A singles collection, but one that's so strong, so essential, it may well make the album the greatest full length set the Buzzcocks ever issued! All their classics are here – the short, tight, yet tuneful tracks that made these guys such a standout in the early punk years – and which also gave them the sort of wit that few folks could ever match, even all these many years later. Every track is a gem – and titles include "Orgasm Addict", "What Do I Get", "Ever Fallen In Love", "Promises", "Everybody's Happy Nowadays", "Harmony In My Head", "Noise Annoys", "Just Lust", "Lipstick", and "Something's Gone Wrong Again". LP, Vinyl record album

Nine incredible albums from the legendary Serge Gainsbourg – all presented together here in a limited box set, with very high quality vinyl, and half-speed mastering that makes the records sound even better than ever before! The set begins with a number of key early albums by Serge – work that shows him emerging from the postwar left bank scene, and working in a mix of jazz and Latin styles, always with the sharp edge, wit, and offbeat approach to material that made his music so great! Next are two records with famous female co-stars – one record that has the lovely Brigitte Bardot working with Serge – getting some fantastic grooves in the process, and also pushing boundaries of sexual liberation in the 60s! That same mode follows in Gainsbourg's famous album with life partner Jane Birkin – barely an adult at the time of recording, but a fantastic muse for Serge's music! The set also features a record exclusive to this set – rare 60s material from singles and soundtracks – featuring some of Gainsbourg's famous cinematic performances! Other albums on the set include Du Chant A La Lune, Serge Gainsbourg No 2, L'Etonnant Serge Gainsbourg, Serge Gainsbourg No 4, Confidentiel, Gainsbourg Percussions, Initials BB, and Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg – and all albums come with their original artwork inside the slipcase! LP, Vinyl record album

An all-star soundtrack to this comedy film from the 70s – starring Raquel Welch, Bill Cosby, and a very young Harvey Keitel! Most of the tracks on the set are from other A&M albums, but there's a few tunes that are original to the set – including the vocal track "No Love Today" by Michelle Phillips, served up in an instrumental reading by Pete Jolly. Paul Jabara also contributed the tune "Dance", in 2 versions – and other cuts, from other albums, include "Mellow Out" by The Crusaders, "Thunder Thumbs & Lightnin Licks" and "Get The Funk Out Ma Face" by The Brothers Johnson, "My Soul Is A Witness" by Billy Preston, and "Show Me The Way" by Peter Frampton. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best-selling albums ever from Bob Marley – a classic collection of work from his all-too-short career – and one that's gone onto become as famous as Marley's individual records themselves! The collection really allows all the classics to resonate strongly, in a track order that opens them up even more – and the package also features a live track, and a production with Lee Perry too. Titles include "Get Up Stand Up", "Exodus", "Stir It Up", "Easy Skanking", "No Woman No Cry (live)", "Punky Reggae Party", "Satisfy My Soul", and "Redemption Song". LP, Vinyl record album

A split Motown single, featuring an artist on each side, and tracks that are definitely designed to cash in on the dancefloor cash! The Originals step out in a full disco mode with "Downtown To Love Town" – a swirling number that's filled with lots of strings, and which boogies on out here in a special extended disco mix! Tata Vega gets a special disco mix too – soaring on full arrangements for the title track of her Full Speed Ahead album! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Roxy Music's third album, and a record that really shows that the group have found a tremendous voice of their own – quite a thing to do, given the heady brew of records that were coming out in the year of 1973! There's a style here that's familiar enough to draw the listener in – maybe some echoes of territory you might hear in work from David Bowie, Lou Reed, John Cale, or the now-solo Brian Eno – but once inside, you find yourself in a completely different world – a mad blend of guitars and strings, saxophones and electronics, all used in these ways that are tuneful enough to be catchy, but also deeply unsettling too – as are the lead vocals of Bryan Ferry, who comes across like some older European singer who's been let out of the madhouse for the sessions. This isn't a singles-heavy record, but instead an album-length journey that never gets old, even as the years move on – and which is as powerful to new ears discovering the record for the first time as to longtime fans. Titles include "Street Life", "Just Like You", "Amazona", "Psalm", "Serenade", "A Song For Europe", "Mother Of Pearl", and "Sunset". LP, Vinyl record album

