Don't even think about the other collections of Johnny Cash's Sun recordings – this is the motherlode, and features just about every single note that he recorded for the legendary label! The mantra of the set is "the singer is more important than the song", and it's certainly true in the case of Johnny. He broke all kinds of barriers between country and early rock music with his sparse, raw and economical productions highlighting the amazingly great rough hewn song style he perfected. The set includes 138 tracks total, including lots of alternate versions, even a bonus disc of an entire unedited recording session. It also includes a huge book with a meticulously researched biography, recording notes, a great wealth of publicity shots, and even childhood photos! Everything's here folks, and sequenced chronologically according to recording dates – "Wide Open Road", "You're My Baby", "My Treasure", "Hey Porter", "I Walk The Line", "Folson Prison Blues", "Don't Make Me Go", "Next In Line", "Big River", "Ballad Of A Teenage Queen", "Cry, Cry, Cry", "The Ways Of A Woman In Love", "Story Of A Broken Heart" – what, you're still reading? Buy this! CD

Some of the best work ever recorded by bassist Paul Chambers – one of the greatest bass players in jazz! This excellent 3CD box set features the bulk of albums that Paul Chambers recorded for Blue Note as a leader, plus an earlier gem recorded for the Imperial label, and another session for the Transition label. Together, the records give an incredible picture of Chambers' work – showing why most jazz players of the 50s regarded him as one of the most important forces on his instrument, and why Chambers had some unique talents that made him one of the few bassists to regularly record albums as a leader. Players on the albums include John Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Clifford Jordan, Pepper Adams, and Curtis Fuller – and the albums include Chamber's Music, Whims Of Chambers, Paul Chambers Quintet, Bass On Top, and Transition Session. 32 tracks in all! CD

One of the coolest collections of work related to Ray Charles that we've ever seen – a huge box that brings together both some of the music that inspired Ray, then his own recordings, then tracks that he did that inspired other artists too! The first four CDs feature work from a generation both before Ray started recording, and material contemporary to his important early sides – and the set first begins with cuts by artists doing a song, then moves into Charles' own interpretation of the song – showing the way that he really changed things up, as he take son music from Cecil Shaw, Lowell Fulson, Tommy Dorsey, Leroy Carr, Don Gibson, Charlie Parker, T Bone Walker, Swan Silvertone Singers, and dozens of other artists! The last three CDs then feature songs first sung by Ray, followed by either covers of the same tunes, or songs that really owe a lot to them – music from Eddie Bo, Jimmy McGriff, Bobby Peterson, Sammy Davis Jr, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Cochran, Brenda Lee, Richard Groove Holmes, Bobby Parker, Sandy Nelson, and dozens of others too! The package features 171 titles in all – including 15 never-issued live tracks from Ray Charles. CD

Two fantastic albums from this legendary Italian group – back to back in a single set, with bonus material too! First up is the self-titled debut of Circus 2000 – a group who've got a sound that still sounds amazing after all these years, and really a kind of cut above so many of their contemporaries! One of the most distinct features of the group is their lead singer, Silvana Aliotta – a vocals with a range to maybe match Grace Slick, Julie Driscoll, or some of the more important singers to emerge in the late 60s – but very particularly tuned here towards some of the darker, moodier elements of the group's music. These guys could clearly play freewheeling prog or hard rock, but also hold back nicely and avoid overblown moments to really fit their sound perfectly around Silvana's amazing vocals – sung in English throughout, with a wonderfully edgey vibe. Titles include "I Am The Witch", "Magic Bean", "Sun Will Shine", "I Can't Believe", "Must Walk Forever", "The Lord He Has No Hands", and "Try All Day". Their second album, Escape From A Box, is a real step forward for Circus 2000 – a set that has the group stretching out a bit more on their instrumentation, with even more complexity than before – yet still never losing the focus that comes from the tremendous lead vocals of Silvana Aliotta! Aliotta seems to have matured as a singer since the first record – also really finding her own spirit in the way she expresses herself, but at a level that's no less compelling than her previous efforts – the kind of voice that would have made her a giant in the field, had the group been recording in the UK or US. Titles include "When The Sun Refused To Shine", "Our Father", "Need", "Hey Man", and "You Aren't Listening". 2CD set features great sound, detailed notes, and bonus tracks that include "L'Uomo Paese", "Dove Va La Mia Gente", "Hey Man (parts 1 & 2)", "Ho Regalato I Capelli", "Io La Strega", "I Can't Believe", "Pioggia Sottile", "Regalami Un Sabato Sera", and "Need (edited version)". CD

Great early genius from the Clarke Boland Big Band – proof that Kenny and Francy were onto something great, right from the start! The album really has the group hitting the heights of their MPS years – stretching out way past earlier big band modes, into the hip mix of rhythms and soulful solos that made the ensemble unlike any other group in the 60s – a really groundbreaking approach to their music, delivered by a range of top-shelf players! Arrangements are by Boland, who also plays piano – and other group members include Benny Bailey and Jimmy Deuchar on trumpets, Derek Humble on alto sax, Carl Drewo and Zoot Sims on tenor, Sahib Shihab on baritone sax and flute, and Ake Persson on trombone – plus rhythm from the rock-solid duo of Jimmy Woode on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums. Titles include the Latin-tinged "Los Bravos", and more great originals by Boland – including "Volutes", "The Styx", "Charon's Ferry", and "Box 703 Washington DC" – plus versions of "Gloria" and "Last Train From Overbrook". CD

20 years of greatness – starting with early trio material by Nat King Cole, right up through his sublime mature recordings for Capitol in the later years! 100 tracks in all! CD

We'll be honest with you – we love this stuff! Sure, Ornette made some great recordings for a number of other labels – but as a whole, his Atlantic stuff is some of the greatest modern jazz ever recorded, and no other period of an artist is more worth collecting and having in a complete format than this one! The package is unbelievably thorough – and includes not only all the tracks from classic albums like Change Of The Century, This Is Our Music, Free Jazz, Shape Of Jazz To Come, Ornette!, Ornette On Tenor, The Art Of The Improvisors and Twins – but also 6 previously unreleased tracks, and rare material like Ornette's Japanese-only LP To Whom Who Keeps A Record plus 2 selections from Gunther Schuller's Jazz Abstractions featuring Ornette! There's 6CDs in all – packaged in a great case with a well annotated booklet. Titles include "Proof Readers", "Revolving Doors", "Joy Of A Toy", "Cross Breeding", "Variants On A Theme Of Thelonious Monk", "Eos", "Focus On Sanity", "Una Muy Bonita", "Lomely Woman", "Little Symphony", "The Circle With The Hole In The Middle", "Beauty Is A Rare Thing", "Folk Tale", "The Face Of The Bass", "Brings Goodness", "Rise & Shine", and lots and lots more! CD

An amazing set of work by John Coltrane – some of his best recordings ever, tracks that form a pivotal point between his later 50s work with Miles Davis and his mid 60s spiritual searching years. The set's unbelievably exhaustive – and includes every track that was ever issued by Coltrane on an Atlantic album, plus some great alternate takes, plus a 72 page hardbound book of photos and writings, plus a whole CD of rare material that was never issued before! (The folks at Atlantic say that they would have loved to make an even bigger set – but after a fire in their warehouse in the 70s, this one CD of tapes is all that ever remained!) The whole package is incredibly well put together – in a small discrete box with some great fold-out CD cases, and a wonderful mechanism for storage that's as great as the music in the set. Titles include "Syeeda's Song Flute", "Ole", "My Favorite Things", "Cousin Mary", "Giant Steps", "Mr Day", "Blues To Elvin", "Satellite", "Liberia", "Dahomey Dance", and sooooo much more! CD

A really great step forward for alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius – a set that's overflowing with great original material that really expands the palette of his sound, served up with help from a great lineup of players who really help the music find its direction! The vibes of Behn Gillece are a key part of the album, as is the piano of Art Hirahara – and the rest of the group features Peter Slavov on bass and Vinnie Sperazz on drums – joined at points by the guests Diego Rivera on tenor and Altin Sencalar on trombone. Titles include "Puzzle Box", "Inner Sanctum", "The Way", "Days End", "A Wish", "Book Of Secres", "Lady Of The Clouds", and "Legend Has It". CD

A long-awaited addition to the Miles Davis electric catalog – and a package that features over 4 hours of newly-discovered music! The 6CD set documents 4 nights of performance by Miles at the Cellar Door in Washington DC – recorded in December of 1970, and featuring a mindblowing group that includes Gary Bartz on soprano and alto sax, Keith Jarrett on Fender Rhodes and organ, Airto on percussion, Michael Henderson on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, and a bit of guitar from John McLaughlin on the last 2 CDs. There's a really hard and heavy feel here that's steeped in rock and soul influences – and the package is even more amazing, considering how little work has been offered from this unique point in Davis' career. Presentation of the material is in the same high standards as other Miles Davis boxes on Sony – with a 96 page book with notes and reflections by each band member, and a whopping 6 CDs of music, featuring mostly really long takes on the tunes! Titles include "Directions", "What'd I Say", "Honky Tonk", "Sanctuary", "Improvisation #3", "Inamorata", "It's About That Time", and "Yesternow". CD

