A cheapo package, but some really great material! Side one features two long cuts recorded live – with Gato Barbieri on tenor, Don Cherry on trumpet, and Karl Berger on vibes – on "OCDC" and "Third Movement". Next is another live track – Albert Ayler's tenor on a version of "Ghosts" with Norman Howard on trumpet, Earle Henderson and Henry Grimes on basses, and Sonny Murray on drums. Last is a side-long take of "If Only We Knew" – led by John Handy on alto – with Michael Sampson on violin, George Tucker on bass, and Bobby Fuhlrodt on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

The breakthrough album by Blondie! Parallel Lines is their third album overall, and having been released only 7 months after their second, you know they were hungry to break big – and they do it here with unbeatable cool. For as tight and bright as as the sound is, a trademark of producer Mike Chapman, there's still something of the raucous downtown energy here – and also some pretty great stylistic strides, such as the disco-aware smash "Heart Of Glass". Includes the equally classic "One Way Or Another" plus "Hanging On The Telephone", "Just Go Away", "I Know But I Don't Know" "Will Anything Happen", "Picture This", "11:59 and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Sandy Bull's third album – a pair of long pieces that combine the multicultural folk instrumental experimentation – with Bull playing guitar, bass, bass drum, oud and hand percussion – rolling in a bit more electric blues on one side, and meandering psychedelic impulses on the other! The album features 2 sidelong pieces, "No Deposit, No Return Blues" and "Electric Blend" – the both recognizable as Bull's work if you've heard is previous couple of excellent LPs for Vanguard, but actually manage to work in more conventional grooves and more far out experimentation – splitting the difference in that regard. "No Deposit, No Return Blues" does work in some laidback electric blues guitar and spare percussion backing, but tinged with Sandy's Middle Eastern touches, too. "Electric Blend" works in the evolving sprit of his earlier "Blends", with with inspiration from the later 60s psyche sounds. LP, Vinyl record album

The third collection of Billie's Verve studio recordings, produced by Norman Granz. Billie's backing group includes performances by Benny Carter, Harry Edison, Barney Kessel, Jimmy Rowles, Paul Quiichette, and Wynton Kelly, and features the songs "Trav'lin Light", "April In Paris", "Lady Sings The Blues", "What's New", "Good Morning Heartache", "Sophisticated Lady", "Strange Fruit", and "God Bless The Child". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful gem from Evelyn Champagne King – her third effort with the great producer T Life, who always helped bring out the most soulful elements in King's music! Life's got a way of grooving, but never going for modes that are too easily commercial – still lots of disco and club in the mix, but with more than enough space for Evelyn to really stretch out and be her own woman on the vocals, too! This mix comes out especially well on some of the more midtempo groovers – which have this flourish and polish that's really wonderful – way beyond some of the cliches of King's contemporaries, and with a personal quality that really comes through right away. Some of these cuts include "Your Kind Of Loving" and "Call On Me" – both real standouts on the record – and other numbers include "Let's Get Funky Tonight", "I Need Your Love", "Universal Girl", "Bedroom Eyes", and "Just A Little Bit Of Love". LP, Vinyl record album

Lionel's third album for Motown – one in a string of massive hits that forever changed the sound of 80s soul! The smooth mellow lover is still firmly in place – taking a few chances on the set, but still sounding best on the romantic numbers. Titles include "Love Will Conquer All", "Se La", "Don't Stop", "Dancing On The Ceiling", "Tonight Will Be Alright", and "Say You Say Me". LP, Vinyl record album

The complete Etiquette catalog of the garage rock pioneers The Sonics – with the Here Are The Sonics and Boom LPs, plus a third LP of rarities! Here Are..is the debut of the mighty, maniacal Sonics – one of the most raucous rock & roll albums ever! Here they unleashed a fury on r&b and older rock & roll cover tunes – plus incendiary originals such as "The Witch", "Psycho" and "Strychnine" – in a way that was in a lot of ways unprecedented, and became hugely influential. How much roaring rock do you need? You need this much!!! Other tracks include "Do You Love Me", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Boss Hoss", "Money", "Walking The Dog", Nighttime Is The Right Time", "Good Golly Miss Molly" and more. Boom also finds 'em blasting at their best – a mostly-noisy, guitar-driven, garage-drenched sound that also sometimes slides into surprisingly more soulful territory too! The group are way more than just another gritty garage combo – and have a rough-edged sense of excitement that easily matches some of the best early work of bigger UK groups of the 60s – especially given The Sonics' clear love for American R&B and soul. Titles include "Cinderella", "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark", "Let The Good Times Roll", "He's Waitin", "Louie Louie", "Jenny Jenny", "Don't You Just Know It", and "Shot Down". Also includes Volume 3 – a 10 track LP of alternate versions, non-album singles and live tracks – plus 36 page booklet and a poster! LP, Vinyl record album