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The fourth album from Roxy Music – a brilliant statement of their early genius through and through! The album has the group moving strongly past the Eno years, into a tighter framework that still contains many of the darker themes of earlier records. Ferry's lead vocals are incredibly majestic – rising to heights to match the European greats of years past who were his inspiration – and the group's tight blend of reeds, guitar, and moody keyboards gives the whole album an off-kilter sense of instrumentation that really sets it apart from the pack. There's an artfulness here that's never overdone, and the whole thing comes together with a magic that's impossible to describe, but which is Roxy at their best. Titles include "Out Of The Blue", "The Thrill Of It All", "Three & Nine", "Triptych", "Casanova", and "Prairie Rose". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic start to the second chapter of Roxy Music – a time when the group was stripped down to a trio, and almost seemed to arise as a way to answer the newer music that was coming up from all the younger groups that Bryan Ferry had influenced with his work in the 70s! Things aren't as weird and wild as at their start, but the instrumentation is impeccable – thanks to guitars from Phil Manzanera and saxes from Andy MacKay – and an approach that has the group bringing in some key other players from track to track, expanding the sound but never going too far. The vibe is a bit like the feel of some of Bryan Ferry's best solo work from the years before – but more Roxy-like too – and still head and shoulders above anything the new romantics had to offer. Titles include "Same Old Scene", "Flesh & Blood", "My Only Love", "Oh Yeah", "No Strange Delight", and "Running Wild". LP, Vinyl record album

Speed, space, and plenty more – all going on in the hands of a quartet led by drummer Masahiko Togashi – a Japanese player who's at his most youthfully creative on this album! Togashi was part of a new generation of musicians on his scene who were moving past conventional jazz modes – not just the free jazz styles that European improvisers were bringing to the music, but also maybe a more organic approach that was years ahead of its time, and not as widely recognized by the rest of the world until many years later. Togashi himself plays a big range of percussion instruments and vibes next to his drums – and the rest of the group features the great Masahiko Sato on piano, Mototeru Takagi on tenor and bass clarinet, and Yoshio Ikeda on bass – all moving effortlessly through a variety of modes of expression, on titles that include "Presage", "Speed & Space", "Expectation", and "Panorama". LP, Vinyl record album

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A really cool collection of cuts that we might never have encountered otherwise – all brought together in celebration of 20 years of work from the If Music shop, who clearly just keep on refining their ears over the years! There's so many cuts here that fall in a special space between familiar genres – jazzy instrumentation mixed with folksy vocals, electronic rhythms mixed with warmer instrumentation, ethnic instrumentation fused with jazzy expression, and blends that really keep things interesting throughout – especially as most of these cuts are nice and long, and really explore the ideas at their core! Titles include "We Are Not Invisible" by Ola Szmidt, "Big Kalimba" by Greetje Bijma Kwintet, "Fidji" by Christine Schaller, "Sunday Sea Improvisation" by Tamar Osborn, "Fall In To Me (alt version)" by Emanative & Liz Elensky, "Turkish Showbiz" by Atilla Engin Group, "Dennison Point" by Tenderlonious, and "At The Speed Of Light" by Sarathy Korwar. LP, Vinyl record album

A lost chapter in the career of Japanese pianist Ryo Fukui – a beautiful solo set recorded quite a few years after his famous early classics – but a set that shows Fukui still every bit as full of imagination as before! There's no bass or drums on the set, but many tunes have Ryo taking off with an inherent sense of rhythm that's really wonderful – lyrical leaps on the keys of the piano that just keep charming us all over again – both on tunes of his own, and favorites by Sonny Clark and Barry Harris! The sound quality is wonderful – and really gets at that subtle attack that Fukui can bring to the piano – on titles that include "Voyage", "Scenery", "Mellow Dream", "Nobody's", "My Conception", and "Nord". LP, Vinyl record album

A mysterious batch of funk and soul from tapes that were originally played at London clubs and parties in the late 80s and early 90s – the key years of the rare groove scene, which is represented here by a fantastic assortment of obscure grooves from the 70s! The presentation is different than a standard funk collection – as the set continues the Death Is Not The End label's love of found materials and obscure tapes – so that you're hearing the cuts through the filter of a live presentation or a DJ introduction – sometimes nice and clear, sometimes a bit more obscure – so that the whole thing is almost more of a sound piece defining a moment of funk and soul, rather than a straight funk collection overall. Titles include "Darkness Bout Ya", "Fire", "Birth Night", "Flashlight", "Set Speed Operator", "Shockout Business", "Work To Do", and "Pure Wicked Tune". LP, Vinyl record album

