A sweet late entry in the girl group style of the 60s – rare material from The Goodees, recorded in Memphis and Muscle Shoals for the rock-oriented Stax affiliate Hip Records! Many of the arrangements have a gritty, Memphis rock & soul backdrop that's a nice counterpoint to the girls' trio vocals – which are sweet as syrup and loads of fun! Includes the great little teen mellow drama "Condition Red" (complete with car crash sound effects) and less archly thematic, straight up groovy songs like "Sad Song For Harry", "Double Shot", "My Boyfriend's Back", "Jilted", "Girl Crazy", "Worst That Could Happen", "Didn't Know Love Was So Good" and more from the original Candy Coated Goodies LP – plus non-album singles "Love Is Here", "Goodies" and others. Also includes 7 previously unreleased tracks! CD

Fantastic work from a really wonderful trio – a group with a sense of space and scope that's completely sublime! We've always loved the piano work of Masabumi Kikuchi, but here he really has this special energy next to the basswork of Gary Peacock – a player who somehow always feels a bit different when he's in a Japanese setting than a more familiar one – a perfect match for the percussion of Masahiko Togashi, who is maybe the freest player on the record at times – and working with that very open, sensitive way he has of handling a drum kit! The recording quality is amazing – all the different elements both separate and together at once – and the whole thing is a real lost treasure from the time, superbly recorded and done with a very timeless quality. This 4CD set brings together everything recorded during these wonderful sessions – some quite long – and titles include "Song In D", "Carla", "Little Abi", "Rambling", "Straight No Chaser", "Moor", "Good Bye", "Peace", "Nature Boy", "Tennessee Waltz", "My Favorite Things", "Summertime", "Begin The Beguine", "Waltz Step", and "Bley's Triad". CD

Fantastic work from a really wonderful trio – a group with a sense of space and scope that's completely sublime! We've always loved the piano work of Masabumi Kikuchi, but here he really has this special energy next to the basswork of Gary Peacock – a player who somehow always feels a bit different when he's in a Japanese setting than a more familiar one – a perfect match for the percussion of Masahiko Togashi, who is maybe the freest player on the record at times – and working with that very open, sensitive way he has of handling a drum kit! The recording quality is amazing – all the different elements both separate and together at once – and the whole thing is a real lost treasure from the time, superbly recorded and done with a very timeless quality. This 4CD set brings together everything recorded during these wonderful sessions – some quite long – and titles include "Song In D", "Carla", "Little Abi", "Rambling", "Straight No Chaser", "Moor", "Good Bye", "Peace", "Nature Boy", "Tennessee Waltz", "My Favorite Things", "Summertime", "Begin The Beguine", "Waltz Step", and "Bley's Triad". CD

The second fantastic album from Tim Hardin – a singer/songwriter classic that's gone on to have a tremendous amount of pull and power over the years – and for good reason too! With songs like these, Hardin set the stage for so many other singers to come – bringing in a lot of his own personal sense of history and failings, but never in a way that was wallowing in its own weakness – and instead used just the right balance in the lyrics to help these songs instantly transcend Tim's own handling of the words! And yet, despite so many versions of so many of these tunes by others, we still love Hardin's readings the best – augmented here by some light arrangements that set things up personally, yet still retain all the intimacy of the music – on tunes that include the classic "If I Were A Carpenter" , plus "Red Balloon", "Black Sheep Boy", "It's Hard To Believe", "Lady Came From Baltimore", and "You Upset The Grace Of Living When You Lie". CD

