A legendary funk set from late 70s Chicago – served up by our own Captain Sky, aka Daryl Cameron – an imposing figure who often worked in the same space-themed territory as the P-Funk empire in the mid 70s! The difference here, though, is that Cameron wrote, produced, and put the whole thing together himself – with help from a few friends in the studio – making the album a great homegrown attempt to rival the strength of the bigger funk ensembles of the period – something The Captain and crew do pretty darn well throughout! There's lots of heavy bass on the set – a strong precursor of modes to come – mixed with riffing guitar, sweet keyboards, and plenty of tight rhythms – on cuts that include the famous sample cut "Super Sporm" – a killer extended track with a great conga break, and a tight old school sample sound – plus "Now That I Have You", "Saturday Night Move-Ease", "Wonder Worm" and "Can't Stop Now". LP, Vinyl record album

The second smoking album from Captain Sky – a Windy City funk legend, and one who's cut from some of the same cloth as Bootsy Collins or Rick James! Like both of those artists, the Captain's a pretty imposing figure, with a bit of future flash to his looks – and while he uses lots of the basslines that might tie him to Bootsy and the P-Funk universe, he's also got a groove that mixes in some of the more sophisticated modes you'd know from the Chicago scene at the time! There's almost a late Curtom feel to the record – tight funk, a bit faster than early in the decade, but still not really disco – and with some mellow midtempo tracks that balance things out beautifully – and really show Sky evolving past the style of his first record. Tracks include "Moonchild", "Fearless", "Cream & Sugar", "Rebirth", "Hero", "Double You SKY", and "Ker-Runch". CD

Vince is a lucky man – he's got Liberace to guide him on the piano – as he serves up a mix of jazz and classical-themed numbers here, all set to arrangements by Art Freeman! LP, Vinyl record album

2 funky club tracks from the late 70s Chicago scene – both of them nice and long! "DJ Devilish" is a 9 minute suite built up from a bumping bassline and some nicely strutting horns – plus both straight soul harmony vocals, and some weirder "devil" vocals too. There's some nice breakdowns as the long tune rolls on – some bits of bass or guitar that are almost worth it alone for the cut! "How My Love Goes" is also long too – and has a bit more strings and a slightly smoother feel – but still a funky undercurrent and some nice soul vocals! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Plenty of strings in "Coco Kane", but a great groove too – one that has a strutting sort of bottom, topped with some of the strongest female vocals we've heard on an El Coco Tune! "It's Your Last Chance" has a catchy sort of disco feel – one that builds nicely, and features a bit of keyboards soloing in the middle! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Seems throwaway from the package – which has a bare ass being spanked on the cover – but the album's actually a pretty slick batch of jazzy disco tracks from the great Rinder & Lewis team! The cornerstone of the album's the group's 10 minute groover "Le Spank" – a smooth midtempo number that has vocals by The Jones Girls, and some great moogy keyboard work! Other tracks include "When She Smiles", "Get Your Boom Boom (Around The Room Room)", and "Cafe Au Lait", which is a spacey instrumental number with a good mix of percussion and keyboards! LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

These two tracks jam along nicely in the disco breaks style that makes the Adventures Of Captain Sky a late 70s block party and roller rink classic! 12-inch, Vinyl record

"Never Let Go" is a really long groover from East Bound Expressway – stretching out for nearly 10 minutes in length, with lots of different passages that feature instrumental riffing and percussion jamming that's almost in a disco break mode! "Cloudburst" has a bit more strings and a fuller disco groove – but still comes across nicely, with some nice Prelude-styled funky guitar bits in the mix! 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the many projects handled by AVI's Rinder & Lewis team – a jazz-inflected, keyboard-heavy duo that should be getting wider recognition with the club kids today! Side one of the album features an extended 2-parter of the great groover "Cocomotion" – done here with lots and lots of strings, catchy grooves, and great spacey keyboard work! Other tracks include "I'm Mad As Hell", "Got That Feeling", and "We Call It Disco" (they certainly do!) LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Moogy keyboards, disco grooves, and sweet female vocals make this a classic session from the Rinder & Lewis team – and the album's a lot better than you might think from the silly name of the group or the throwaway disco cover on the front! The keyboards really drive the album, hitting some great funky clavinet moments or sweet moogy parts that always seem to have a nice touch of jazz – spicing up the tracks in a style that you wouldn't normally get on an album of this vintage and style. Titles include "Do You Have Any?", "Slow Down",a nd the mellow jazzy space number "No Sweat". LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful space disco classic from the years before house music – and a record that's gone on to have a huge influence on generations of dancefloors over the years! The duo of Rinder & Lewis did a number of other projects for the AVI label back in the 70s, but this one may well be their best – a really well-conceived album that layers moogy keyboards over clubby rhythms – all in service of a master concept based around the seven deadly sins – but with an instrumental approach that means the record is never preachy at all. In fact, the grooves are so great that the whole thing really seems to celebrate the sins, not condemn them – another factor that made the record a big one in the underground clubs. Titles include "Pride", "Anger", "Lust", "Sloth", "Covetousness", "Gluttony", and "Envy". LP, Vinyl record album

