A really cool, complicated set of grooves – Peruvian tropical at its best, with plenty of sweet guitar lines mixed in with lots of rootsy percussion! Kroffer Jimenez handles the lead vocals, and has this style that leaps one minute, swells the next – very individual, and kind of a perfect match for the offbeat qualities of the record – really setting things apart from standard chicha with the way he handles the lyrics! There's a completely unique feel to the set all the way through – and titles include "Oh Que Bueno", "Mala Mujer", "Fiesta En El Callejon", "Ritmo En Furor", "La Surenita", "La Tamalera", "La Planidera", "Como Baila Lucy", and "Elvira No Se Vira". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that was an instant classic from the moment it was first released – and a set that's still pretty darn pleasing all these many years later! At a time when mainstream soul was often too smooth or too poppy, D'Angelo came along and not only found a way to return the music to the years of its power with singers like Al Green or Marvin Gaye – but also managed to bring in some of the best hip hop elements of his generation too, at a level that was far more successful than most other blends that had been tried before! Production is nice and lean, and super-crispy – at a level that so many folks are still copying all these years later – and the set's full of classics that include "Cruisin", "When We Get By", "Smooth", "Me & Those Dreamin Eyes Of Mine", "Brown Sugar", "Alright", and "Jonz In My Bonz". LP, Vinyl record album

There's three Evas on the cover, three Evas in the name, and three Evas in the group – a trio of Italian singers whose voices work together in a playful blend of disco and pop! There's almost an Abba-like appeal to the music – really catchy tunes that are unabashedly poppy – upbeat rhythms that borrow plenty from disco, but aren't afraid to add in some other touches too – with some especially cool hints at the Italian cosmic club approach to come on a few more moogy moments! Titles include "Invasione", "Tennis Club", "Argentina", "Love Me Please Forever", "Do", "Vedrai", and an Italian cover of "Stayin Alive"! LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the first vocal album we've heard on London's Jazz Refreshed label, but one that really lives up to the high quality of the imprint's legacy of well-chosen music! Sofia Grant's got this style that warmly wraps around the jazzier backings of the music – relatively lean on most numbers, in a way that seems to have Grant pushing the more soulful qualities of her voice with these really nice inflections – not like standard jazz vocals, but also not commercial either, given that the presentation of the album is relatively laidback and easygoing. Sofia handled production and arrangements herself – and the set features guest trumpet from Poppy Daniels and flute from Sarah Wackett – on titles that include "Walk On Water", "Extinction", "Circular Motion", "Ochre", and "Storm". LP, Vinyl record album

A great one from X-Ray Spex – one of the strongest of the first generation punks of the 70s – a group fronted by the amazing Poly Styrene, and blessed with some incredibly catchy tunes! There's a poppy playfulness to most of these tracks, underneath the fierce, full-on energy of the group – a rhythmic approach to punk rock that's almost a precursor to the Bow Wow Wow sound, but more decidedly punk at its heart. Tracks include "Oh Bondage Up Yours", "I Am A Cliche", "Highly Inflammable", "Let's Submerge", "I Am A Poseur", "Genetic Engineering", "Warrior In Woolworths", "Obsessed With You", "Artificial", and "The Day The World Turned Dayglo". LP, Vinyl record album

We don't know much about this guy, but this is a pretty sweet little set – a mixture of mainstream MPB and more soulful touches – all put together with some especially warm arrangements from Lincoln Olivetti! At some level, we'd almost be tempted to call this a set of Brazilian soul – especially due to the great use of keyboards, mellow grooves, and warm vocals on the record – but the overall style is a bit more mainstream, and gets slightly poppy at times too – a bit in a Free Soul sort of groove! Titles include "Num Paraiso", "Brenda", "Pensando Nela", "Renascendo Em Mim", "Saber Viver", "Nao Quero Mais", "Curtindo O Silencio", and "Menina Mulher". LP, Vinyl record album

Arguably the last true moment of genius in Michael Jackson's career – a record that sold a bazillion copies around the world – and for plenty good reason! Michael's still working here with Quincy Jones – in territory that steps nicely from the Off The Wall groove, into territory that's somewhat more poppy, but still quite soulful overall. And yes, the success of the album meant that cuts like "Billie Jean", "Thriller", and "Beat It" got plenty of play – thanks to both heavy radio and video rotation – but a few decades later, there's still a tremendous amount of depth here – on great cuts like "Human Nature", "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin", and "PYT" – which all hold up nicely! LP, Vinyl record album

One of Terry Riley's most enduring works, and a haunting record that contains two extended modal minimal jams – "Rainbow In Curved Air" and "Poppy Nogood & The Phantom Band". "Rainbow" features Terry interweaving cool keyboard lines on organ, electric harpsichord, and the amazingly cool "rocksichord" – which is almost a guitar-like keyboard! "Poppy Nogood" has a similar groove on organ and soprano saxophone. Both tracks are prime material by Riley, and they have a sound that's influenced countless artists in the current electronica generation – but which never sounded better than here, on the original recordings! LP, Vinyl record album

Tomas Milian's the scruffy guy on the cover, and the light style of illustration lets you know that you're not in the spooky territory you might expect from Fabio Frizzi – but instead the kind of quickly-done comedy that was big business on the Italian scene of the 80s! With those films, the music was often the main glue holding the narrative together – and that's definitely the case here, as Frizzi's music is filled with catchy numbers that use electro rhythms and plenty of keyboards – playful and poppy, but with maybe a bit more thought than some of the dialogue on the screen! Back in the day, the original music was only issued as two tracks on a 7" single – but this package marks the full release of other tracks from the film, along with the cuts "Jolly Sax" and "You & I" – the latter with vocals by Tommie Babie! LP, Vinyl record album

Pure pop magic from the lovely Mina – a very weird little record in which she takes on a host of mid-period tracks by The Beatles! The sound is as offbeat as the cover's take on Revolver – kind of a cross between late 60s Beatles, and early 70s Italian – trippy at points, but kind of sweetly poppy at others. And we can't tell for sure from the notes, but the album appears as if it might collect tunes from a number of different periods – although it comes across with a very unified feel overall. Titles include "Let It Be", "Fool On The Hill", "She's Leaving Home", and "Hey Jude" – plus versions of "My Love" and "Oh Darling". LP, Vinyl record album

A great one from X-Ray Spex – one of the strongest of the first generation punks of the 70s – a group fronted by the amazing Poly Styrene, and blessed with some incredibly catchy tunes! There's a poppy playfulness to most of these tracks, underneath the fierce, full-on energy of the group – a rhythmic approach to punk rock that's almost a precursor to the Bow Wow Wow sound, but more decidedly punk at its heart. Tracks include "Oh Bondage Up Yours", "I Am A Cliche", "Highly Inflammable", "Let's Submerge", "I Am A Poseur", "Genetic Engineering", "Warrior In Woolworths", "Obsessed With You", "Artificial", and "The Day The World Turned Dayglo". LP, Vinyl record album