... LP, Vinyl record album

A stone 70s classic from Tavares – quite possibly the group's biggest album, and a masterpiece of LA vocal group soul! The album's biggest claim to fame is the massive hit "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel", recorded by the group for this set, but blown to the heights through it's huge use in the film Saturday Night Fever. But although that hit might mark them as a disco group, Tavares are still very much in the strongest style of their best early vocal group sets – coming together magically as a group, even when the rhythms are a bit uptempo, and sounding great on tracks that include "To The Other Man", "The Mighty Power Of Love", "Bein With You", "Ridin High", "Wonderful", and "Guiding Star". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Yes, it was a mega-hit – and yes, it was one of those records that everyone who lived through the 70s seemed to own at one time – but after all these decades, you can't deny the power of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack – especially for the way that it mixed club soul classics with new original material! Obviously, the Bee Gees cover placement make them big stars of the record – but the set's also got some great early disco gems – like "Open Sesame" by Kool & The Gang, "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps, "KJEE" by MFSB, "Calypso Breakdown" by Ralph MacDonald, "Fifth Of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy, "If I Can't Have You" by Yvonne Elliman, "Boogie Shoes" by KC & The Sunshine Band, and "More Than A Woman" by Tavares. The Bee Gees reinvent themselves from the early days – and sing "Stayin Alive", "How Deep Is Your Love", "More Than A Woman", "Jive Talkin", "You Should Be Dancin", and "Night Fever" – and the set also features a few instrumentals by David Shire – "Manhattan Skyline", "Night On Disco Mountain" and "Salsation". LP, Vinyl record album

A hip little set from Ruth Brown – miles away from her earlier R&B for Atlantic, and much more in the adult, righteous, and contemporary mode you'd expect from the title! The session's one of the key sides from the late 60s Skye Records catalog – and like others on the label, it features Gary McFarland production, and some great small group backings by a group that includes Richard Tee on organ, Billy Butler on guitar, and Herbie Lovelle on drums. Ruth's trials and tribulations are listed in detail inside the notes – and the record was one of the first re-discovery efforts that Brown undertook – a session that was trying to help her pay her dues, and expose her to the same sort of audiences that were lapping up Aretha Franklin at the time, but not giving as much attention to older singers. Tracks are a mix of (then) contemporary numbers and updated older tunes – with titles that include "Yesterday", "Please Send Me Someone To Love", "Lookin Back", "Try Me & See", "Miss Brown's Blues", "My Prayer", and "This Bitter Earth". LP, Vinyl record album

A double-length disco symphony – and a surprisingly good one at that! The set was put together by DJ Frankie Crocker – but we're guessing the real talent lies elsewhere, most likely in the talents of the session players – an all-star group that includes Billy Mitchell on piano, Wah Wah Ragin on guitar, James Gatson on drums, and Sonny Burke on keyboards. The tracks are mostly standards, redone in a long, swirling disco mode – with surprisingly tight rhythms underneath soaring strings, and standout instrumental work from the players mentioned above. The album's an all-instrumental affair, and tracks include "Poinciana", "Friendly Persuasion", "I Can't Get Started", "Flamingo", "Skylark", and "Be My Love". LP, Vinyl record album

One of those killer records from that 80s moment when Robert Fripp rebooted King Crimson with a lean lineup that had a really fantastic sound – with more guitars and vocals from Adrian Belew, a younger player who really had the same ear as Fripp for unusual sounds from guitars – alongside Tony Levin on bass and Chapman stick, and the great Bill Bruford on drums! Titles include "Elephant Talk", "Frame By Frame", "Thela Hun Ginjeet", and "The Sheltering Sky". LP, Vinyl record album

