... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A classic underground funk set from the 70s – and a record that definitely lives up to the party time promised in the title! The group have a really festive approach to funk – still as hard-hitting and sharp-edged as other indie contemporaries – but willing to open up and push things with a live sort of energy too – a vibe that's a bit like a funkier take on Jr Walker & The All-Stars – especially given the strong use of tenor on the tunes! The set's got two very long jamming numbers – "Party Bump (parts 1 & 2)" and "One More Time (parts 1 & 2)" – and other titles are all pretty nice too – including "You're Gonna Need", "Now Generation", and "Party Strut". Produced by George Kerr, arranged by Bert Keyes, and even the version of "Amazing Grace" comes out pretty nice too! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A set that definitely lives up to the intrigue promised in the title – an alternative look at British music in the 80s, served up with some more experimental, unusual tracks that go way past the pop hits of the time! There's still some names here you might know, but there's also work from plenty of the hipper indie labels who kept things interesting – especially in the territory of companies like Factory, Rough Trade, and 4AD – who each get some space within! As with other sets done by Steven Wilson, there's some detailed notes that make the overall package a delight throughout – with 19 tracks on this vinyl version, work by Dif Juz, Cardiacs, A Certain Ratio, Perennial Divide, Cocteau Twins, Twelfth Night, This Heat, Ultravox, Durutti Column, Punishment Of Luxury, The Stranglers, Magazine, Bill Nelson's Red Noise, No Man, Slab, Robert Fripp & The League Of Gentlemen, and Dead Can Dance. LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent work from Wand Records, a real powerhouse in 60s soul – featuring not hits, but nicely obscure tracks by Nella Dodds, The Gentlemen Four, The Ivories, Darryl Stewart, Clarence Reid, Wally Cox, the Charts, Ed Bruce, Billy Thompson, Walter Wilson, and The Masqueraders – plus two by Maxine Brown! LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent work from Betty Carter – much more sophisticated than some of her 60s work! The album features Betty recorded in that hip trio format that she developed to fantastic heights during the decade. Betty sings standards and originals with a warmth an imagination that we can hardly describe accurately – bringing emotion into the songs that we'd hardly heard in earlier recordings, and using a trio in ways that we'd never heard before with a vocalist. Incredible stuff all the way through, very much on a par with any of Betty's later work – and featuring cuts that include a sublime version of "Open The Door", plus "New Blues", "I Was Telling Him About You", "Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love", and "Making Dreams Come True". LP, Vinyl record album

Hard to imagine Etta Jones being lonely and blue – especially when she sounds as great as this! The album's one of Jones' early classics from Prestige – a date that really has her classing things up a lot, and drawing on bits of Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington's styles, to mix in with the bluesier tones of her roots – put together with a great deal of charm, and a new sophistication that made Etta one of the hippest jazz singers of the 60s! Backing is by a cool small combo – with Patti Brown on piano, Wally Richardson on guitar, and a bit of tenor from Budd Johnson – and titles include "I'll Be There", "In the Dark", "Gentlemen Friend", "I Wonder", and "Miss You So". LP, Vinyl record album

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". LP, Vinyl record album

Andra Day takes on a host of Christmas classics here, but delivers them in a very contemporary style – with stripped-down instrumentation, and a nicely crispy edge in the rhythms – perfect for her wonderfully expressive vocals that soar over the top! Stevie Wonder duets with Andra on a version of his classic "Someday At Christmas" – and other tunes include "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Carol Of The Bells", "The First Noel", and "Winter Wonderland". LP, Vinyl record album