Essential late 80s thrash from one the genres linchpin bands! State Of Euphoria draws the short straw when it comes to critical recognition of the band's 80s output, thanks in no small part to the fact that it's the full length follow up to Among The Living. It's hard to live up to the legacy of one of the greatest American heavy metal albums of all time, but we're feeling pretty euphoric revisiting this one after all these years! Anthrax always leaned more on trudging riffs than lightning speed or showy guitar solos, arguably making them the most fun of thrash's vaunted "Big 4" and this one holds up better than it's given credit for. Includes their classic cover of Trust's "Antisocial", "Be All, End All", "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind", "Schism", "Misery Loves Company", "13" and more. 2LP pressing includes a 2 bonus versions of "Antisocial" – with French language vocals and a live recording at Hammersmith Odeon – plus "Friggin' In The Riggin'", "Pipeline", "Parasite" & "Le Sects". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of Bobby Byrd's best work ever! "If You Don't Work" is a hard funky killer – done in a tight James Brown way, with lots of choppy guitar, and Bobby's vocals coming off at breakneck speed, just to keep up with the band. Nice simple message, too! "You've Got To Change Your Mind" is a great duet between Bobby and James. It's got a totally catchy hook, and a nice rolling groove that's extremely satisfying. James beats Bobby in the vocal department, but Bobby adds a nice bit of soul in the mix. 7-inch, Vinyl record

Wonderful sounds from the great John Carpenter – one of those records that reminds us that his music is often just as important as the images he puts on the screen! Carpenter's music for The Fog follows nicely in his work for other films – particularly Halloween – in that it's got this slow-building style that often makes great use of keyboards – often used sparely, with a really spooky sort of energy – and even more space, and at slower speed than his other horror soundtracks! The style really fits the "fog" theme of the film! LP, Vinyl record album

Worth it alone for the Brighter Side of Darkness send-up "Basketball Jones" (with a George Harrison on guitar!) but with other classic skits, including quite a few that aren't about pot, believe it or not, like "White World Of Sports", "Evelyn Woodhead Speed Reading Course" and "The Strawberry Revival Festival". Also includes "Sargent Stadanko", "Up His Nose", "Pedro & Man At The Drive-Inn" and more! Did you know that Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins, & Carole King play on this record too? LP, Vinyl record album

Miles must have turned over in his grave with this one – although it went on to influence a decade of jazz remix projects! Miles spacey trumpet is remixed from tapes recorded before his death, and production is handled by Easy Mo Bee, with kind of a "hip hop meets jazz" sort of flair. Titles include "Chocolate Chip", "High Speed Chase", "Fantasy", "Duke Booty", "Mystery", and "The Doo Bop Song". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic early work from Gil Evans – emerging here in this early session as an already far-thinking modernist. The tracks are shorter and less ambitious than some of Evans' work on Impulse, but the group is excellent – and even in a shorter format, the conception of the work still contains plenty of rich new ideas. Players include Louis Mucci, John Carisi, Steve Lacy, Willie Ruff, Paul Chambers, Nick Stabulis, and "Zeke Tolin" on alto, who is certainly a more famous player under a fake name. Titles include "Ella Speed", "Big Stuff", "Jambangle", "Nobody's Heart", and "Remember". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the rarest albums ever from percussionist Milford Graves, and one of the most intense as well – a completely unbridled live performance that features saxes from Hugh Glover and Arthur Doyle! Glover and Doyle are amazing together – and with that trademark raspy tone, Doyle's set apart nicely, even amidst the frenzy – and Graves is a complete monster on the drum kit, moving with a speed that must have been breathtaking to see in person – at a level that always has us checking the record to make sure that we don't have it set to 45rpm! If you've ever overlooked the contributions that Graves has made to improvised music, this is the record to convince you – with titles that include "Ba", "Bi", and "Babi". LP, Vinyl record album

A stone classic from the legendary Hawkwind – a set that's steeped in all their best space rock modes of the 70s – yet which also has a wonderfully sharp sort of focus too! Keyboards, guitars, and drums soar to the skies right from the start – prefacing an intensity that so many others would later cop from the group, but never get this right – quite possibly because the simple 70s production really helps bring all the best elements right down on the money! In ways, the set almost echoes earlier psych performance and production – yet there's also a cleaner, clearer vibe going on – one that magically steps around the overindulgence of prog and the thinness of some of the later psych of the next decade. Titles include "The Demented Man", "Magnu", "Standing At The Edge", "Warriors", "Kings Of Speed", and "The Wizard Blew His Horn". LP, Vinyl record album

