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... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

The cover's a bit creepy, but the album's still plenty great – old school Cameo still strongly in a funk-based mode, before some of the stiffer grooves of their later years! Bass is the ruler of the set – and most tracks here vamp around in a very heavy P-Funk style of groove – lots of guitar dancing around the rhythms, and plenty of spoken/sung vocals from the whole ensemble – not to mention a heavy dose of keyboards that helps keep things clean and lean! A partyful album if there ever was one – with tracks that include "Soul Army", "Enjoy Your Life", "Flirt", "Secrets Of Time", "I Owe It All To You", and "For You". CD

Excellent funky work from Lou Donaldson – and a groundbreaking record that was the first to feature him playing on Blue Note with drummer Idris Muhammad – who is listed on the session under his birth name, Leo Morris! Muhammad gives the album that crackling funky bottom sound that instantly defined Lou's later years at Blue Note – a hard and heavy approach to soul jazz that's had incredible repercussions in the world of hip hop, as well as soul and funk. The rest of the group features soul jazz burners Lonnie Smith on organ, Melvin Lastie on trumpet, and George Benson on guitar – and the album includes the highly successful "Alligator Boogaloo", plus hard groovers "The Thang", "Aw Shucks!", and "One Cylinder". LP, Vinyl record album

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Music from Hound Dog Taylor, James Cotton, Professor Longhair, Koko Taylor, Tinsley Ellis, Kenny Neal, Elvin Bishop, Roy Buchanan, Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Sonny Terry, and more. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Features early work by Stevie Ray Vaughan! Tiles include "Hound Dog Man", "Stop", "Long Way From Memphis", "Strike Like Lightning", and "You Ain't Got Me". CD

... CD

One of the hippest artists to record on Alligator Records in the 70s – a great guitarist who definitely deserved the exposure! LP, Vinyl record album

One of the better albums on the Alligator Records label from Chicago – a set by Fenton Robinson that's not far different from his earlier work on the 77/Sound Stage Seven label – which means that there's more of a southern soul vibe to the record at times than some of the more crowd-pleasing groups that Alligator was recording up north! Fenton has the tightness of a deep soul singer, but also relaxes nicely into his music – often letting his guitar speak as much as his lyrics – with help on second guitar from Mighty Joe Young! Easily one of the greatest albums from both Fenton and Alligator – with titles that include "I've Changed", "Country Girl", "Gotta Wake Up", "Texas Flood", "Checking On My Woman", and "Somebody Loan Me A Dime". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

With guests Albert Collins, James Cotton, Son Seals, and Lonnie Brooks! LP, Vinyl record album

Features work by Donald Kinsey & The Kinsey Report, Valerie Wellington, Dion Payton & The 43rd Street Blues Band, The Sons Of Blues/Chi-Town Hustlers, The Professor's Blues Review featuring Gloria Hardiman, John Watkins, Michael Coleman, Maurice John Vaughn, Melvin Taylor & The Slack Band, and Lil Ed & The Blues Imperials. LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... CD

Features Jimmy Johnson on guitar and vocals – on titles that include "Heap See", "Missing Link", "Happy Home", "Chicken Heads", "Little By Little", and "When My First Wife Quit Me". CD

Titles include "Give Me Back My Wig", "Kitchen Sink Boogie", "Rock Me", "Let's Get Funky", "It's Allright", and "Freddie's Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "She's Gone", "Wild About You Baby", "Walking The Ceiling", "Phillips Theme", "55th Street Boogie", and "It's Alright". CD

Includes the songs "Lonesome Blues", "Big Butter and Egg Man", "Sunset Cafe Stomp", "Willie The Weeper", "Potato Head Blues", and "Alligator Crawl" – 16 tracks total. CD

A rootsy classic from Dr John – an early 70s set in which he turns his talents to a bunch of older New Orleans soul and blues tracks, but serves them up in a style that still has plenty of his mystic gumbo in place! After the freer-wheeling longform sprawls of his more psychedelic albums, the doctor goes back to his Nola roots, and works with lots of great help here from Harold Battiste – who co-produced and did the arrangements – all in a style that's got a real 60s Crescent City vibe, even though the set was recorded in LA. Titles include versions of Sugarboy Crawford's "Iko Iko", Huey Smith's "Blow Wind Blow", and other classics like "Mess Around", "Let The Good Times Roll", "Junko Partner", "Tipitina", and "Stack A Lee". LP, Vinyl record album

