Van Dyke Parks' masterpiece – and one of the hippest records to come out of LA in the 60s! The album's a strangely anachronistic one – steeped in the kind of past-days scoring found on early records by Harpers Bizarre and Randy Newman (both of which Parks had a hand in!), wrapped around simply poetic songs about the scene and state of affairs in late 60s LA, all handled with a cinematic approach that's aging Hollywood at its best! Titles include Randy Newman's "Vine Street" – plus "By The People", "Laurel Canyon Blvd", "Donovan's Colours", and "The All Golden". Includes the bonus track "The Eagle And Me". CD

Van Dyke Parks is at his finest here – painting a unique picture of early 70s America that's touched with the same mad vision as his classic Song Cycle album! The styles are a bit wider-ranging here – and in a way, Parks seems to draw from a sonic space as wide-ranging as the "discover America" bus trip promised on the cover – shifting between Caribbean, country, classical, and soul styles – but all in a weird blend that comes off sounding very strange in the end. As before, there's a certain sense of nostalgia to the music – but any sweetness is undercut by the offbeat arrangements and instrumentation. Titles include "Jack Palance", "Bing Crosby", "John Jones", "FDR In Trinidad", "Stars & Stripes Forever", and "G-Man Hoover". CD

A lovely blend of fusion and Brazilian roots – and one of Toninho Horta's standout sets from his US years at Verve! The album's got a warm, organic feel that's quite different from other American fusion of the time – still filled with some of the influences that drove that music in the US, but carried off in a way that's much deeper and more personal overall – thanks to Toninho's always-great approach! Horta sings wordlessly and plays guitars – and the instrumentation shifts a bit from track to track, creating different moods with the addition of players who include Pat Metheny on guitar, Onaje Allen Gumbs on synth, Billy Drewes on soprano sax, and Nana Vasconcelos on percussion. Titles include "Spirit Land", "Francisca", "Sun Song", "Bicycle Ride", "Eternal Youth", and "Gershwin". CD

Music from Jad Fair & Daniel Johnston, The Frogs, Eugene Chadbourne, Noise Addict, Kimya Dawson & Jeffrey Lewis, Prewar Yardsale, Double Deuce, Diane Cluck, Jeffrey Lewis, Hiperjinx Tricycle, The Babyskins, and more - 20 tracks in all. CD

A pair of albums from saxophonist Wilton Felder – back to back on a single CD! We All Have A Star offers up solo sounds from Crusaders reedman Wilton Felder – a really great set that's very much in the best vibe of his larger group at the time – yet one that also offers up a stronger focus on Wilton's sublime solo work on tenor! The album's got plenty of Crusaders help on board – given that Stix Hooper and Joe Sample produced the set along with Wilton – and the vibe's a wonderful blend of electric backings, with especially great keyboard lines, and Felder's well-phrased saxophone lines over the top! A few cuts feature vocals – sung by Angela Bryant or Debbie Demoia Ross – and titles include "We All Have A Star", "I Know Who I Am", "The Cycles Of Time", "Why Believe", "Ride On", and "You & Me & Ecstasy". Inherit The Wind is one of the best Crusaders-related solo projects – a soulful bit of fusion from saxophonist Wilton Felder, co-produced with his fellow Crusaders! The album's got the best sunny finish of the group's late 70s albums – traces of Latin, funk, and soul bubbling through a warm jazzy mix – staying soulful all the way through, and coming up with a sound that's smooth, but never sleepy. The blueprint for a million other records – none of which ever sounded this good! Titles include "Insight", "LA Light", "Until The Morning Comes", "Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Inherit The Wind". CD

Van's debut album for Warner Brothers and a pretty radical departure from anything he'd done before – breaking all kinds of new ground for his own most creative work and helping pave the way for all kinds of hauntingly poetic rock, folk rock, and singer-songwriter records to come! It doesn't take more than a few seconds of opening title track, with Morrison's rawly passionate voice and spiritually yearning lyrics, to know this is a pretty remarkable creative leap from pop leaning sound of "Brown Eyed Girl" and other preceding efforts – , and it gets even more far out from there both lyrically and instrumentally! It's almost folk jazz, arrangements wise, with flute and largely acoustic instrumentation, a really spontaneous feel to the sessions, and always hypnotic, seemingly stream of consciousness vocals by Van. As loose and spacious as the sound is, the emotional resonance is pretty heavy, and sequenced as a cycle: part one In The Beginning on side 1 and part two Afterwards on side 2. A stunner! Titles include "Astral Weeks", "Beside You", "Cyprus Avenue", "Sweet Thing", "Slim Slow Slider", and "Madame George". CD