Very very very groovy stuff by this masterful jazz vibist, recorded with a sort of late 60s swingin' feel – but still very much in the pocket and warm as a summer breeze! Lytle has a pretty remarkable way of playing the vibes with speed and energy, yet the overall feel still has kind of a relaxed West Coast vibe – a beautiful blend that rivals, if not beats, the sound of Cal Tjader on late 60s Verve! Jimmy Foster grooves along on organ, and the interplay with Lytle is key to the classic sound – but the whole group is great here – Major Holley on bass, Peppy Hinant on drums and Don Alias on conga, which brings in plenty of Latin kick. 6 of the 10 numbers are Lytle originals, including "Done It Again", "Sleepy Dozier", "Zote", "Jungle Child" and "Happy Preacher" – plus "If Ever I Should Leave You", "People" and "The Nearness Of You". LP, Vinyl record album

A real treasure from the South African scene of the 60s – and the kind of record that we thought wasn't being made until the following decade! Tenorist Winston Mankunku Ngozi rivals the genius of Coltrane and Wayne Shorter here – both artists to whom he dedicates a key track on the album – and the record's hardly just a South African jazz effort, as it's got this long-flowing spiritual energy that rivals some of the best American work on Impulse or Blue Note at the time – but, like the best of those records, never does so in any sort of slavish way at all! Instead, Ngozi really finds his own voice here – blowing tenor with a great amount of depth, in a quartet that often hits these modal currents that work great with his horn – a lineup that features Lionel Pillay on piano, Agrippa Magwaza on bass, and Early Mabuza on drums. Incredibly hip and soulful, no matter what the origin – and titles include "Yakhal Inkomo", "Dedication", "Doodlin", and "Bessie's Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Small Town", "Rain On The Scarecrow", "Justice & Independence 85", "Rumbleseat", "You've Got To Stand For Somethin", "ROCK In The USA", and "Between A Laugh & A Tear". LP, Vinyl record album

The album that changed everything for Metallica – catapulting them from patron saints of unrelentingly heavy thrash metal to reluctant (at first, anyway) mainstream superstars! The production is glossier sounding than ever before, and whether that compromised the rawer brutality of their heaviest moments is debatable to this day – but that's countered by the slow-building, incredible songcraft (the shortest one is over 5 minutes long) and all around ambitiously structured material. Includes "Blackened", "Eye Of The Beholder", the game-changing "One", "Harvester Of Sorrow", "To Live Is To Die", "Dyers Eve" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A killer debut from Angelo Outlaw – an vibist who may well become one of the first great soulful talents on his instrument in many years – an artist who can easily become the Roy Ayers of his generation – thanks to an expansive sound that effortlessly blends together jazz, soul, and funk! Angelo plays vibes with a nicely tight combo – and there's vocals on a number of tracks, but a number of others are instrumental – and often use the vibes and a bit of flute as the main "voice", which hardly makes you miss the vocals at all! Production is great – handled by Eraserhood Sound with a very contemporary vibe – on titles that include "Speed Of Light", "Loose Reality", "Diamonds", "Free My Mind", "Silent Horizon", "Memories", "Time Traveler", and "Cosmic Storm". LP, Vinyl record album

Overlooked genius from the scene in Athens, GA – served up by a group who also borrow plenty of influences from the UK post-punk world too! Pylon are heavy on bass that might be borrowed from Young Marble Giants, but then turned up in sound and speed – matched with these great guitar lines that are complex in sound, but right on the money in terms of placement – all topped with the vocals of Vanessa Biscoe Hay – a singer who's nicely understated, and as much a part of the sonic mix as the other elements in the group! Titles include "Feast On My Heart", "Precaution", "Driving School", "Gravity", "Working Is No Problem", "Stop It", "Danger", and "Read A Book". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from Queen, and a record that definitely has some ties to the prog and hard rock generation from which they emerged – but also a set that clearly has the group really coming into their own! There's a few thematic moments on here that are maybe more fantasy-based than fans of the group's later hits might expect – but they're also delivered with the sort of searing intensity that Brian May can bring to the group, and really driven far past familiar modes by Freddie Mercury's amazing vocals. Titles include the hit vocal version of "Seven Seas Of Rhye" – plus "Ogre Battle", "The Fairy Feller's Master Stroke", "White Queen", "Father To Son", "Some Day One Day", "The Loser In The End", "Funny How Love Is", "The March Of The Black Queen", and "Never More". LP, Vinyl record album