Great later issue of two classic Prestige hardbop albums from the 50s! First up is Two Trumpets – one of those wonderful late 50s Prestige Records blowing sessions that really let individual players have lots of the right sort of space to find their own voice alongside each other! Byrd and Farmer are both young here, and mighty sharp in their sounds – already quite distinct from each other in phrasing, and a great choice as soloists to illuminate in a setting like this. The rest of the group features Jackie McLean on alto – getting in some great solos too – plus Barry Harris on piano, Doug Watkins on bass, and the great Art Taylor on drums. Byrd's bite is a great counterpart to the lyricism of Farmer – and titles include "Contour", "Round Midnight", "The Third", and "Dig". Next is Three Trumpets – an excellent follow-up to the legendary Two Trumpets session on Prestige – and even rarer than that one! The lineup features Farmer, Byrd, and Idrees Sulieman on the horns in the title – with hip rhythm from Hod O'Brien on piano, Addison Farmer on bass, and Ed Thigpen on drums. Titles include "Diffusion Of Beauty", "You Gotta Dig It To Dig It", "Who's Who", and "Palm Court Alley". LP, Vinyl record album

An all-German version of Peter Gabriel's third album! Peter Gabriel at the top of his solo game – tight, focused, and coming across with a nice sort of edge – one that really sits nicely in the same late 70s generation that includes Bowie in Berlin, early Talking Heads, and some of the darker-minded work on the left side of the mainstream at the time! The guitars have a nice edge, but never dominate – and Gabriel's vocals are totally great – soaring with majesty, but never overblown, and deeply personal in all the right spots – but without any fake soul modes. Instrumentation is right on the money – processed nicely, but never overproduced – and hell, players on the album even include Brit jazz legend Dick Morrisey on a handful of tracks! Titles include German versions of "No Self Control", "I Don't Remember", "Biko", "Intruder", "And Through The Wire", and "Games Without Frontiers". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful album by Mal Waldron – recorded in 1960, after the passing of Billie Holiday, and a very loving tribute by Waldron, who was her accompanist for a number of years. The set moves way past the usual "Holiday songbook" mode, and features instead a dark batch of tracks, two written by Waldron – "Minor Pulsation" and "Cat Walk" – a third written by him and Holiday, the famous tune "Left Alone". Jackie McLean plays some fantastic alto sax on the version of "Left Alone", and the rest of the tracks are trio tracks played by Waldron, Julian Euell, and Al Dreares. The set also features one very strange track – "Mal Waldron: The Way He Remembers Billie Holiday" – which is an interview with Waldron about Billie! And sure, there were many cash-in records after Billie Holiday died, but this is one of the best, and it comes from a very legitimate source! LP, Vinyl record album

With selections by Kate Bush, Duran Duran, Lou Reed, Bob Geldof, Jackson Browne, Erasure, Nik Kershaw, Joan Armatrading, Mark Knopfler & Chris Atkins, and Peter Gabriel. LP, Vinyl record album

A great collection of work from one of the hippest bandleaders to emerge in the swing generation – and one of the few to be able to tie his approach to the growing worlds of modern jazz and jump jive too! The set features material from Woody Herman's first three "herds" – the first, his initial recording group with Columbia; the second, his groundbreaking group with the "four brothers" group of horn players who included Stan Getz and Jimmy Giuffre; and the third his mid 50s revival group that had Ralph Burns turning in some great modern arrangements to rework that four brothers sound. The set features very lively notes from Woody himself – and titles include "Non Alcoholic", "Caldonia", "Good Earth", "Four Brothers", "Early Autumn", "Third Herd", "Mulligan Tawny", "Blame Boehm", and "Sidewalks Of Cuba". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "The Mooche", "Blues In Thirds", "Indian Summer", "Sidney's Blues", "Shag", and "Lay Your Racket". LP, Vinyl record album

