Trumpeter Enrico Rava was a man of bold sounds in his youth – but as the years have gone on, he's definitely become one of those players who's really learned that less is more – serving up well-chosen, well-pointed moments on his horn that can make a record like this so great! Pianist Fred Hersch is in relatively familiar territory – especially on some of the darker, moodier passages on the set – but he also seems set free a bit from his conventions at times by Rava, as the pair work more in sound painting territory than some overly musical pursuit on some of the album's best tracks – definitely in the best ECM tradition, but very strongly flavored by the individuality of the two improvisers. Titles include "Child's Song", "The Trial", "Improvisation", "Retrato Em Branco E Preto", "The Song Is You", and "Misterioso". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest albums to ever sum up the genius of Lou Rawls in the 60s – a brilliant live set put together with the talents of David Axelrod! The record perfectly captures the easy-going soul of Rawls in the early years – a natural approach to his music that made him one of the best singers of his genre at the time, and which comes out especially strong in the album's upbeat monologues, which are often delivered by Lou with musical accompaniment, then leap strongly into the lyrics of a tune. Backing is by a small jazzy combo that includes Herb Ellis on guitar and the great rhythm team of Jimmy Bond on bass and Earl Palmer on drums – both of whom bring a nice little groove to most of the album's numbers. Titles include "Street Corner Hustler's Blues/World Of Trouble", "Southside Blues/Tobacco Road", "The Shadow of Your Smile", "In The Evening When The Sun Goes Down", "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good", and "The Girl From Ipanema". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the tightest funky 70s jamming ever – a lost gem from Ray & His Musical Court, a group that perfectly fuses JB/Horny Horns funk with beat-heavy Afro-Cuban groove! Ray and the group are one of the more obscure funky combos of the era, and it's a damn shame, because the group's tight-as-can-be amalgam of JB's style horn riffing and thumping Afro-Cuban percussion is some of the absolute best of its kind. This group seriously smokes any of the current funk bands on the road! On these sessions Ray wrote, produced, played "organ flute" and provided some vocals in a large group that includes three trumpets, bass clarinet, sax, two drummers, congas, electric bass, and a line of mostly Spanish vocalists. Amazing 70s super funk with a very proud Latin edge – and featuring tracks that include "Sunny", "Soul Freedom", "Cookie Crumbs", "De Eso Nada Monada", "Lo Sabia", "Venimos Acabando", "La Pena", and "La Senorita Lola". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the coolest album so far in the Red Hot series – even amidst the unique Sun Ra subgroup – as the album's the brainchild of Meshell Ndegeocello, and comes together with all the complex soulfulness of her own recent albums! Back in the 90s, Meshell was a great but more mainstream soul artist – and over the years, she's developed into a really fascinating talent – one able to reach out with a complex blend of jazz, funk, and soul elements – woven into patterns that are always very much her own – a musical legacy that the great Sun Ra might have appreciated! Ndegeocello leads a very diverse lineup here – playing bass and keyboards, and singing a bit – next to other players who include longtime Arkestra giant Marshall Allen on alto and EWI, plus Immanuel Wilkins on alto, Christopher Bruce on guitar, Darius Jones on saxes, Daniel Mintseris on keyboards, and Justin Hicks, Pink Siifu, Kenita Miller, Nio Levon, and Hanna Benn on vocals. The album channels Ra's spirit through territory that's very much Meshell's own – and titles include "Yet Differently Not Mars Hall", "El Soul The Companion Traveler", "The World Of Shadow", "Reproductive Manatees/Sunny Said Up", "Bedlam Blues", "#9 Venus The Living Myth", and "Departure Guide Of The 7 Sisters". LP, Vinyl record album

Saxophonist Dave Rempis and drummer Tim Daisy are no musical strangers to each other, having played together often on many different recordings – yet here, the duo seem almost reborn – opening up all sorts of amazing sounds in the company of violinist Mark Feldman – whose sense of sound throughout is really incredible! This isn't jazz violin, ala Jean-Luc Ponty or Stephane Grappelli – as Feldman uses his instrument more as a sonic engine, to generate unusual sounds of all different types – which are then amplified and echoed by Daisy and Rempis on their instruments, which includes added percussion from Tim, and a mixture of alto, tenor, and baritone from Dave! The set features two long, mindblowing improvisations, both recorded at Elastic Arts – "Ostro" and "Bora". CD

An early masterpiece from the young Terry Riley – a work that's a bit different than some of his more solo or small group outings – but one that really sets the stage for all of Riley's experiments in years to come! The premise here is very unusual – in that the "score" features 53 separate short musical passages – which are then to be played in an order defined by the musicians themselves, in shifting patterns of repetition, moving in and out of phase with a really otherworldly quality – ever shifting, turning, and drifting – all to create a remarkable tapestry of sound, texture, and melody. This recording of the work is still the best, and it was produced with excellent care by David Behrman – and features musicians who include Jon Hassell on trumpet, Edward Burnham on vibes, Jan Williams on marimbaphone, David Shostac on flute, and Margaret Hassell on "The Pulse". CD

A lengthy discussion with Chris James of the stellar seventies sweet soul act The Natural Four, Nardwuar vs Queens of the Stone Age, interviews with the last living brother of The Maddox Brothers and Rose, Mark Ridlen of 70s/80s Texas punk/psych band Lithium Xmas (also a member of Rapid Fire, the evil band from Ron Howard's "Cotton Candy"), New Orleans musical eccentric Quintron on his return to his ravaged city, Brazilian guitar legend Toquino, and Beach Boys' biographer Domenic Priore. Also, the scrapbook of Black punk legend Neon Leon, a Clancy Eccles tribute, hundreds of novelty celebrity records profiled, and a history of Diabolik. Plus, lots of great comix, including Freaky Bear by Plastic Crimewave, an incredible recreation of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet" starring Batman by K. Thor Jensen, and lost comics and 70s rock writing by Funkadelic's Pedro Bell. Magazine

A very dynamic set from bassist Jason Roebke – a set that uses graphic scores to direct improvsations by the members of the quartet, who are a very tightly-matched group of players, very able to deliver on Roebke's musical vision! The lineup features some especially great work on clarinet and saxes from Ed Wilkerson – a player we haven't heard as much of in recent years, but who still has the bright fire and imagination that first made us fall in love with his bold music decades ago – and the group also features lots of dark-tinged piano from Mabel Kwan, a player whose depth offsets Wilkerson's energy beautifully. The group also features Marcus Evans on drums, a player who can shake things up in all the right ways – on titles that include "Pulse & Tone", "Quarter Note Equals Eighty", "Stability & Coda", "Piano Spacer", "Four Spheres", and "Starting & Stopping". CD

One of the greatest soundtracks ever from Leonard Rosenman – and a key example of his strong talent for mixing acoustic instrumentation with very offbeat and eerie electronics! Rosenman had offered up this blend on other important science soundtracks of the 60s – but probably hit his apex with this gem – penned for mid 60s film about a bunch of scientists who shrink down, and take a trip inside the human body! The electronics are sublime – used in these stark, sharp ways that are very compelling, and downright evil in nature – providing a real contrast to some of the warmer woodwind touches in the orchestrations, even when they try to echo the electric energy. The whole thing's pretty darn great – a lot bleaker musically than the actual film – and titles include "Proteus Moving Through Sac", "Group Leaves", "The Proteus", "The Chart", "Pulmonary Artery", "Get The Laser", and "The Human Brain". CD

A landmark record for Diana – her first solo effort after leaving the Supremes, and a well-conceived batch of tracks produced by Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson! The album's got a warm, mature approach that really separates the work from Diana's earlier girl group past – as Ashford & Simpson take her into territory that hints at many of the musical changes to come, but which still has a freshness that breathes new life into Ross' vocal approach. Includes the super-bit hit version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", plus the tunes "Reach Out & Touch Somebody's Hand", "Now That There's You", "You're All I Need To Get By", "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You", "Dark Side Of The World", and "Where There Was Darkness". Plus, the CD features a huge amount of bonus tracks – including a previously unissued live version of "Something On My Mind", 3 alternate mixes of tracks from the record, and 4 previously unissued tunes produced by Bones Howe, including "Time & Love", "Stoney End", "The Interim", and "Loves Lines Angles & Rhymes". CD