The great Dr John at his freaky deaky best – working here in a mindblowing mix of New Orleans roots and late 60s psych – all served up in some heady studio space and instrumental touches! The sound's unlike anything that ever went before – and is way better here than on some of John's later, straighter material – clearly the work of years of creative genius, as the Doctor, Mac Rebennack, draws on both his heritage from the Crescent City, and his years of work in the underground rock scene in LA! Harold Batiste handled the arrangements – and the record really paves the way for so many famous LA/New Orleans albums to come in the 70s – but never with results this mindblowingly trippy. The tracks are wild, funky, and messed-up New Orleans R&B filtered through a heavy dose of psychedelics – and titles include "Mama Roux", "Croker Courtbullion", "Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya", and the original version of "I Walk On Guilded Splinters". LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime 70s work from pianist Fumio Itabashi, easily one of our favorite Japanese talents of the time – a pianist with a wonderful sense of rhythm and freedom at the same time – very much on display on this beautiful record! The tracks are long and flowing – full of feeling, and as lyrical at times as they are rhythmic – set up with perfect trio accompaniment that features Tsutomu Okada on bass and Takuji Kusimoto on drums – working with Fumio in this special sort of magic that's a bit hard to put in words, but which really demonstrates on record why this moment in Japanese jazz was such a special time! Ties include "TOH", "Alligator Dance", and "Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer album from Pucho – and the best one he's done since the early 70s! Unlike some of his weaker recent ones, which try to hard for a "fake funk" feel that just ends up going nowhere, this one plays on Pucho's strong Latin jazz sensibility, and it lets the band get nice and jazzy, with a stone groove that's right in keeping with the excellent Latin work on the Cubop label. The band still includes sax work by the great Eddie Pazant, a masterful player who made Pucho's classic albums work so well – and Pucho himself's wailing away on timbales, while John Spruill delivers some tasty piano lines to keep the rhythm section rolling along. It's great to have Pucho and the group back at a level where they belong – but we wouldn't expect anything less from an artist on the Cubop label! Includes a cover of Lou Donaldson's "Alligator Boogaloo", plus Eddie Harris' "Cold Duck Time", and originals like "Happy Feet Mambo", "Lena's Moods", and "Descarga On Las Palmas". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes "Senor Blues" by Horace Silver, "Moanin" by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, "Back At The Chicken Shack" by Jimmy Smith, "Christo Redentor" by Donald Byrd, "Blue Bossa" by Joe Henderson with Kenny Dorham, "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver, "Fungii Mama" by Blue Mitchell, "The Sidewinder" by Lee Morgan, and "Alligator Boogaloo" by Lou Donaldson. CD

A classic set from the Grateful Dead – and one that features the group mixing studio tracks with their rising fame as a must-see live act! The package features both concert and studio recordings, and there's a wonderfully optimistic, late 60s vibe to the whole thing – the group still looking forward strongly, almost playing with a sense of surprise as they make their way through new musical discoveries – mixing catchiness and complexity together in ways that few of their contemporaries could match. Titles include "That's It For The Other One", "New Potato Caboose", "Born Cross Eyed", "Alligator", and "Caution Do Not Stop On The Tracks". CD

Dead-heavy funk from Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro – a combo with a groove that's a lot leaner than their name! This second smoking set clearly puts the Japanese group at the top of the international funk underground – burning with an intensity that takes us back to the best days of the funky 45 underground, yet with a fuller, richer sound than most of their contemporaries too! The lineup features some great keyboards tucked in alongside the horns – which themselves are arranged with the tightness of a blacksploitation soundtrack groove yet also with a nicely rough quality around the edges. Superb stuff all out – and every bit as wonderful as the debut set handled by Jazzman! Titles include "Sweet Las Coke", "Super Jock Strut", "Mr Soul Machine Gun", "Indication", "Caught In The Middle", "The Mantle", "Alligator Man", "Woman Changed My Life", and "Love Spectrum". CD