The second smoking album from Captain Sky – a Windy City funk legend, and one who's cut from some of the same cloth as Bootsy Collins or Rick James! Like both of those artists, the Captain's a pretty imposing figure, with a bit of future flash to his looks – and while he uses lots of the basslines that might tie him to Bootsy and the P-Funk universe, he's also got a groove that mixes in some of the more sophisticated modes you'd know from the Chicago scene at the time! There's almost a late Curtom feel to the record – tight funk, a bit faster than early in the decade, but still not really disco – and with some mellow midtempo tracks that balance things out beautifully – and really show Sky evolving past the style of his first record. Tracks include "Moonchild", "Fearless", "Cream & Sugar", "Rebirth", "Hero", "Double You SKY", and "Ker-Runch". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A great little disco album – really a cut above its contemporaries, thanks to some great instrumentation overall! Side one features the extended "Two Hot For Love" title track – presented as a mini-suite of sorts with lead vocals from Barbara Fry, a singer who's really a lot more soulful than you'd expect. But even better are the keyboards by Michael Lewis – soaring out with similar spacey touches to his own AVI work, and bringing in some interesting interplay to the tune. Side two features some shorter tracks – including a great funky remake of "Manha De Carnival" with more great Lewis keyboards – plus "Crazy Crazy", "Dawn Patrol", and "Early Riser" – all longer versions than on the group's first album. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic bit of Afro funky soul – one of a few albums recorded by the legendary Lafayette Afro Rock Band! The set has an incredible blend of American funk, African rhythms, and European production – recorded in the heady cross-cultural scene of early 70s Paris – with a sound that's often imitated, but never duplicated! Funky guitar snakes through electric piano riffing, rolling basslines, and some really heavy percussion – occasionally supporting a bit of chorus vocals, but mostly going for a hard-grooving instrumental sound overall! The set includes the massive break track "Darkest Light", sampled by PE and others – plus the tracks "Baba Hya", "Djungi", "Raff", "Conga", "Avi-Vo", and "Malik". LP, Vinyl record album

John Scofield and Avi Bortnick on guitars, Andy Hess on bass, and Adam Deitch on drums. CD

Way way way more than just another book of album cover images – and instead, a stunningly huge volume that offers up key images from the disco generation, plus a wealth of knowledge and information too! The book really lives up to the "encyclopedic" promise of its title – as it features label-by-label chapters on key companies during the disco years – from AVI to West End, with lots of great stops in between – all in chapters that feature images of most of the best albums on the labels, plus a listing of matrix numbers in order, which is a very useful tool! The album cover pages feature as many as 16 images on a large square page, complete with catalog numbers – which means that the book features thousands of images along with the numerical content – and a special section at the end features an even bigger array of 12" picture sleeves and label covers too. There's also as scrapbook of disco advertisements, and more label paperwork – plus sections on Roller Disco, Disco Instruction Records, Disco Samplers, and disco work on some of the major labels. The hardcover book is 384 pages, oversized, and super-heavy – a true treasure for any record collector! Book

An excellent record from the short heyday of this wonderful singer – done with arrangements from Johnny Mandel! LP, Vinyl record album

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Collects performances with Franco Ambrosetti, George Gruntz, Alan Skidmore, Barney Wilen, Gil Cuppini, Kenny Clarke, and others. CD

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Franck Avitabile on piano. CD