Wow! An incredible collection of seminal recordings from one of the most important figures in modern music! All of Miles' recordings from the Prestige label in one place, bound up in a well annotated box, and given a complete discography and lots of excellent photos. It's almost too much astounding jazz in one place! The list of sidemen and great LPs is almost too long to go over, but in addition to Miles' remarkable Cookin'/Relaxin'/Walkin'/Workin' sessions, there's all of the material issued as Bags' Groove, with the Modern Jazz Giants and loads more, and some of the stellar accompanists includes John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Lee Konitz, Red Garland, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Milt Jackson, Paul Chambers, Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, and Max Roach, just to name a few. There's far too many tracks to list here, but there's takes of "Blue Room", "Conception", "Compulsion", "Miles Ahead", "Blue Haze", "Airegin", "Bag's Groove", "The Man I Love", "Green Haze", "Dr Jackle", "The Theme", "Trane's Blues", "'Round About Midnight", "Half Nelson", "My Funny Valentine" and loads more! CD

This stunning live set has been hailed by many as one of the finest moments of Miles' mid 60s career – music played with a frenetic energy that even blows away the famous studio sessions of the time! The group here is a landmark lineup – young modernists Wayne Shorter on tenor, Herbie Hancock on piano, and Tony Williams on drums – all reaching out to really increase their craft, and work through new ideas alongside Miles' trumpet. CD

Right On! Quite possibly the heaviest, baddest music ever laid to tape, this set offers up over 6 hours of some of the deepest, darkest free jazz, afro funk, fist in the air post-modern musique concrete to sprout from Miles' horn and crew! This box closes the door on the studio side of what may be the most influential studio jams wrought at the turn of the 70s, issuing the unedited original takes of the material that Miles and Teo Macero would parse down and edit into On The Corner and Big Fun, plus some material that made it out on various compilations later issued on Columbia, and best of all, a dozen never before released tracks! The core group here is Miles, Michael Henderson, Mtume, Al Foster and Reggie Lucas, but Dave Liebman, Carlos Garnett, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Jack Dejohnette, Pete Cosey, Badal Roy, Bennie Maupin and John McLaughlin, as well as a number of other players, are all featured, which isn't surprising when you consider the ground covered here! The groove here is unstoppable funk, as on the nearly 20 minute jam that is the unedited full take of "On The Corner" and drawn out renditions of "Mtume", "Turnaround", "Ife" and "Helen Butte/Mr Freedom X", but the vibe veers in other directions too, as with the breezy "Maiysha", the multilayered "Calypso Frelimo" and the spacious "He Loved Him Madly". There's 31 tracks spread out over the 6 discs, ther unissued gems include "Hip-Skip", "Chieftain", "What They Do", "Peace" and "Mr Foster", and as you'd expect, the box is extra deluxe, with a thick booklet full of notes and some great quotes from the band, and a sweet metallic box to hold it all together! Vote Miles! CD

Promo only CD – with spoken interview passages, plus music from the Miles/Evans box set! CD

An incredible album from Dinosaur L – the legendary New York dancefloor project of Arthur Russell! – fleshed out and expanded more than ever before by Sleeping Bag and Get On Down Records! The group's core sound is a punky, funky, chunky amalgam of bass thumping, guitar riffing, keyboard filling, and sax honking – all very much in the spirit of Russell's best quirky club work of the time, but with the added sound here of a more expanded approach – one that takes the tunes in a whole new territory than the more famous 12" singles! The tracks on the original set were simply numbered – "1", "2", "3", and so on – and come across almost as free-jamming instrumentals – but this reissue appends the songs with their 12" titles, so "#1" gets parenthetically entitled "You're Gonna Be Clean On Your Bean" and "#5" as "Go Bang!", plus this disc adds several 12" versions that were not on the original LP release, like Francois K's mix of 'Go Bang!" and Larry Levan's mix of "In The Corn Belt". Totally great stuff – as experimental as it is funky! This 2CD box set edition is amazing – coming in a heavy-duty box with each disc in an oversized gatefold style sleeve – and it includes more Arthur Russell collaborative and/or pseudonymous material for Sleeping Bag with or as Bonzo Goes To Washington, Felix, Sounds Of JHS Brooklyn and Indian Ocean. Other tracks include "School Bell/Treehouse" (Indian Ocean), "You Can't Hold Me Down (Extended Version)" (Felix), "5 Minutes (R-r-r Radio Mix)" (Bonzo Goes To Washington) and more. Also includes a nice booklet of photos, artwork and artist testimonials – plus notes by Russell biographer Tim Lawrence. CD

An incredible album from Dinosaur L – the legendary New York dancefloor project of Arthur Russell! – fleshed out and expanded more than ever before by Sleeping Bag and Get On Down Records! The group's core sound is a punky, funky, chunky amalgam of bass thumping, guitar riffing, keyboard filling, and sax honking – all very much in the spirit of Russell's best quirky club work of the time, but with the added sound here of a more expanded approach – one that takes the tunes in a whole new territory than the more famous 12" singles! The tracks on the original set were simply numbered – "1", "2", "3", and so on – and come across almost as free-jamming instrumentals – but this reissue appends the songs with their 12" titles, so "#1" gets parenthetically entitled "You're Gonna Be Clean On Your Bean" and "#5" as "Go Bang!", plus this disc adds several 12" versions that were not on the original LP release, like Francois K's mix of 'Go Bang!" and Larry Levan's mix of "In The Corn Belt". Totally great stuff – as experimental as it is funky! This 2CD box set edition is amazing – coming in a heavy-duty box with each disc in an oversized gatefold style sleeve – and it includes more Arthur Russell collaborative and/or pseudonymous material for Sleeping Bag with or as Bonzo Goes To Washington, Felix, Sounds Of JHS Brooklyn and Indian Ocean. Other tracks include "School Bell/Treehouse" (Indian Ocean), "You Can't Hold Me Down (Extended Version)" (Felix), "5 Minutes (R-r-r Radio Mix)" (Bonzo Goes To Washington) and more. Also includes a nice booklet of photos, artwork and artist testimonials – plus notes by Russell biographer Tim Lawrence. CD

A really mindblowing collection of work from trumpeter Bill Dixon – and a package that does full justice to the other sides of his creative activity too! Odyssey is a limited, numbered box set – filled with 6CDs that include music from Dixon, and two books that also display his artwork and paintings – and also offer up some commentary on his music as well. 5CDs feature Dixon on mostly solo trumpet – with some of the recordings going as far back as the early 70s, but most of more recent vintage – and CD6 features Dixon speaking – in ways that really get at some of the larger ideas he explores in his recordings and paintings. The box also contains some great vintage paper inserts, too – almost as documents of the avant underground in which Dixon circulated in the 60s and 70s – and the book also features a few contributions from later students too. Even for the music alone, the set is a treasure – but the extra items all make it especially wonderful! CD

The title here is very apt – as this fantastic quartet seem to set a different kind of fire on every one of the CDs in the set – six different performances, recorded over the space of two months – in Paris, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Poland! The group should be well-known to lovers of improvised music from earlier Okka Disk recordings in the 90s – and the passage of two decades has only made them sharper and more intense – especially when the tenor and pocket trumpet of Joe McPhee joins the lineup of Ken Vandermark on reeds, Kent Kessler on bass, and Hamid Drake on drums. The set of recordings is dedicated to James Baldwin – which you might have guessed from the title – and the whole thing is a fitting tribute to the transformation of ideas about freedom and identity over the passage of time. CD

A really cool document from the contemporary Finnish scene – a large multi-generational group organized by trumpeter Hernik Otto Donner – with lots of original music by Donner and pianist Seppo Kantonen! CD

A landmark album from the mighty Bob Dylan – a 2LP set of studio work, which was quite rare at the time – and a set that has Dylan stretching out all his creative powers in newly different directions! The album had a long genesis in the studio – some early work with The Band, then Dylan breaking off with Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson to head down to Nashville – where they interacted with key country session musicians to make this masterful blend of music – work that's not country at all, but which is also moving past Dylan's folk roots too – with a blend of music that still as mindblowing today as it was back in the mid 60s! This is definitely one of those double-length sets that makes fantastic use of all the extra space – overflowing with gems that include "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35", "Visions Of Johanna", "Pledging My Time", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat", and "Just Like A Woman". CD

