King Sunny Ade's first major label LP, that helped him bring his juju music to the world. The blueprint of juju's laid down hear, with loads of intertwining guitar lines and tallking drums chattering away in a driving but never-too-busy fashion underneath. Includes "Sunny Ti De Arya", "Ja Funmi" and "365 Is My Number/The Message". CD

A "best of" set – with titles that include "Changes", "Ziggy Stardust", "John I'm Only Dancing", "Let's Dance", "Fashion", "Ashes To Ashes", "Young Americans", "Rebel Rebel", "Jean Genie", and more! CD

Some of the greatest moments from David Bowie, mixed with some rare tracks, collaborations, 45 mixes, and more – as well as the single "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)" – which is one of Bowie's best singles in years! The package is available in a number of varieties, with a number of covers – and each different iteration offers a special sort of focus on Bowie's varied creative career – reminding us in more different ways how much we've continued to love his music over the years! This 3CD version features the track "Sue" – plus 58 more tracks that include"All The Young Dudes", "Dancing In The Streets" with Mick Jagger, "Silly Boy Blue", "Can't Help Thinking About Me", "Liza Jane", "You've Got A Habit Of Leaving", "Wild Is The Wind (2010 Harry Maslin mix)", "Buddha Of Subburbia", "Your Turn To Drive", "The Stars Are Out Tonight", "Blue Jean", "This Is Not America" with Pat Metheny, "Oh You Pretty Things", "Moonage Daydream", "Drive In Saturday", "Sorrow", "Fame", "Boys Keep Swinging", "Fashion (single)", "Ashes To Ashes (single)", "Love Is Lost (DFA hello Steve Reich mix)", "New Iller Star (radio)", "I'm Afraid Of Americans (V1 radio edit)", "Jump They Say (radio)", "Let's Dance", "Life On Mars", "Hello Spaceboy (PSB rmx)" with Pet Shop Boys, "Under Pressure" with Queen, "Sound & Vision", "Golden Years (single)", "Absolute Beginners (single)", "Starman (single)", "Rebel Rebel", "Jean Genie (orig single version)", "Changes", "Where Are We Now", "China Girl (single)", and "Heroes (single)". CD

Morton Feldman pays great tribute to Samuel Beckett here – with music full of dark shadows and lonely shapes, almost a perfect soundtrack for any of Beckett's works on stage! The instrumentation here is all a bit muted – played by the Ensemble Modern, but not credited individually – a choice in the liner notes that might have to do with the nature of the music – which is often murky and a bit obtuse, but which has a cohesion and slight sense of narrative amidst the mist! There appears to be a bit of piano – recorded with a lot of echo – plus some horns – all swirling together and building slowly in true Feldman fashion. CD

A set that's way more than just a "best of" sort of anthology – as the package features three full albums by the group, plus other material too! The set begins with the classic debut, Gilded Palace Of Sin – a true late 60s rock masterpiece – and like albums by Love and The Velvet Underground, a set that barely made a mainstream impact at the time – but which has gone on to be the stuff of influence and legend over the decades! The album's the first from Gram Parsons and the group – one of only two they would cut together – and the whole thing is a perfect blend of rough-edged rock and country influences rising up from the LA scene – all those glimmers of brilliance that Parsons had brought to the Byrds and other projects, maybe given their full flowering here in a mode that's unabashed about its country music influences – maybe even more so than some of Gram's later solo work. Sneeky Pete Kleinow's steel guitar really adds a lot – but so does the presence of Chris Hillman on guitar and mandolin, and Chris Ethridge on bass and piano. Titles include the brilliant "Sin City" – a track we'll love until we die – plus "Christine's Tune", "Do Right Woman", "Dark End Of The Street", "My Uncle", "Wheels", "Juanita", "Hot Burrito No 1", "Hot Burrito No 2", "Do You Know How It Feels", and "Hippy Boy". Burrito Deluxe is the second of only two albums recorded by Gram Parsons with the Flying Burrito Brothers – and a masterpiece that pushes the group's sound even farther than their debut! The set is filled with special moments – songs that show just why these guys were such a special bridge between late 60s country and rock music – and why all of the other groups they inspired just never came close to serving things up this well! Gram Parsons is fantastic on vocals, of course – but the whole group is great, especially Sneaky Pete on steel guitar. Titles include the fantastic romper "Man In The Fog", the very groovy "Lazy Days", the haunting "God's Own Singer", and the group's Jagger/Richards' approved take on "Wild Horses – plus other cuts that include "High Fashion Queen", "Image Of Me", "Older Guys", and "If You Gotta Go". Flying Burrito Brothers is The Burritos first LP, post-Parsons – and a pretty strong statement for the merits of the now unquestioned leader, Rick Roberts, and multi-instrumentalist new guy Bernie Leadon, who would later turn to the dark side and join the Eagles! Roberts penned or co-penned seven of the album's ten tunes, including "Colorado", "Hand To Mouth", "Just Can't Be", and "Four Days Of Rain". His contributions are for the most part nicely fragile, with just the right doses of sweetness and sadness. The group also covers Merle Haggard's "White Line Fever", Gene Clark's "Tried So Hard", and Dylan's "To Ramona". This is one of the band's rarer LPs, probably because of the absence of hipster hero Gram Parsons – truly a worthy piece of work! CD also features some other tracks recorded by Parsons with the group – including "Six Days On The Road", "Break My Mind", "Sing Me Back Home", and "Close Up The Honky Tonks" – and live tracks "Ain't That A Lot Of Love" and "Losing Game" – plus Gene Clark singing on "Here Tonight". CD