Titles include "Potato Head Blues", "Wild Man Blues", "SOL Blues", "Gully Low Blues", "Melancholy Blues", "Weary Blues", "Twelfth Street Rag", "Willie The Weeper", "That's When I'll Come Back To You", "Alligator Crawl", and "Chicago Breakdown". LP, Vinyl record album

Really wonderful work from one of our favorite groups on late 60s Warner Brothers – the mighty Beau Brummels, a group who were already years ahead of their time, and who also evolved strongly during the short span of time covered on this album! As you'd guess from the title, the collection features all sorts of great tracks that never appeared on the group's classic albums for Warner – spanning the psychedelic folk of their early years on the label, to the rich country-inspired sounds of their last – and also including a few solo tunes from singer Sal Valentino too! These aren't just throwaway cuts or covers, as many of them are originals – mostly penned by the great Ron Elliott – titles that include "I'm A Sleeper", "Cherokee Girl", "Long Walking Down To Misery", "Lift Me", "Lower Level", "Two Days Til Tomorrow", "She Reigns", and "Fine With Me". Also features nice remakes of "One Too Many Mornings" and "Don't Make Promises" – and Sal Valentino cuts "A Song For Rochelle", "Silkie", "Alligator Man", and "Friends & Lovers". LP, Vinyl record album

This is the real deal for Screamin Jay Hawkins – a full album of his first early work for the Okeh label in the mid 50s, stuff that was recorded long before his too-gimmicky records for mainstream audiences! The sound here is hard and heavy – and pretty darn spooky too – best summed up by Hawkins' classic "I Put a Spell On You", which sets the tone here – but followed up beautifully by a batch of similar material that brings a new level of screamin' to 50s R&B! Titles include "Give Me My Boots & Saddle", "Hong Kong", "If You Are But A Dream", "You Made Me Love You", "Orange Colored Sky", "Temptation", and "I Love Paris" – and Jay's versions of the standards are almost as great as his original material! CD features a whopping 13 bonus tracks too – including "Voodoo", "Alligator Wine", "Little Demon", "Frenzy", "Person To Person", and "You Ain't Foolin Me". CD

Amazing grooves from a legendary pair of labels – the ultra-funky Perception and Today Records, home of some killer sounds from the New York scene at the start of the 70s! The labels had a great ear for up-and-coming soul – especially with some of the younger groups rising up at the time – and they also used their magic to refresh the sounds of some older artists, particularly jazz musicians, who took on an ultra-funky approach at Perception – one that's made their work for the label some of the most in-demand over the years! Drums are heavy, bass is nice and fuzzy, and many of the cuts have a righteous sound that really takes off from the most progressive soul, funk, and jazz of the late 60s – pushing hard with an even heavier 70s vibe. Titles include "Brother" by Adam Wade & Johnny Pate, "Too Sad To Tell" by Debbie Taylor, "Chitlins & Chuchifritos" by Joe Thomas, "Naturally Good" by Bartel, "You & I" by Black Ivory, "I Can't Get No Higher" by The Eight Minutes, "You Owe It To Yourself" by JJ Barnes, "Get Some Of This" by Madhouse, "Honey Buns" by Bobby Rydell, "Gingele" by Astrud Gilberto, "One Life" by The Albert, "Surrender" by Black Ivory, "Wishful Thinking" by JJ Barnes, "You've Just Been Bitten" by Bartel, "Every Brother Ain't A Brother" by Joe Thomas, "Submission" by Tyrone Washington, "Boogie" by Bartel, "Alligator" by Dizzy Gillespie, "Rock Steady" by Julius Brockington, "Find The One Who Loves You" by The Eight Minutes, "A Possibility" by Wanda Robinson, and "Heritage Hum" by James Moody. CD