An amazing set – all four of the legendary Warner Brothers albums by harmony giants Harpers Bizarre – plus bonus tracks too! First up is Feelin Groovy – the fab first LP by Harpers Bizarre! The group were one of the strangest pop ensembles operating in the seminal LA scene of the mid 60s – ostensibly a sweet harmony vocal group, but with a strangely childish approach that also had an ear open for the mind-blowing production styles of the Brian Wilson era. Van Dyke Parks was a big supporter of the group – and they perform a sublime version of his tune "Come To The Sunshine" as the leadoff track on the album – and even though Van Dyke didn't handle the arrangements of the record, the style of the music is very similar to his own, with guitar, bass, and drums coming into play with strings, woodwinds, and baroque orchestral touches. The record is as dark as it is sublime – one of those pop gems that hit big, but which has a brooding depth bubbling underneath the sugary coating – ala Pet Sounds. Tracks include "Happy Talk", "The Debutantes Ball", "I Can Hear The Darkness", "Raspberry Rug", and their huge hit version of "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin Groovy)". Next is Anything Goes – the group's second album – and while it has a lot of similarities with the first, it's also a lot deeper of an expression of their strange blend of harmony vocals, sweet 60s pop, and the nostalgia for the early 20th century that was running through the Burbank Warner scene that included a young Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman, Lenny Waronker, and other LA underground of the mid 60s. The whole record fits together beautifully – beginning with an old-timey radio kind of announcer, then sliding into sublimely crafted harmony tunes that include originals from the LA luminaries and the group, plus a few other surprising covers. Titles include the hit version of "Anything Goes", plus "The Biggest Night Of Her Life", "Milord", "Virginia City", "High Coin", "Jessie", "This Is Only The Beginning", and "You Need A Change". The Secret Life Of Harpers Bizarre is the third album by Harpers Bizarre – and one that shows them growing in leaps and bounds with each new release! The record is a sublime fusion of sweet pop California 60s harmonies (ala The Sandpipers or The Lettermen), baroque arrangements with a fake dreamy nostalgia (ala Van Dyke Parks or Randy Newman), and drug-addled underground takes on the eazy sound of the generation (ala Brian Wilson or Love). This album is one of their most perfectly-realized visions, and it features a great blend of older songs, all hipped-up to modern LA arrangements by the likes of Nick De Caro, Perry Botkin, and others. The record has an approach that's simply mindblowing when you consider the amount of funds and effort that must have been put into a record that would only be truly appreciated 40 years later – and it's filled with great titles that include "Me, Japanese Boy", "Look To The Rainbow", "Funny How Love Can Be", "Mad", "Green Apple Tree", and "Las Mananitas". Last up is the group's fourth album, unfortunately, the last Warner album by Harpers Bizarre – one of the few testaments of genius left to us by this incredible group! The record shows the group moving past the sweet pop and dreamy nostalgia of earlier albums – tentatively stepping into the haze of the late 60s LA scene with a blend of songs that share a lot musically with earlier work, but which also seem to have a more adult approach to some of their themes. Arrangements are by the group mostly – with help from pop geniuses like Jack Nitzsche, Nick De Caro, Lenny Waronker, Harry Nilsson, and Perry Botkin Jr. The harmonies are sublime – and the group effortlessly blends original tunes like "Soft Soundin Music", "All Through The Night", "When The Band Begins To Play", and "There's No Time Like Today, along with bizarre covers like "Hard To Handle", "Something Better", "I Love You Alice B Toklas", and Jim Pepper's "Witchi Tai To", which is worth the price of the record alone! Bonus tracks include "Both Sides Now", "Small Talk", "Poly High", "If We Ever Needed The Lord Before", "Malibu U", "Cotton Candy Sandman", "Lost My Love Today", and "Bye Bye Bye". CD

Stunning work from the great Dale Hawkins – a singer you may only know from the title track of this collection, but one who made some of the hardest, fiercest rock and roll on Chess Records in the 50s! Dale hailed from Louisiana, where much of this music was cut – but he also worked with Chess up in Chicago, where he seems to have picked up some slight bluesy currents in his rhythms – especially on the tracks that feature musicians like Roy Buchanan on guitar and Lafayette Leake on piano! Yet even on his own, and even on the early material recorded in Shreveport, Hawkins has a hell of a sound – a blend of R&B and rockabilly that was forged way down in the swamps, and came back bubbling up with a hell of a lot of power! Songs include "Liza Jane", "Susie Q", "My Babe", "Yea-Yea (Class Cutter)", "Four Letter Word (Rock)", "Little Pig", "Boy Meets Girl", and more – 30 tracks total, including 8 unissued numbers! CD