A landmark album from the mighty Bob Dylan – a 2LP set of studio work, which was quite rare at the time – and a set that has Dylan stretching out all his creative powers in newly different directions! The album had a long genesis in the studio – some early work with The Band, then Dylan breaking off with Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson to head down to Nashville – where they interacted with key country session musicians to make this masterful blend of music – work that's not country at all, but which is also moving past Dylan's folk roots too – with a blend of music that still as mindblowing today as it was back in the mid 60s! This is definitely one of those double-length sets that makes fantastic use of all the extra space – overflowing with gems that include "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35", "Visions Of Johanna", "Pledging My Time", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat", and "Just Like A Woman". CD

A landmark album from the mighty Bob Dylan – a 2LP set of studio work, which was quite rare at the time – and a set that has Dylan stretching out all his creative powers in newly different directions! The album had a long genesis in the studio – some early work with The Band, then Dylan breaking off with Al Kooper and Robbie Robertson to head down to Nashville – where they interacted with key country session musicians to make this masterful blend of music – work that's not country at all, but which is also moving past Dylan's folk roots too – with a blend of music that still as mindblowing today as it was back in the mid 60s! This is definitely one of those double-length sets that makes fantastic use of all the extra space – overflowing with gems that include "Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35", "Visions Of Johanna", "Pledging My Time", "Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again", "Leopard-Skin Pill Box Hat", and "Just Like A Woman". CD

A magnificent decade of music from Duke Ellington – the bulk of his fifties recordings for Columbia Records – all albums that really show the Duke stretching forth and greatly developing his style! The scope of performances here is breathtaking – as Ellington works with key sidemen of the postwar years, and moves into much longer-form recordings that before – tracks that help him deeply express his new ideas, and also make way for a few guest performers too. Each album comes in a tiny LP-styled sleeve, replicating the original record – and the box features the albums Masterpieces By Ellington, Ellington Uptown, A Drum Is A Woman, Such Sweet Thunder, Ellington Indigos, The Cosmic Scene, and At The Bal Masque – plus the Black Brown & Beige suite with Mahalia Jackson, and the Blue Rose album with vocals by Rosemary Clooney! CD

An amazing document of one of the grooviest groups to emerge from the UK at the start of the 80s – not just their three full albums, but almost as much rare bonus material as well! The English Beat came a bit later than the initial wave of Two Tone ska revival groups – and they came with a difference, too – a bit more soul, and a slightly more contemporary approach to their music – one that pushed Jamaican roots into mod London modes – particularly the best sorts that were bubbling up in the post-punk generation! The group really helped revive some warmer sounds in British music – yet without just copying older modes from the other side of the Atlantic, too – and these three great albums definitely went onto set a fire in a host of other groups as well – the first wave of some surprisingly soulful moments from the UK in the 80s. The box set features the full albums I Just Can't Stop It, Wha'ppen, and Special Beat Service – all with bonus tracks not on the original albums. Then, the set also features more bonus material that includes 15 12" and dub versions of album tracks – and three Peel Session recordings from 1979, 1980, and 1982 – plus a live Boston recording from 1982! Comes in a great box, with a 24 page booklet of essays and rare photos! CD

Magical trio recordings from the classic trio that featured Bill Evans on piano, Scott LaFaro on bass, and Paul Motian on drums – a massive 3CD set of music, and one that brings together the complete June 1961 Village Vanguard recordings! The revolutionary bass work of LaFaro, and free-thinking rhythms of Motian really helped open up Evans' work on piano at the time – and their influence is heard to best effect on this spontaneous live set, spread out over the course of 22 tunes, recorded throughout the afternoon and evening on June 25, 1961. The package features one newly-discovered take, plus a number of alternates, spoken bits from Bill, and even a few final bars of music. Titles include "Solar", "Milestones", "All Of You", "Gloria's Step", "My Man's Gone Now", "Detour Ahead", "My Romance", and "Waltz For Debby". CD

A real treasure trove of music from the legendary Bill Evans – the complete recordings the pianist made for Verve Records in the 60s, including trio sessions, solo material, and interesting larger projects as well – plus alternate takes, unissued material, and lots more gems! Evans hit Verve at the height of his powers – already coming off important early records for the Riverside label, and working with Verve with superb recording quality, and great care for Evans as an artist – which allowed Bill to further flower in his familiar trio setting, and also try out solo recordings, and work with other co-leaders who include arranger Gary McFarland, tenorist Stan Getz, guitarist Jim Hall, and singer Monica Zetterlund – all of whom work closely with Evans on a session. The box features remastering for all sides, and includes over 250 tracks in a really overstuffed package! CD

A huge legacy of music from Eyeless In Gaza – an important British duo from the post-punk years, and one with a sound that definitely went on to shape the style of much bigger acts at the time! As with some of their darker contemporaries, the group began in a style that was stark and electric, but warmed things up as the records moved on, and they really learned how to hone their craft – especially the vocals of Martyn Bates, who has a pre-goth way of sounding spooky and soulful at the same time – all in a mode that's very British as well! Most tracks are pretty spare – lots of keyboards, moody bass, and guitar – and the set brings together 102 tracks from their albums for the Cherry Red label, plus singles too – in a box that has each of the five CDs divided up into thematic styles – running from catchy cuts on one disc to much more experimental work on another! CD

Way more than just another box set by a well-established act – as this collection moves way past their hits, and pulls together a huge amount of unreleased material that really testifies to the long-running genius of one of the most unique British groups to emerge in the late 60s! The set does feature key album highlights, but also includes 55 previously-unissued tracks, and lots of rare material too – as well as a fair bit of live recordings that really show the role that improvisation played in the group's performance – that odd current of jazz that could sometimes show up and color the way that the group presented its influences from more ancient forms of music. The group also shifted members with ease, and really moved their sound around over the years – in a way that many fans would say was only a continued refinement of their aims. The huge set documents this change, and also includes the unreleased Manor album – and comes in a special box with 48-page book, and a total of 121 tracks on 7 CDs, nearly half of which (55 tracks) are previously unreleased. CD

Four incredible albums from the young Georgie Fame – plus a bonus CD of rare material, bonus tracks on all CDs, and 18 previously unreleased tracks – all in a box set with a 48 page book, 5 postcards, and a poster too! First up is Rhythm & Blues At The Flamingo – blistering early work from a young Georgie Fame – a set that definitely lives up to the Rhythm & Blues in the title! The set was recorded live at London's hip Flamingo club – and Georgie and The Blue Flames are very much in command of the crowd – burning with the intensity of a American small organ combo, especially the early 60s variety that often played equal parts soul jazz and R&B! Georgie's on the Hammond, and also sings with a rough-edged style that's plenty soulful, and incredibly appealing – a mode that oozes charisma, but never sounds fake or forced. Titles include "Do The Dog", "Eso Beso", "Work Song", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Shop Around", "Humpty Dumpty", and "You Can't Sit Down". Fame At Last is a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and R&B – all filtered through a mod sort of London freshness, as early proof that the city could always take some great things from our own musical roots, and feed it back to us with a whole new flavor! Georgie's no copycat here, though – and the sound is instantly Fame-like – a style that's really not the sort that any Americans were doing at the time, and certainly never this well. Hard-burning Hammond colors most of the tunes here – played with a tightly vamping quality – but it's Georgie's charmingly crackling vocals that really win us over! Titles include "Gimme That Wine", "Pink Champagne", "Monkeying Around", "Green Onions", "Let The Sunshine In", "Get On The Right Track Baby", "I'm In The Mood For Love", and "I Love The Life I Live". Sweet Things is a definite sweet thing from Georgie Fame – a record that has him filling in his sound even more than before, with tremendously soulful results! The backings here are bigger than before – a bit tooled in an American soul mode, but still with that beautifully raspy Georgie Fame touch – lots of jazzy inflections on the vocals, and a way of handling a tune, even a familiar one, and really working it on his own level. Hammond still fills in most of the tunes, but other instrumentation includes some nice African percussion from Speedy Acquaye, saxes from Pete Coe, and some nice bold drums from John Mitchell. These come out to the forefront on the classic funky tune "Music Talk" – and still sound great on other numbers that include "The World Is Round", "Last Night", "Dr Kitch", "My Girl", "Ride Your Pony", and "Sweet Thing". Sound Venture is one of the jazziest early albums from Georgie Fame – a set that has him singing with the big band of Harry South, at a level that's a lot more complicated than some of his other work with The Blue Flames! The style here still has that mod 60s London feel, but it also has some deeper inflections as well – modes borrowed a bit from Jon Hendricks or Mose Allison, yet served up with even greater complexity – at a level that really points towards the tremendous growth Fame would unleash over the next few years. Members of the group include Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tony Coe, Dick Morrisey, Kenny Wheeler, and many other key Brit jazz figures of the time – and titles include "Three Blind Mice", "Dawn Yawn", "Feed Me", "Lovey Dovey", "Lil Darlin", "Lil Pony", "I Am Missing You", and "Many Happy Returns". CD5 is Bend A Little – a package with 20 unusual titles – demos, rare tracks, and outtakes – including unreleased tracks, IBC recordings, and even two German tracks too! Plus, each individual CD comes with bonus tracks – 40 bonus tracks, in addition to the 20 more titles on the Bend A Little set – a huge amount of material! CD