An excellent dip into the wild catalog of Perception Records! The label was home to some of the most compelling soul and funk of the early 70s – and it operated in a boundary-less territory that mixed up fuzzy guitars with heavy beats with soaring sax and sweet harmony vocals. Some of the artists who recorded for the label are best known for their work there – like Black Ivory or Wanda Robinson – and others made rare sessions for Perception – like Dizzy Gillespie and Shirley Horn – that really stand out from the rest of their work! This 20 track set offers a perfect sampling of the work on the label – and it includes a wild variety of tracks like "Alive" by Larry Young, "Get Some Of This" by Madhouse, "I Can't Get No Higher" by The 8 Minutes, "Consequences Of A Drug Addict Role" by Shirley Horn, "Too Sad To Tell" by Debbie Taylor, "Life Love & Peace" by The Exciters, "Alligator" by Dizzy Gillespie, "Rock Steady" by Julius Brockington, "Naturally Good" by Bartel, "Stop Me" by Benny Johnson, and the main theme to "Brother On The Run" by Johnny Pate & Adam Wade! CD

Includes the songs "Willie The Weeper", "Wild Man Blues", "Chicago Breakdown", "Alligator Crawl", "Potato Head Blues", "Melancholy Blues", "Weary Blues", "Twelfth Street Rag", "Keyhole Blues", "S.O.L. Blues", "Gully Low Blues", "That's When I'll Come Back To You", "Put 'Em Down Blues", "Ory's Creole Trombone", "The Last Time", "Struttin' With Some Barbecue", "Got No Blues", "Once In A While", "I'm Not Rough", "Hotter Than That", and "Savoy Blues". CD

Both funky and soul jazz Blue Note work from Lou Donaldson– with cuts that include "Be My Love", "Shadow Of Your Smile", "Cool Blues", "Midnight Creeper", "Blues Walk", "Alligator Bogaloo", and lots more! CD

A great collection of Lou's funkier work for Blue Note – featuring many gems from the late 60s Idris Muhammad years, stone funky tracks with a jazzy groove that's influenced a few generations of hip hop! Most of these tunes are slowy disappearing from the reissue market – making the compilation even more essential than ever. There's a total of 15 tracks in all – and titles include "Say It Loud", "Snake Bone", "Turtle Walk", "Sassy Soul Strut", "If There's A Hell Below", "Peepin", "Alligator Boogaloo", "Hamp's Hump", and "Everything I Do Gonh Be Funky". CD

Sublime 70s work from pianist Fumio Itabashi, easily one of our favorite Japanese talents of the time – a pianist with a wonderful sense of rhythm and freedom at the same time – very much on display on this beautiful record! The tracks are long and flowing – full of feeling, and as lyrical at times as they are rhythmic – set up with perfect trio accompaniment that features Tsutomu Okada on bass and Takuji Kusimoto on drums – working with Fumio in this special sort of magic that's a bit hard to put in words, but which really demonstrates on record why this moment in Japanese jazz was such a special time! Ties include "TOH", "Alligator Dance", and "Goodbye". CD

Beautiful work by a pianist you've probably never heard – an unsung talent from the Japanese scene of the past 30 years, and a great player with a richly spiritual vibe! At some level, Fumio Itabashi works in a mode that's similar to McCoy Tyner in his post-Coltrane years – a flowing, searching approach to the piano that's often served up in highly rhythmic modes – especially on the work in this collection, which was done by the Japanese Ultra-Vybe label, and focuses more on the groove-oriented side of Fumio's recordings! Hearing the 2CD set is like discovering a lost player from the American soul jazz scene of the 70s – and on the package, Fumio is heard solo, trio, and in some slightly larger groups that have him working with additional horn players as well. Most of the recordings were only ever issued in Japan, and titles include "Goodbye", "Nippon Blues", "Don't Say Goodbye", "Up Into The Sky", "Alligator Dance", "Rise & Shine (full edit)", and a few takes on his excellent "Watarase", played by a number of different groupings of musicians! CD

Includes "Senor Blues" by Horace Silver, "Moanin" by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers, "Back At The Chicken Shack" by Jimmy Smith, "Christo Redentor" by Donald Byrd, "Blue Bossa" by Joe Henderson with Kenny Dorham, "Song For My Father" by Horace Silver, "Fungii Mama" by Blue Mitchell, "The Sidewinder" by Lee Morgan, and "Alligator Boogaloo" by Lou Donaldson. LP, Vinyl record album