Dizzy and strings – a surprisingly great combination! Although it was Charlie Parker who first made famous the modernist "jazz with strings" approach, Dizzy does wonderfully here in the format – working in similar fashion with edgey backing from the "Operatic String Orchestra" in sessions recorded in Paris in the early 50s! The material was originally only issued as a number of separate 78rpm singles, but is brought together here with full notes and a few bonus tracks – making for a wonderful album that documents this really under-represented part of Dizzy's career. The solos are warm, but edgey – blown over the top of backings that shimmer with rich colors, but have a slightly modern bent. Titles include "Fine & Dandy", "Stormy Weather", "The Very Thought Of You", "Jalousie", "Sweet & Lovely", "The Man I Love", and "Ghost Of A Chance". CD

Pretty nice later work from Grace! Although we prefer the percolating disco meets reggae records Grace Jones cut with Sly & Robbie to this later effort – but there's no denying that on a couple of numbers she really clicks with producer Trevor Horn's slick sheen. With "Ladies & Gentlemen: Miss Grace Jones", "Jones The Rhythm", "The Fashion Show", "The Frog & The Princess" and "Slave To The Rhythm". CD

A pivotal album in the career of Peggy Lee, and one that marked her turning from a singer of pop and swing material, to a sensitive interpreter of jazz material. The album's one of the best-ever by Peggy, and features the kind of material that's not easy to find amidst the bulk of her pop-oriented work – a moving set of ballads and torchy numbers, recorded in small-combo fashion, in a style that's similar to some of Chris Connor's later Bethlehem work. The combo includes Cootie Chesterfield on trumpet, Jimmy Rowles on piano, Max Wayne on bass, and Ed Shaughnessy on drums. A real treasure – with titles like "A Woman Alone With The Blues", "Love Me Or Leave Me", "Easy Living", and "Black Coffee". This reissue features all 12 tracks from the full-length LP. CD

Brilliant work by Peggy Lee – very different than most of her later more pop-oriented recordings! Peggy signed to Decca as a solo act right after working with bigger bands in the 40s, and her recordings for the label are wonderful – featuring many ballads and torchy numbers, recorded in small-combo fashion, in a style that's similar to some of Chris Connor's later Bethlehem work, plus some larger arrangements that push her even further, and which move into a wealth of interesting styles that show her to be an incredibly talented vocalist. The package features a total of 46 tracks in all – and tracks include "Black Coffee", "Lover", "You Go To My Head", "Let Me Go Lover", "Joey Joey Joey", "My Old Flame", "Street Of Dreams", "Where Flamingos Fly", "Johnny Guitar", "Sisters", "Bouquet Of Blues", "Love Letters", and "Sans Souci". CD

A less tense and caustic Roots than the crew that hit us on the majority of Rising Down a couple years earlier – and this one's as strong of an album as they've delivered since moving over to Def Jam. In truth, we were a little scared when we saw some of the guests credited – Monsters Of Folk, John Legend, Joanna Newsom and other headscratchers on top of more likely collaborators such as Phonte, Blu, Peedi Peedi and Dice Raw – unfounded worry, it turns out, as this set gets over very, very well! How I Got Over is a Roots effort through and through, with contemplative and soulful tracks that simmer and stew in tried and true fashion. The songs with those indie rock guests turn out to be among the Roots-iest tracks on the record. Believe that! So you can rest easy, the Roots are The Roots here, just what we wanted and just what we get! Includes "A Peace Of Light" feat Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian & Haley Dekle, "Walk Alone" feat Truck North, PORN & Dice Raw, "Now Or Never" with Phonte & Dice Raw, "Dear God 2.0" with Monsters Of Folk, "The Day" feat Blu, Phonte & Patty Crash, "Doin It Again", "Tunnel Vision" and more. CD