A long-overdue package – one that finally brings together all the many strands of music from underground Cali rock legend Merrell Fankhauser! CD1 features some of Merrell's earliest music – a host of early singles by Merrell & The Exiles, some of which were issued on the Glenn and Golden Crown labels – mixed here with rare unissued titles too – for a whopping 19 tracks that offer up a rare look at Fankhauser's earliest years! CD2 features the classic Fapardokly record – a lost bit of legend from the west coast scene of the 60s – and a record that's maybe best-known as a showcase for the early genius of Merrell Fankhauser – who wrote most of the songs on the set, a good number of which were actually recorded for the record by his previous group, The Exiles! Yet despite that little bit of trivia, there's a great vibe going on here – a seminal shift in the Cali scene from garagey work to trippier modes – served up beautifully on titles that include "Glass Chandelier", "Suzie Cryin", "Tomorrow's Girl", "Lila", "Mr Clock", "No Retreat", "Gone To Pot", "When I Get Home", "Supermarket", and "The Music Scene". CD3 features the album Things, recorded by Merrell Fankhauser & HMS Bounty – a perfect blend of Fankhauser's earlier garage rock modes and latter trippier styles! The tunes are short and wonderfully tuneful – produced at Gold Star studios, with a simple, straightforward style that makes all the deftness of the songwriting come through even more – an approach that, although supposedly steeped in Pacific Ocean inspiration, almost feels more like that great moment when some UK groups of the mid 60s were tripping out, but not too much. Titles include "Lost In The City", "Your Painted Lives", "In A Minute Not Too Soon", "A Visit With Ashiya", "The Big Gray Sky", and "Rich Man's Fable". CD4 features MU – an incredible record, and one that really lives up to all its well-deserved legend over the years – one of those sets that's not just rare, but which has all the chops to really deliver the goods! A few short years before, Merrell Fankhauser was recording garage and psych on the LA scene – but here, he steps off the latter with a bit of post-60s hangover – working with a current of darkness that really changes things up, while still providing a great outlet for his legendary work on guitar – and his mindblowing sense of a lyric! Titles include "Ballad Of Brother Lew", "Eternal Thirst", "Too Naked For Demetrius", "Mumbella Baye Tu La", "The Clouds Went That Way", and "Nobody Wants To Shine". CD5 features MU's The Last Album – 20 more tracks recorded in 1974, but unissued for many years – and CD6 features the legendary Maui album from the enigmatic Merrell Fankhauser – a self-released set that drew inspiration from his time in Hawaii – even though the set was mostly recorded in LA and San Francisco! The tunes are beautiful – nicely evolved from Merrell's psych of earlier years, with a much more personal vibe – yet all without some of those west coast cliches that were creeping into more mainstream music of the period. You might get the vibe partly right if you could maybe imagine a more personal singer/songwriter take on the AOR vibe of the period – with leaner, better instrumentation and unslick production – but that's also only part of the picture too! Titles include "On Our Way To Hana", "Make A Joyful Noise", "Garden In The Rain", "Waterfall", "The Source", "Sail It Over The Ocean", and "We Were All Free". Box set features a very detailed book of notes – bonus tracks added to most of the albums, and a massive 95 tracks in all! CD

A totally amazing little package – every single album recorded by Fela Kuti, served up in tiny LP-style sleeves, and brought together in one excellent box set – with a bonus movie as well! The collection features a total of 51 albums, most of which are paired up with crucial counterparts, as on some of the previous CD releases of the material. But this time around, there's way more than you might imagine in one place – classic records that include Afrodisiac, Confusion, Shakara, Fela's London Scene, He Miss Road, Kalakuta Show, Music Of Many Colors, Beasts Of No Nation, Army Arrangement, Coffin For Head Of State, Original Sufferhead, ITT, The Fela Singles, Roforofo Fight, Excuse O, Moise For Vendor Mouth, Why Black Man Dey Suffer, Na Poi, Authority Stealing, VIP, Fela With Ginger Baker Live, Underground System, Zombie, and lots lots more – a truly amazing run of music! Also features the bonus DVD – A Slice Of Fela. Plus, this package also features 3 more CDs than the previous complete box set – filled with loads of rarities, and 2 previously-unissued tracks! Also features a 52 page booklet with a biography and album commentary. CD

Massive music from Ella Fitzgerald – 2CDs worth of sublime small group recordings – all of them live, and all of them previously unissued before the Hip-O/Verve Select box set! The set follows the same format of the Verve Ella In Hollywood album – recorded in a small club setting, with combo backing that really lets Fitzgerald open up and swing – inflecting the tunes with the kind of warmth and spontaneity that she brought to her famous live performances of the time – which were almost always more compelling than her studio sides, no matter how great those were too! Vols 1 & 2s feature material from two weeks' worth of recording in May of 1961 – with backing from Jim Hall on guitar, Lou Levy on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Gus Johnson on drums. A brief intro rolls into beautiful material on 2CDs – 37 tracks in all: "Lover Come Back To Me", "Too Close For Comfort", "Little White Lies", "I Found A New Baby", "Perdido", "'Round Midnight", "Take The 'A' Train", "Mr Paganini", "Nice Work If You Can Get It", "I Can't Get It Started", "Give Me The Simple Life", "Lorelei", "Witchcraft", "That Old Black Magic", "Lullaby Of Birdland", "Imagination", "Joe Williams' Blues" and more. CD

Massive music from Ella Fitzgerald – 4CDs worth of sublime small group recordings – all of them live, and all of them previously unissued! The set follows the same format of the Verve Ella In Hollywood album – recorded in a small club setting, with combo backing that really lets Fitzgerald open up and swing – inflecting the tunes with the kind of warmth and spontaneity that she brought to her famous live performances of the time – which were almost always more compelling than her studio sides, no matter how great those were too! The first 3CDs feature material from two weeks' worth of recording in May of 1961 – with backing from Jim Hall on guitar, Lou Levy on piano, Wilfred Middlebrooks on bass, and Gus Johnson on drums – and CD four features Ella returning to Hollywood for two more nights in 1962, with trio backing from Paul Smith on piano, Middlebrooks on bass, and Stan Levey on drums. There's a massive 77 tracks in all – handsomely package in a hardcover 7" square book – which also features beautiful color pages inside, lots of notes on the music, and design that's every bit as groovy as the old albums on Verve. Titles include "Joe Williams' Blues", "It's De-Lovely", "Lorelei", "I Can't Get Started", "Round Midnight", "Perdido", "Little White Lies", "Lover Come Back To Me", "Across The Alley From The Alamo", "Love For Sale", "Exactly Like You", "Mack The Knife", "Teach Me Tonight", "My Kind Of Boy", "It Had To Be You", "Hard Hearted Hannah", "All Of Me", and "Too Darn Hot/Ella's Twist". And, in case you're wondering, there's almost no repetition in the set at all – all discreet, unique tunes – not just the sort of rehash you might get in other concert box sets of this nature! CD

A very cool collaboration between Greg Foat and James Thorpe – a set that's billed more as a sound library session than some of Foat's other jazz projects – even though the sound is equally appealing if you love those records too! The set is self-described as "futuristic analogue cosmic synth library cues for TV, film, and radio" – but it's also got a much warmer sound than you might expect, very much in keeping with the natural image on the cover – as Foat and Thorpe eschew some of the colder keyboard styles of other library records, and instead really let things glow with that organic vibe that usually informs Greg's music, as gentle rhythms set the pace for Fender Rhodes, Hohner pianet, and a host of Korg and Roland keys. There's also a touch of vibes, some field recordings, and other cool touches – on tracks that include "Balloon Ride", "Circadian Rhythms", "Grockle Box", "Living The Dream", "Platform Game", "Stacey's Theme", and "Elementary Physiology (parts 1 & 2)". CD

One of the darkest records to ever come out of the Detroit soul scene! As you might guess from the title, the album is Funkadelic's first – and it's a swirling mass of psychedelic guitars, echoey drums, and bass-heavy riffing, all topped off by the band's harmony vocals, which sound like a perversion of the deep-Motown styles of groups like The Temptations or Undisputed Truth – taken into even headier territory! The original 5-member version of the group includes Eddie Hazel, Mickey Atkins, Tawl Ross, Bill Nelson, and Tiki Fulwood – all working here with some mindblowing George Clinton production! Tracks include classics like "I Bet You", "Mommy, What's a Funkadelic", "Music for My Mother", and "What Is Soul" – and the album's the stuff that made these guys a legend right out of the box! This hugely expanded version features 7 bonus tracks that include alternate 45 versions and non-LP cuts from the time. Titles include "Music For My Mother (instrumental)", "I'll Be You", "Can't Shake It Loose", "As Good As I Can Feel", and "Open Our Eyes". CD

