An obscure disco trio from the Miami soul scene of the 70s – working here in a way that's maybe like a deep soul take on some of the Philly female trios of the same time! The strings are soaring and the grooves are tight – but there's maybe a richer vocal approach from the group than just a few females singing along with a club track – a mode that could have made them a hell of a southern soul trio had they recorded back in the 60s – and which really keeps things interesting here! Arrangements are by Mike Lewis and Clarence Reid – definitely with some familiar TK Records touches, but also maybe more responsive to the vocal needs of the group as well. Titles include "Just Three Nights Away From You" and "Can You Smell My Love Burning", both fantastic ballads – plus "You Danced Your way Into My Life", "This Time Tomorrow", "Selfish For Unselfish Reasons", and "Oops Oops Means I Love You". CD

Wild sounds from the early years of rock and roll – a heady brew of guitar-heavy instrumentals, soulful stompers, and more – all pulled from the hinterland of the rare 45 underground! The tunes here go way past familiar oldies – and even past the sorts of sounds that usually show up on surf compilations – because, as he does with funk records, Keb Darge has a great ear for the unusual – the sorts of odd platters that have always show up in his best record digging and DJ gigs – laid out perfectly here in a really overstuffed collection! Keb turns in nice notes on each track – and titles include "Honey Bun" by Larry Donn, "Ghost Train" by The Swanks, "I Don't Wanna Leave" by Deacon & The Rock & Rollers, "Gorilla" by The Shandells, "She's The One That Got It" by Allen Page, "Madness" by Rhythm Rockers, "Woodpecker Rock" by The Braves, "Let's Dance" by The Excels, "Bad Bad Boy" by Bobby Lollar, and "Lobo Jones" by Jackie Gotroe. CD

One of the coolest Christmas compilations you could ever hope to own – but you probably guessed that already, from the cover image that pays tribute to a classic set from James Brown! The JB image is certainly well placed – as most of the tracks here are deeply funky Holiday tunes – the kind of gritty seasonal ditties that were only ever issued as funky 45s back in the day – and most really only on a local level, too! Strut's really outdone themselves with this excellent collection – as it features a fair bit of Christmas rarities we've never heard before, but which are totally wonderful – all-new tunes, not common Christmas cover versions – played and performed with a hell of a soulful feel throughout. Knock that ol' Bing Crosby record off the turntable, and give this one plenty of spins this December – and dammit, the music's so great, you may well find yourself playing the collection well into the New Year too! Titles include "Boogaloo Santa Claus" by JD McDonald, "Angel's Christmas" by Wild Honey, "Black Christmas" by Harlem Children's Chorus, "Getting Down For Xmas" by Milly & Silly, "Soul Santa" by Funk Machine, "Funky Funky Christmas" by Electric Jungle, "Christmas Present Blues" by Jimmy Reed, "Santa's Got A Bag Of Soul" by Soul Saints Orchestra, "Christmas Morning (Sean Bonniwell edit)" by Zebra, "Let's Get It Together This Christmas" by Harvey Averne, "Auld Lang Syne" by Black On White Affair, and "The New Year" by Jimmy Jules & The Nuclear Soul System. CD

Classic cuts from the TK Records stable of Miami disco from the 70s – all of which are served up here on 7" single mixes, a fair bit of which appear here on CD for the first time ever! TK is maybe best known for it's long-spun club cuts that were a perfect fit for the budding 12" format in the mid 70s – but the label also turned out plenty of cuts with a tight, catchy groove that was perfect for a funky 45 – which might have been why TK was one of the few labels to rule both on the radio and on the dancefloors back in the day! Japanese DJ T Groove takes us through 20 TK singles here – with tracks that include "Return Of Vader" by AD, "Macho" by Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch, "Higher" by Chi-Lites, "Star Cruiser" by Gregg Diamond, "Moon Ride" by Universal Love, "Let's Dance" by Wild Honey, "Have A Good Day (part 1)" by Gail Eason, "Music (voc)" by Montreal Sound, "I'm Gonna Dance" by Asha Puthli, "Dancin In My Feet" by Laura Taylor, "Holding Back" by Gregg Diamond, "At Midnight" by T Connection, "If There's Love" by Amant, "Spank" by Jimmy Bo Horne, and "The Break (short)" by Kat Mandu. CD

A sprawling 5CD box set of benchmark 80s indie pop from the UK – chronologically sequenced (for the most part) from the beginning to the end of the decade – with so many brilliant songs both straight-up classic and others that are relatively forgotten! Incredible stuff from the post punk guitar years, to dreamier and more psych steeped sounds, to the dancier grooves late in the decade that laid the groundwork for the 90s. Classics and early singles by Prefab Sprout, TV Personalities, Everything But The Girl, Pulp, Biff Bang Pow!, Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, The Soup Dragons, House Of Love, The Shamen, The Rosehips, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonder Stuff, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, James, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Lloyd Cole & The Commotion, The Darling Buds, The Boo Radleys and many, many more! More than 130 tracks in all – with a thick booklet of notes! Kind of like a Nuggets for the indie 80s British scenes! SO many great songs, but to name a few: "Revolutionary Spirit" by Wild Swans, "The Missionary" by Josef K, "Lions In The Garden" by Prefab Sprout, "A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Live)" by TV Personalities, "Just Like Honey (demo October '84)" by Jesus & Mary Chain, "Oblivious" by Aztec Camera, "Velocity Girl" by Primal Scream, "Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy" by The Wedding Present, "If I Said" by The Darling Buds, "Son Of A Gun (demo)" by The LAs, "The Hardest Thing In The World" by Stone Roses, "Catweazle" by The Boo Radleys and many, many more! CD

A mighty deep dive into the music of the Private Stock label of the 70s – a short-lived but important imprint in the disco generation, and one who did a lot to bridge the worlds of soul, rock, and pop in the clubs! PS maybe didn't go as deep as Salsoul or some other contemporaries, but they did turn out some great cuts that managed to balance polish and groove in a really great way – qualities that really come out strongly here on the collection, which does a mighty nice job of getting past bigger hits to focus on more obscure Private Stock tunes from the time! The set's got 21 titles in all – and titles include "I'll See You In My Dreams" by The Pearls, "Gotta Find A Way" by Wild Honey, "Love Connection" by The Mob, "Think It Over" by Cissy Houston, "Good Bread Alley" by Soul Mate, "Disco Satisfaction Medley" by Tommi, "Jig A Boogie" by Tightrope, "Let's Get Crazy Tonight" by Rupert Holmes, "I Can't Help Myself" by Franklin Micare, "This Old Man" by Purple Reign, "More" by Toga, and "Sunshine Of My Love" by Rosetta Stone. CD