – not only because of the 24 page, full color booklet – but also because of the supplemental book that reproduces lost sheet music and studio notes from the Tap sessions. Amazing stuff throughout – well worthy of another deep bow for the Numero team – with a total of 14 tracks that include "Breakout" and "We've Had Enough" by Arnie Love & The Lovettes, "Invisible Wind" and "Guilty" by Jackie Stoudemire, "Missy Missy Dee" by Missy Dee & The Melody Crew, "So Nice" by Annette Denvil, "Rub A Dub Dub" by The Fabulous 3 MCs, "Don't Stop Dancin" and "Run Away Hide From Love" by Jackie Stoudemire, and "Breakout" by Magnetism. Also features two tracks from 1971 – "Does He Really Mean It" and "Love Which Way" by Bonnie Freeman. CD

A wonderful look at the Compass Point Studios in Nassau – a force that was as important to the sound of grooves in the early 80s as Stax and Fame were to soul in the 60s! Compass Point was the brainchild of Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, but it offered up way more than just a reggae-styled approach to the music – and although the house band at Compass featured both Sly and Robbie, the overall sound was a groundbreaking mix of funk, punk, and post-disco elements! Compass Point was a key recording site for a number of leftfield acts in its early years – and this package does a great job of showing the way the studio left an undeniable imprint on the sound of its time. The booklet features very detailed notes on the studio, its scene, and its key players – and the CD features 13 great 80s grooves that include "Genius Of Love" by Tom Tom Club, "Dance Sucker (Francois K rmx)" by Set The Tone, "Obsession (Nassau mix)" by Guy Cuevas, "Padlock (Larry Levan mix)" by Gwen Guthrie, "River Niger" by Sly Dunbar, "Don't Stop The Music" by Bits & Pieces, "Spasticus Autisticus (version)" by Ian Dury, "You Rented A Space" by Cristina, "Adventures In Success (dub copy)" by Will Powers, "Whisper" by Chaz Jankel, "Born Under Punches" by Talking Heads, and "My Jamaican Guy (12" version)" by Grace Jones. CD

Funky soul from one of the less-discovered scenes in the south – the hotbed of small labels that were making some mighty great grooves in Atlanta during the 70s! The Peachtree city isn't nearly as well-cited as a soul music source in comparison to places like Memphis, Muscle Shoals, and even Miami – but back in the mid 70s, there was something really special going on – and for a strong moment, a few different labels really gave the city some great music! Much of the work here represents the changing character of Atlanta itself – deep soul vocals that were forged in a longer southern tradition, mixed with well-crafted grooves that show all the modern elements coming into play as the city grew and matured. Most of this work has a pre-disco vibe – with rhythms that are similar to the early work of Fatback or Kool & The Gang – with the difference that the singers in the lead are all pretty darn great on their own. BGP did an excellent job of choosing the tracks for the set, and the notes, as always, are great – and the package features 22 titles that include "Let's Dance" by Family Plann, "Seeds Of Life" by East LA Car Pool, "Down At The Disco" by Maggabrain, "Ain't It Funky" by Johnny Jacobs, "The Bump" by Floyd Smith, "Help Me (parts 1 & 2)" by Archie Russell, "I Don't Know What It Is But It Sure Is Funky" by Ripple, "Funk Pump" by The Counts, "Claim Jumpin" by Bill Brandon, "Checkmate" by The Ebony Godfather, "Shouldn't I Be Given The Right To Be Wrong" by Joe Hinton, "Husband In Law" by CL Blast, "Only A Fool" by Loleatta Holloway, "When I Build My World" by Jimmy Lewis, and "Complain To The Clouds" by Deep Velvet. CD

Weirdly tripped-out funk from Baby Elephant – a compelling collaboration from Prince Paul, Newkirk, and P-Funk keyboardist Bernie Worrell! The sound here is quite odd – kind of a dismantling of older P-Funk modes, stripped down into a handful of key elements, then re-assembled in a range of different ways to suit the spirit of each tune. There's a good sense of humor to most of the tracks, but also an underlying sense of darkness as well – especially on some of the skits that link together the tracks, done by Prince Paul to give the album a slightly narrative feel. There's a huge amount of guest stars in the mix – including David Byrne, George Clinton, Reggie Watts, Yellowman, Nona Hendryx, and Shock 9 – and titles include "How Does The Brainwave", "Plainfield", "The Search", "Baby Elephants In Thanos", "Even Stranger", "Crack Addicts In Love", "Turn My Teeth Up", and "Fred Berry". CD