A stunning tribute to the wonderful Bobbie Gentry – and maybe the first package to really show the world how much she has to offer past her one classic crossover hit! Bobbie started out like a rocket with the country gem "Ode To Billie Joe" – a tune she wrote herself, and followed with lots of other great music on the original debut album here – which then set the scene for a great expansion into other modes, as Capitol Records really opened up their resources for Gentry to record in the late 60s! This huge package features everything that Bobbie ever recorded for the label – not just some great full albums, but also some rare singles, demos, and alternate takes – plus 75 unreleased tracks (!) – and then a full incredible album Live At The BBC – which features 26 tracks of Gentry really knocking it out of the park. The BBC material has these really dark, brooding orchestrations – almost like Bobbie's getting some Scott Walker late 60s backings – and the whole box set might be worth it alone for that double-length album! The package is a very cool 10" slipcover – with a huge booklet of notes, postcards, lyric inserts, and more – 177 tracks in all, with albums that include Ode To Billie Joe, The Delta Sweete, Local Gentry, Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell, Touch Em With Love, Fancy, Patchwork, and Live At The BBC. CD

A stunning 4CD tribute to the genius of Al Green – stuffed with 61 tracks from his classic years at Hi Records, and packaged in a super-nice format with a 64 page booklet! The set's got some great snippets from interviews, next to classic songs, a few unreleased and rare performances, and some great photos, notes on the music, and a full discography! Titles include "Back Up Train", "Hot Wire", Stop & Check Myself", "Guilty", "True Love", "Driving Wheel", "Free At Last", "Mimi", "Take Me To The River", "Rhymes", "The Love Sermon", "Bell", "Chariots Of Fire", and "Simply Beautiful". CD

3CDs, and one DVD – a heck of a lot of music in one groovy little box set! The 3CDs each feature a different overseas performance by American tenor legend Johnny Griffin – working in very familiar territory of Copenhagen, in long, open-ended recordings that really show his inventive strengths on the tenor sax! CD 1 features a 1964 performance with Kenny Drew on piano, Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – on titles that include "Doctor's Blues", "Night In Tunisia", "Wee Dot", and "Body & Soul". CD 2 features a 1984 performance with Eddie Lockjaw Davis joining Griff in the frontline on additional tenor – with rhythm by Harry Pickens on piano, Curtis Lundy on bass, and Kenny Washington on drums – on titles that include "Funky Fluke", "Hey Lock", "Lester Leaps In", "Blues Up & Down", and "Oh Gee". CD 3 features a 1989 date, with Drew on piano again – on titles that include "Just Friends", "Isfahan", "Slukefter Blues", and "Hush A Bye". The set also features a DVD – with 3 tracks from a Village Vanguard performance by Griffin in 1981, with Ronnie Matthews on piano – on titles that include "A Monk's Dream", "56 & Closing", and "Opening/Blues For Gonzi". DVD also features 2 more 1985 tracks by Eddie Lockjaw Davis (without Griffin) – "S'Wonderful" and "Shiny Stockings" – both recorded in Copehagen. CD

Features material from the albums Chico Hamilton Quintet Featuring Buddy Collette, Chico Hamilton Quintet In Hi Fi, Chico Hamilton Quintet, Zen The Music Of Fred Katz, Plays South Pacific, Ellington Suite, Original Chico Hamilton Quintet, Jazz Milestone Series, Jazz Swings Broadway, The Blues, Ballads For Backgrounds, Jazz West Coast Vol 3, and The Blues In Stereo. CD

All of Herbie Hancock's classic 60s recordings for Blue Note – packaged in one whopping set, along with a pretty fair number of previously unreleased takes! The 6CD set features 54 tracks in all – and is beautifully packaged in a book-like format that folds out nicely, and which also contains a good booklet with writings on the music, and full discographical notes! The set features all the material from the albums Takin Off, My Point Of View, Inventions & Dimensions, Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage, Speak Like A Child, and The Prisoner – plus the unissued tracks! CD

Great work by Isaac Hayes – featuring a wealth of classic tunes from his years at Stax, packaged with some bonus video material from the 70s! The music alone is more than worth the price of the set – as the collection includes big hits, choice album tracks, and even 3 never-issued tunes from Hayes' 1972 performance at Operation Push in Chicago. 33 tracks include "Chocolate Chip", "Title Theme From Three Tough Guys", "Run Fay Run", "Rock Me Easy Baby", "Walk On By", "I Stand Accused", "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic", "Ain't That Lovin You", "Theme From Shaft", "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "Soulsville", "The Look Of Love", "Do Your Thing", "Someone Made You For Me", and "Let's Stay Together". DVD includes tracks from Hayes' 1972 performance at Wattstax – "Rolling Down A Mountainside", "Soulsville", and "Theme From Shaft" – plus his "Chocolate Salty Balls" performance as Chef in South Park. (Could have done without that – thank you!) CD

A massive amount of music that definitely lives up to its title – not the debut album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, but instead 4CDs' worth of rare music, both live and studio – more than enough to deeply enrich your experience of the music of Jimi Hendrix! The package is a real delight to those who've been trying to track down bits like these on bootlegs over the years – a fully-licensed package put together with the Experience Hendrix folks, filled with unreleased alternates, live recordings, unusual mixes, and more! The set features a whopping 56 rare tracks, four whole new songs mixed with live tracks and alternates – and an 80 page booklet of rare photos and notes on the tracks. Titles include live versions of "Little Wing", "Red House", "Purple Haze", "All Along The Watchtower", "In From The Storm", "Fire", and "The Wind Cries Mary" – plus unreleased recordings of "Little Wing", "Slow Blues", "If 6 Was 9", "Title #3", "Hey Joe", "Highway Chile", and "Room Full Of Mirrors" – and alternate versions of "Sweet Angel", "Gloria", "Message To Love", and lots more! CD

Excellent work from pianist Art Hodes – tracks he recorded in the early years of Blue Note – with help from players who include Baby Dodds on drums, Sandy Williams and Ray Coniff on trombones, Rod Cless on clarinet, Bob Hggart on bass, and Max Kaminsky on trumpet! Hodes was a great player in the trad tradition, but he was also sharp enough to be reflecting on the music, too – finding ways to push it forward in the postwar years. The set features rare tracks from 78rpm singles and early 10" releases – plus a few unissued numbers too! CD

British soul group Imagination cracked the charts over here in the early 80s – but the group kept on going for a much longer run overseas – with a number of great trio albums well into the 90s, and a continued legacy of solo work from singer Leee John! All that material is collected here for the first time ever – in a huge 17CD box that certainly lives up to the promise of its title – a limited edition set that features lots of new notes with the music, and a whopping 189 tracks in all! Includes the full Imagination albums Body Talk, In The Heat Of The Night, Night Dubbing, Scandalous, Trilogy, and Closer – plus the remix album Like It Is – and Leee John albums Fascination Of The Physical, Feel My Soul, Voice Of Illusion, and Retropia – plus a Revisited version of Closer, a CD of Unreleased Trax & Demos, a Live Trax CD, and a CD of 12" Singles Selection. Way more music than we ever knew the group recorded – and certainly way more than was ever issued here in the US! CD

Rare music from this legendary Dutch free jazz collective – all pulled from the earliest years of the project, when the ICP group were every bit as important to improvised music as combos in the German and French scenes! The core players here are Misha Mengelberg on piano, Han Bennink on drums, and Willem Breuker on reeds – but with all ICP recordings, the "pool" is the most important part – as the lineup shifts fantastically, always in pursuit of new improvising possibilities – spontaneous creation amidst musicians who also include Manfred Schoof on cornet and flugelhorn, Theo Loevendie on soprano sax, Piet Noordijk on alto, Frederic Rzewski on electronics, and Willem Van Manen on trombone. Some moments have even more unusual instrumentation – steel drums, electrified viola, accordion, toy instruments, and amplified recorder – and throughout it all, the sense of unified group action and individual improvisation is tremendous. Most of the work on the CD has been unissued before – save for one track from the 53CD box ICP, and three more from a rare Dutch Jazz Scene LP box set from Radio Netherlands. 2CD set features 17 tracks in all – and titles include "Piano Distance", "Adebar Der Geheimnisvolle", "Jump Italiano", "Viet Cong", "Session No 1", "New Alto", "ICP 4 14 Write Your Own Part", "Stch Shuffle", "Siep", "Angels", and "Trammermusik". CD

