... LP, Vinyl record album

Features early production by Dante Carfagna! Includes "Assassination Attempt", "Kaos II *7* Dome", "Mental Genocide", "Jail Sale", "Crucified", "In-Cog-Negrow", "Bro Kemit Splitting Atoms In The Corporate War Zone", "My Ideology" and "The Late Great Black Man". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Four Ever Rainbow" and "Garden Of Paradise". LP, Vinyl record album

Arguably one of the greatest concept albums of the 80s – and the only really strong full length album cut by Frankie Goes To Hollywood! At the time of the set, the group was riding high on the success and controversy of their singles "Relax" and "Two Tribes" – but in the ambitious ZTT mode, sought to expand their sound way past familiar hits, and into a realm of sonic exploration that rivaled that of labelmates Art Of Noise. Don't get us wrong, because the Frankie of this album is still very much in groove-oriented territory – but they also let Horn take over with some more striking tunes that are both longer and shorter than the usual pop track – offsetting the vocal numbers on the record with a rich tapestry of musical backdrops that also more firmly forward the group's social and sexual leanings. The album features surprising covers of "War", "Do You Know The Way To San Jose", and "Born To Run" – plus the hits "Relax" and "Two Tribes", and the original numbers "Welcome To the Pleasure Dome", "Krisco Kisses", "The Ballad Of 32", "Wish The Lads Were Here", "Black Night White Light", "The Only Star In Heaven", "The Power Of Love", and "Bang". LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet exotic sounds from the Arthur Lyman group – heavy on vibes and lots of hip percussion – recorded with a gently swaying feel that recalls the best energy of the Hawaiian scene in the postwar years! The set's one of Lyman's early solo dates – recorded Henry Kaiser Aluminum Dome in Hawaii – which you can almost hear in the way the sounds here resonate, and hang sweetly in air. The tunes are pretty mellow, but in a good way – more sonically sensitive than some more gimmicky, sound effect-heavy exotica – and titles include "Adventures in Paradise", "Andalusia", "Yellow Bird", "Arrivederci Roma", "Sweet & Lovely", "Bamboo Taboo", "Granada", and "Ravel's Bolero". Fire up that console stereo and break out the Tiki glasses! LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty darn psych/groovy soundtrack – to what looks like a very strange film! The music is by Ken Thorne – and the tracks are a mix of mod rhythms, instrumental groovers, and some very trippy numbers that use echoey percussion and some electrified instrumentation. A few cuts have vocals – such as "Respect" by The Ferris Wheel and "Touchables Theme", sung by Nirvana, in a style that's almost in the Bob Crewe mode – but the best cuts are the instrumentals, which are really really fantastic. A few cuts have organ by Wynder K Frog – and titles include "Samson's Theme", "The Dome", "Sadie's Theme", "Christian & Melanie", "Blues For A Frog", and "The Chase". LP, Vinyl record album

The cover's a bit nondescript, but the music is anything but – instrumental funk with a great jazzy vibe – served up here by an obscure Portland group from the end of the 70s! These guys are clearly schooled on some of the best jazz funk of the time, but also have a more personal vibe of their own – a nice change from the slickness of major label fusion, as they serve up a great mix of two keyboards, guitar, bass, drums and percussion – all recorded in a home studio, but with instrumentation that really goes beyond any sort of homegrown affair! The mixture of tight instrumentation and a down-to-earth vibe reminds us of some of our favorite Fantasy Records work of the time – on titles that include "Latin Summer", "Tut's Strut", "Song For Valerie", "Chrome Dome", and "Time Of My Life". LP, Vinyl record album

Funky Funky New Orleans is back – in this 2-part part 2 series! (Confusing, ain't it?) Like the now-famous first volume, both of these second volumes feature a stunning array of rare funky tunes from the Crescent City – obscure funky 45 numbers that go way way past the hits you might find on some of the more general New Orleans compilations, to feature a wealth of material that even we haven't heard before. The sound is a bit rough on a few of these numbers – in a stone-heavy garage funk style that makes the grooves come across even more strikingly than they might otherwise – and there's also a fair bit of 70s jazz funk jamming on these tunes, freer and more upbeat than the usual heavy New Orleans groove. Titles on this first volume include "Quiet Village (parts 1 & 2)" by Dome City Rock Orchestra, "Dull Knifin" by Trick Bag, "Git It" by Sam & The Soul Machine, "Get Down (parts 1 & 2)" by Gary Brown & Soul Machine 2, "Funky Sweep" by Isaac Price II, "Thief" by The Enticers, "Keep The News To Yourself" by Larry Hamilton, "The Joke" by Leonard Harris, and "Gossip" by Larry Hamilton. LP, Vinyl record album