On the one hand, our jazz snob side wonders why Diana Ross would be picked to star as Billie Holiday, but on the other, it makes perfect sense, as this soundtrack to the film was made during the early 70s, when she was at the top of her career, and one of the highest profile female soul singers. And she acquits herself quite well, with a solid performance that's more than respectable, helped along the way by sympathetic orchestral arrangements from Benny Golson and Oliver Nelson. While we may not turn to this recording over any of Billie's originals, it's a pretty remarkable turning point for Diana, establishing her "diva" status and helping to launch her solo career to new heights. 35 numbers in all, though many of them are dialogue or musical bits lifted from the film. Includes "All Of Me", "the Man I Love", "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do", "Fine & Mellow", "You've Changed", "My Man", "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless The Child". CD

On the one hand, our jazz snob side wonders why Diana Ross would be picked to star as Billie Holiday, but on the other, it makes perfect sense, as this soundtrack to the film was made during the early 70s, when she was at the top of her career, and one of the highest profile female soul singers. And she acquits herself quite well, with a solid performance that's more than respectable, helped along the way by sympathetic orchestral arrangements from Benny Golson and Oliver Nelson. While we may not turn to this recording over any of Billie's originals, it's a pretty remarkable turning point for Diana, establishing her "diva" status and helping to launch her solo career to new heights. 35 numbers in all, though many of them are dialogue or musical bits lifted from the film. Includes "All Of Me", "the Man I Love", "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do", "Fine & Mellow", "You've Changed", "My Man", "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless The Child". CD

On the one hand, our jazz snob side wonders why Diana Ross would be picked to star as Billie Holiday, but on the other, it makes perfect sense, as this soundtrack to the film was made during the early 70s, when she was at the top of her career, and one of the highest profile female soul singers. And she acquits herself quite well, with a solid performance that's more than respectable, helped along the way by sympathetic orchestral arrangements from Benny Golson and Oliver Nelson. While we may not turn to this recording over any of Billie's originals, it's a pretty remarkable turning point for Diana, establishing her "diva" status and helping to launch her solo career to new heights. 34 numbers in all, though many of them are dialogue or musical bits lifted from the film. Includes "All Of Me", "the Man I Love", "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do", "Fine & Mellow", "You've Changed", "My Man", "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless The Child". LP, Vinyl record album

A surprising hit for Diana Ross – a record that really helped the singer shine brightly in the 80s, but with a vibe that's quite different than her years at Motown! The album's got plenty of star power on board – production work from Arthur Baker, Richard Perry, Daryl Hall, Lionel Richie, and Bernard Edwards – and a musical lineup that features half those artistes, plus work from Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers, and the Brecker Brothers too! Diana's vocals aren't as over the top as during the disco years – and find a nice place to percolate within the warmer 80s grooves – mostly rhythms that have a nice sort of crossover potential, but not in a way that's as clunky or commercial as some of her contemporaries. Titles include "Missing You", "It's Your Move", "Swept Away", "Telephone", "All Of You", "Touch By Touch", "Nobody Makes Me Crazy", and "Rescue Me". CD

A surprising hit for Diana Ross – a record that really helped the singer shine brightly in the 80s, but with a vibe that's quite different than her years at Motown! The album's got plenty of star power on board – production work from Arthur Baker, Richard Perry, Daryl Hall, Lionel Richie, and Bernard Edwards – and a musical lineup that features half those artistes, plus work from Jeff Beck, Nile Rodgers, and the Brecker Brothers too! Diana's vocals aren't as over the top as during the disco years – and find a nice place to percolate within the warmer 80s grooves – mostly rhythms that have a nice sort of crossover potential, but not in a way that's as clunky or commercial as some of her contemporaries. Titles include "Missing You", "It's Your Move", "Swept Away", "Telephone", "All Of You", "Touch By Touch", "Nobody Makes Me Crazy", and "Rescue Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A very cool reworking of the fourth album from Run The Jewels – one that opens up their sound to the world of Latin music, by inviting in a whole host of different artists to really transform the tunes! In some cases, these changes are subtle, with tracks that still sound a fair bit like the originals – at other times, they're huge, with live instrumentation and fresh production that really take off in all sorts of directions – leaving Killer Mike and El-P to act as the hosts of one massive musical party! Titles include "Nunca Mirar Hacia Atras (Bomba Estero's version)", "Ju$t (Toy Seletah version)", "El Suelo Debajo (Son Rompe Pera's version)", "Goonies Contra ET (Danny Brasco & Nick Hook's version)", "Caminando En La Nieve (Orestes Gomez & Nick Hook's version)", and "Fuera De Vista (Trooko's version)" – includes a second disc of instrumentals! CD

A very cool reworking of the fourth album from Run The Jewels – one that opens up their sound to the world of Latin music, by inviting in a whole host of different artists to really transform the tunes! In some cases, these changes are subtle, with tracks that still sound a fair bit like the originals – at other times, they're huge, with live instrumentation and fresh production that really take off in all sorts of directions – leaving Killer Mike and El-P to act as the hosts of one massive musical party! Titles include "Nunca Mirar Hacia Atras (Bomba Estero's version)", "Ju$t (Toy Seletah version)", "El Suelo Debajo (Son Rompe Pera's version)", "Goonies Contra ET (Danny Brasco & Nick Hook's version)", "Caminando En La Nieve (Orestes Gomez & Nick Hook's version)", and "Fuera De Vista (Trooko's version)" – includes a second disc of instrumentals! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful album from George Russell – a refreshing change from his overly-academic modernist work – and a brilliant bit of new ideas with some very down to earth expression! The session's an unusual one – a musical portrait of New York City, performed with an all-star cast who really flesh out the ideas in the music – linked together with these fantastic spoken bits by Jon Hendricks – patter about the city and the scene that really make the whole thing come alive! The lineup is virtually a who's who of modern jazz at the moment – John Coltrane and Benny Golson on tenors, Art Farmer on trumpet, Bill Evans on piano, Hal McKusick and Phil Woods on alto, and Max Roach on drums – coming together under some of the clearest leadership that George Russell has ever provided. The whole thing is great – and titles include "Manhattan", "Big City Blues", "Manhattan-Rico", and "A Helluva Town". CD

Truly amazing work from Bridget St John – an artist who's unlike anyone else we can think of – and who belongs in that rare stratosphere of completely distinct talents at the end of the 60s – a space that might include Nico, Nick Drake, or Bill Fay! Like all those three, St John is clearly a product of her time, and does have some musical relations to the world of folk, rock, and singer/songwriters – but her end result is so distinct, so unique, she's practically a genre unto herself – and a small one overall, given how few records she released! This set brings a focus on the best tracks from those albums – with one full disc of the best tracks from her studio albums – then adds in an even bigger disc of rare material, which includes early demos, BBC performances, other TV moments, rare tracks, and even a few duets with Michael Chapman. The second disc also has a few brief interview snippets – and Bridget's spoken voice is as lovely as her singing – and titles include "Lazarus", "Downderry Daze", "Ask Me No Questions", "Hello Again", "Thank You For", "The River", "Silver Coin", "Fly High", "It Seems Very Strange", "Suzanne", "There's A Place I Know", "Nice", and lots lots more! CD

A pivotal album in the career of Ryuichi Sakamoto – a set that got wide global circulation right at a time when he was a rising star on the screen as much as a surprising international music star as well – of the sort who became a key global representative for all the changes that had been taking place in Japanese music at the start of the 80s! Sakamoto's got an elegant look on the cover, and the music shares that approach too – jazzier than before, but still with that key knowledge of electronic elements that Ryuichi had in YMO – almost a blend of late 70s Japanese fusion with keyboards, samples, and other technology that Sakamoto helped bring into the mainstream at the time – but also with a quality that points the way to soundtrack shifts in the Ghibli generation! This package presents the original Japanese album – not the Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia set that was circulated globally – with tracks that include "May In The Backyard", "Paradise Lost", "Self Portrait", "Etude", "Tibetan Dance", "Tribute To NJP", and other titles in Japanese. Also includes bonus material from the 12" EP – "Replica", "Tibetan Dance (version)", and "Ma Mere L'Oye". LP, Vinyl record album