Essential funk in a single set – three killer albums from James Brown's legendary backing group! First up is Food For Thought – the classic first album by The JBs – James Brown's Fred Wesley-led backing band, and the force behind most of his greatest records of the early 70s! The band are incredible at this point – sharper, harder, and funkier than just about any other combo around – and that includes all the thousands of groups in the funky 45 underground who were always trying to copy their sound, but never got things this right! Not only are the rhythms the stuff of legend – but the use of the instruments is far far above the norm – as can be heard on the mindblowing "The Grunt", which was sampled heavily by Public Enemy to great fame – and which features a saxophone solo that sounds more like a whistling tea kettle! The set collects some of the group's best early singles, and includes all of the short little funky cuts that made them a legend right out of the box – "Pass the Peas", "The Grunt", "These Are The JBs", "Hot Pants Road", "Wine Spot", "To My Brother", "Blessed Blackness", "Theme From King Heroin", "Escapism (parts 1 & 2), and "Gimme Some More" – all together here in one tight little album of massive funky hard beats and breaks! Doing It To Death is an incredible album – a landmark piece of funk that nobody should be without, funk fan or not! The album is the second to feature James Brown's famous backing combo of the early 70s – and unlike their first one, which was really more of a collection of singles, this album has the group playing hard, long, and loud, in the free funk improvisational mode that was James' real contribution to the music at the time. The tracks are all incredibly long, with James at the forefront, egging the band on with shouts and comments – but also letting them open up large instrumentally, playing in a mode that's as much jazz as it is funky soul. The whole thing's peppered with some nice shorter segues between tracks – but the long cuts are the winners, and are some of the best funk ever recorded! Titles include "Mo Peas", "Doing It To Death", "La Di Da La Di Day", "You Can Have Watergate, Just Gimme Some Bucks & I'll Be Straight", and "Sucker". Last up is Damn Right I Am Somebody – quite possibly our favorite record by the JBs, ever! The set starts with a wonderful conversational bit – rapping and musing on the idea of "Damn Right, I Am Somebody" – showing the group in a political and righteous mode for the first time ever. The grooves then kick in – with the same heavy funk as on earlier records, but also a nice nod towards experimental production – from strange fade ups and fade downs, to stark time and rhythm changes, and even bits of electronics used to create some very cool moments in the grooves! The whole thing's as dead funky as can be, and is stuffed with insane classics like "Blow Your Head", "Same Beat", "Damn Right I am Somebody", "I'm Payin' Taxes, What am I Buyin'", and a great cover of Marvin Gaye's "You Sure Love to Ball"! CD

Lots of amazing Blue Note work from this legendary drummer and his fantastic set of reedman – saxophonists who include Frank Foster, Steve Grossman, and Joe Farrell! Includes music from the sessions for the albums Puttin It Together, Ultimate Elvin Jones, Poly Currents, Coalition, Genesis, Merry Go Round, Mr Jones, Prime Element, and Live At The Lighthouse! CD

Rockabilly legend Billy Joy definitely rocks – hardly a household name in the 50s, but a killer figure in the rock and roll underground – and one whose fame has just grown more and more over the years! The package is a beautifully-done tribute to Benny's genius – and presents the most hard-rocking of his important 50s recordings, as well as a host of unreleased tracks from later demos too! Joy's guitar work alone is amazing, but when it's coupled with the kickass rhythms of the tunes, the music really takes off to a whole new level – burning with the power you'd expect from the classic Johnny Burnette Trio – and that's before Benny's gritty vocals even come into play! CD features 30 tracks in all – including some lost recordings from the 70s – titles that include "Rollin To The Juke Box Rock", "Dark Angel", "Miss Bobby Sox", "Little Red Book", "Button Nose", "Come Back", "Wild Wild Lover", "In Study Hall", "Crash The Party (unedited)", "Spin The Bottle (Nashville demo)", "Big John Taylor", "High High School Baby", and "Nosey Nosey Neighbors". CD

Sweet sound library funk from Joy Unlimited – an early 70s German combo heard here on their rarest record ever! As with the group's commercial releases, there's a wicked blend of funky jazz and hard-riffing instrumentation – and unlike other records, this one's got an even leaner, meaner groove – all instrumental, and with a great focus on key elements of the sound – funky flute here, sweet keyboards there, and lots of tightly-played guitar lines – which really help give the music a nice edge! The set's got a sound that's a lot like some of the best MPS funk of the time – no surprise, given that it comes from the same scene – and instrumentation includes Fender Rhodes, flute, guitar, saxes, marimba, trumpet, and lots of sweet drums. Titles include "Jamara", "Soul Gravy", "Homunkulus", "Breeding Ground", "Jigsaw Man", "Blue Box", "Parabolica", "Spectrum", "Herbie", and "Laguna Seca". CD

A massive collection of music – eight full albums from Evelyn Champagne King, plus bonus tracks as well! King was a hell of a singer who came along at just the right time – as cool and classy enough to have sung jazz in decades before, but with a richness that also really fit the spirit of 70s soul – and was perfect for the new infusion of grooves that the music got during the disco generation! King could sing disco, but also hit a lot wider range too – which made for some really well-formed records during her years at RCA – all of which are collected here! Unlike some of her crossover contemporaries, Evelyn managed to grow with the years and stay strong as the 80s moved in – shifting styles a bit, but never losing her groove – and working here with production and arrangements from the likes of T Life, Kashif, Willie Lester, Morrie Brown, Andre Cymone, and Leon Sylvers – all of whom help shape the groove. The box features the full albums Smooth Talk, Music Box, Call On Me, I'm In Love, Get Loose, Face To Face, So Romantic, and A Long Time Coming – nearly all of which are presented with bonus tracks – all wrapped up in a box set, with a 40 page booklet of notes. CD

A solid overview of RCA material from Evelyn Champagne King – from the disco era hits, catchy club soul, and synth soaked 80s grooves! Evelyn's sound is usually upbeat and catchy, but she's does her thing and more measured and and smoothed out soul numbers, and bass & synth grooves in the early 80s. Very nice stuff all around! Titles include "Shame", "I Don't Know If It's Right", "Music Box", "I'm In Love", "Don't Hide Our Love", "Betcha She Don't Love You", "Action", "Get Loose", "Teenager", "High Horse", "Your Personal Touch" and more. 16 tracks in all. CD

The classic music of Kraftwerk – re-presented beautifully in this excellent box set! The package features material from famous recent live performances by the quartet – as they go back and present new takes on classic albums – from Autobahn through Radioactivity, Trans Europe Express, Man Machine, Computer World, and Techno Pop – all played live, with incredible sound that shows the way the group link their earlier analogue brilliance with the newly expanded sonic possibilities of the 21st Century! The set also features a full disc that expands on Tour De France, with other singles – and a CD titled The Mix – which also includes a special "headphone surround 3D" mix! Performances were recorded at the Museum Of Modern Art, Sydney Opera House, Tate Modern, Paradiso Amsterdam, and other global venues – and the package features eight full albums worth of material – all in a cool box with great graphics. CD

Four disc set that covers music from 1980 to 1986 and features Kuryokhin solo, in trios, a quintet and some larger groups – plus a great booklet with notes and photos covering this fascinating corner of the jazz world! CD

A wonderful run of music from the great Steve Lacy – all of the larger group recordings done for the Black Saint/Soul Note label – nearly 20 years of really inventive albums! Lacy's solo and smaller group material were already collected in another excellent box in this series – but this collection shows Steve stepping out in a mode that's not nearly as well-represented on other labels – some of his more intense, complicated efforts – done with both familiar associates, and some surprising choices from the European scene! Players include Roswell Rudd on trombone, Steve Potts on alto, Misha Mengelberg on piano, George Lewis on trombone, Bobby Few on piano, Ricky Ford on tenor, and Han Bennink on drums – and the package, like others in this great series, features all records with original artwork, in cool little sleeves like mini albums. Records include Trickles, Revenue, Troubles, Regeneration, Change Of Season, Dutch Masters, The Condor, The Cry, and Vespers. CD

A really great change in the music of Swedish guitarist Johan Lindstrom – music that expands the vision of his previous record, and also explores some more song-based territory – while still allowing for lots of musical contributions from other players we love on the Moserobie label! You know something's different when Elvis Costello steps in on the first track for a bit of spoken lyrics to a song he wrote with Lindstrom – and things continue to move in other ways throughout – with vocals from Sofie Livebrandt on two tracks, amidst work from Jonas Kullhammar on saxes and flute, Per Texas Johansson on clarinet and tenor, Jesper Nordenstrom on piano and organ, Mats Aleklint on trombone Torbjorn Zetterberg on bass, and Konrad Agnas on drums! Most tracks are relatively short, but work together well – and there are definitely moments of improvisation amidst some of the more structured elements of the record – on titles that include "What What", "Homeward", "Trombone Interlude", "Edwards Chacone", "Music Orbit Box", "Septet Serenade", "Echoes Across The Dunes", and "Worms Of Underground". CD