A sometimes-overlooked classic from the Rolling Stones – but that's maybe just because it's sometimes obscured in the shadow of Exile On Main Street, the record that immediately preceded it! And while it might be a stretch to some, we like to think of Goat's head as kind of a capper to that double-length set – as the Stones are still working out a fair bit of similar ideas, with an opening ear to some global currents, and with great help from some of their key collaborators too. The set's worth it alone for the classic gut-wrencher "Angie" – and other tracks include "Star Star", "Hide Your Love", "Winter", "Can You Hear The Music", "100 Years Ago", and "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)". LP, Vinyl record album

The record that forever gave this duo their AM radio hit – the classic soft rock gem "Summer Breeze" – alongside other tunes that include "East Of Ginger Trees", "Advance Guard", "The Euphrates", "The Boy Down The Road", "Yellow Dirt", and "Say". LP, Vinyl record album

A great bit of electric jazz from the Japanese scene of the 70s – an album that easily rivals the best CTI work in the US at the time! Trombonist Hiroshi Suzuki heads up a quintet here – one that's heavy on electric piano and keyboards, played in a stretched-out sort of groove that reminds us a lot of the energy on Freddie Hubbard's funkiest albums from the same period. The tracks are all quite long – and step out with a wonderfully rhythmic sensibility – spare at times, and very focused on the right rolling approach to the groove. Suzuki's trombone solos are matched by some equally great sax work from Takeru Muraoka – and rhythm is from Kunimitsu Inaba on bass and Akira Ishikawa on drums. Filled with great breaks and laidback jazzy grooves – and featuring tracks that include "Cat", "Walk Tall", "Romance", "Shrimp Dance", and "Kuro To Shiro". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic work from a band with a name that hardly fits their sound at all – not the streamlined music you'd expect from a Bauhaus tag – and instead a fantastically fuzzy, muddy, dark-edged style that set the tone for countless other groups to come! Yet the approach here is all the group's own – still some of the intensity of the punk years, especially in the speed and execution of the songs – and maybe in the production, too – which has all the shadows of Martin Hannett at his best. And despite the way that these guys were taken up so much by goths in later years, they've got a straightforward style that maybe more appealing to fans of Bowie from the decade before – or maybe Bowie filtered through the UK post-punk years, with touches of Siouxsie & The Banshees. Titles include "Kick In The Eye", "The Passion Of Lovers", "Hair Of The Dog", "Muscle In Plastic", "In Fear Of Fear", "Hollow Hills", and "Of Lilies & Remains". LP, Vinyl record album

Black Sabbath going strong – very much in their own space by this point in their career, setting a sound that countless others would try to follow – but never match for fierceness like this! The fuzz is definitely turned up to 11, the rhythms move at a breakneck speed, and Ozzy's vocals have all the mean, sinister sounds that set a generation on fire – plenty of energy to fill up long tracks that include "Megalomania", "Hole In The Sky", "Symptom Of The Universe", "Supertzar", "Am I Going Insane", and "The Writ". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic forro from the Brazilian scene of the 60s – a really hard-hitting collection of work from Camarao – and some of the sharpest use of the accordion you'll ever hear! This isn't the accordion of the polka world, Lawrence Welk, Paris musette, or even Tex-Mex music – as the rhythms to the tunes are incredibly infectious – often just served up on a spare bass drum, which is used as if it's both an acoustic bass and a percussion instrument at once – setting up tunes which move quickly and with a frenzied sort of action – followed by bits of saxophone or other reeds, and lots of incredibly deft keyboard work from Camarao – who's clearly pumping his instrument with incredible speed to match his energy on the keys! If you've never heard Brazilian forro, you're about to hear one of the best – and even if you have, the excellent presentation here by Analog Africa makes the set really stand out from some of the blander collections on the market. Titles include "Rio Antigo", "Xeem", "Xaxando Com Garibaldi", "Os Camaroes", "De Serra Em Serra", "Camaro No Oriente", "Nao Interessa Nao", "Fim De Festa", "Voce Passa Eu Acho Graca", "Forrozinho Moderno", and "Retrato De Um Forro". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few 70s albums as a leader from reedman Ronnie Cuber – a player who'd already been making some great appearances on studio sessions with giants like George Benson, Mongo Santamria, and Lonnie Smith – as well as even a few Steely Dan records! But despite that ability to sound tight in the studio, Ronnie really shows a completely different side of his talents here – a hard-burning approach to baritone sax, with a deftness that rivals Pepper Adams in a similar setting – a quality that almost feels like a tenor at times, given Cuber's dexterity and speed of improvisation. The rest of the group's great, too – and includes Barry Harris on piano, Sam Jones on bass, and Albert Heath on drums – who really provide the right amount of soulful hardbop to keep things crackling. Titles include "Star Eyes", "Rifftide", "Tin Tin Deo", "Samba D'Orfeo", "Misty", "Sudwest Funk", and "Prince Albert". LP, Vinyl record album

