Hard driving early 70s psych rock from Argentinean combo Piel De Pueblo – with searing guitar grooving and a heavily rhythmic bottom end of bass and drums! The guitars here are really as driving as can be, but it's service of the thundering overall feel. The is equally extroverted, and since it's not sung in English we can't comment on the topical nature – but it's impassioned stuff from an aural standpoint. Nice stuff – with a sounds that range from garage fuzziness to post Hendrix heaviness. Titles include "Silencio Para Un Pueblo", "A Tierra En 998 Pedazos", "Jugando A Las Palabras", "Para Tener Un Poco Mas", "La Palida De Nacho", "Veni Amigo A La Zapada", "El Rockito De La Bufonada" – and it's about time we stocked an album with a song called "Sexo Galactico"!!! CD

One of the best-remembered moments of music from the enigmatic Vangelis – a set that's maybe a bit darker and more moody than some of his other records of the time – thanks to the Blade Runner setting provided by director Ridley Scott! Vangelis works plenty of familiar early 80s soundtrack elements here – lots of keyboards and electronic wash, plus even a bit of almost-cheesy sax at times – but he makes the whole thing sound nicely off-kilter at most moments, with just the sort of awkward replication that fits perfectly with the narrative theme of the film. There's some beautiful exotic currents that are maybe even more captivating here on record than you might remember from their use onscreen – and titles include "Memories Of Green", "Tales Of The Future", "Rachel's Song", "Blush Response", "Lone More Kiss Dear", and "Tears In Rain". CD

Great stuff from one of the new European "funky young lions" of Blue Note France! Italian trumpeter Flavio Boltro lays down a killer set of modern funk grooves here – clearly played with one foot in the past, but the other firmly in a present that's filled with tight snapping drum breaks and round warm basslines. The record has a very strong 70s feel to it, but with a style that's hard to place – and which is more a combination of a lot of different elements than it is that of any one player. There's lots of nice keyboard riffing away under Boltro's horn, and the band has a tight funky feel in the manner of some of the best Italian combos from the golden days of the early 90s acid jazz boom. Titles include "Duo", "Little Room", "Matteo", "Hey Papa!", "Vucciria", and "Tea In The Sahara". CD

Bob's fourth record, and close runner up to Freewheelin' as the masterpiece of this early stage of his career. While the overly arch Times They Are A Changin' pretty much stood as the cornerstone of classifiable folk rock at the time, Another Side is just that. Dense, elliptical, and downright surreal at times, with some of the protesty stuff that made the media so happy & hungry, but much more layered and poetic. Another side is also much more reverent of and indebted to the Harry Smith field recordings that Bob studied so hard, the stuff that finally caught on with the general public in the early 90s. Titles include "Spanish Harlem Incident", "It Ain't Me Babe", "Ballad In Plain D", "Black Crow Blues", "I Don't Believe You", "Motorpsycho Nitemare", "To Ramona", "Chimes Of Freedom", "My Back Pages", and "I Shall Be Free No 10". CD

Not just a flute session from Yusef Lateef – as the set's a record with plenty of saxophone as well as the instrument named in the title! Yusef's mixing his bag nicely for this mid 60s classic – working through tunes that are a mixture of soulful hardbop and eastern exoticism – a shift that's marked by Lateef's changing reed work on tenor, flute, and oboe! The group's a hip quartet with players from Lateef's Detroit scene – the always-great Hugh Lawson on piano, plus Herman Wright on bass, and a young Roy Brooks on drums – all working with Lateef in a sound that almost points the way towards some of the innovations in 70s soul jazz, and which has surprisingly righteous touches that you wouldn't expect from such a simple package! Titles include Brooks' excellent groover "The Smart Set", plus "Oasis", "Road Runner", "The Golden Flute", and "Head Hunters". CD

One of Quincy Jones' best soundtracks of the 70s – a massively funky record that's full of the kind of hip electric grooves you always look for on some of his other albums, but don't always find in such strong supply! The lineup here is great – wicked guitar lines from Arthur Adams and David T Walker, keyboards from Clare Fischer, and heavy drums from the great Paul Humphrey – and the whole thing follows nicely in a "Hicky Burr" sort of mode – with some especially nice Fender Rhodes moments in the mix! There's a few more complicated cuts that really round out the sound wonderfully – and the whole thing has had a heck of a lot more staying power than the film! Heck, even the appearance of Little Richard on vocals at a few points sounds surprisingly great – and titles include the classic sample cut "Snow Creatures", which has an amazing intro and a very dark mood – next to other cuts that include "Passin The Buck", "Rubber Ducky", "Money Is", "Do It Do It", and "Money Runner". CD