A pivotal album in the career of Ryuichi Sakamoto – a set that got wide global circulation right at a time when he was a rising star on the screen as much as a surprising international music star as well – of the sort who became a key global representative for all the changes that had been taking place in Japanese music at the start of the 80s! Sakamoto's got an elegant look on the cover, and the music shares that approach too – jazzier than before, but still with that key knowledge of electronic elements that Ryuichi had in YMO – almost a blend of late 70s Japanese fusion with keyboards, samples, and other technology that Sakamoto helped bring into the mainstream at the time – but also with a quality that points the way to soundtrack shifts in the Ghibli generation! This package presents the original Japanese album – not the Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia set that was circulated globally – with tracks that include "May In The Backyard", "Paradise Lost", "Self Portrait", "Etude", "Tibetan Dance", "Tribute To NJP", and other titles in Japanese. Also includes bonus material from the 7" single – "Replica" and "Ma Mere L'Oye". LP, Vinyl record album

A pivotal album in the career of Ryuichi Sakamoto – a set that got wide global circulation right at a time when he was a rising star on the screen as much as a surprising international music star as well – of the sort who became a key global representative for all the changes that had been taking place in Japanese music at the start of the 80s! Sakamoto's got an elegant look on the cover, and the music shares that approach too – jazzier than before, but still with that key knowledge of electronic elements that Ryuichi had in YMO – almost a blend of late 70s Japanese fusion with keyboards, samples, and other technology that Sakamoto helped bring into the mainstream at the time – but also with a quality that points the way to soundtrack shifts in the Ghibli generation! This package presents the original Japanese album – not the Illustrated Musical Encyclopedia set that was circulated globally – with tracks that include "May In The Backyard", "Paradise Lost", "Self Portrait", "Etude", "Tibetan Dance", "Tribute To NJP", and other titles in Japanese. Also includes bonus material from the 12" EP – "Replica", "Tibetan Dance (version)", and "Ma Mere L'Oye". CD

A spare and subtle tribute to the original Afro-Sambas project from guitarist Baden Powell and poet Vinicius De Moraes – done here by the duet of Monica Salmaso on vocals and Paulo Bellinati on guitar! The instrumentation is even sparer than the original version – and Monica's vocals really sound wonderful in the setting – more musical, more melodic, more compelling than ever before – and Bellinati's guitar playing is a little more subdued than Powell's, but in ways that seem to bring up the vocals even more. Titles include "Canto De Ossanha", "Tristeza E Solidao", "Labareda", "Consolacao", "Canto De Pedra Preta", "Canto De Imanja", and "Canto De Xango". CD

A huge amount of work from one of the most important French film composers of the modern age – the great Philippe Sarde, an artist whose music has accompanied a wide range of really wonderful films over the decades! Sarde was a key figure in merging some of the larger orchestrations of the previous generations with some of the leaner, more focused musical ideas that emerged on the European scene in the late 60s, especially on the French and Italian scenes – and over the decade, his use of new ideas woven with mainstream richness really brought a new sense of life to the world of soundtracks – so much so that Sarde's work was widely acclaimed on our side of the Atlantic – which wasn't always the case for some of his French contemporaries. This 6CD set provides a great overview of his compositions – and features 101 remastered selections from dozens of films – all packaged with a big 36 page booklet of notes. CD

There never was a second volume of work from Robert Savage – but maybe that's because he has enough musical adventures on this set to last him a lifetime! Savage is better known as Bobby Arlin, who started out with The Leaves – and his guitar here is far more searing than his work on the LA scene of the late 60s – certainly informed by the rise of British hard rock at the time, but with a boldness that's all its own! The odd cover is hardly a hint at what's inside – as Bobby works with a lean trio of just bass and drums, and none of the trappings that prog-like image might make you expect – qualities that are underscored with some occasional rootsy inflections, and a nice sort of attitude in the vocals. Titles include "Seven Days Drunk", "Don't Run & Hide", "Beaver Baby", "Milk Run", "Save Us From The Cyclops", and "Road Apples". CD

The birth of a key moment in avant garde music – served up here in a series of recordings that are nicely different than some of the other musique concrete material on the market! The package brings together some early "panorama" presentations of the work – two from the Club D'Essai program on French TV, with crucial work from Pierre Henry and Pierre Schaeffer, working in that blend of acoustic instruments with electronic results that seemed to grace so much of these early experiments! There's also contributions from Philippe Arthuys on one of the programs – and the set then moves onto CD2, which has even more variety in the music. The first section of CD2 features selections from a 1959 showcase of musique concrete by the Groupe De Recherces Musicales – with work by Iannis Xenakis, Henri Sauget, Luc Ferrari, Michel Philippot, and Schaeffer. The second part of that CD features the soundtrack to the film Malefices D'Henri Decoin by Pierre Henry – a selection of very cool songs! CD

Pure 70s genius from Lalo Schifrin – and the lost soundtrack to the second Dirty Harry film! Magnum Force never received a proper soundtrack album at the time – and although we've waited over 30 years, this overstuffed package finally gives the Schifrin score it's due – serving up a great variety of short tunes that fully illustrated the musical genius that made the Dirty Harry films so great. The set's got a total of 22 tracks in all – and goes way beyond the Dirty Harry Anthology sets to include some of the darker, moodier numbers from Magnum Force – some great shorter tunes that sit nicely next to the more famous funky themes! Titles include "Warm Enough", "Last Dance In Sausalito", "Early Is Late", "Briggs", "Magnum Force", "Stakeout", "Execution Squad", "The Bullet", "Potrero Hill", "The Faceless Assassin", "The Crooks", and "Harry's Ostinato". CD

A trio of fantastic albums from Christian Scott – all packaged together! First up is Ruler Rebel – a fantastic step forward for trumpeter Christian Scott Atunde Adjuah – an artist who takes on a new name with this recording, and a vibrant new sound as well! Scott still plays trumpet, but he also works with some electronics and effects, too – in a group that mixes acoustic elements from piano, flute, and percussion with electric work on Fender Rhodes and guitar – all in a sound that's swirlingly soulful, and as enigmatic as you might expect! The music reaches back to some deeper roots, but reworks the sound completely with lots of contemporary elements – and Scott's trumpet takes on a new sort of majesty in the setting – maybe hitting the promise we first saw in his music years back, but with even more focus here. Titles include "Encryption", "The Coronation Of X A Tunde Adjuah", "The Reckoning", "Ruler Rebel", and "New Orleanian Love Song". Next is Diaspora – a set that has Christian Scott really opening with a new sense of pride and power after adopting the Atunde Adjuah name – and blowing here not just on trumpet, but also "reverse flugelhorn", sirenette, and siren – and also using some sonic architecture to open up and expand his sound! Rhythms are a compelling mix of drum programs and acoustic percussion – peppered with work on alto, Fender Rhodes, bass, guitar, and drums – in this groove that's much more sharp-edged and sonically compelling than most other projects of this nature. Titles include "Lawless", "Our Lady Of New New Orleans", "IDK", "Desire & The Burning Girl", "Completely", "No Love", and "The Walk". Last is Emancipation Proclamation – part of Scott's brilliant trilogy that has him reworking his sound even more than before – using his horn in both acoustic and electric settings, and mixing with bits of funk and deeper musical currents – all at a level that's vaguely in the territory of Don Cherry in the 70s, but served up with a vibe that's very much Christian's own! Rather than be buried in the mix of percussion, Fender Rhodes, and other horns here – Scott seems to be set free, and really opens up with both the space of his solos, and the style of his phrasing – which is even more personal than before. The other players are great, too – a shifting lineup who retain the same bristling energy throughout – on titles that include "Ashes Of Our Forever", "The Emancipation Procrastination", "AvengHer", "Cages", "New Heroes", "Videotape", "The Cypher", "Michele With One L", and "Unrigging November". CD