A great late 80s return to form for Lou Reed – a record set in a New York that's a bit different than the gritty one of his youth, but which is captured here by Lou with that vivid sense of songwriting that always made his urban themes some of the best in rock and roll! The set's designed to be listened to straight through – like a book or a movie, Lou mentions in the notes – and the songs are set to well-crafted guitar work mostly by Reed, augmented with work from Mike Rathke – delivered in a vocal style that's found a newly-confident way of moving between singing and speech. Titles include "Dirty Blvd", "Endless Cycle", "Busload Of Faith", "Sick Of You", "Hold On Mr Waldheim", "Xmas In February", "Strawman", "Dime Store Mstery", "Romeo Had Juliette", and "The Last Great American Whale". CD

Amazing stuff from Isaac Hayes! Although Ike had first appeared on LP with the album "Introducing", this was the first record to really expose his true soul genius – and it was also the first release on Ike's successful sub-label at Stax, Enterprise Records. The record shows that for all the years Ike was working away on other folks' songs for Stax, he was carefully cooking up his own style of soul that would forever change the way we think about the music. Back in 1969, the album must have blown more than a few minds for its incredibly baroque approach to soul music – taking common elements like strings, piano, and funky rhythms, and stretching them out into long waves of sound that cycle over and over, working a sly subtle magic along with Ike's super-sexy vocals, and his monologue-heavy approach to popular tunes. The album features incredible remakes of pop hits "Walk On By" and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" – both of which run for over 10 minutes, and which completely transform the songs into something way more than simple radio fodder. Also features the psychedelic soul masterpiece "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic", which has this crazy funky piano, and a messed-up sound that would make even George Clinton weep! CD

Prime weirdness from The Residents! It's fair to consider Fingerprince as a transitional effort from the group, though it's not a dismissible one – it's out there, exciting and may be easier to get all the way through than some of the more anti-pop experiments they delivered in the mid-to-late 70s. It's probably not as confrontational as Meet The Residents and Third Reich 'N Roll – or perhaps it just seems less vicious because the cover art isn't as confrontational. Side one has shorter pieces, which seem to be informed by vintage exotica and field recordings, though it sounds like nothing but the Residents. Side 2 is a single long suite. Titles include "You Yesyesyes", "Home Age Conversation", "Godsong", "March De La Winni", "Bossy", "Boo Who?", "Tournequit Of Roses" and the the 17+ minute, side-long "Six Things To A Cycle". CD

Van's debut album for Warner Brothers and a pretty radical departure from anything he'd done before – breaking all kinds of new ground for his own most creative work and helping pave the way for all kinds of hauntingly poetic rock, folk rock, and singer-songwriter records to come! It doesn't take more than a few seconds of opening title track, with Morrison's rawly passionate voice and spiritually yearning lyrics, to know this is a pretty remarkable creative leap from pop leaning sound of "Brown Eyed Girl" and other preceding efforts – , and it gets even more far out from there both lyrically and instrumentally! It's almost folk jazz, arrangements wise, with flute and largely acoustic instrumentation, a really spontaneous feel to the sessions, and always hypnotic, seemingly stream of consciousness vocals by Van. As loose and spacious as the sound is, the emotional resonance is pretty heavy, and sequenced as a cycle: part one In The Beginning on side 1 and part two Afterwards on side 2. A stunner! Titles include "Astral Weeks", "Beside You", "Cyprus Avenue", "Sweet Thing", "Slim Slow Slider", and "Madame George", plus four bonus tracks! CD

A fantastic album from Mourning A BLKstar – even more powerful than their set dedicated to Eric Garner, and a batch of material that really gets at the righteous energy of this Cleveland combo! The group see themselves as part of the James Baldwin tradition of the artist bearing witness – and their genre-bending, gender non-confirming style really pushes forward the energy of underground soul music – as they worked together in an empty storefront in Cleveland to craft this beautiful cycle of songs initial sketches they all fleshed out together – in a mix of shifting vocal leads, heavy drums, dark guitar lines, and proud horn parts. Titles include "Sense Of An Ending", "Something JD Said", "Been Around", "Devil Get Behind Me", "Whom The Bell Tolls", "The Wants", "Deluze (Solange say rmx)", "So Young So", "The Box", and "4 Days". CD

Beautiful sounds from pianist Carla Bley – a musician who just keeps on blowing us away as the decades move on – and that's saying a hell of a lot, given how many years she's been making music! There's a really special quality to this record – a warmth and maybe just a slight touch of humor, but not in the overdone way of some of Carla's records from the 80s – much more subtle, and mixed with occasional currents of darkness – all handled with this understated sense of personality that perfectly showcases all three members of the group – Bley on piano, Steve Swallow on bass, and Andy Sheppard on tenor and soprano saxes. Swallow maybe sounds more wonderful here than we've heard in years – the record is a great reminder of how many great contributions he can make to music – and titles include the longer cycles of songs "Life Goes On", "Copycat", and "Beautiful Telephones (parts 1 to 3)". CD