One of the rarest Lee Hazlewood albums, and one of the coolest, too – the set falls a bit later than some of his other work on the Swedish scene – and, like Cowboy In Sweden, it's also a soundtrack too – but the vibe is different than that one, and almost shows this maturation of Lee's style – as if he's absorbing even more unusual elements during his time overseas, and finding a way to keep growing his sound away from his American years in LA! All the Hazlewood craft for songs and nicely wry vocals is still very much in place – but there's also some nice shifts in the arrangements, too – deepening things some fuller elements at times, yet stepping back into tighter elements at others. Titles include "Soul's Island", "A House Safe For Tigers", "Our Little Boy Blue", "Sand Hill Anna & The Russian", "Absent Friends", and a nice remake of "The Nights"! CD

The brilliant bluesy side of Hendrix – great stuff recorded from '66-'70 – including his most blues based originals and incredible covers! Bluesy it is, but it's also Jimi – with the soaring, loose and massively influential lead guitar grooves and many of which went unreleased until the 90s – and remains among the most essential of posthumous Hendrix releases. Includes "Hear My Train A Comin'" (acoustic and electric versions), "Born Under A Bad Sign", "Catfish Blues", "Red House", "Voodoo Chile Blues", "Mannish Boy", "Once I Had A Woman", "Jam 292" and "Electric Church Red House". CD

A single album combining the classic 70s Heptones sides Night Food and Party Time, two of the band's strongest albums. The first set was cut at Harry J's, and is a bit more produced than some of their earlier sides, but has some great vocal harmonies and updates of awesome Studio One rhythms, which originated with bass player and lead singer Leroy Sibbles. The follow up, Party Time, finds the Heptones teaming up with Lee Perry for a wonderful set laid down at the legendary Black Ark, with Sibbles' always great songwriting over a set of nice roots rhythms laid down by Boris Gardiner, Winston Wright, Mikey Boo, Willie Lindo and others. Includes "Country Boy", "Book Of Rules", "Love Won't Come Easy", "Fatty Fatty" and "Mama Say", "Party Time", "Crying Over You", "I Shall Be Released", "Why Must I" and "Sufferer's Time", 20 tracks in all. CD

A trio of albums from one of the most unique groups on the west coast scene! First up is Where's The Money – a classic live album from Dan Hicks and this mighty cool west coast combo – a set that's all stripped-down, and provides a great showcase for their amazing vocal and acoustic instrumental interplay! Dan's got two two female singers along for the performance – Maryann Price and Naomi Ruth Eisenberg – both of whom do way more than provide backup, as they work with plenty of percussion, and harmonize along with Dan's lead on most tracks – in that cool blend of acoustic roots and jazzy inflections that made the group so unique. The lineup also includes violin, mandolin, and bass – plus guitar from Dan – on titles that include "News From Up The Street", "Shorty Falls In Love", "The Buzzard Was Their Friend", "Is This My Happy Home", "Dig A Little Deeper", "Reelin Down", and "Caught In The Rain". Striking It Rich features the great Dan Hicks at the height of his powers – working in a sublime acoustic mode that weaves together strands of gypsy swing, American roots, harmony vocals, and plenty more too – all in a mode that's lean and timeless, and which was one of the hipper new sounds on the west coast scene of his generation! Dan works with great support from vocalists Maryann Price and Naomi Ruth Eisenberg – alongside instrumentation that includes guitar, bass, violin, mandolin, and plenty of percussion – all wrapped up with a sublime sound that has all the elements resonating together wonderfully! Titles include a great remake of his earlier gem "I Scare Myself" – plus "You Got To Believe", "O'Reilly At The Bar", "Moody Richard", "The Laughing Song", "Canned Music", "Skippy's Farewell", "Fujiyama", "Woe The Luck", and "I'm An Old Cowhand". Last Train To Hicksville is completely charming work from the great Dan Hicks – one of the few cats who could make us like music like this so much! Dan sings and plays rhythm guitar – and the group also features vocals from Maryann Price and Naomi Eisenberg – that lovely pair whose harmonies with Hicks really helped the group find their sound! As before, instrumentation is all acoustic, but used in these jazzy ways that are very unique – not folk, not string band, nor swing – but something very unique, and a real breath of fresh air in the 70s scene! Titles include "Long Come A Viper", "It's Not My Time To Go", "My Old Timey Baby", "Lonely Madman", "Cowboy's Dream No 19", and "Payday Blues". CD