An oft-overlooked jazzy gem from Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson – and a beautifully swinging session that has Gil toning it down a bit, and working into a nicely musical groove that gets past the heavy politics of earlier years! The record's a great showcase for the more upbeat side of Gil's talents – and what it lacks in righteousness, it more than makes up for in a warmly flowing and very soulful vibe! The band's in great form – laying down tight warm jazzy riffs that provide some of the best backing for Gil's voice we've heard since Winter In America – and titles include the wonderfully catchy "Racetrack In France", plus "Hello Sunday Hello Road", "Under The Hammer", and "We Almost Lost Detroit". LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever album from Gil Scott-Heron – and a perfect bridge between the world of his writing and the years to come of musical transformations that would forever change the American scene! The set's not the warm, jazzy soul of some of Gil's later records – and instead, there's a really raw vibe, mostly with Gil speaking instead of singing – often with just heavy percussion at the core, and these really righteous words served out over the top! All the work is his own, and the album's a showcase for his brilliant protest poetry – the most famous example of which is included in "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", which leads off the album with an especially righteous groove! The set's a key link in the African American musical tradition of the 20th century – and proof that the underground, while not always afforded a good place in the broadcast markets of the US, could always burst forth in the "narrowcast" medium of recorded music. A landmark album – one we like even better than the early work by the Last Poets – and great all the way through! Tracks include "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", "Whitey On The Moon", "Who'll Pay Reparations On My Soul?", "The Subject Was Faggots", and "Brother". CD

The first-ever album from Gil Scott-Heron – and a perfect bridge between the world of his writing and the years to come of musical transformations that would forever change the American scene! The set's not the warm, jazzy soul of some of Gil's later records – and instead, there's a really raw vibe, mostly with Gil speaking instead of singing – often with just heavy percussion at the core, and these really righteous words served out over the top! All the work is his own, and the album's a showcase for his brilliant protest poetry – the most famous example of which is included in "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", which leads off the album with an especially righteous groove! The set's a key link in the African American musical tradition of the 20th century – and proof that the underground, while not always afforded a good place in the broadcast markets of the US, could always burst forth in the "narrowcast" medium of recorded music. A landmark album – one we like even better than the early work by the Last Poets – and great all the way through! Tracks include "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", "Whitey On The Moon", "Who'll Pay Reparations On My Soul?", "The Subject Was Faggots", and "Brother". LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever album from Gil Scott-Heron – and a perfect bridge between the world of his writing and the years to come of musical transformations that would forever change the American scene! The set's not the warm, jazzy soul of some of Gil's later records – and instead, there's a really raw vibe, mostly with Gil speaking instead of singing – often with just heavy percussion at the core, and these really righteous words served out over the top! All the work is his own, and the album's a showcase for his brilliant protest poetry – the most famous example of which is included in "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", which leads off the album with an especially righteous groove! The set's a key link in the African American musical tradition of the 20th century – and proof that the underground, while not always afforded a good place in the broadcast markets of the US, could always burst forth in the "narrowcast" medium of recorded music. A landmark album – one we like even better than the early work by the Last Poets – and great all the way through! Tracks include "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", "Whitey On The Moon", "Who'll Pay Reparations On My Soul?", "The Subject Was Faggots", and "Brother". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic return to form for the great Tom T Hall – and a record that hints a bit at the bluegrass direction his later small label records would take! Earl Scruggs and his sons provide great musical backing, while Tom sings lead in that fantastic style of his – sometimes telling his own stories, sometimes singing the words of others – all in a lean, respectful, acoustic-driven setting that's maybe even better than most of Hall's own records at the time! Titles include "Shackles & Chains", "The Engineers Don't Wave From The Trains Anymore", "Song Of The South", "Don't Give Your Heart To A Rambler", "Dim Lights Thick Smoke", "No Expectations", "There Ain't Country Music On The Jukebox", and "Don't This Road Look Rough & Rocky". LP, Vinyl record album

The third album from Seatrain – a record with a title that refers to their move to Marblehead, Massachusetts from their original home in Marin County, California! That geographic shift maybe signals a bit of a musical shift too – some slightly stronger bluesy currents mixed in with their roots rock elements – fleshed out with songwriting that feels a bit more complicated and personal too! As with the previous album, George Martin produced – and has a sense of compression that really helps the sound of the set – and titles include "Gramercy", "The State Of Georgia's Mind", "Marblehead Messenger", "London Song", "Losing All The Years", "Despair Tire", and "Lonely's Not The Only Way To Go". LP, Vinyl record album

A stunningly massive album – the debut of this obscure UK group, who are a combo that shift effortlessly between late psych and early prog, with perhaps a bit of hard rock thrown in for good measure! If the tunes were longer, they might be too self-indulgent – but instead, the group step nicely between short bursts of musical inspiration – new ideas at every twist and turn, and a great way of using the studio as much as their own instruments – so that the vocals, guitar fuzz, and other elements move between rumbling intensity and some more offbeat moments! One of those lost treasures that really deserves more immortality – with titles that include "A Fairly Tale", "Dennis James The Clown", "Reality", "Mainliner", "Good Old '59 (We Are Slowly Getting Older)", "Steam Tugs", and "The World Will End Yesterday". LP, Vinyl record album

A record that's incredibly hard to pin down – and we mean that in the best way possible – a really explosive blend of jazz elements, contemporary rhythms, and all these other wonderful sounds and styles – a globe's worth of music that somehow was created in just a tiny bedroom studio! There's a richness here that's really uncommon for such a production – a quality that instead makes you feel as if some larger ensemble were working out new musical ideas in collaboration – not just a single artist with an uncanny ear for just the right saxophone elements, keyboard moments, and surprising sonic touches. These aren't "jazz loops" or some sort of silly, facile approach to music – and instead, Vasconcelos Sentimento has all the sophistication and depth to make the record well worthy of inclusion in the mighty catalog of the Far Out label. Titles include "Movimento", "Burkina", "Lucca", "Batebate", "Geraldo", "Quebra Coco", "Atraso Granular", and "Tender Strings". CD

A double-length set of work from funky sitar player Ananda Shankar – and a collection that features 2 of his lesser-known albums from the 70s! Musical Discovery of India is a 70s musical tour of Shankar's homeland – performed with his sitar in the lead, and some very sweet soundtrack-style orchestrations in the back!! The style's a bit less funky than before, but still extremely evocative – as it blends Indian styles of instrumentation with more western approaches to soundtrack scoring and a bit of post-colonial travelogue! Titles include "Discovery Of India", "Akbar's Jewels", "Namaskar", "Kaziranga Beat", and "The Hill Train". Next up is Sa Re Ga Machan – a great bit of jungle exotica, composed as a full piece with an "atmosphere of twilight and the feeling of watching animals at a water hole" – but recorded with a sweeping soundtracky feel that makes it more like some lost 70s film gem in the best places! There's some nicely subdued funk in the mix – as Ananda's sitar grooves over guitars, keyboards, and compressed bass and drum parts, occasionally touched with modern exotica styles, as in the work of Mandingo. Titles include "Night In The Forest", "Jungle King", "Jungle Symphony", "Sa Ra Ga Machan", "Romantic Rhino", "Charging Tiger", and "Monkey's Tea Party". CD

One of the best-ever Sonny Sharrock albums – and one of the few that really captures the fresh genius of his approach! The set was recorded in New York during the period when Sonny had just come out of Herbie Mann's group with Roy Ayers – but the sound is far far different than the lightly groovy records that Sonny cut with Herbie, more of a free expression of Sharrock's dark musical vision, filtered through the politics and progressive ideas of the time. The set was recorded in New York, with Dave Burrell on piano, Milford Graves on drums, and wife Linda on voice – and unlike on other albums, Linda doesn't get in the way too much, either, and her voice is a perfect accompaniment to the dark sound of the session. Side one features the tracks "Black Woman" and "Peanut", and side two has the band joined by Teddy Daniel on trumpet, and playing the tracks "Bialero", "Blind Willy", and "Portrait Of Linda In Three Colors, All Black". LP, Vinyl record album