Zoot Sims blows it nicely on this open-ended live set recorded in Copenhagen – a batch of tracks with the same sort of long, free space for solos as other dates done on that scene by American tenor stars! No surprise, Kenny Drew's backing Zoot up with some tremendous rhythm accompaniment – working here with a trio that includes Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums – just about the best backing a player like Sims could have hoped for on the date! All the tracks here move well past the 5 minute mark – with most approaching 10 – and Zoot's ability to solo strongly in an extended fashion is very firmly in place. Titles include "Groovin High", "Too Close For Comfort", "Blue Hodge", "Morning Fun", "All The Things You Are", "It's All Right With Me", and "In The Middle Of A Kiss". CD

The end of the road for the Velvet Underground – but a set that's also one of the group's best-remembered albums too! The record marked a big shift for the group – a move to Atco from Verve, continuing to work without John Cale – and the sound is possibly more rockish and straight ahead than some of their previous efforts (certainly compared to White Light/White Heat) – but always with that dark edge that Lou Reed could bring to the music! In a way, the whole thing's almost a recasting of all the advances made in 60s rock, but seen through a lens that shows the darker corners and shadows that have crept up alongside – that kind of subtle, yet extremely powerful quality that Reed would bring to his long run of solo albums in the 70s – but served up here with more of an edge, in the definite VU fashion. Titles include the seminal classics – "Sweet Jane" and "Rock & Roll", plus "Cool It Down", "New Age", "Head Held High", "Lonesome Cowboy Bill", "Oh Sweet Nuthin", and "I Found A Reason". CD

Beautifully choppy jazz from Steve Grossman and his legendary 70s comrades Gene Perla and Don Alias – one of the heaviest hitting American combos of the time! The trio have a tight fusion sound that's as full-on as it is funky – and Grossman blows some amazing work on tenor and soprano sax that cut into the tunes with a really fierce bite – while Perla delivers these round, powerful basslines – and Don Alias alternates between free percussion and some driving funky drums! For this session, the group's joined by Jan Hammer on electric piano and moog, playing in a nicely restrained fashion that's not nearly as overblown as his later work, and which jams into the groove just perfectly – making for a sweet electric set that's a real standout of the 70s. The set includes the breakbeat track "Zulu Stomp", plus "Alodian Mode", "Haresah", and "Extemporaneous Combustion". CD

On Things Fall Apart ?uestlove, Black Thought, DJ Scratch, Rahzel and co. reinvigorated the scene with a Philly style soulful, melancholy groove that seemingly influenced the entirety of the NuSoul world – and it could even be argued that the Roots birthed that whole scene. Phrenology carries that torch, but it's so, SO much more, as the heady nature weighed the previous LP down in spots, and Phrenology is a sprawling exercise in expectation-busting perfection! "Rock You" kicks things off in explosive fashion, forgoing the laid back, yet angry soul backbone the group pioneered in hop hop, for a massive electro pulse pounding style – with Black Thought frenetically spitting confrontational wisdom until the synth unexpectedly dives into a short burst of live hardcore punk with "!!!!!!!" (we know what you're thinking, but trust us, it REALLY works). "Sacrifice" features a surprisingly effective chorus sung by Nelly Furtado, and other guest spots include Kweli heating up "Rolling With Heat", Ursula Rucker kicking some reverential poetry on "Waok (ay) Rollcall", and Musiq on the single "Break You Off". Other highlights include the late 80s Bomb Squad-like production on "Thought @ Work", the group's live instrumentation (and ?uestlove's always great trap work) and soul claps on tunes like "The Seed (2.0)", the epic "Water", and "Complexity" with Jill Scott. If you're solely of the 2 turntables and a mic camp you may want to head elsewhere, but if you've been anxiously awaiting the new Roots LP like we have, you'll be knocked straight on your arse, welled up with tears of joy. The best major label hip hop album of '02, and a beauty to go in the time capsule for future generations to learn, and mourn what they missed first hand. Amazing!!! Other tracks include "Quills", "Pussy Galore", and "Something In The Way Of Things (In Town)". CD