The roots of modern jazz never sounded this great before – and this is the first time ever that all the early bop recordings by Savoy have been properly brought together in one place! Savoy was one of the most important labels to record the early bop pioneers – and had a dedication to the music that begin in 1945, and moved well into the 50s – as the label captured some of the brightest young stars who'd go onto shape a generation! Almost all of this material was originally issued just as 78rpm singles – then later scattered and repackaged in a confusing way – although many tracks here also never made it into the LP or CD generation, either. The folks at Mosaic have worked incredible magic to correct that error – and have pulled together a stunning 10CD package that finally presents this amazing legacy of music in its proper form – complete with notes and session details that were never given in later years, too. There's way too much here to list in this space – but the set features dates recorded under the name of Dexter Gordon, Fats Navarro, Stan Getz, JJ Johnson, Sonny Stitt & Kenny Dorham's Bebop Boys, Allen Eager, Kai Winding, Ray Brown, Eddie Davis, Serge Chaloff, Kenny Hagood, Leo Parker, Tadd Dameron, Teddy Reig, Brew Moore, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, and Gil Fuller – all with groups that are filled with equally hip and important musicians too. We love Mosaic all the time – but with a collection of 78rpm material, they really knock it out of the park – and do us, and the jazz history books, a mighty big favor! CD

Bear Family does it again – coming up with a sublime selection of vocal tunes from 50s and 60s westerns – mostly films, but with a few TV tunes thrown in for good measure! We're surprised at how much we like this stuff – and it segues nicely not only with our love of soundtracks, but also our appreciation of classic American singers – because when you see who's on the set, you'll be surprised at the voices they get! Titles include "The Hanging Tree" by Marty Robbins, "I'm A Runaway" by Tab Hunter, "Ballad Of Paladin" by Johnny Western, "The Searchers" by Sons Of The Pioneers, "The Legend Of Shenandoah" by Jimmy Stewart, "My Rifle My Pony & Me" by Dean Martin & Ricky Nelson, "North To Alaska" by Johnny Horton, "Bonanza" by Lorne Greene, "Cowboy" by Dickson Hall, "Roll On Texas Moon" by Roy Rogers, "The Rebel Johnny Yuma" by Johnny Cash, and "Nevada Smith" by Merle Kilgore. CD

A massive tribute to the music of Neu – set with three classic albums, and an exclusive double-length batch of mixes and covers too! First up is the self-titled Neu – maybe not the earliest record in the Krautrock generation, but a set that certainly set a new sort of standard after it was released! The group mix together slow-building rhythms and plenty of fuzz – all recorded by the great Conny Plank, who has a way of blending the songs and all their many elements – instrumentation put together by ex-Kraftwerk members Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother – who mostly use guitars, bass, and drums – but end up turning them into something completely different with the help of Plank! Some of the tracks are quite long, and really take a great path to find their way forward – very different than Can or Cluster, at least from an outside perspective – but equally classic. Titles include "Hallogallo", "Sonderangerbot", "Im Gluck", "Negativland", "Weissensee", and "Lieber Honig". Neu 2 follows, and continues their trademark pulsating rhythms and raw Teutonic energy – essential listening not only for its titanic importance to the minimalist rock to come – but for it's impeccable hard driving hypnotic genius that has yet to be topped by any of the followers. The album starts off with the longer piece "Fur Immer", while the rest of the album is made up of mostly shorter segments, including "Spitzenqualitat", "Super 16", "Cassetto" and "Hallo Excentrico!". Next is Neu 75 – the third album in a legendary run from Krautrock pioneers Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger – one that uses two different drummers next to the duo's fantastic spare blend of keyboards, guitar, and electronics! The sound is still nice and lean, and every bit as revolutionary as on their first two records – and the whole thing is a masterpiece in blending waves of sonic energy and pulsating rhythms! Titles include "Isi", "See Land", "Leb Wohl", "Hero", "E-Musik", and "After Eight". The set also features the two-part Tribute album – hardly the usual tribute project – as a number of tracks are remixes of the originals, blended with other very unusual takes and original material! Titles include "Im Gluck" (National rmx)", "Weissensee (Fink version)", "Negativland (Idles negative space rework)", "After Eight (They Hate Change cover)", "Lieber Honig (Yann Tiersen rmx)", "Super (Mogwai rmx)", and "Hallogallo (Stephen Morris & Gabe Gurnsey rmx)". CD