... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Great work from Michael Boothman – an artist we only know from one rare album in the late 70s, stepping out here in two previously-unreleased extended tunes! "Waiting For Your Love" skips along at a warm sunny pace – almost jazzy overall, thanks to work on guitar that riffs alongside the keyboards – and topped with these soaring vocals from Charmaine Forde, a singer who almost feels like she stepped off the classic James Mason album! "What You Won't Do For Love" is mighty nice too – a great remake of the hit, but done in a relaxed, grooving style that really likes Charmaine's vocals sparkle over wicked rhythms with lots of jazzy undercurrents too! 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the most soulful club tracks we can remember from the mid 80s – and a cut with a hook that just won't quit! 12-inch, Vinyl record

If you want to appreciate BDP's "South Bronx", you've gotta hear this one. If ya don't know... MC Shan recorded "The Bridge", saying hip hop started in Queensbridge, Queens. BDP replied with "South Bronx", setting the record straight (as we see it). "South Bronx" uses the same beat and replies to "The Bridge" almost line for line. MC Shan then replied with "Kill That Noise", followed by the final word from BDP with "The Bridge Is Over". Shan's first single was "Feed The World" on MCA (which explains KRS's line "You got dropped off MCA, cuz the rhymes you wrote was wack" on "South Bronx"). We won't even begin with the other entries in the Queens/Bronx Battle like MC Poet's "Beat You Down", which was directed at KRS. (And somehow Poet returned to the game as a member of Screwball, with an LP on Tommy Boy.) . . . And you thought the LL/Canibus/Wyclef battle went on too long! All that trivia aside, the record is up there as one of our favorites from the class of '85. The b-side is Roxanne Shante's first single, "Roxanne's Revenge" – by far the best of the Roxanne replies. 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the better tracks off Sade's Lover's Rock, with a mellow vibe that does justice to the title of the LP in the original, and a similarly spacious island inflection on the "Yard mix". Truthfully the more amped up Neptunes mix and the "Reggae mix" don't really do the track justice to our ears, but that doesn't mean you won't be feelin' them. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Includes "Be In My Video", "He's So Gay", "Won Ton On", "The Closer You Are", "Whipping Post" and "Planet Of My Dreams". 12-inch, Vinyl record

Another hot single from Mountain Bros. DJ Chops terrific Virtuosity LP. "What's F**kin'. . ." features Raekwon. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Fred P offers up two very fresh takes on these cuts from the team of Nicola Conte and Gianluca Petrella – both nice and long, and with a sense of flow that's really wonderful! "African Spirits" comes across with a tribal house sort of vibe – lots of live instrumentation on percussion and trombone, but also a percolating groove that stretches into more house-based energy as the tune moves on! "Tribes" follows a similar groove – also stretching way past 10 minutes as Fred builds the whole tune nicely out of acoustic elements layered into the rhythms! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Way more than snacks, as the great Mark De Clive-Lowe serves up a full meal of keyboard-driven goodies here – just the kind of jazzy gems that make his work over the years so wonderful, and just seem to get better and better with the passage of time! Here, Mark uses some of the more spiritual jazz experiences of his past decade or so, and reworks them to more beat-heavy territory, of the sort that you'll know from his roots – never stiff or cliched, and working with a really masterful sense of flow throughout! Titles on this second volume include "Float Into Ether", "Joyful Resistance (part 1)", "Crush Velvet", and "Sorceress". 12-inch, Vinyl record

Way more than snacks, as the great Mark De Clive-Lowe serves up a full meal of keyboard-driven goodies here – just the kind of jazzy gems that make his work over the years so wonderful, and just seem to get better and better with the passage of time! Here, Mark uses some of the more spiritual jazz experiences of his past decade or so, and reworks them to more beat-heavy territory, of the sort that you'll know from his roots – never stiff or cliched, and working with a really masterful sense of flow throughout! Titles on this third volume include "Journeyman", "Orbits", "Third Plane", and "Musashi 2474". 12-inch, Vinyl record

With Amerie, Baby, Foxy Brown, and Nas on "Too Much For Me"; Fat Joe, Raekwon, and Scarface on "I Never Liked Ya Ass"; and E-A-Ski, Kam, and MC Ren on "Westside Driveby". 12-inch, Vinyl record

A fantastic meeting of two generations of soulful music – Sheila E, the daughter of Cali Latin soul genius Coke Escovedo, meets up with the snappingly funky world of Prince – and results in one of the strongest records of Sheila's career! The singer/percussionist had already been around for about a decade on record – turning out some great Latin work with her brother Pete in the Bay Area – but this set has Sheila going of the top with a great Paisley Park groove, really working with lots of influences from Prince, but still also getting plenty of Latin elements of her own into the mix – on long tracks that are filled with wonderful rhythms and plenty of great percussion too! Titles include the sublime title cut "The Glamorous Life" – plus "The Belle Of St Mark", "Oliver's House", "Strawberry Shortcake", "Noon Rendezvous", and "Next Time Wipe The Lipstick Off Your Collar". 12-inch, Vinyl record