A surprising little gem from the late 60s UK blues rock scene – and one of the first efforts from a young Dave Edmunds! Edmunds is the key member of this trio – singing lead vocals and playing some incredibly smoking guitar that kicks off this blues-heavy set, and needs no apologies whatsoever! Tunes include 2 great instrumentals – Freddy King's "Stumble" and the original "Blues Helping" – both of which have that unmistakable Edmunds sound already firmly in place – plus versions of "I Believe To My Soul", "Come Back Baby", "Don't Answer The Door", "So Unkind" and "On The Road Again". LP, Vinyl record album

Rufus without Chaka Khan – but a surprisingly nice set, nonetheless! The album features various members of the group on lead vocals – singing in a warm, compressed style that's got the same sort of AOR sound as the group's jazzy grooves at the time. The overall musicianship is still quite nice – a commercial take on jazz funk, but played to perfection, thanks to the tightness of the ensemble. Titles include the instrumental "Red Hot Poker", plus "Dancin Mood", "Don't You Sit Alone", "Bet My Dreams", "Pleasure Dome", and "Life In The City". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

An excellent set that has the vocal talents of the Swingle Singers backed by the sweet and mellow instrumentation of the Modern Jazz Quartet! Given that John Lewis & Co were essentially local residents in Paris for so many years, it's amazing it took them until 1966 to hook up with Ward Swingle's hip vocal group – but the album's more than worth the wait, as the MJQ really help open things up, and take the Swingles into more complicated territory than before. Milt Jackson's vibes are especially great alongside the groovy vocals – and titles include "Little David's Fugue", "Vendome", "When I Am Laid In Earth", "Air For G String", and "Three Windows". LP, Vinyl record album

A 2LP set that brings together most of the material from the first three full-length albums by the Modern Jazz Quartet – all recorded at a time when the combo were first forging their famous sound! Most of the sides here are in contrast to the group's better-known Atlantic work, because the group at this point still featured Kenny Clarke on drums – and although a few tracks here include Connie Kay, the bulk of the recordings are touched by Clarke's tighter, sometimes more aggressive work on percussion – making for a less-than-trademark sound that we really like. As usual, the rest of the group features Milt Jackson on vibes, John Lewis on piano, and Percy Heath on bass – and the 2LP set features 18 tracks that include "Concorde", "Vendome", "Milano", "La Ronde", "Django", "All The Things You Are", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", "Delauney's Dilemma", "La Ronde Suite", "All Of You", and "Ralph's New Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A rich new chapter in the career of Moreno Veloso – a set that steps off strongly from his work with the +2 trio, but in ways that are even more personal and poetic than before! The shift is a bit like that time when Caetano Veloso took all his previous experiments and found a more intimate style in his music during the 70s – although Moreno is always very much his own man here, and manages to work with a range of elements, yet still never lose a focus in his musical vision. Domenico and Kassin are still along for some tracks, but the record also brings in diverse production help from Daniel Jobim, Melvin Gibbs, and even Gal Costa – who are among the many partners working here with Moreno and core producer Pedro Sa to shape the rich sound of the record. Instrumentation is a warm mix of acoustic with electric undertones – and titles include "La E Ca", "Um Passo A Frente", "Coisa Boa", "Jacare Coruja", "Hoje", "Nao Acorde O Nenem", "De Tentar Voltar", and "Num Galho De Acaias". LP, Vinyl record album

A very cool set from Bengt Arne Wallin – very cool larger arrangements, set up with guest vocals from Sylvia Vrethammar, alto from Arne Domernus, tenor from Lennart Aberg, trumpet from Clark Terry, and even percussion from Sabu Martinez! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the fantastic albums issued by Giorno Poetry Systems – a wonderful bridge between high and low in the New York scene – as some tracks are spoken straight, and some have music – in a wonderful mix of talents. Tracks include "Imaginatin' Cocktail" by David Johansen, "Exiled In Domestic Life" by John Giorno, "Dinosaurs" by William S Burroughs, "Unclean" by Psychic TV, "What Is It" by Lydia Lunch, "The Rev Hell Gets Confused", by Richard Hell, "Alisa", by Arto Lindsay, "A Peculiar-Looking Girl" by Jim Carroll, "Uh-Oh Pletonium" by Ann Waldman, and "Candy Bullets & Moon" by Meredith Monk. LP, Vinyl record album