A great run of music from Jimmy Lyons – some of his most important albums as a leader! First up is Wee Sneezawee – the kind of work that makes you love the Black Saint label for giving players like Jimmy Lyons a chance to still express themselves this way! Lyons is in wonderful form throughout – blowing with all the sharp tones that you'd know from his work with Cecil Taylor, but also bringing in a bit more structure too – kind of shaping a coherent sound out of an infinite array of possible actions – any of which seem possible at any moment, given the dynamic energy of the group! Other players include William Parker on bass, Paul Murphy on drums, Karen Borca on bassoon, and Raphe Malik on trumpet – and tracks include "Wee Sneezawee", "Gossip", "Shackinback", "Remembrance", and "Driads". On Give It Up, Jimmy Lyons is wonderful, but equally great is trumpeter Enrico Rava – whose bold tones on the record easily match those of Lyons in terms of energy and inventiveness! The format is relatively free – although some tunes have a bit of an inside swing, at least more so than Lyons' work with Cecil Taylor – and other players include Karen Borca on bassoon, Jay Oliver on bass, and Paul Murphy on drums. Titles include the long workouts "Methods", "Never", and "Give It Up" – plus the shorter tune "Ballada". Burnt Offering features great duets between Jimmy Lyons on alto and Andrew Cyrille on percussion – and titles include "Popp A", "Exotique", and "Burnt Offering". Nuba is a compelling collaboration between percussionist Andrew Cyrille, vocalist Jeanne Lee, and alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons – one of the freer sessions on the Black Saint label, and one of the most striking as well! Cyrille handles a wide range of percussion – and also a few whistles too – and he really sets the tone with his open, expressive approach to his instruments – almost more melodic at points than rhythmic, with echoes of African roots that come through more strongly than on some of his other albums. Most numbers are pretty spare, and titles include "Nuba 1", "Cornbread Picnic (Maize)", "The One Before Zero", "JJ & A", "In These Last Days", "Sorry", and "Nuba 2". Something In Return is another set of duets between Lyns and Andrew Cyrille! While working in Cecil Taylor's group, Cyrille and Lyons developed a wonderful interplay and dynamic, which can be felt in full effect on this wonderful duo recording, where they approach mostly original material, but also take on Strayhorn's "Take The A Train". Also includes the title track "Lorry", "JL", "Nuba" and "Fragments I". CD

Includes previously unreleased & rare tracks. Dvd includes behind the scenes footage & previously unreleased home videos. Book is 112 page essay book with a 64 page phote book. CD

An early moment of genius from post-Beatles Paul McCartney – a solo set that's wonderfully diverse throughout – filled with the kinds of cool little twists and turns we loved in his late Beatles records, and in his 70s killers with Wings! There's a newly-emerging sweetness going on here – that great sound that started to emerge with the McCartney album – where Paul was a proud, put-together family guy – easily one of the most confident of his fab foursome, and able to bring an incredible amount of charm to just about any style he wanted to try! Some of the best cuts here are the mellower, more personal moments – still delivered with an amazing rock-solid sense of musicianship and production, too – and even the rockers, which might sound clunky in the hands of anyone else, manage to come off with a great deal of charm as well. Titles include the wonderfully playful "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" – plus "Too Many People", "Heart Of The Country", "Dear Boy", "Ram On", "The Back Seat Of My Car", and "Smile Away". Deluxe edition comes in a beautiful clothbound box and includes the original album in mono and stereo, the Thrillington instrumental album, bonus tracks, a DVD documentary, 112-page book, and lots of other goodies! CD

Includes the original 1982 album, a new mix from the multi-track tapes, demos and other bonus tracks, music videos and a behind the scenes documentary, 112 page book, plus a second 64 page photo scrapbook! CD

A tremendous look at the early years of the legendary Joe McPhee – a set that's based around his classic Nation Time album, and which features other live material from the same time – including a Hat Hut album, and two CDs' worth of previously unissued work! The core album is legendary – a gritty set that features a mighty funky drummer, and some of the most soulful work that Joe ever recorded. Joe plays tenor and trumpet in sweet lineup that features bubbling organ, vamping rhythms, and some sweet modal elements mixed together in percussion, guitar, and Fender Rhodes. Titles include the hard wailing "Nation Time" – plus "Shakey Jake", an excellent 13 minute funk number – and the moodier "Scorpio's Dance". Next is the searing Black Magic Man album – an early release on the Hat Hut label, but recorded during the same December 1970 performance as Nation Time – almost showing the bolder, freer sound of the group – but still coming across with some surprising soulful elements too. The original album is expanded by the addition of the unreleased "Song For Lauren" alternate takes – and the core record includes "Black Magic Man", "Hymn Of The Dragon Kings", and "Song For Lauren". The next two CDs feature material recorded in 1969 and 1970 – at Vassar and in Poughkeepsie – with Joe and group working through some similar spiritual and soul jazz territory as on the Vassar CD issue from the same label. The music is heavy on elements you'd hear from the Nation Time album – Hammond, guitar, and even some electric bass and vibes – used in styles that run from soul jazz, to modal, to more experimental – all on very long tracks that have McPhee really stretching out on tenor and trumpet! Titles include "Cold Sweat", "Breakaway Theme", "Untitled", "Nation Time", "Sunshower", "Spring Street", and "Contemplation". All 4CDs come in very cool LP sleeves, in a slipcover box, a 60 page booklet of notes, photos, and information on the music! CD

Key moments in the career of Charles Mingus – all recorded during the crucial years of 1964 and 1965, and featuring the first-time release of a fair bit of live material too! The set represents the first full presentation of recordings that have appeared piecemeal on a handful of obscure releases – self-released records from Mingus himself – Town Hall, My Favorite Quintet, and Music Written For Monterey – all really expanded here with the full recordings of the tracks, and unreleased titles provided from the original tapes! Mingus was really on fire during these years – severed from most of his bigger label associations, and freely working on some of his most inventive ideas with various smaller groups of players – all fresh young talents who were key interpreters of Charles' ideas – including Johnny Coles and Lonnie Hillyer on trumpet, Jimmy Owens on trumpet and flugelhorn, Charles McPherson on alto sax, Clifford Jordan on tenor, Jaki Byard on piano, Eric Dolphy on alto, flute, and bass clarinet. The stalwart Dannie Richmond is on drums, and the sides represent some of Dolphy's last, and most important recordings on the planet – recordings done at Town Hall and in Amsterdam in April of 1964 – in addition to live material at Monterey in 1964 and 1965, in Minneapolis in May of 1965. Tracks are all quite long – some pushing the half-hour timing – and as with the best live Mingus, there's variations here that go way past any studio readings – really incredible solo flights that are still beautifully integrated with the ideas of the main group. Titles include "So Long Eric", "Orange Was The Color Of Her Dress Then Blue Silk", "Mingus Piano Solo", "Bird Preamble", "Themeless Blues", "Copa City Titty", "A Lonely Day In Selma", "Cocktails For Two", "Praying With Eric", "Parkeriana", "ATFW", "Meditations On A Pair Of Wire Cutters", and "Meditations On Integration". 7CDs, limited edition, and with a great book of notes too! CD

4 full length sets of mid 80s Sugar Minott dancehall – Buy Off The Bar, Rydim, Time Longer Than Rope and the joint Sugar Minott & Leroy Smart effort Rockers Award Winners – all from '84 and '85 and together in a single box set! A wealth of mid 80s dancehall from a pivotal source! First up is Buy Off The Bar, featuring main tracks and dubs including "Buy Off The Bar", "Can't Cross The Border", "Frontline". "Two Timer", "Strictly Sensei" and more. Rydim includes "Feel The Rydim", "Mass Ni Mass", "Old King Cole", "Nah Go To South Africa" and more. "Time Longer Than Rope" includes "Can't Get MeOut", "Jah You Make Me Sing", "Rockers Master" and more. Rockers Award Winners includes "Nah Follow No Fashion",, "A True", "Cell Block One" and more by Minott, plus the Smart rockers "Girls Are Skanking", "Give Love A Try", "Reggae Music" and more. CD