Appalachian vocals and banjo tunes from great Roscoe Holcomb – mid 60s Folkways recordings with his gorgeously weary, soul stirring and sometimes otherworldly passionate voice commanding your attention and cutting real deep – and his banjo playing making a playful progressions underneath. Holcomb puts it all in that voice of his, an impressive, cutting instrument on its owns – and getting a lot of different sounds out of his banjo than many players of the era. Titles include "Wandering Boy", "Hook And Line", "Omie Wise"., "In The Pines", "Little Bessie", "Willow Tree", "Married Life Blues" and more. CD

Appalachian vocals and banjo tunes from great Roscoe Holcomb – mid 60s Folkways recordings with his gorgeously weary, soul stirring and sometimes otherworldly passionate voice commanding your attention and cutting real deep – and his banjo playing making a playful progressions underneath. Holcomb puts it all in that voice of his, an impressive, cutting instrument on its owns – and getting a lot of different sounds out of his banjo than many players of the era. Titles include "Wandering Boy", "Hook And Line", "Omie Wise"., "In The Pines", "Little Bessie", "Willow Tree", "Married Life Blues" and more. CD

One of our favorite soul singers on the LA scene of the 60s – served up here in a complete run of his legendary singles for the Minit label! Jimmy Holiday never fully got his due back in the day – partly because he was a successful songwriter who was often working behind the scenes – but he's a hell of a singer with a style that's rooted in the south, but given some hipper, more sophisticated touches on the west coast – with almost the same mix of the rough and the smooth you'd find in the best Minit label recordings by the young Bobby Womack! Jimmy's very much his own man, though – a standout talent that really gets his due here in a mindblowing batch of music. The b-sides are every bit as wonderful as the a-sides – and given Holiday's knowledge of a tune from the ground up, he really has a great way of putting over the lyrics. The package features two duets with female singer Clydie King – "Ready Willing & Able" and "We Got A Good Thing Goin" – plus 24 more tracks that include "I'm In Love With You", "Baby I Love You", "Turning Point", "The Beauty Of A Girl In Love", "Spread Your Love", "Everything Is Love", "Yesterday Died", "A Man Ain't Nothin Without A Woman", "I'm Gonna Move To The City", "In The Eyes Of My Girl", "Everybody Needs Help", "Baby Boy's In Love",a nd "I Wanna Help Hurry My Brothers Home". CD

Possibly the rarest album ever from vocalist Johnny Holiday – and that's saying a heck of a lot, given the rarity of his albums! Holiday's a really overlooked talent from the west coast scene of the 50s – a singer with a great sense of depth and darkness, and one who sounds especially great here. At some level, Johnny's got an approach that's similar to some of the less flamboyant male vocalists of his time – such as Matt Dennis – but he's also got a somewhat fuller voice and raspier tone, a sensibility that's quite human and personal – and which almost makes us feel like we're hearing Holiday speak the lyrics of most of these tunes as private musings, locked up in some corner tavern long after closing time! There's a nicely saloony feel to the whole set – a style that's not the sleepy vocalist with trio mode heard often with female singers, but which also isn't the hard-swinging Sinatra-reaching mode of other males contemporaries of Holiday. Titles include "You Don't Know What Love Is", "No One Ever Tells You", "Too Late Now", "I Remember You", "My Love Left Town", "It's Easy To Remember", and "The Things We Did Last Summer". CD also features the bonus track "It Might As Well Be Spring". CD

One of the great ones from Michael Hurley – recorded at a time when most of the US scene was scraping its head on punk rock, and just a few cats like Hurley were getting back to the roots! The set's got a great early Rounder Records feel – simple, unadorned, and with a naive spirit that really fits the album's cover image too! Most instrumentation is acoustic – apart from some great pedal steel on one cut – and Hurley's vocals have a way of being deeply personal enough to never sound cloying, even with lyrics that would falter in the hands of anyone else. Titles include "O My Stars", "Midnite Rounder", "Don't Treat Me Bad", "No Home", "Jole Blon", "Goin To Florida", and "Automatic Slim & The Fat Boys". CD

