A really groovy little record – originally issued in a very small run for the equally small Leonardi sound library label – but a set that's got more than enough funky instrumental moments to rival the giants on the scene at the time! The record's got plenty of keyboards, riffing guitars, and funky drums – used here on short tunes that pack plenty of punch, and which often have a romping funky style that's somewhere in the territory of the legendary Duke Of Burlington albums – but with more organ in the lead instead of piano! Very funky throughout – with cuts that include "The Hunter", "Waiting The Blow", "Handy Goes To Pub", "Clumsy Chap", The Newcomer", and "A Sort of Witchery". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful chapter in the continuing sonic evolution of keyboardist Greg Foat and guitarist Warren Hampshire – working here on a set that's got maybe some of their most complex combinations to date! As before, there's a wonderful ear for overall sound – a quality that comes both from Foat's production and Hampshire's use of some field recordings alongside the instrumentation – but augmented by light use of a string quartet, who blend in perfectly with the jazz musings of the core group, at a level that's sometimes funky, sometimes more cinematic, with a warmly shifting mode throughout the entire set. Foat plays Fender Rhodes, vibes, and moog – and titles include "6000 Drunks Clinging To A Landslip", "The Upturned Glass", "Morning Walk", "Evening Song", and "Pool In The Rose". LP, Vinyl record album

A really unique album from the great Lee Morgan – a set that features the trumpeter in two different settings, but in a way that really works well together! Most of the album has Lee blowing in a very cool quintet – with Joe Henderson on tenor, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums – a group who maybe bring out a slightly hipper vibe that really points the way to the rest of Morgan's direction in the late 60s, when he was really letting some more spiritual currents loose. The other two tracks on the record feature a hip larger band directed by Oliver Nelson – swinging hard in a really soulful style! Nelson's arrangements on these two tracks are great – quite progressive, with a soul jazz big band style that seems to point the way towards the 70s – and the band provides a raging backdrop that lets Lee's trumpet soar over the top in beautiful crystal clear solos. Titles include "Nite Flite", "Delightful Deggie", "Ca-Lee-So", and "Zambia". CD also features 4 bonus tracks – "Need It", "Filet Of Soul", "Zambia (big band version)", and "Delightful Deggie (big band version)". CD

A pivotal album from Stevie Wonder – one of his first really heady records, and a tremendous little set from start to finish! The Wonder heard here is light years from the simple pop of the early days – really stretching out both as a songwriter and musician – coming up with a richly spiritual sound that's completely amazing. Stevie also produced the record himself – and takes his talents to the next level in the effort – layering sounds together beautifully, and making them come out with a crystal clear realization of his new musical vision. A wonderful place to start digging Stevie Wonder – with the killer classics "Superwoman" and "I Love Every Little Thing About You" – plus "Love Having You Around", "Seems So Long", "Girl Blue", and "Happier Than The Morning Sun". CD

A pivotal album from Stevie Wonder – one of his first really heady records, and a tremendous little set from start to finish! The Wonder heard here is light years from the simple pop of the early days – really stretching out both as a songwriter and musician – coming up with a richly spiritual sound that's completely amazing. Stevie also produced the record himself – and takes his talents to the next level in the effort – layering sounds together beautifully, and making them come out with a crystal clear realization of his new musical vision. A wonderful place to start digging Stevie Wonder – with the killer classics "Superwoman" and "I Love Every Little Thing About You" – plus "Love Having You Around", "Seems So Long", "Girl Blue", and "Happier Than The Morning Sun". LP, Vinyl record album

There's many facets of Roger – and they're all pretty darn funky! From this vantage point, all we can think of is that Roger Troutman must have had some sort of crystal ball to see into the hip hop sampling future – either that, or he was busy cooking up west coast gangster funk drones in some secret So Cal laboratory! Whatever the case, though, the record's a classic in the Troutman/Zapp catalog – and features a sparkling west coast take on electro – offered up with lots of popping basslines, snapping electric kickdrums, and a truckfull of vocoder! There's also some pretty nice guitar in the mix – especially on the good jazzy groover "Chunk Of Sugar", which sounds like it's from a completely different record. Other tracks include "Maxx Axe", "Do It Roger", "So Ruff, So Tuff", and "Blue". This remastered edition includes the bonus tracks "I Heard It Through The Grapevine (Part 1) (Single Version)", "Do It Roger (Single Version)", and the previously unreleased "Superman". CD

A pivotal album from Stevie Wonder – one of his first really heady records, and a tremendous little set from start to finish! The Wonder heard here is light years from the simple pop of the early days – really stretching out both as a songwriter and musician – coming up with a richly spiritual sound that's completely amazing. Stevie also produced the record himself – and takes his talents to the next level in the effort – layering sounds together beautifully, and making them come out with a crystal clear realization of his new musical vision. A wonderful place to start digging Stevie Wonder – with the killer classics "Superwoman" and "I Love Every Little Thing About You" – plus "Love Having You Around", "Seems So Long", "Girl Blue", and "Happier Than The Morning Sun". CD