One of the most revolutionary players to ever handle a trombone – finally summed up in the full scope of his genius! Grachan Moncur III may not be as well-known a name as some of his more famous contemporaries – like Archie Shepp or Jackie McLean – but his mid 60s recordings were crucially important to modern jazz, not only that of Shepp and McLean, but the entire "new thing" generation! Moncur was one of the first players to realize that as much as the trombone was a musical instrument, it was also equally powerful as kind of a sonic engine – a way to craft dark and deep tones and colors, shading in an area of jazz that had previously been unexplored. And on top of Moncur's groundbreaking playing, he was also an equally skilled writer – and contributed his own compositions to a number of important 60s jazz sessions. This beautiful box set brings together more than a few of those sessions – Moncur's own lost Blue Note albums Evolution and Some Other Stuff, as well as Jackie McLean's seminal sides One Step Beyond, Destination Out, Hipnosis, and the bulk of 'Bout Soul. The set features 25 tracks in all – a wealth of lost modern jazz – all packaged in a 3CD slipcover, along with a booklet on the music. Great stuff – and long overdue! CD

Amazing music from one of our favorite periods of Thelonious Monk – a time of new discoveries, new strengths, and some great work with tenor sax! CD

A fantastic album from Mourning A BLKstar – even more powerful than their set dedicated to Eric Garner, and a batch of material that really gets at the righteous energy of this Cleveland combo! The group see themselves as part of the James Baldwin tradition of the artist bearing witness – and their genre-bending, gender non-confirming style really pushes forward the energy of underground soul music – as they worked together in an empty storefront in Cleveland to craft this beautiful cycle of songs initial sketches they all fleshed out together – in a mix of shifting vocal leads, heavy drums, dark guitar lines, and proud horn parts. Titles include "Sense Of An Ending", "Something JD Said", "Been Around", "Devil Get Behind Me", "Whom The Bell Tolls", "The Wants", "Deluze (Solange say rmx)", "So Young So", "The Box", and "4 Days". CD

The mighty Mulatu Astatke has given us lots of amazing music over the years – key records both home in Ethiopia and here in the US – yet this performance may well be one of his most special, as it unites the legendary musician with a host of giants from the American scene – all in a one-off performance that finally gave Mulatu his due! The leader handles vibes at the helm of an all-star group that includes Bennie Maupin on flute and soprano sax, Azar Lawrence on tenor, and Phil Ranelin on trombone – all spiritual jazz giants of the 70s who only further expand the genius of Mulatu's music – in the company of some younger musicians who include Miguel Atwood Ferguson on violin and Brandon Coleman on electric piano and organ. The whole thing is very much in keeping with the best Mulatu classics from back in the day, but also pushes things forward wonderfully too, with a lot more jazz in the mix – on titles that include "Yekermo Sew", "The Radcliffe", "Kasalefkut Hulu", "I Faram Gami", "Yekatit", "Mulatu", and "Ebo Lala". CD

A jazz treasure chest – the 73 original recordings by Charlie Parker issued by Verve Records, all packaged in a special box with loads of great extras! The package strips down the Bird sides that have been issued by Verve over the years – going for just the original releases issued in the late 40s and 1950s, before alternate takes and extra material started overwhelming most standard packages of Parker's work. The set very nicely gets back to basics – hitting all the original 78rpm and LP sides cut by Bird, with supporting players that include Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Red Rodney, Flip Phillips, and Max Roach. The set's got 73 tracks on 3CDs, packaged in a totally cool metal box, along with a 60 page booklet on the music, and lots of rare photos! Beautiful stuff – and surprisingly nicely priced for what's inside! CD

Revelatory work from the great Art Pepper – presented here in a complete package for the first time ever. In Pepper's later years, his live dates were often more mindblowing than his studio sessions – especially when the tape was rolling over a long stretch, as was the case over the three nights of recordings presented here! Art's on alto, in a tight group with George Cables on piano – arguably one of his most sensitive accompanists in these years – plus David Williams on bass and Carl Burnett on drums – a lineup that remains firm through the seven sets of music captured in this collection. The package features 42 performances, including 23 performances that appear here for the first time ever, plus bits of banter and other between-song conversation – all wrapped up in a box with a 44 page booklet of notes. Titles include "For Freddie", "Without A Song", "Road Waltz", "Mambo Koyama", "Allen's Alley", "Begin The Beguine", "Landscape", "Valse Triste", "But Beautiful", "Roadgame", "For Freddie", "Donna Lee", "Samba Mom Mom", "Yours Is My Heart Alone", and "Arthur's Blues". CD

Rare late 60s psychedelia from blue collar Rockford, Il – a totally great lost album of pop psych tunefulness from Pisces – who had an incredible knack for experimental sounds that weave in and out of the hallucinatory pop structure! The group centered around core players Jim Krein and Paul DiVenti, and a number of the tunes have fragile, beautiful lead vocals by Linda Bruner, bringing in a bit of Velvets style stark, haunting loveliness – and most of the tracks languished unreleased all this time! This is essentially the first real release of almost all of the tunes, and the best shot at finding an adventurous audience any of it has ever had! We think this stuff would have been hugely influential had it found an audience in its time, hell, it sounds to us like it actually did influence countless groups, even though that's hardly even possible! There's a tunefulness at the center that bears the fruits of the experimental pop sounds that came from benchmark scenes of the era, from Haight Ashbury to Abbey Road – but the found sound ephemera, tape manipulations, and tripped out atmospherics really bring in some far out vibes! An essential discovery from Numero that's as exciting, insistently groovy and eclectic as any of the rock oriented stuff they've dug up to date! Titles include "Dear One", "Children Kiss Your Mother Goodnight", "Motley Mary Ann", "Say Goodbye To John", "The Music Box", "Like A Hole In The Wall Where The Rat Lives", "Elephant Eyes", "Circle Of Time" and more – plus the "extended play" bonus tracks "A Flower For All Seasons" and "In The Summer A Grape Grows". CD

Plainsong were a short-lived group who are best known for one album – but they had a heck of a legacy, and recorded way more work than was issued at the time! The set kicks off with their classic In Search Of Amelia Earhart album – a wonderfully warm, wonderfully solid set of rootsy rock from this group headed by Ian Matthews! The set moves past some of Matthews' earlier efforts – a bit tighter at times, yet still far from any country rock cliches at all – definitely done at a time when this mixing of modes was still a very fresh concept for musicians like Ian, who were more than willing to find a lot of paths of their own. Some of the headier moments really make great use of the darker guitar corners of Andy Roberts – who works in subtle, but great ways – and the set also features a nice mix of acoustic and electric elements, served up sparely, and recorded in a really great way. Titles include "Yo Yo Man", "Louise", "Call The Tune", "Raider", "Side Roads", "I'll Fly Away", and "For The Second Time". Given the already-huge legacy in music that Matthews had by the time of 1972, it's no surprise that there was a lot more recorded during the time – including the group's originally-unissued second record, Now We Are 3 – included here with an insane amount of other material too! CD1 features the Amelia Earhart album with bonus tracks and 1973 concert material. CD2 features Now We Are 3, with bonus tracks and added Dance Goes On tracks. CD3 features BBC sessions with John Peel – and CD4 features more BBC with Bob Harris, and Old Grey Whistle Test material. CD5 features a reunited version of the group recording live in 1993, 1997, and 2012 – and CD6 features more later material, billed For The Second Time – including some re-recordings of the original debut tracks. Over 50% of the box set has never been issued before – and there's a massive amount of material! CD

The record that forever put Prince on the map – a legendary set that took him from being an under-appreciated soul singer to a lasting pop music legend! Prince had been around for a few years before 1999 – but the double-length set was the first to really win over the masses to his genius – and still stands as one of the most perfect blends of soul, funk, and pop that we can ever think of – especially since the man himself pretty much put the whole thing together on his own! The set begins with the classic singles "Little Red Corvette" and "1999" – then soars into lots more gems that include "Let's Pretend We're Married", "Lady Cab Driver", "All The Critics Love U In New York", "International Lover", "DMSR", and "Delirious". A massive box set – with 5 full CDs and a DVD too! CD2 is a collection of rare promo mixes and b-sides – with titles that include "1999 (7" mono promo only edit)", "Free (promo only edit)", "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore", "Lady Cab Driver (7" edit)", "Little Red Corvette (dance rmx promo-only edit)", "Horny Toad", "Automatic (video version)", "Let's Pretend We're Married (video)", "Irresistible Bitch", "Let's Pretend We're Married (7" mono promo only edit)", and "DMSR (edit)". CD3 and CD4 each feature rare tracks from the vault – all but one of which are unissued – titles that include "Purple Music", "Yah You Know", "If It'll Make U Happy", "Colleen", "Bold Generation", "Turn It Up", "Feel U Up", "Money Don't Grown On Trees", "Vagina", "Rearrange", "Teacher Teacher", "Don't Let Him Fool Ya", "Do Yourself A Favor", and "Can't Stop This Feeling I Got" – plus a tour demo medley, "Lady Cab Driver/I Wanna Be Your Lover/Head/Little Red Corvette". CD5 features a show recorded live in Detroit on November 30, 1982 – with 12 tracks in all. DVD features a Live In Houston performance from December 29, 1982 – with 12 more tracks, including a rare "piano improvisation". CD