Steve Shehan's often a mini musical force unto himself – a percussionist by trade, and one who's worked with many other artists – but who can also open himself up well on a project like this, by layering acoustic and electric elements in an evocative style that might even be thought of as exotica work for a new generation! There's plenty of percussion here that would be right at home on a classic record by Martin Denny or Les Baxter – mixed with some of the 90s advances in keyboard and sampling technology, so that the acoustic and electric elements have a really good balance in the mix, while Shehan goes off searching in all sorts of global directions. Titles include "Southern Attitudes", "Caravan In Kachgar", "Spiritus Cantus", "Indigo Dreams", "Amok", "Tonkinoise", and "Tjuringa". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing Impulse debut from Archie Shepp – easily one of his boldest musical statements ever, and a key announcement to the world that a new generation of modernists was on the rise! The album was co-produced by John Coltrane – who brought Shepp to the label, and almost gets out-done by Archie's sharply crafted musical vision on the set. The style here is that mix of freer lines and tighter conception that Shepp used with the New York Contemporary Five – and players include John Tchicai on alto from that group, plus Roswell Rudd on trombone, Alan Shorter on flugelhorn, Reggie Workman on bass, and Charles Moffett on drums. The lack of piano in the album is striking – and allows for plenty of horn interplay, but in a way that's much more cutting and dark than any of the piano-less horn dates from the 50s. Titles include 4 Coltrane compositions ("Syeeda's Song Flute", "Mr Syms", "Cousin Mary", and "Naima"), as sort of a tribute to Trane – plus Shepp's excellent "Rufus (Swung, his face at last to the wind, then his neck snapped)". CD

An amazing Impulse debut from Archie Shepp – easily one of his boldest musical statements ever, and a key announcement to the world that a new generation of modernists was on the rise! The album was co-produced by John Coltrane – who brought Shepp to the label, and almost gets out-done by Archie's sharply crafted musical vision on the set. The style here is that mix of freer lines and tighter conception that Shepp used with the New York Contemporary Five – and players include John Tchicai on alto from that group, plus Roswell Rudd on trombone, Alan Shorter on flugelhorn, Reggie Workman on bass, and Charles Moffett on drums. The lack of piano in the album is striking – and allows for plenty of horn interplay, but in a way that's much more cutting and dark than any of the piano-less horn dates from the 50s. Titles include 4 Coltrane compositions ("Syeeda's Song Flute", "Mr Syms", "Cousin Mary", and "Naima"), as sort of a tribute to Trane – plus Shepp's excellent "Rufus (Swung, his face at last to the wind, then his neck snapped)". LP, Vinyl record album

Produced by Claude Evans, but featuring Steelie & Clevie. 11 tracks, including "Family Affair", "Love & Marriage Rap", "Musical Madness", "The Real Rock", "Good Things", "Cigarette Breath" and "Dance Down the Road". Cassette

A beautiful take on the compositions of Milton Nasicmento – performed by guitarist Ricardo Silveira and pianist Luiz Avellar. Given the majesty and ambitious production styles often used with Nascimento's own recordings of his tunes, this stripped-down set is a very different take on the material – one that gets at the deeply personal spirit of the tunes, and which moves past the original lyrics into some introspective musical territory. We're surprised at how much we like the results, and we really enjoy the album's versions of "Para Lennon E McCartney", "Vera Cruz", "Cravo E Canela", "Travessia", and "Nuvem Cigana". CD

Paul Simon's mid 80s landmark – a record that brought together Simon's unique voice and pop folk songwriting skill with South African, Chicano, zydeco other global musical styles – held together by some of the best songs Simon ever put together! With lesser material, this would feel like the well-intentioned "world music" album by an aging star, but Simon transcends that in a big way with catchy, intelligent songs and expert production. Includes "The Boy In The Bubble", "Graceland", "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes", "You Can Call Me Al", "Under African Skyes", "All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Paul Simon's mid 80s landmark – a record that brought together Simon's unique voice and pop folk songwriting skill with South African, Chicano, zydeco other global musical styles – held together by some of the best songs Simon ever put together! With lesser material, this would feel like the well-intentioned "world music" album by an aging star, but Simon transcends that in a big way with catchy, intelligent songs and expert production. Includes "The Boy In The Bubble", "Graceland", "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes", "You Can Call Me Al", "Under African Skyes", "All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints" and more. Includes DVD of Under African Skies. CD

Paul Simon's mid 80s landmark – a record that brought together Simon's unique voice and pop folk songwriting skill with South African, Chicano, zydeco other global musical styles – held together by some of the best songs Simon ever put together! With lesser material, this would feel like the well-intentioned "world music" album by an aging star, but Simon transcends that in a big way with catchy, intelligent songs and expert production. Includes "The Boy In The Bubble", "Graceland", "Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes", "You Can Call Me Al", "Under African Skyes", "All Around The World Or The Myth Of Fingerprints" and more. CD includes a demo of "Homeless" plus alternate versions of two other tracks. CD

A classic album from Nina Simone's early period! The tracks feature prime work from Nina, caught at the point when she was turning her style from straight jazz into more of a folk-inspired soulful sound – filled with power, anger, and sheer raw emotion – played by a small combo of piano, bass, guitar, and drums, but in a way that opens up in so many different musical directions! There's a really strong genre-crossing approach at work here – and titles include "Rags & Old Iron", "I Love To Love", "Work Song", "No Good Man", "Gin House blues", "Memphis In June" and "Forbidden Fruit". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic full length collection of early Frank Sinatra recordings for Columbia Records – and maybe the definitive album of his mid 40s material originally issued on 78s! The quality of Sinatra's vocals here definitely live up to "The Voice" promised on the cover – as the singer's really finding himself away from the big bands of his youth, and singing with amazing clarity from both a position of musicality and expression. Titles include incredible readings of "Laura" and "Try A Little Tenderness" – plus "Paradise", "A Ghost Of A Chance", "Fools Rush In", "Lover", "She's Funny That Way", and "I Don't Know Why". LP, Vinyl record album

The most sophisticated album to date from this wonderful musician – a set that has Sly5thAve working with a large ensemble of players who shift along from track to track – delivering a very righteous reading of his core musical ideas, at a level that feels even more powerful than anything else he's ever given us! Many know Sly as a soulful production talent – but here, he's showcasing himself more as a composer/arranger – mixing jazz with larger instrumentation, yet all still set to funky beats and rhythms that tie the whole project to his roots. The whole thing is a huuuuge step forward for the artist – as Sly5thAve plays saxes, flute, bass clarinet, and keyboards – with a huge lineup of players on trumpet, tenor, keyboards, trombone, bass, flute, and other instrumentation too. Two tracks have vocals – sung by MacKenzie on one cut, and Kyle Rapps on another – and titles include "Water Suite", "Liberation", "No No No", "Exodus", "Monoxide", "Proverbs", and "Actin Whyte". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible early album by this legendary Brazilian band with a strong late 60s/early 70s progressive flair! While not as countercultural as Os Mutantes or other Tropicalia artists, Som Imaginario shared with them a sense of pure musical inventiveness, and a love of psychedelic flourishes – and they had a lasting impact upon MPB through their backup work for Milton Nascimento on some of his best albums. This rare first album is a killer – and features fantastic organ and piano riffs, heavy guitars, and stunning songwriting, with lots of jazzy touches – all very much in the best mode of the Minas Geras scene that also birthed Nascimento and Lo Borges. Wagner Tiso is on keyboards, but the whole band's great – and the vocals are produced to a very cool effect – and titles include "Hey Man", "Poison", "Nepal", "Pantera", "Super God", and "Morse". LP, Vinyl record album

Two funky space albums – back to back on a single CD! An Astromusical Odyssey is a fantastic album of spacey funky tracks! The great John Keating put this whole thing together in the years before he cut his more famous space soul albums for EMI – and the record's a wonderful mix of spacey orchestrations, spare electronics, and haunting voices – a wicked journey to the stars with a hip Brit Easy feel! There's a lot more funk here than you'd expect from other Phase 4 albums of this generation – and plenty of the cuts have weird instrumental bits that are just waiting for sampling. The whole thing's wonderful, and titles include "Round Trip Mars", "Aquarius", "Nocturne", "Across The Universe", "Up, Up, & Away", and "Spinning Wheel". Nova Sounds Of The Stars is a second slice of Sounds Galactic work from the Phase 4 catalog – this time headed by Roland Shaw, but in the same moogy modes used by John Keating on the previous album! There's possibly even more cool electronics here than before – lots of cool analogue bits that bubble and squeak nicely – amidst more familiar instrumental modes from the Phase 4 universe, including some nice jazzy touches, bits of strings, and other styles – all blended nicely with plenty of odd production and sound effects! Titles include a great cover of "Pillow Talk", a version of "Live & Let Die", and the Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More" – plus the great "Mon Etoile (My Star)", "Summer", "Get Down", and "Love Is All". CD