Righteous Bobby Hutcherson from the 70s – one of his last albums recorded in the company of reedman Harold Land – and one of his greatest too! There's a wonderful mix of modes going on here – modal jazz meets California sun, blending a sense of spiritualism with some of the warmth that Hutcherson was increasingly discovering in his music – especially on the album's use of marimbas, which are surprisingly great next to Bobby's vibes! In addition to work from Land on tenor and flute, the set also has the great Woody Shaw on trumpet – plus Bill Henderson on Fender Rhodes, Emanuel Boyd on tenor, Ray Drummond on bass, Larry Hancock on drums, and Kenneth Nash on percussion – a rhythm player who really helps give the record some hip Strata East-like touches. Titles include a sublime reading of Shaw's "Rosewood" – plus "Zuri Dance", "Wrong Or Right", "Even Later", and "Cirrus". CD

Righteous Bobby Hutcherson from the 70s – one of his last albums recorded in the company of reedman Harold Land – and one of his greatest too! There's a wonderful mix of modes going on here – modal jazz meets California sun, blending a sense of spiritualism with some of the warmth that Hutcherson was increasingly discovering in his music – especially on the album's use of marimbas, which are surprisingly great next to Bobby's vibes! In addition to work from Land on tenor and flute, the set also has the great Woody Shaw on trumpet – plus Bill Henderson on Fender Rhodes, Emanuel Boyd on tenor, Ray Drummond on bass, Larry Hancock on drums, and Kenneth Nash on percussion – a rhythm player who really helps give the record some hip Strata East-like touches. Titles include a sublime reading of Shaw's "Rosewood" – plus "Zuri Dance", "Wrong Or Right", "Even Later", and "Cirrus". CD

Beautiful late Blue Note work from vibist Bobby Hutcherson – laidback, warm, electric, and with a mixture of CTI funk and some of the more lyrical soul jazz work of his years with Harold Land! Part of the credit for the set should go to George Cables – who plays both acoustic and electric keys on the record, and who gives the album a sweetly dancing feel that really warms things up wonderfully – a great mix of vibes and keyboards that's wonderful throughout! But all other players are wonderful too –including drummer Eddie Marshall, bassist James Leary, and horn players Freddie Hubbard, Hadley Caliman, and Manny Boyd. Titles include a great remake of "Little B's Poem", the mellow groover "Why Not", and the cuts "Til Then", "Knucklebean", and "So Far So Good". CD

Beautiful late Blue Note work from vibist Bobby Hutcherson – laidback, warm, electric, and with a mixture of CTI funk and some of the more lyrical soul jazz work of his years with Harold Land! Part of the credit for the set should go to George Cables – who plays both acoustic and electric keys on the record, and who gives the album a sweetly dancing feel that really warms things up wonderfully – a great mix of vibes and keyboards that's wonderful throughout! But all other players are wonderful too –including drummer Eddie Marshall, bassist James Leary, and horn players Freddie Hubbard, Hadley Caliman, and Manny Boyd. Titles include a great remake of "Little B's Poem", the mellow groover "Why Not", and the cuts "Til Then", "Knucklebean", and "So Far So Good". CD

Sweet 70s grooves from Bobby Hutcherson – an overlooked mid 70s gem for Blue Note – done in a style that's a bit more laidback than some of his other work for the label! The group here is similar to that used on the Waiting album – and Emmanuel Boyd turns in some great tenor and soprano sax, really underscoring the deeper sounds of Bobby's vibes. But this time around, there's also lots of sweet keyboards from Larry Nash – who plays Fender Rhodes with some warmer elements that unlock a great mellow side of Hutcherson's playing – almost giving the record a Roy Ayers vibe at times! Titles include "Later Even", "Same Shame", "Love Can Be Many Things", and "Song For Annie". CD