A simple but elegant set from the west coast scene of the 50s – one that features the trio of "poll winners" Barney Kessel on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and Shelly Manne on drums – all coming together in tight formation for the set! There's a well-crafted mood to the record that's way more than just "stars in the studio jamming" – and tunes are focused nicely, and often dominated by Kessel's solo work, which is clearly the strongest draw to the record. Titles include the original "Minor Mood", plus west coast readings of jazz standards like "Green Dolphin Street", "Jordu", "Mean To Me", and "You Go To My Head". LP, Vinyl record album

The amazing debut of Be Bop Deluxe – a record that's made up of all sorts of familiar parts, yet somehow really manages to set itself apart as a whole! The young Bill Nelson is at the top of his game here – a hell of a guitarist, which we sometimes forget in his later work – and a vocalist with a sinister edge that gives the record a sense of darkness that matches the compressed production and overall moody vibe – a child of the Bowie/Bolan generation, but one that's a real black sheep of the family too! The strength of the record is impossible to sum up in easy words – but it's there for the hearing, right from the very first note – on titles that include "Jet Silver & The Dolls Of Venus", "Axe Victim", "Love Is Swift Arrows", "No Trains To Heaven", "Jets At Dawn", "Rocket Cathedrals", and "Third Floor Heaven". LP, Vinyl record album

Not experienced? Well, this album will help push you over the top – as it's done for decades of listeners from the heyday of young Jimi Hendrix all the way up to the present! The set's a classic through and through – a blueprint not just for the genius of Hendrix, but for generations of guitar heroes to come – as you might expect with a lineup that includes "Hey Joe", "Manic Depression", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Fire", "Third Stone From The Sun", "Are You Experienced", and "Purple Haze". LP, Vinyl record album

Roy Ayers in a very Afro-styled mode – working here on his own after a famous collaboration with Fela Kuti – in a set that's filled with the same sort of hard-driving Afro-Funk grooves that you'd find in Fela's classic recordings! The songs are shorter than Fela's, and with more of Roy's usual smooth jazzy production style – but the overall influence is very much in the Afro-Funk vein, and the album's sort of a "part 2" to the Music Of Many Colors set that was cut a few years before. William Allen worked on the record with Roy – playing choppy Afro-Funk bass, and arranging and producing a lot of the material with Roy and Jaymz Bedford – and the record also features a host of extra percussion players, as well as some vocals by the lovely Sylvia Striplin. Includes the great groover "Africa, Center Of The World", plus "The River Niger", and a great remake of "Third Eye", which was on Everybody Loves The Sunshine, but is redone here with a heavier sound! Other tracks include "There's A Masterplan", "I'll Just Keep Trying", and "Destination Motherland". LP, Vinyl record album

No filters here, as Hank Mobley's sound is clean, lean, and right on the money – hitting that newly-sophisticated groove of the Caddy For Daddy years in this sweet unissued set! The date was recorded in the 60s, but unissued by Blue Note for many years – another one of those head-scratching mysteries from the label, yet also a real treat to 80s jazz fans who finally got their hands on the sides – a whole new discovery of Hank Mobley's genius, further appreciated at a time when we weren't hearing more from him. The players are top-shelf all the way through – and include Freddie Hubbard or Donald Byrd on trumpet, Herbie Hancock or Barry Harris on piano, Paul Chambers or Butch Warren on bass, and Philly Joe Jones or Billy Higgins on drums. Titles include "Chain Reaction", "Third Time Around", "Hank's Waltz", and "The Feelin's Good". Only briefly on LP – and only in this pressing! LP, Vinyl record album

With themes from Jaws, Poltergeist, Superman, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and Star Trek. LP, Vinyl record album

With Tony Rizzi on lead guitar and arrangements, Tim May on rhythm guitar, Grant Geissman on second guitar and solos, Bruce Lofgren on third guitar, Michael Rosati on fourth guitar, John Pereti on drums, Wiliam Von Ravensbeg on bass, Tom Ranier on Fender Rhodes, clavinette, and synthesizer, and Doublas Thompson on vocals. LP, Vinyl record album