A unique sort of book – one with both an a-side and a b-side, each of which takes a different approach to The Beatles' classic white album! The first half of the book is an in-depth look at the musical masterpiece – presented with lots of vintage images, reflections on the record by group members, and track-by-track examinations of the double-length album! The second half follows in a similar image-rich approach, but then looks at the context in which the album was released – the cultural scene, political mood, musical vibe, and other aspects of the year 1968 – traced in month by month chapters. And the writing is great – this isn't one of those books that uses pictures to fluff up the text – and the hardcover edition is 10" square, 190 pages, with images throughout. Book

A landmark album from Skip Spence – the onetime lead singer of Moby Grape, cast out of the group on his own by the time of this debut solo album – a record that's as powerful as it is fragile, and which has been the one lasting musical legacy of the man himself! The record almost sunk without a trace at the time, but has gone onto become the stuff of legend over the decade – supported by fellow singers, songwriters, and even a fair bit of the music press – who all shine key light on the record's unique, ahead of its time quality! Spence recorded the set for the same Columbia Records that was willing to take a chance on the early Leonard Cohen records – and there's a similarly singular vibe to Skip's approach – one that puts the whole thing at the level of "missed the first time around – but never again!" albums by later-decade legends like Big Star, Nick Drake, and maybe even Cohen. The style is hard to describe – similar reworking of roots-though-psych as Moby Grape, but a lot more intimate too – with so many lost dark corners, the set will be rewarding your ears for years to come! Titles include his original "Cripple Creek", plus "Diana", "Margaret Tiger Rug", "Weighted Down", "Little Hands", "Books Of Moses", "All Come To Meet Her", "Broken Heart", and "War In Peace" – plus 10 bonus tracks!! CD

The crowning achievement of Spirit – a wonderful blend of many musical strands at once – and a set so successful for the group, you probably could have found in any college dorm room in the early 70s! The record's really a cut above for their generation – an expansive effort that hangs together with a bit of a concept, and which interweaves strands of rock, folk, and a bit of jazz – yet also a record that has a lot more polish than other efforts of its type, and which trades a bit of psychedelic indulgence for a tighter focus that really lets the best tunes sparkle wonderfully! Production is great – clear, but trippy at the same time – and Randy California's guitar work has never sounded better. Titles include "Nature's Way", "Animal Zoo", "Love Has Found A Way", "Mr Skin", "Soldier", "Street Worm", and "Space Child". LP, Vinyl record album

The crowning achievement of Spirit – a wonderful blend of many musical strands at once – and a set so successful for the group, you probably could have found in any college dorm room in the early 70s! The record's really a cut above for their generation – an expansive effort that hangs together with a bit of a concept, and which interweaves strands of rock, folk, and a bit of jazz – yet also a record that has a lot more polish than other efforts of its type, and which trades a bit of psychedelic indulgence for a tighter focus that really lets the best tunes sparkle wonderfully! Production is great – clear, but trippy at the same time – and Randy California's guitar work has never sounded better. Titles include "Nature's Way", "Animal Zoo", "Love Has Found A Way", "Mr Skin", "Soldier", "Street Worm", and "Space Child". CD

Writer Paul Steinbeck has already given us a great book on the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – but this time around, he looks at the larger scene from which they came, the groundbreaking AACM moment in jazz, which emerged in Chicago in the late 60s! Steinbeck provides some cultural and historical context, but also focuses in on key recordings that helped to define the special genius of AACM musicians and their united vision – with an approach that's build around different records on a chapter by chapter basis – even leading up to a few more recent recordings that show the continuing influence and growth of the organization. Along the way, Steinbeck provides some musical notations and deeper analysis of the sounds from his perspective as a musicologist – very illuminating to us, as we tend to have much more of a visceral response to these records – a lineup that includes Air Time by Air, Levels & Degrees Of Light by Muhal Richard Abrams, Sound by Roscoe Mitchell, Voyager by George Lewis, Nonaah by Roscoe Mitchell, Composition 76 by Anthony Braxton, Ten Freedom Summers by Wadada Leo Smith, and Mandorla Awakening II by Nicole Mitchell. The hardcover book features many charts and scores throughout – and is a total of 272 pages in length. Book

Not actually music with Kim Novak – but a set of musical backdrops by Morris Stoloff – designed as a package for the film Jeanne Eagels! The cover has a great color shot on the front, and smaller images of Kim on the back – and the music is surprisingly dark and moody. LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of classics from Strawberry Alarm Clock – back to back on a single CD! First up is their classic Incense & Peppermints – dreamy pop psych from Strawberry Alarm Clock – a great late 60s group who skirted the worlds of Sunshine Pop and more jamming garage rock! This album's got a lot more to offer than you might guess from just the title hit – as the instrumentation sometimes gets nicely tripped out – with cool use of organ, harpsichord, and guitar – plus plenty of special effects in production – and even some of the song styles and lengths are unusual too, making the album way more than just a batch of cute little tunes. Titles include the classic "Incense & Peppermints", the eight minute jammer "The World's On Fire", the instrumental "Pass Time With SAC", and the cuts "Paxton's Back Street Carnival", "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow", "Strawberries Mean Love", and "Unwind the Clock". Next is Wake Up It's Tomorrow – a great little second set from Strawberry Alarm Clock – much headier and tripped-out than their first! For the record, the group's not just working off the success of a previous single – and instead is really taking time in the studio to try out new ideas, musically, lyrically, and (most importantly) in the range of cool production techniques used on the set! There's still a warm harmony vocal approach on some of the album's best tunes, but they're also matched here with some more progressive guitar parts and fuzzier instrumental touches – in a way that brings a bit of darkness into the sunshine, and creates the wonderful sense of counterpoint that was always the group's strongest suit. Most tunes are nicely unfamiliar, and titles include "Curse Of The Witches", "Black Butter – Past, Present, & Future", "Soft Skies No Lies", "They Saw The Fat One Coming", "Nightmare of Percussion", "Tomorrow", "Sit With the Guru", and "Pretty Song From Psych-Out". CD also features single mixes of "Tomorrow" and "Sit With The Guru". CD

A masterpiece of harmony soul – one of THE all-time greats of the genre, and a lasting treasure from The Stylistics! The album really took vocal soul to a whole new level for the 70s – pushing from the sometimes fragile ballad style of the late 60s into a smoother, more mature sound that was impeccably produced, yet still had all the depth of feeling as before! Maestro Thom Bell is the man to thank for the greatness of this album – as his production and musical vision really helped The Stylistics hit levels that few other groups like this were reaching at the time. Titles include their seminal long version of "People Make the World Go Round" – which, at 6 minutes in length, was really unusual for the time. Other titles include "Stop Look & Listen", "Betcha By Golly Wow", "You're A Big Girl Now", "If I Love You", "Ebony Eyes", and "You Are Everything". CD