A wealth of grooves from one of the most surprising entries into the global funk scene of the 21st Century! The words "Spain" and "funk" aren't often used in the same sentence, but that's probably about to change – thanks to the efforts of all the artists on this set! As the collection shows, there's a heck of a lot of great little combos bubbling underground these days in Spain – groups who work in a mix of deep funk, soul jazz, and mod-styled rhythms – often with plenty of organ, guitar, or classic funk elements – in a groove that's sometimes instrumental, but which can also feature a fair bit of soul-styled vocals as well! The 2CD set is overflowing with great work – a total of 20 tracks in all that includes "Freedom" by Funxplosion, "I Turned You On" by Phat Fred, "Thriller" by Speak Low, "Royale 2006" by Guateque All Stars, "La Chica Humeda (parts 1 & 2)" by Ortophonk, "Friday Night" by Pybus Groove Quartet, "I Got You Man" by The Sweet Vandals, "Get Up & Dance" by Funkdacion, "Get It & Get On (extended)" by Clan Club, "Tu M'Enerves" by Cinnamon Gum, "Say It Loud" by Celofunk, "Pampi's Groove" by Asstrio, "Soul Drummer" by Los Fulanos, "A New One" by Watch Out, "Change Your Name" by Koniec, and "Think" by The Sir Alligator's Company. CD

One of the coolest club projects of the 70s – a set of tracks based around the keyboards of Don Ray, but handled with lots of electronic disco touches from Cerrone! The pair are great arrangers on their own, but together they really make some magic – kind of a leaner take on the extended Cerrone groove – honed to a "t" in the studio, and sometimes given a nice punch with chorus vocals too. The tracks are shorter than you'd normally get from Cerrone, but still filled with all those freewheeling clubby grooves – warmly soulful undercurrents that make a great platform for the more electronic keyboards – never too cold at all, and a fair bit more personal than the sorts of keys we're used to hearing from the European scene. A really unique record – a partnership we wish worked together more like this, although we're plenty happy to have this treasure too! Titles include "Garden Of Love", "My Desire", "Body & Soul", "Got To Have Loving", and "Standing In The Rain". CD

A funky bit of blues from Otis Rush – the guitarist's debut album, and a surprisingly great batch of tracks recorded at Fame Studios! Production is by Mike Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites, who are clearly going for more of a crossover sound than Rick Hall might have given the set – but that approach is a strong one, as it really brings a hard focus on Rush's guitar, and sets his slyly sliding vocals a bit more back in the mix. Sweet electric Chicago blues before it got over-Alligatorized – with tracks that include "Feel So Bad", "Baby I Love You So", "Me", "Working Man", "You're Killing My Love", and "Can't Wait No Longer" – the last 4 of which were written by Bloomfield and Gravenites. LP, Vinyl record album

Roky Erickson's fantastic early 80s material with The Aliens – tracks that were produced by Creedence Clearwater Revival's Stu Cook – with some of the most straight-forward and accessible rockers in Roky's canon, but still sporting his trademark eccentricity! Given his mythical personal history, you can easy describe Roky Erickson as "having demons" – but as you'll hear, he's also got two-headed dogs, vampires, zombies, fire demons, ghosts and Lucifer himself – just on this one record! The tracks have an odd release history – having been recorded in the late 70s, but not released until 1980 in the UK on the Five Symbols record, and in '81 as The Evil One LP, with an altered tracklist. This definitive Light In The Attic version gathers up all 15 amazing tracks from the Stu Cook sessions from '77-'79. Includes the legendary "Two Headed Dog" and many more tunes that are just as incredible! Titles include "I Walked With A Zombie", "Night Of The Vampire", "It's A Cold Night For Alligators", "Mine Mine Mind", "I Think Of Demons", "Creature With The Atom Brain", "Bloody Hammer", "Don't Shake Me Lucifer", "If You Have Ghosts" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A funky bit of blues from Otis Rush – the guitarist's debut album, and a surprisingly great batch of tracks recorded at Fame Studios! Production is by Mike Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites, who are clearly going for more of a crossover sound than Rick Hall might have given the set – but that approach is a strong one, as it really brings a hard focus on Rush's guitar, and sets his slyly sliding vocals a bit more back in the mix. Sweet electric Chicago blues before it got over-Alligatorized – with tracks that include "Feel So Bad", "Baby I Love You So", "Me", "Working Man", "You're Killing My Love", and "Can't Wait No Longer". CD