Two rainy bits: "Ultimate Thunderstorm" and "Gentle Rain in a Pine Forest". The sticker on the front says "Contains Synthetic Silence", whatever that is. As the notes say, play at any speed, for different psychological effects. LP, Vinyl record album

Mid 70's 2LP set that combines fantastic early work from Gil Evans and Tadd Dameron. The Gil Evans tracks are shorter and less ambitious than some of Evans' work on Impulse, but the group is excellent – and even in a shorter format, the conception of the work still contains plenty of rich new ideas. Players include Louis Mucci, John Carisi, Steve Lacy, Willie Ruff, Paul Chambers, Nick Stabulis, and Lee Konitz on alto. Titles include "Ella Speed", "Big Stuff", "Jambangle", "Nobody's Heart", and "Remember". Tadd Dameron's contributions here are from a wonderful modernist session – and one that's especially great because it's filled with fresh themes that get past some of his over-reissued standards! Players here include Clifford Brown and Idrees Sulieman on trumpets, Gigi Gryce on alto, Benny Golson on tenor, and Dameron on piano. Titles include "Philly JJ", "Choose Now", "Theme Of No Repeat", and "Dial B For Beauty". Also included are readings of classic Dameron compositions – like "The Scene Is Clean", "Fontainebleau", and "Delerium" – all played by a great little group that includes Dameron on piano, plus Joe Alexander on tenor, Sahib Shihab on alto, Kenny Dorham on trumpet, and Henry Coker on trombone. LP, Vinyl record album

A stunner from Fela – a record that really leaps right into the groove right from the very first note – then never lets up at all! Igo Chiko provides some fantastic tenor sax solos on the tunes – and both Tunde Williams and Eddie Faychum serve up some killer trumpet – while the rest of the group moves at amazing speed, driven on by the legendary drums of Tony Allen! Fela handles a bit of keyboards, with a really cool, moody sound alongside the groove – and the whole thing was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, which might have been a surprising change from some of the more staid material in the halls of EMI. Titles include "Alu Jon Jonki Jon", "Jeu Ko Ku", and "Eko Ile". LP, Vinyl record album

Killer late 70s work from Aretha Franklin – and a set that features production by Curtis Mayfield, in a style that's quite similar to his work with the lady on the Sparkle soundtrack! Aretha somehow sounds deeper here in Curtis' company than on some of her other 70s recordings – and there's a definite Curtom bent to the entire production, given that Rich Tufo handles all the arrangements, and backings feature instrumentation from both him and Mayfield. The album's nicely restrained at most points – never reaching too far to fall into cliche – and Franklin's vocals are as great as ever. Titles are almost all originals by Curtis – and tunes include "Lady Lady", "Almighty Fire", "I Needed You Baby", "Close To You", "No Matter Who You Love", and "I'm Your Speed". LP, Vinyl record album

A great meeting of 70s disco talents here – as both Gregg Diamond and Joe Beck both work with Gloria Gaynor on this sweet little set – with an approach that makes for some of her nicest music of the time! Diamond's tunes have a definite Bionic Boogie feel – sharp-edged, but never too commercial, and with a nicely thoughtful approach to the rhythms overall – especially when they step along in a sweet midtempo groove! Beck's style is a bit more full, and almost in a Kudu Records mode – that style used a bit by Esther Phillips when she was picking up speed more in the 70s – a diva mode that's equally great for Gloria's magnificent vocals. Titles include "Why Should I Pay", "As Time Goes By", "Most Of All", "We Can Start All Over Again", "So Much Love", "This Side Of The Pain", and "Sweet Sweet Melody". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweet little set from Houston Person – a record that's a nice return to basics, much needed after some of his overproduced sessions of the mid 70s! The group here features a number of old Prestige stalwarts, helping Houston to hit a laidback soul jazz vibe – players who include Jimmy Ponder on guitar, Sonny Phillips on organ, and Idris Muhammad as drums – as well as Bill Hardman on trumpet, whose clean blowing in the front brings Houston back up to speed. Larry Killian plays added percussion on the set – and tracks include "Dameron", "Preachin & Teachin", "My Romance", and "Wildflower". LP, Vinyl record album