A masterpiece of harmony soul – one of THE all-time greats of the genre, and a lasting treasure from The Stylistics! The album really took vocal soul to a whole new level for the 70s – pushing from the sometimes fragile ballad style of the late 60s into a smoother, more mature sound that was impeccably produced, yet still had all the depth of feeling as before! Maestro Thom Bell is the man to thank for the greatness of this album – as his production and musical vision really helped The Stylistics hit levels that few other groups like this were reaching at the time. Titles include their seminal long version of "People Make the World Go Round" – which, at 6 minutes in length, was really unusual for the time. Other titles include "Stop Look & Listen", "Betcha By Golly Wow", "You're A Big Girl Now", "If I Love You", "Ebony Eyes", and "You Are Everything". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge run of records from Yma Sumac – presented here in a box that collects just about everything she recorded for Capitol Records in the 50s! First up is Voice Of The Xtaby – legendary vocal work from the postwar years – some of the earliest recordings from the enigmatic Yma Sumac – an artist whose records really laid the groundwork for an entire generation of exotica records to come! Sumac's authenticity has been debated over the years – but there's no denying that she's got this incredible vocal range – a many-octave approach that almost makes her sound like a human theremin – as she works with exotic backings from Les Baxter to offer up a take on Peruvian roots, styled towards a 50s bachelor pad listener! Titles include "Xtaby", "Wayra", "Taita Inty", "Monos", and "Tumpa". Legend Of The Sun is early work from Yma Sumac – with that moody mix of other worldly vocals and semi-Latin instrumentation that made her a popular one with the early exotic crowd. Yma runs up and down the vocal scale, while Moises Vivanco leads the band in a set of crashing dramatic orchestrations with a Peruvian feel. Tracks include "Sunray Surita", "Mamallayi", "No Es Vida", "Ccori Canastitay", and "Kon Tiki". The package features selections from the album Flahooley – one of the more obscure Yma Sumac albums from the 50s – a Broadway production with a larger cast – and much more of a musical than Sumac's other records. Yma really stands out in the show, though – singing a few special numbers with music by Moises Vivanco – but the rest is familiar Broadway modes of the early 50s, penned by Sammy Fain & EY Harburg. Sumac titles include "Najala's Song Of Joy", "Najala's Lament", and "Come Back Little Genie Birds". Mambo is quite possibly our favorite album ever by the enigmatic Yma Sumac – thanks to some lively arrangements by Billy May, who gives the set a swinging jazzy groove! As you might guess from the cover, the style here is more in a Latin jazz mode than some of Yma's other more ethereal work – and that style turns out to be a wonderful fit for Sumac's incredible vocals – creating a batch of driving tunes that swing nicely, yet still have a spooky exotic sound on the top! Titles include "Bo Mambo", "Taki Rari", "Goomba Boomba", "Malambo No 1", and "Five Bottles Mambo". Inca Taqui is an early 10" LP – on which Yma Sumac sings chants of the Andes – and authentic or not, the sound's pretty darn great! The record's in the same format as her other early work for Capitol – tunes written by Moises Vivanco, who also conducts the backings in a dramatic early 50s style that's perfect for Yma's wonderful voice! And whether or not these tunes are actually the ones that all the cats in Peru were singing up in the mountains, they still sound pretty darn great as a key part of postwar exotica! Titles include "Incachao", "Llulla Mak'Ta", "Chuncho", "K'Arawi", and "Cumbe-Maita". Legend Of The Jivaro is one of Yma's more "historical" records – and the notes say that the album is "the rare plum of authenticity". We don't know if we'd go that far, but we can tell you that the record features Yma performing songs of the legendary Jivaro headhunters! Supposedly, Yma learned them in her "South American jungle-home", but we keep wondering why the headhunters took the time to teach her, when they could have been shrinking her head. Tracks include "Yawar", "Shou Condor", "Aullay", "Sumac Soratena", and "Hampi". Last up is Fuego Del Ande – one of the most obscure albums by vocalist Yma Sumac – and one of the most compelling too! The album has Yma working in the Andean style of her earlier 10" albums for Capitol – working with Moises Vivanco on a set of tunes that have a much more traditional and almost folkloric style than some of her work with Les Baxter. Titles include "Clamor", "Dale Que Dale", "Llora Corazon", "Gallito Caliente", "La Molina", and "Flor De Canela". CD

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Symphonic soul from The Supremes – a set that still has the trio working with the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland team, but with a full set of orchestral backings that help them hit even more class and sophistication than before! The ballads have these really lush arrangements – never too pop, but swelling with strings that lift up the young voice of Diana Ross in a really regal way – with a style that helps transform familiar numbers from other singers, and really make them some proud musical statements of her own. These arrangements hang on through most of the record, but are often augmented by these cool vibes that bring in a slight jazzy undercurrent – and titles include the classic "I Hear A Symphony" – plus "Stranger In Paradise", "Unchained Melody", "Without A Song", "A Lover's Concerto", "My World Is Empty Without You", and "He's All I Got". LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliant debut from Sylvester – quite different than his later disco and club work – although still pretty upbeat and groovy overall! The album's a really unique sort of effort – one that's unabashedly gender-bending, but also wonderfully solid from a musical perspective – funky at points, rootsy at others – with an odd blend of 70s soul and older R&B elements, all filtered through the genre-bending sound of the Bay Area scene of the time! Arrangements are by Sylvester and The Hot Band, but Ben Sidran produced, and we're sure that the record's offbeat qualities are partly due to his own great style of the time – that weird, slightly messed-up groove you'd find on Ben's Blue Thumb album. The set features wild covers of "Southern Man" and "My Country Tis Of Thee" – plus "Whiter Shade Of Pale", "Gimme A Pigfoot", "God Bless The Child", "I'm A Steam Roller", "That Is Rock n Roll", and "Come Back Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful biography of one of the most colorful and significant figures in modern music. There's no need for us to go into the impact Sun Ra's music has made in the realm of the sort of records our pages are filled with – in spite of the mainstream musical audience's ignorance of his vast and important oeuvre – and the story of his life is equally as engrossing, filled with as much mystery and imagination as the sounds he left behind on record! Until this book, so much of the story of Ra was just legend, and difficult to penetrate in the veil between fact and fantasy – but author John Szwed did a landmark job of getting to the real story, unearthing an insane amount of details, and doing a fair bit of interviews for the project – which took many years to put together. This edition of the book is huge – with a new forward, a discography in the back, and a section of photos in the middle. 476 pages, softcover. Book

Guitarist Sebastiao Tapajos really sounds wonderful here – playing in a spare setting, but a lively one too – thanks to work from percussionist Pedro Dos Santos, who plays a wide variety of instruments that really keep things groovy! There's a feel here that's a bit like some of Baden Powell's small combo records – kind of a post-bossa approach, with more complexity in the guitar work – and a groove that never stops being interesting – thanks to Pedro's work on tamborin, berimbau, tumbadora, and a host of other instruments too. Includes "Estudio No 1", "Despedida De Mangueira", "Encuentro Marcado", "Cantico Del Agua", "Himalaya", "Santarem", "Sorongaio", "Solfeggeto", "Cajita De Musica", "Munganga", "Primavera" and "Solo De Bambu". CD features bonus tracks – "Primavera/Favela", "Samba Em Preludio/Despedida De Mangueira", "Munganga", "Todo E Moda", and "Sorongaio". CD

A long-overdue moment of exposure for pianist Horace Tapscott – one of the greatest creative forces in west coast jazz in the 60s, 70s, and 80s – but an artist whose genius was often kept away from the limelight! That hardly seemed to matter to Tapscott, though – as his legacy is tremendous, finally given full exposure by this autobiography, which then paved the way for new presentations of his music in years to come – a surprisingly large legacy of reissues that we wish Horace could have seen in his too-short life! Yet despite that, it's clear that the man himself took a lot of pride in his music – as you'll read in this live story, which documents Tapscott's move to LA as a young child, his creation of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, and all his many other projects – which were often tied to cultural and political developments in south LA. The book is 272 pages, softcover, and as beautifully written as Tapscott's music! Book

A fantastic extended performance from the great Cecil Taylor – and a set that's really striking for a number of different reasons! First, the performance begins with some added voice work from Tristan Honsinger, Dominic Duval, and others – doing unusual vocalizations that are a bit like those that Taylor would sometimes use to augment his piano improvisations. Another striking feature is the presence of Sunny Murray on drums – one of Taylor's best musical partner, and a player who here is working at a level that's wonderfully open and spacious – very different than you might expect, and in a way that also seems to bring even more thoughtful, sensitive qualities to Cecil's piano! The set was recorded live in Berlin in 1996, and features two shorter segments, both with voice – and one very bold piece in the middle that runs for almost 50 minutes in length. CD

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Very early work from Joe Tex – recorded way before his boogie records of the 70s, and even his country soul classics of the 60s! Yet despite the age of these sides, the Joe Tex vocal approach is very firmly in place – that raspy mode that's undeniably human, and which might be rooted in blues and gospel, but which already takes a place here with a standout mode that's completely Joe's own! Musical modes move between R&B ballads and some bolder early soul styles – and titles include "She's Mine", "My Biggest Mistake", "Get Way Back", "Right Back To My Arms", "Come In This House", "I Had To Come Back To You", "Pneumonia", "Davy You Upset My Home", and "Another Woman's Man". LP, Vinyl record album