A great back-to-basics solo album from the legendary David Axelrod – cut in the mid 70s for Fantasy Records, after higher-concept projects like The Auction and Messiah! This set gets right to the core – and focuses on the funk currents that were always part of Axelrod's larger arrangements, but which sometimes never got pulled to the forefront as strongly – and the approach is almost like some of the funky jazz albums that were issued by Fantasy/Prestige Records at the time – especially those that Axelrod produced for Cannonball Adderley. The whole thing has that great Axelrod sense of composition, with lots of space, and lots of spare cold bits that are nice nice nice for sample cuts – and titles include the classic track "Everything Counts", plus "Get Up Off Your Knees", "My Family", and "Mucho Chupar". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing slice of music from the legendary David Axelrod – quite different than his better-known sides for Capitol and Reprise Records – and plenty darn funky overall! Axelrod is at his studio best here – stepping off the funky jazz modes he produced for Cannonball Adderley, and taking a shot at that territory on his own! In a reversal of modes, Cannonball actually handles the production – with help from Jimmy Bowen – which leaves Axelrod alone to compose, arrange, and direct the group on the set. The album's got a fair bit of electricity in the mix – heavy keyboards from Joe Sample, and some really fuzzy guitars – plus lots of choppy reed work from Joe Sample and Ernie Watts, all wrapped up with some monstrously funky drums from Ndugu Chancler. There's a very bottom-heavy groove to the record – one that makes for a few completely amazing breaks, and a very funky sound overall – and Axelrod does an amazing job of controlling the players here – so that nobody jams too much, and the grooves are always right on the money! The whole thing's great – a sublime symphony of instrumental funk all the way through – and titles include "Reverie", "Miles Away", "Go For It", "Ken Russell", "1000 Rads", and "One". First time ever on CD – a seminal reissue from Dusty Groove! CD

David Axelrod takes on Handel's Messiah – and the result is an amazingly complex set of music – very similar to his earlier albums on Capitol Records, and his Warner work with the Electric Prunes! If you love the Axe, you'll find plenty to love here – spare, dark orchestrations, often with a subtle hint of funk in the rhythms, some jazzy flourishes, and this bold sense of studio majesty that marks Axelrod as one of the most inventive producers of his time! The sound's one that gave birth to a whole generation of hip hoppers and beatheads – and the proceedings are conducted by Cannonball Adderley, with a feel that's similar to other Adderley/Axelrod high-concept sets – like Soul Of The Bible or Soul Zodiac. Titles include "Overture", "Worthy Is the Lamb", "Behold Recitative", "Comfort Ye My People", and "And The Angel Said Unto Them". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A trio of albums that pair RCA country star Bobby Bare with some of the label's female singers – all brought together with bonus tracks too! Tunes For Two is one of the magical pairings of Bobby Bare and Skeeter Davis – both rising stars in the RCA country lineup of the 60s – each with their own sort of special sound! Skeeter's got a heartbreaking mode that's kind of post-Patsy Cline – perfect for the slower, blue-tinged tracks on the set – and a nice contrast with the more natural approach of Bobby – who's always got his emotions handy, but also often with a wry eye that lets him put things in perspective. The pair duet directly on most numbers – instead of singing back and forth – and titles include "In The Misty Moonlight", "Dear John Letter", "Too Used To Being With You", "True Love", "Let It Be Me", and "We Must Have Been Out Of Our Minds". Game Of Triangles is a compelling take on the country duo mode of the 60s – an album that features some tracks that have all three singers working together – beautiful "love triangle" numbers – then more tracks that feature each singer on their own! The triangle numbers are especially compelling – and include "One Among The Three Of Us", "Bye Bye Love", "Three Mixed Up Hearts", "Which One Is To Blame", and "The Game Of Triangles" – a really fresh version of country heartbreak modes. Other cuts are nice, too – and include Bobby Bare singing "Homesick" and "Guess I'll Move On Down The Line", Liz Anderson singing "The Wife Of The Party" and "Fairytale", and Norma Jean singing "Pursuing Happiness" and "Don't Let That Doorknob Hit You". Last up is Your Husband My Wife – a set that has the duo of Bare and Davis really maturing nicely – hitting modes that are a lot more country than some of Skeeter's early pop material, with beautiful back/forth vocals that open up the well-penned tunes of heartbreak and the struggles of love to survive. Titles include "Before The Sunrise", "Let's Make Love Not War", "There Never Was A Time", "A Truer Love You'll Never Find", and the great "Your Husband My Wife". CD features three more bonus tracks – "Vegas" by Bare with Jeannie Bare, "No Memories Hangin Round" by Bare with Rosanne Cash, and "It's A Dirty Job" by Bare with Lacy J Dalton. CD

Bobby Battle on drums – with David Murray on saxophone, Larry Willis on piano, and Santi Debriano on bass. CD

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Titles include "Skyryder", "Legian Drive", "Shining", "Lost", and "Stars". CD

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

... LP, Vinyl record album