Prime 80s work from Tears For Fears – a duo who manage to mix new romantic charms with some surprisingly strong electro pop styles! This set has the group rivalling Human League on their first few tuneful records – with maybe even some darker echoes around the edges – and though the album was part of a big flurry of electric UK pop that was coming out over the space of a few short years, it's also got more depth than most – which has given the album a surprisingly strong run over the decades. Titles include Change", "Mad World", and "Pale Shelter" – plus "Watch Me Bleed", "The Prisoner", "The Hurting", "Suffer The Children", "Ideas As Opiates", and "Start Of The Breakdown". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic set from Stanley "Sugar Man" Turrentine – a nickname the reedman had at the time, given the success of his famous CTI Records version of "Sugar"! This set follows in that same great mode – jazzy, but a bit funky too – although couched with this gentle sense of soul that's perfect for that spacious style of soloing that Turrentine perfected over the years – a way of blowing openly, and without too much fuss – but managing to hit all the right notes along the way! There's a great glow to the whole record – an excellent easygoing sense of soul – and titles include an incredible reading of "Vera Cruz", done with Deodato on piano, and at a breakaway speed that's just great, and worth the price of the record alone! Other tracks feature piano by Harold Mabern or organ by Butch Cornell – and titles include "The Stretch", "Just As I Am", and "Pieces Of Dreams". LP, Vinyl record album

Female funk galore – and one of the greatest all-girl compilations we've ever heard! The set's a brilliant follow-up to the first Funk Soul Sisters set on BGP – but we've gotta say that we like it even better than the first, and really appreciate the wide range of unusual tunes collected on the set! There's a depth here that goes way past the obvious – a love of bad-rapping funky female soul that digs deeper, and comes up with some key gems that explode cliches and really expand our love of the music. Titles include both rare album and single tracks pulled from a variety of American indies of the late 60s and early 70s – and although many are by familiar artists, they offer up a side of their talents you really wouldn't expect! Titles include "Easily Persuaded" by Martha & The Vandellas, "Family Tree" by Little Rose Little, "Who Told You" by Jackie Moore, "That's How I Feel" by The Sisters Of Righteous, "Ain't No Love Lost" by Patti Jo, "Love Connection" by Annette Snell, "Gotta Get Away" by Harolyn Montgomery, "Just A Mistake" by The Ebonettes, "Do You Really Want To Rescue Me (part 1)" by Elsie Mae, "It's My Thing" by Betty Moorer, "Speed Ticket" by Inez & Charlie Foxx, "Get On Up & Do It Baby" by Marie Adams, and "Jesse Joe" by Jean Knight. LP, Vinyl record album

Mid 60s concept pop from Appletree Theatre – a mix of unpredictable baroque pop, soaring string laden tunes, and more stripped down and moody numbers – and programmed as acts, in keeping with the theatre mode! What's most impressive, other than the tuneful songcraft, is that it never comes off as shtick, and the concept doesn't get in the way of the songs, making this a really nice discovery! Arranged as a 3 act play, with overture and epilogue, titles include "Lullaby", "Hightower Square", "Saturday Morning", "Nevertheless It Was Italy", "I Wonder If Louise Is Home", "E-Train", "Brother Speed", "Don't Blame It On Your Wife", "What A Way To Go" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A digital set from the second half of the 80s, but one that keeps a very righteous, rootsy vibe at times – thanks to production from Augustus Pablo, and plenty of spiritual guidance from co-producer Haile Selassie! Pablo adds in plenty of melodica and keyboard lines next to the tightly snapping vocals of Blacka T – a vocalist whose whole lyrical approach is right in the groove, and moving at a speed that's headed towards some of the bigger dancehall work to come in the next few years – but which here really retains a nicely down to earth vibe! Titles include "Free The People Of South Africa", "She A Me Lover", "Ethiopia Calling", "Long Time Love", "Big Bad Celebrity", and "Vegetable". LP, Vinyl record album