A tremendous document of work by Jake Thackray – one of the most unique talents on the British music scene of the 60s, but an artist who's sadly been un-remembered over the years! At first glance, Jake's definitely a folkie, but he's also one with a strong influence from French singer/songwriters like Jacques Brel or George Brassens – and takes key inspiration from them in the depth and darkness of his work. Like both Brel and Brassens, Thackray's got a style that's almost out of time – one that's ageless at some points, but with a very contemporary way of viewing the world – personal, pointed, and penned with an incredible sense of wit. In an era when most folkies were attacking the political or pushing into the fantastic, Jake spent careful time looking at human foibles and the complexities of interpersonal relationships – always from a distance, but close enough to note the odd humor in even the most banal situations. This wonderful set brings together 4 of Thackray's albums for EMI – Bantam Cock, Last Will & Testament, Jake's Progress, and On Again On Again – all of which feature Jake's slightly jazz-inflected vocals alongside acoustic guitar and very spare, but well-chosen additional instrumentation. Package also features a full disc of unreleased material – including different versions of other tunes on the albums. 97 tracks in all, and a wonderful musical discovery throughout! Titles include "The Cactus", "Country Bus", "Brother Gorilla", "The Girl In The Window", "Ulysses", "Scallywag", "Salvation Army Girl", "On The Shelf", "Go Little Swale", "Isabel Makes Love On National Monuments", "Joseph", "Famous People", "The Gravedigger", and "Leopold Alcocks". CD

An incredible run of music from this legendary group that was the first musical step for singer Van Morrison – a group so great, Van would still have had one hell of a career, even if he didn't do anything else! Right from the start, Them were a very special group – as steeped in American soul and R&B influences as many of their British contemporaries, but gifted with a rare ear to match the deepness of the originals with a flavor of their own – yet one that was also very individual as well! Morrison's singing is a big part of that approach – much more raw than in later years – but the overall conception is very important too – as Them never tries to rock too hard, or push things too far – and instead finds the way to lay back in the groove, and really let their tunes open up with a lot of soul. This excellent 3CD set features everything the group recorded in their short span – all the material from their two full albums, lots of singles as well, and even a full disc of mostly-unreleased rare tracks – including demos, alternates, and BBC performances. 69 tracks in all, with a big booklet of notes – and titles that include "I Gave My Love A Diamond", "Gloria", "My Lonely Sad Eyes", "I Got A Woman", "Could You Would You", "Something You Got", "Baby What You Want Me To Do", "The Story Of Them (parts 1 & 2)", "Half As Much", "Don't Start Crying Now", "One Two Brown Eyes", "Richard Cory", "Friday's Child", "Bring Em On In", "Hey Girl", "Out Of Sight", "It's All Over Now Baby Blue", and "I'm Gonna Dress In Black". CD

A sweet bit of pop with lots of hipster late 60s touches – mixed male/female vocals coming together in weird styles on the tracks, in a mode that reminds us a lot of Spanky & Our Gang, and some of the California work under the Curt Boettcher/Millenium camp! The harmonies are nice and sweet – in a style that owes a lot to earlier 60s pop, but which is produced with just the right touches to take that sweetness and give it a dark undercurrent that really makes things interesting. Musical backings are by Al Gorgoni – and titles include "Swinger", "Is Mr Peters Coming", "Boppa Do Down Down", "From A Parachute", "Invisible Man", and "No Return". CD

A really genre-transforming record from Thundercat – music that opened the door to a whole generation of experiments on both sides of the Atlantic in years to come! Flying Lotus is a key musical partner here, and the record moves effortlessly between soul and funk, jazz and cosmic currents – nodding at a few moments to hip hop and other contemporary styles, but always with that visionary approach that's made Thundercat such a force to reckon with over the years! And yes, there had been other attempts to hit this territory in the decade before – but this is one of the few records that really feels like it's getting the approach right, and moving the needle forward – thanks to tracks that include "We'll Die", "Tron Song", "Seven", "Oh Sheit It's X", "Without You", "Life Aquatic", "Tenfold", and "Heartbreaks + Setbacks". LP, Vinyl record album

A really genre-transforming record from Thundercat – music that opened the door to a whole generation of experiments on both sides of the Atlantic in years to come! Flying Lotus is a key musical partner here, and the record moves effortlessly between soul and funk, jazz and cosmic currents – nodding at a few moments to hip hop and other contemporary styles, but always with that visionary approach that's made Thundercat such a force to reckon with over the years! And yes, there had been other attempts to hit this territory in the decade before – but this is one of the few records that really feels like it's getting the approach right, and moving the needle forward – thanks to tracks that include "We'll Die", "Tron Song", "Seven", "Oh Sheit It's X", "Without You", "Life Aquatic", "Tenfold", and "Heartbreaks + Setbacks". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the hippest records ever cut by pianist Enrique Villegas – very different than his early material, and a set that's got this strong, stretched-out, and highly spiritual vibe – thanks in very large part to his musical partner on the date, saxophonist Ara Tokatlian! In many ways, the record is clearly Ara's own – as he blows tenor, soprano sax, flute, and bandura – sometimes with processing and effects that are almost in the early mode of John Klemmer on Chess/Cadet, but with a more searing tone that's like his countryman Gato Barbieri on early Impulse records sides – sounding incredible in a lean setting that has the pair getting just a bit of additional percussion and bass from Guillermo Bordarampe. Tunes are long, soaring, and very spiritual – and titles include "Maritimaria", "A La Sombra De Los Dorados", "Camino A Samarkanda", and "En La Ola De Tus Ojos". CD

One of the hippest records ever cut by pianist Enrique Villegas – very different than his early material, and a set that's got this strong, stretched-out, and highly spiritual vibe – thanks in very large part to his musical partner on the date, saxophonist Ara Tokatlian! In many ways, the record is clearly Ara's own – as he blows tenor, soprano sax, flute, and bandura – sometimes with processing and effects that are almost in the early mode of John Klemmer on Chess/Cadet, but with a more searing tone that's like his countryman Gato Barbieri on early Impulse records sides – sounding incredible in a lean setting that has the pair getting just a bit of additional percussion and bass from Guillermo Bordarampe. Tunes are long, soaring, and very spiritual – and titles include "Maritimaria", "A La Sombra De Los Dorados", "Camino A Samarkanda", and "En La Ola De Tus Ojos". LP, Vinyl record album

A whole new side of Charles Tolliver's talents – a majestic big band album, with Charles' trumpet right out front in the lead! At some level, the album's an extension of Tolliver's larger group projects with Music Inc back in the 70s – but at another level, the feel here is totally different – much more complex and dynamic, with a rich array of colors and tones we'd never heard before in his work! The group's definitely a big band – with a full brace of trumpets, trombones, and saxes – all working together in very tight formation to realize Tolliver's musical vision. Solos are by Charles on trumpet on most tracks, plus Bill Saxton and Billy Harper on tenor, Staffort Hunter on trombone, Todd Bashore on alto sax, and Robert Glasper and Stanley Cowell on piano. Titles include "With Love", "Rejoicin", "Mournin Variations", "Right Now", "Suspicion", and "Hit The Spot". CD

This groundbreaking Chicago combo once again moves away from the pack on what might be their best album – leaving behind the host of imitators that sprung up in their wake. Standards still shows a fascination with the spare and revolving rhythms that graced the group's first few releases, but it's also a lot more complex musically – with plenty of added electronics, noisy guitars, keyboards, and some of the most sophisticated production to date – proof that these guys are great, and always growing as artists. Titles include "Seneca", "Eros", "Benway", "Eden 2", "Blackjack", "Speakeasy", and "Six Pack". CD

This groundbreaking Chicago combo once again moves away from the pack on what might be their best album – leaving behind the host of imitators that sprung up in their wake. Standards still shows a fascination with the spare and revolving rhythms that graced the group's first few releases, but it's also a lot more complex musically – with plenty of added electronics, noisy guitars, keyboards, and some of the most sophisticated production to date – proof that these guys are great, and always growing as artists. Titles include "Seneca", "Eros", "Benway", "Eden 2", "Blackjack", "Speakeasy", and "Six Pack". LP, Vinyl record album