"U Make Me" features Capone of CNN, "Fall Back" features Havoc of Mobb Deep. 12-inch, Vinyl record

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Music from J. Frank Wilson And The Cavaliers, Mark Dinning, Jody Reynolds, Ray Peterson, Bobby Marchan, Dickey Lee, The Shangri-Las, The Detergents, Everly Brothers, Austin Roberts, Mark Dinning, Jimmy Cross, Little Caesar, and Wayne Cochran. CD

Includes the hits "Tragedy", "Too Much Heaven", and "Love You Inside Out". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest jazz soundtracks of all time! Elmer Bernstein wrote the score to Otto Preminger's chilling film version of Nelson Algren's book The Man With The Golden Arm – a sad tale of jazz, gambling, and heroin addiction on the streets of Chicago (not far from Dusty Groove, in fact!) – and in doing so, he came up with one of the first jazz soundtracks to really work strongly with a dramatic narrative. The film's striking theme is played in a number of variations, either with orchestral backing, or in small combo format by Shorty Rogers & His Giants, a crack west coast group that features work by Bud Shank, Shelly Manne, Bob Cooper, and Pete Candoli. The tracks work perfectly together as a suite of tracks, even without the images of the film – telling a tale of temptation, sadness, tragedy, and rebirth. Titles include "Clark Street", "Breakup", "The Fix", "Zosh", "Frankie Machine", and "Audition". Worth the price for the Saul Bass cover alone! LP, Vinyl record album

We're not normally ones to stock urban fire books here at Dusty Groove – but as you probably know, our hometown is Chicago, a city with a pretty incredible history – part of which is a fantastic fire that burned the whole place to the ground back in the 19th century! This huge book dives into great detail about the fire – its origins, its too-long burnout, initial failed efforts to stop it, and the surprisingly quick rise from the ashes that Chicago experienced as a result – as the city turned the tragedy into a way of rethinking and modernizing itself, which made it very well-poised to become a global powerhouse in years to come! Carl Smith tells the tale with a nicely narrative voice, while also showcasing the long research that went into the project – and this hardcover edition is 374 pages, with some black and white images. Book

Amazing music from the depths of the Great Depression, but it's hardly a downer – this is a deeply felt collection of tunes by black & white singers and combos of the 20s & 30s that's cathartic, emotional, and a complete treasure trove! The songs are full of brutal beauty, tragedy, and some dark humor, especially when it gets to the murder ballads – and more than 30 of the 70 songs haven't been reissued before now! This is simply one of the very best sets of archival Americana since the epic CD releases of the Anthology Of American Folk Music. It's really that good! The discs are separated thematically – Man V Machine, Man V Nature, and Man V Man (And Woman, Too) – and titles include "Titanic Blues" by Hi Henry Brown & Charlie Jordan, "The Crash Of The Akron" by Bob Miller, "Wreck Of Old 97" by Skillet Lickers, "The Fatal Wreck Of The Blus" bu Mainer's Mountaineers, "The Story Of The Mighty Mississippi" by Ernest Stoneman, "When The Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie, "The Death Of Floyd Collins" by Vernon Dalhart, "Peddler And His Wife" by Hayes Shepherd, "Frankie" by Dykes Magic City Trio, "Dupree Blues" by Willie Walker. 70 tracks on 3CDs! CD

An all-star posse track in support of Mumia Abu-Jamal, featuring verses from Afu-Ra, Jean Gray, Pharoah Monche, Dead Prez, Chuck D, Black Thought, Last Emperor, Slimkid Tre, Goldii Lokks, Aceyalone, Wise Intelligent, Tragedy, Sayeed, Zack de la Roche, Channel Live, and Divine Styler. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Wanda Robinson was one of the first hip, black, female poets to set righteous words to funky music – and this album is one of her two classic sides for the Perception label from the early 70s. The format is spoken word over funky instrumentals – and backing is by Patrick Adams, James Moody, and others, mixing jazz, soul, and funk conceptions to fit the mood of each of Wanda's tracks on the set. The titles should give you a good flavor of the material – as the set includes "The First Time I Saw Loneliness", "The Great American Passtime", "Parting Is Such", "Tragedy No 456", "A Black Oriented Love Poem", "Instant Replay", "The Trouble With Dreams", and "Grooving". LP, Vinyl record album