Nice stuff from the early days of the MJQ – recorded back when Kenny Clarke was still playing drums with the group, and giving them a bit more of a bottom! One side of the record features material recorded from one of the quartet's first sessions – in late 1952, with the tracks "La Ronde", "Vendome", and "Rose Of The Rio Grande". The rest of the record features material by Jackson's group with Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass, Kenny Clarke on drums, and the obscure Henry Boozier on trumpet. That material's a bit more bop-oriented, and titles include "Opus De Funk", "Buhania", and "Soma". LP, Vinyl record album

Essential New Orleans piano from Professor Longhair – an artist who was neither a professor, nor a man with much hair! The chrome-domed pianist had a huge influence on the sound of New Orleans R&B and soul to come – as he played in a triplet-heavy way that was rooted in blues, but provided a key link to the rhythms that would dominate Crescent City music in following decades. This album features original Atlantic sides cut in New Orleans in 1949 and 1953 – about as classic as you can get for Longhair, with tunes that include "Tipitina", "Hey Now Baby", "In The Night", "Ball To The Wall", "Who's Been Fooling You", "She Walks Right In", and "Willie Mae". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Roy Ayers' greatest albums of the 70s – a set that tightens up the groove from previous Polydor productions, yet still keeps all the soul intact! The record picks up the style begun with the Mystic Voyage album, and pushes it to some slightly tighter territory – a more focused Roy Ayers sound that's totally great, and which makes the album sparkle wonderfully throughout! All aspects of Roy's talents are perfectly balanced here – his warm vocals and jazzy vibes, his uptempo grooves and mellower rhythms – played to perfection by a hip lineup of players that includes Philip Woo on electric piano, Justo Almario on tenor sax, and Steve Cobb on drums. Edwin Birdsong guests a bit on the record – bringing in a nice edge to a few tunes – the album's got a really unique dark undercurrent, even in smoother moments – that subtle Roy Ayers' approach that's always made him one of our all-time favorite artists. Titles include the wonderful jazz-tinged "Searching", a great midtempo stepper that we really love; the funky break track "The Memory", a righteous number that feels like work from earlier records; the clubby classic "One Sweet Love to Remember"; and the sweet instrumental "Vibrations", which has a mellow kickback feel! Other tunes include "Higher", "Domelo (Give It To Me)", "Baby I Need Your Love", and "Better Days". LP, Vinyl record album

A double-length live set from the legendary Modern Jazz Quartet – recorded in Scandinavia in 1960, almost as a summation of the group's growing genius in the 50s! The tunes are a mix of John Lewis and Milt Jackson originals, plus other songs all given the wonderful MJQ twist – distilled into a sublime blend of piano, vibes, bass, and drums – all delivered with a sense of class, but never too much polish. The album is live, but still has that sophisticated composure that made the group so unique at the time – and the whole thing's a perfect complement to their famous studio albums on Atlantic! Set features 15 tracks in all – including "Django", "Bluesology", "La Ronde", "Festival Sketch", "Vendome", "Odds Against Tomorrow", "Skating In Central Park", "The Cylinder", "Bags' Groove", "I Should Care", "Round Midnight", and "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)". LP, Vinyl record album

Features a long reading of "Pyramid" – plus "Django", "Romaine", "Vendome", and "It Don't Mean A Thing". LP, Vinyl record album

A nice collection of 70s work on the Cinevox label – with work by Goblin for the film Profondo Rosso, Ennio Morricone from La Donna Della Domenica, Bixio Frizzi Tempera from Vai Gorilla, Stelvio Cipriani from Due Cuori Una Cappella, and Gianfranco Plenizio from Amici Mie. LP, Vinyl record album

A lesser-known set from vocalist Matt Dennis – not as well-remembered as his 50s dates for RCA and Kapp, but still pretty darn great nonetheless! Matt's working here with full backings from Sy Oliver – in a set that showcases his talents more as a singer than a songwriter – but which still manages to include a few great Dennis originals. And despite a cover that looks a bit lurid – with Dennis cornering a model inside a hotel room – the overall feel of the record is quite homey and domestic, with tunes that echo images of hearth and family, but often with the kind of nod and a wink which you might expect from Matt's usual approach to a tune. Titles include "Home", "Welcome Mat", "Back In Your Own Back Yard", "By The Fireside", "A Cup Of Coffe A Sandwich & You", "Let's Put Out The Lights", and "Your Family". LP, Vinyl record album