The first album by Gregg Diamond's Bionic Boogie group – and a cooker of a set that follows strongly from Gregg's previous Hot Butterfly gem! Luther Vandross isn't on board this time around, but the overall groove is still totally great – upbeat, soaring, and put together with a jazzy undercurrent that really keeps things interesting – far more so than most other mainstream disco sets of the time! Brad Baker – of B Baker Chocolate Company – handled the arrangements – and the grooves spin out nicely from Diamond's keyboards, and a tight mix of strings and jazzy horns. Vocals are from the soulful trio of Gwen Guthrie, Ullanda McCullough, and Zachary Sanders – and titles include "Dance Little Dreamer", "Risky Changes", "Boogie Boo", "We Must Believe In Music", "Feel Like Dancing", and "Don't Lose The Number". LP, Vinyl record album

Probably the most successful album the Mizell Brothers ever produced, and a fine set of uptempo groovers from this female soul duet! There's some nice jazzy moments underneath the catchy lyrics, and in a way, the album's style is sort of a blueprint for the sound that would emerge over the next few at Capitol Records, where some incredible albums of modern soul would be recorded. And sure, at one level the group's hit "Boogie Oogie Oogie" is a bit of throwaway pop disco – but there's plenty of other great moments that show the group as a more sophisticated soul outfit, including "This Love Of Ours", "Sky High", and "If We Loved". LP, Vinyl record album

The wildly influential soundtrack to Shogun Assassin – credited to The Wonderland Philharmonic, but co-produced and performed by Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & The Raiders and disco guru W. Michael Lewis – heavy on moogy atmospherics and dialogue from the film! It's a triumph of oddly spacey action soundtrack composition, perhaps most famous for the huge influence on RZA's incredible peak-era Wu Tang production! Includes "The Legend Of The Lone Wolf", "Daigoro's Theme", "The Ninja", "Crimson Sky", "Dune", "Eyes Of A Demon" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Music with a message – and a wonderfully spiritual groove, too – served up here in a killer collection that goes way past the obvious, and unearths an amazing collection of work from the 70s onwards! The set's not your usual batch of post-Coltrane or Impulse Records cuts – and instead, the music comes from a very deep array of American underground records from the 70s, as well as some rare European releases from that decade and later years, plus lost tracks from the vaults – all coming together in a set of tracks that's as mind-expanding as it is righteously progressive! We'd only ever heard a few of these numbers before – which makes the whole thing a huge discovery to our ears – and titles on this second volume include "Abeba" by Mabon Dawud Quintet, "Ain't Gonna Wait That Long" by Thomas Meloncon, "Song Of Deliverance" by Roy Hytower & The Crowd Pleasers, "Leigh Ann's Dance" by Sheila Landis, "Easy Tune For Dancing" by Now, "Mystic Sky" by Deep Jazz, and "Sandance" by All Williams Quintet Plus One. LP, Vinyl record album

A funky jazz treasure – and the band's landmark first album! The Blackbyrds were a legendary 70s combo that were discovered by Donald Byrd while he was teaching at Howard University – and they had a tight style that mixed raw funk influences with smoother jazz playing, creating a sound that was different from many of their contemporaries, and which pushed funk and soul into a whole new level. Byrd's work with the band was as groundbreaking as Larry Mizell's work on his own Blue Note albums – and coincidentally, Larry Mizzell's Sky High Productions handles the studio chores for the set – but in a way that's much more sharply funky than his albums with Byrd! Titles include the tight choppy funk tracks "Do It, Fluid" and "Funky Junkie", plus other nice groovers like "Summer Love", "Gut Level", and "The Runaway". LP, Vinyl record album

Another soulful set of jazz standards that pairs the great Lorez with a group led by Gildo Mahones. Gildo's always been one of the best piano players we've heard accompaning a vocalist, and his work with Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross is the stuff of legends. This group has the added benefit of good tenor work by Herman Riley, and the band swings well with Lorez as she soulfully makes her way through tracks like "Mandy Is Two", "Skylark", "Harlem Butterfly", and "P.S. I Love You". LP, Vinyl record album