Four Christmas classics in one package – two from Verve, two from Chess Records! First up is the album Ella Fitzgerald Wishes You A Swinging Christmas – a wonderful Holiday album that's stayed fresh for years! Ella's got a perfect style to interpret these numbers – working with Frank DeVol and Russ Garcia in a set of lightly jazzy versions of Christmas favorites like "Sleigh Ride", "Jingle Bells", "Winter Wonderland", "White Christmas", "Frosty The Snowman", and one of the best versions of "What Are You Doing New Years Eve" ever recorded! The Sound Of Christmas album by Ramsey Lewis is a classic – and probably one of the best-selling Christmas jazz albums of all time! Ramsey and his classic trio with Redd Holt and Eldee Young serve up a tight set of grooves based around Holiday favorites like "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town", "Winter Wonderland", "Here Comes Santa Claus", "The Christmas Song", and "Sleigh Ride" – and also carve out a few nice originals like "Christmas Blues" and "The Sound Of Christmas". Side one features the trio on its own, and side two features added arrangements by Riley Hampton – swirling around to expand the groove even more! Christmas 64 – also issued as Christmas Cookin – is as cookin a Christmas album as you'll ever find! Jazz organ giant Jimmy Smith works with Billy Byers to craft some sublime instrumentals that have his Hammond interpreting Christmas classics like "We Three Kings", "White Christmas", "Silent Night", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", and "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". If you know Jimmy from the time, you know that he can really make tracks like these groove nicely – and take them to places you never expected! Last up is the album Have Yourself A Soulful Little Christmas, from guitarist Kenny Burrell – on which he grooves nicely and gently over arrangements by Richard Evans, perfectly crafted in that soul jazz mode of his 60s work for Chess – not Kenny's most challenging format, to be sure, but proof that he often works better in a more structured environment than a freer one. Titles include "Away In A Manger", "My Favorite Things", "Little Drummer Boy", "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "Merry Christmas Baby", and "Go Where I Send Thee". LP, Vinyl record album

An early Christmas gem from Jackie Wilson – a record that really shows his versatility as a singer, as he takes on a number of different Holiday tunes in a variety of moods! Jackie's a soul singer first and foremost, but he can also sparkle with jazzier and more traditional material – which he touches on here in the company of arrangers Nat Tarnopol, Dick Jacobs, and Alan Lorber. The sound is socking soul on the best numbers – but also gets ambitious and somber on some of the others – making for a nice well-rounded Holiday set, on titles that include "Joy To The World", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", "Silent Night", "White Christmas", "The First Noel", and "Silver Bells". LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by The Seldom Scene, Original Seldom Scene, Almost Original New South, Country Gentlemen, and Original Country Gentlemen. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most ambitious projects we've ever seen from Numero – and that's saying a lot, given some of their other releases! This package is equal parts cultural document and musical treasure trove – a heavy book full of photos from a time when Upper Volta was stepping past its colonial history, and finding a new cultural identity as an independent nation – presented alongside a rich array of the sounds that were shaping the scene at the time! The cover image has a feel that's maybe older than its 70s vintage – and some of the music does, too – relatively rootsy at points, with heavy percussion, riffing guitar, and jazzy inflections on some of the horns – and a bit less polished and produced than work coming from scenes like Nigeria or South Africa at the same time. The whole thing's similar to Numero's Light On The Southside set – but maybe even better, as the music here is even more unique – and the images are ones that bring forth a culture we never would have experienced otherwise. Titles include "Air Volta" and "Mama Soukous" by Volta Jazz, "He Ya Wannan" by Ouedraogo Youssef, "Si Tu Maime" and "Ram Passomaye" by Coulibaly Tidiani & Dafr Star, "Milaoba" by Les Imbattables Leopards, and "Gentlemen Doromina" by Echo Del Africa. 3LPs, 26 tracks, and a hardcover 144 page book! LP, Vinyl record album

A better soundtrack than you might expect – as the set features a number of Christmas classics, mixed with a few new cuts for the record, and a few instrumentals too! The set leads off with Tyler The Creator doing "You're A Mean One Mr Grinch" and "I Am The Grinch" – and Danny Elfman also contributed a few instrumental titles too – but the bulk of the record is classic Holiday material, with titles that include "Christmas Is" and "Christmas In Hollis" by Run DMC, "My Favorite Things" by The Supremes, "Deck the Halls" by Jackie Wilson, "Run Rudolph Run" by Brian Setzer, "Zat You Santa Claus" by Buster Poindexter, "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole, and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" by Pentatonix. LP, Vinyl record album

An expanded version of this classic set of Motown Christmas tunes – one that features some of the best cuts from the individual artists' Holiday albums cut for the label, plus some harder to find tracks from singles! The set's got 24 tracks in all, with titles that include "Santa Claus Is Comin To Town" and "Give Love On Christmas Day" by The Jackson 5, "What Christmas Means To Me" and "One Little Christmas Tree" by Stevie Wonder, "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" and "The Little Drummer Boy" by The Temptations, "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" and "Jingle Bells" by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and "Children's Christmas Song" and "White Christmas" by Diana Ross & The Supremes. LP, Vinyl record album