The highly anticipated solo album from Def Jux CEO and Company Flow vet El-Producto is all that and a bucket of black hole warp speed 9 intensity. Excellent, dark, space age, new millennial hip hop.. This album flows from many songs without breaks between them, with jagged, scattered beats and lush synth-scapes. At points it sounds very cinematic, yet very grounded in thick, pounding break beats. The whole thing is produced by El-P himself, with Rhyme Sayer Entertainment's DJ Abilities on all the scratching, with many Def Jux guests like Aesop, Lif, CamuTao, and Vast. Ill Bill, C Rayz Walz, Rob Sonic, and Cage also make appearances. Songs include "Deep Space 9mm" with the raw Rawkus dis, "Tuned Mass Damper" with awesome scream samples, "Dead Disnee", "Delorean", the biting "Stepfather Factory", "Lazerfaces' Warning", "Constellation Funk" and more! 3LPs! LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic early work from Gil Evans – emerging here in this early session as an already far-thinking modernist. The tracks are shorter and less ambitious than some of Evans' work on Impulse, but the group is excellent – and even in a shorter format, the conception of the work still contains plenty of rich new ideas. Players include Louis Mucci, John Carisi, Steve Lacy, Willie Ruff, Paul Chambers, Nick Stabulis, and "Zeke Tolin" on alto, who is certainly a more famous player under a fake name. Titles include "Ella Speed", "Big Stuff", "Jambangle", "Nobody's Heart", and "Remember". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Fela's greatest albums – and one of the few that got any sort of international circulation in the 70s! "Zombie" shows Fela at the height of his powers – grooving away in incredibly fast, incredibly tight Afro Funk lines, weaving guitar, sax, and keyboards together with a speed that still leaves us breathless. No wonder the track had a history of causing riots when it was played! "Mr Follow Follow" is a bit mellower, but even stronger on the message tip, and graced with a sublime snakey sax solo. LP, Vinyl record album

Brij Bhushan Kabra is handling his guitar on the cover in a very unusual way – and he gets some very unusual sounds out of the instrument too – on an incredible record that's almost a bridge between 60s Indian sitar recordings and some of the acoustic American experiments on Takoma Records! Kabra's handling of the instrument allows for all sorts of unusual inflections – sound shaping as he plucks these notes with a speed that increases greatly as the set moves on – often with the same sort of long-spun format as ragas on sitar, including some work at points on tablas next to the guitar. Titles include "Raaga Bihag", "Raaga Joygiya", and "Raaga Bhaiarvi". LP, Vinyl record album

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A record that bristles with crackling energy right from the start – a self-released album from the contemporary UK scene, and one that's got all the best post-jazz elements that we've been loving from some of the bigger London names in recent years! The group's led by drummer Chiminyo, who's a hell of a deft talent on the kit – moving with a speed and dexterity that's really stunning – taking some of the more programmed London rhythms back into live instrumental territory – working in a core lineup that features Yelfris Valdes on trumpet, Amane Suganami on keyboards, and Luke Wynter on bass. Two cuts feature vocals – Temesgen Samuel on "Free Form", and Clara Serra Lopez on "Lost My Breath" – and other instrumental titles include "Raze", "Purple Green", "Elegua", and "SLK". LP, Vinyl record album

The scene in Mali has always been full of very expressive singers, and Sali Sidibe is definitely one of them – a vocalist with an ability to sing in these sharply punctuated lines, moving very quickly, but with all this amazing sense of inflection – all taking place at a very different speed, in a very different way than more familiar Malian blues! Yet given the sense of individuality that Sali brings to her music, there's still a deeply moving quality, one that goes beyond the boundaries of language – as the singer really takes over, gliding through rhythms that mostly feature fast percussion and guitar – on titles that include "Anw Ka Jiri Turu", "Mogo Te Diya Be Ye", "Ga Kulu Ngana", and "Tadon Kungola Manyi". LP, Vinyl record album

Forget the Viking in the title – or maybe not entirely, as these guys are from Scandinavia – but the record's definitely not the stuff of longboats and looting, as the Soul Tune Allstars are a sharp-edged funky combo with very universal appeal! There's some rough-edged vocals on the record at points, handled in a way that's a nice change from some of the too-classic singers in other funk groups – and the combo also know how to mix it up nicely in terms of speed and style, with the occasional mellower moment that makes the record feel like a more fully-formed soul album overall. Titles include "Sweet & Sour", "Looking For Trouble", "Hang On", "Chicken Chase", "Drop It", "Sunday Afternoon", and "Inside A Man's Mind". LP, Vinyl record album