A heck of a package of girl group soul – one that features work by a quartet who not only recorded under the name of The Dreamers and The Blossoms, but also The Playgirls, The Rollettes, and as The Crystals and The Blue Jeans for Phil Spector too! The "evolution" in the title is very well-put – as the set has the group starting with Richard Berry on some early sides for RPM/Crown – music that still has a strong 50s R&B approach, sometimes with the girls backing Berry's lead – before blossoming (all pun intended) on some late 50s sides for Capitol Records, where the group where really finding their groove. The set also features the group backing up Ed Townsend on a few tracks, Shelly Fabares on one more, and even behind guitarist Duane Eddy – on a total of 32 titles that include "Move On", "He Promised Me", "Little Louie", and "Have Faith In Me" as The Blossoms; "Sad Fool" and "Kiss Me Benny" as The Rollettes; "Good Love", "Do Not Forget", and "At Last" as The Dreamers; "Hey Sport" and "Young Love Swings The World" as The Playgirls; and "He's A Rebel" as The Crystals. CD

Includes the songs "Hesitation Blues", "Know You Rider", "Winin' Boy Blues", "Mann's Fate", "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed And Burning", "Candy Man", "Been So Long (Studio Single Version)", "Keep On Truckin'", "99 Year Blues", "For Billy Dean", "Sea Child", "Water Song", "I See The Light", "Living Just For You", "Easy Now", "Sally Where's You Get Your Liquor From", "Hit Single # 1", "Serpent Of Dreams", "Sleep Song", "Funky # 7", "Hot Jelly Roll Blues", "Sunrise Dance With The Devil", "Bar Room Crystal Ball", "I Wish You Would", "Watch The North Wind Rise", "It's So Easy", "Song FromThe Stainless Cymbal", "Genesis", "Rock Me Baby (Previously Unreleased)", and "Extrication Love Song". CD

A great little record that never fully got its due at the time – but which has gone on to get some well-deserved attention over the years! Maybe Justin Warfield was just a little ahead of his time – or maybe it was because his rhyme skills were a little short of getting him put over – but something kept him from blowing up in the way that he should have back in the day! Beat-wise this album's mining a vein that's not far off from some of the other left coast hip hop from that time that did make it – like the Pharcyde or some of the Hiero material – with a touch of smoked out influence that could be mistaken for the trip hop and acid jazz influenced sound that would hold sway a few years after this was released, but which is much more focused and pointed towards hip hop! An overlooked gem that's worth dipping into – with cuts that include"K Sera Sera", "Fisherman's Grotto", "Live From The Opium Den", "Glass Tangerine", "Cool Like The Blues", "Pick It Up Y'All", and "B Boys On Acid". LP, Vinyl record album

Great work from this top-shelf group of up-and coming players – all newer artists on the Posi-Tone label, hence their name – but working with the kind of crystal clear focus on original material that always makes the label so great! If you love Posi-Tone as much as we do, you'll likely have other albums by these artists – but the lineup together is even greater than the sum of its parts – with a bold sense of arrangement that seems to have each soloist spurring the other on to new heights – amidst original material written by the members of the group! Players include Brandon Lee on trumpet, Markus Howell on alto, Nicole Glover on tenor, Caili O'Doherty on piano, Adi Meyerson on bass, and Cory Cox on drums – on titles that include "Luna Lovejoy", "Shades Of Brown", "Whistleblower", "Afloat", "Stop Gap", "Hold MY Heart", and "Blues For Tangier". CD

British folk music got really weird and wonderful at the end of the 60s – light years from the crew cut versions of The Kingston Trio, or the twangy modes of Bob Dylan wannabees – but also very different from the more rockish directions that American folk acts were taking at the time! If anything, the British artists showed an even deeper commitment to acoustic modes – and far more ancient ones than American groups had access too – a thousand year legacy of British Isles music, but reworked into an often-trippy style would find more famous iterations in groups from Fairport Convention through Current 93, and even in the Wicker Man soundtrack as well! Most of the music here is much more obscure than those references – groups that were big in the UK, but maybe didn't have as much of an impact over here during the period – which makes this 63 track box set a real treasure trove of discovery – filled with many tunes we'd never heard before, and put together in a very special way. Titles include "Black Girl" by Mary Anne, "Till The Morning Comes" by Dando Shaft, "Roses For Columbus" by Mark Frhy, "Love Is A Funny Thing" by Spyrogyra, "Come All You Travellers" by Wight, "Willow's Song" by Nagnet, "Cruious Crystals Of Unusual Purity" by Bridget St John, "Prisoners Victims Strangers Friends" by Paper Bubble, "Gabilan" by Duncan Browne, "Meeting By The Moonlight Mill" by Dry Heart, "Silence Returns" by Beau, "Me & My Kite" by Fuschia, "The Colour Is Blue" by Country Sun, "Welcome To The Citadel" by Marc Brierley, "Garden Song (demo)" by Bill Fay, and "Upon Reflection" by Heron. CD