A relatively straight score by Schifrin, done for this over-cast mid 70s film that starred everyone from Orson Welles and James Mason down to Katharine Ross and Ben Gazzara! There's a vaugely historical feel to the work, done in an orchestral mode with some slight exotic themes from time to time – but overall the soundtrack's one of Schifrin's least groovy from the 70s. Titles include "House Painter March", "Lament", "Hotel Nacionale", "Tragedy/Time Pulse", and "So Many Things I Wanted To Say". LP, Vinyl record album

Two great 70s thrillers, back to back – both scored by the amazing Michael Small! The first stretch of the set features music from Marathon Man – the chilling mid 70s film directed by John Schlesinger, about a creepy Nazi war criminal living in New York! Small's music is wonderfully tense – as taut and dark as his famous work for Klute, with perhaps less of the warmth and sex of that film – and more of a focus on short, stark numbers that will set your hair on edge, even if you're not watching the movie. Film Score have done their usual amazing job here – and have come up with 37 tracks from the score – much more of Small's music than we might have hoped for – with cuts that include "Chase", "Nightmare Of The Past", "Scylla Stabbed", "Airport", "The Letter", "Szell Arrives", "Soccer Ball", "Tragedy At The Truck", and "Szell Escapes". The CD also features 11 more tracks from The Parallax View, also scored by Small – a dark thriller directed by Alan Pakula, with a really paranoid sort of narrative that Small's music fits wonderfully. The tunes are often quite short – these airy flourishes of sound made out of brooding string bits and tense woodwinds – and titles include "Gunmen Search", "Morgue", "Sheriff's House", "Joe's Final Run", and "Parallax Test". CD

A really wonderful early album from tenorist Mark Turner – a set that's got all those dark moments and sharp edges of his later recordings, but in a setting that's nicely warm at times – and which has Turner coming across with a bit more soul! There's a special sort of mojo in the record – darkness mixed with redemption, as Turner carves his way over beautiful lines from the rest of the group – a quintet that features Kurt Rosenwinkel on guitar, Brad Mehldau on piano, Larry Grenadier on bass, and Jorge Rossy on drums. Melhdau is especially nice next to Turner here – and the group are also joined by additional tenorists Seamus Black and Terence Dean on the title "Zurich". Other titles include "Isolation", "Subtle Tragedy", "Yam Yam", "Cubism", "Tune Number One", and a version of "Moment's Notice". CD

A great look at a really lost legacy in music from Charlie Rich – obscure sides recorded for RCA Records in the early 60s – done after his initial rush of genius on Sun Records, and before his later commercial success on Epic! Charlie's got one of the all-time great voices in pop music – a richness that easily rivals that of Memphis contemporary Elvis Presley, and which never fully got its due at the time – even though labels like RCA and Smash provided Rich with some fantastic material and production! Charlie's work for Smash has been picked up by the cognoscenti in recent years, and we'd honestly put these RCA tracks right up alongside them – with a similar Tennessee blend of soul and rock, rural and urban – all delivered by Charlie's incredibly charming vocal approach, and recorded with a depth that goes way beyond the usual RCA production modes of the time. There's plenty of currents of soul in the mix – even some New York-styled modes, which really work well with Rich – and this 40 track set is the first time this material has ever been pulled together – long-overdue, and a real treat to our ears! Titles include "Like Someone In Love", "Lady Love", "Nice & Easy", "Big Boss Man", "It's All Over Now", "The Grass Is Always Greener", "Now Everybody Knows", "My Mountain Dew", "The Big Build Up", "She Called Me Baby", "Gentleman Jim", "Christmas Greetings", "All Of My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers", "Is Goodbye That Easy To Say", "Tragedy", "Ten Dollars & A Clean White Shirt", "Tomorrow Night", and "No Room To Dance". CD