Some of the most compelling work that Sonny Rollins recorded in the 60s – served up here in a helping of his 3 albums for Impulse Records! Rollins only stopped at the label briefly – and didn't contribute as much to the Impulse catalog as other 60s tenor heavyweights like John Coltrane or Archie Shepp – but each of his 3 records for the company are real gems, and the best tracks from those sides are presented nicely in this introductory package! Titles include straighter numbers like "Three Little Words" and "On Green Dolphin Street"; soaring large group material with Oliver Nelson on the tracks "On Impulse", "Street Runner With Child" and "Alfie's Theme"; and nicely open-ended blowing on the 20 minute long "East Broadway Run Down", an extremely influential title from the time! CD

A record that blew the world away when it was first released – and still continues to delight all these many years later! Brian Eno had first rose to fame in Roxy Music – where his sonic sensibilities and ear for electronic experimentation really added a lot to their initial albums – and here, on his own, he's in somewhat side-stepped territory – mixing things up in the art/glam generation of Roxy and Bowie, but also already showing a darkness that really sets him apart from the pack! The first three songs alone are a hell of a statement from any musician in the 70s, and the titles alone almost get at their impact – "Needles In The Camel's Eye", "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch", and "Baby's On Fire" – all songs that offer a rare blend of ferocity and humor that wouldn't emerge elsewhere until the punk movement. Yet Eno's hardly the forerunner of punk, but he's also not glam, metal, or anything else – a supremely impactful artist with this record, completely in his own space – like a rare breed that might include The Velvet Underground, Gram Parsons, or Bowie. Titles include "Needles In The Camel's Eye", "The Paw Paw Negro Blowtorch", "Baby's On Fire" "Blank Frank", "Some Of Them Are Old", "Cindy Tells Me", "On Some Faraway Beach", and "Dead Finks Don't Talk". CD

The fourth in the MPS reissue series of long unreleased late 60s recordings from the home of producer/engineer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer finds Oscar Peterson in a glorious solo piano mode! All of the recordings in the series were from very relaxed, loose sessions that were some of Peterson's favorite of the time – and they're done in a mode that has Oscar playing loosely and soulfully throughout. Titles include "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Perdido", "Body And Soul", "Bye, Bye Blackbird", "Lulu's Back In Town", Little Girl Blue", "Who Can I Turn To", "Take The 'A' Train" and more. CD

The first of a series of great "private" recordings that Oscar Peterson did for the MPS label in the late 60s – sessions done at the home of label owner Hans Georg Brunner Schwer, in a laidback and easygoing style that's different than some of his American work of the time! The group on the set features Ray Brown on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums, and the tunes open up nicely on some of the album's longer takes. Titles include "Easy Walker", "Tin Tin Deo", "Like Someone In Love", and "A Foggy Day". CD

The fourth in the MPS reissue series of long unreleased late 60s recordings from the home of producer/engineer Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer finds Oscar Peterson in a glorious solo piano mode! All of the recordings in the series were from very relaxed, loose sessions that were some of Peterson's favorite of the time – and they're done in a mode that has Oscar playing loosely and soulfully throughout. Titles include "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Perdido", "Body And Soul", "Bye, Bye Blackbird", "Lulu's Back In Town", Little Girl Blue", "Who Can I Turn To", "Take The 'A' Train" and more. CD

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The great city of Boston lost Babe Ruth in 1920, and it was pretty much all downhill until the Modern Lovers showed up at the end of the 60s. The two chord proto-punk, pomposity-busting brilliance of Jonathan Richman and his organ-heavy (courtesy of pre-Talking Head Jerry Harrison) Modern Lovers sounds better and better every time we hear it! This is the classic first album – with "Roadrunner", "Hospital", "She Cracked", "Modern World" and the rest, the one that they recorded around 1970 and which languished as a heavily bootlegged cult classic until it's first official release in the mid 70s! CD