A trio of classic albums from The Muscle Shoals Horns – with bonus tracks too! First up is Born To Get Down, by a group who were definitely born to get down – as they'd proved before on countless funk and soul sessions in the south – and as they prove once again with this masterful album on their own! The style here is surprisingly well-formed – not just horn players getting to shine in the lead, but a soul group with a tightness that matches some of the hippest, most sophisticated groups of the time – working here with really well-crafted rhythms that often hit an excellent midtempo groove, and avoid any disco-era cliches. Muscle Shoals legend Barry Beckett helps the group out on keyboards, arrangements, and production – and trumpeter Harrison Calloway turns out to be a surprisingly great singer in the lead. Titles include "Born To Get Down", which has a nice keyboard break in the middle, plus "Bump De Bump Yo Boogie", "Give It To Me", "Open Up Your Heart", "Where I'm Coming From", and "Break Down". Doin It To The Bone is a killer album from the Muscle Shoals Horns – and way more than just a set of studio players stepping out for some time in the spotlight! Sure, the MSH had worked on hundreds of sessions by this point – but there's also a sense of ownership and leadership they never had before – a real sense of trying something fresh, and really making the album all their own! To that respect, they certainly use their horns – but also work in plenty of vocals, too – and definitely emphasize the rhythms, which often have this cool compressed vibe that's very much in the best Earth Wind & Fire style – especially on the midtempo numbers that really make the album a killer. Production is by Barry Beckett, who goes for a nicely modern soul approach – and of all the horns, Harrison Calloway is probably the lead talent here – handling most of the arrangements, songwriting, and vocals. Titles include "What's Goin Down", "Dance To The Music", "I Just Wanna Turn You On", "Addicted To Your Love", "Beware Of The Rip Off", and "Keep On Playing That Funky Music". Last up is Shine On – an early 80s set from the mighty Muscle Shoals Horns, but one that cooks every bit as much as their funk classics from the 70s! At some level, this album may well be the group's funkiest – but in a style that's got some of the best 80s qualities in the grooves – the kind of tight basslines and sweet keyboard lines that marked some of the best work of the time – mixed with the group's sublime horn lines, which provide these jazzy inflections that really warm things up in a brilliant way! Most of the rhythms are nicely right in the middle – neither too uptempo, nor too head-noddy – and the whole thing's a really overlooked gem that's a standout funky set from the time. Titles include "Celebrate Recreate Participate", "She Was Once My Woman", "Shoalin", "More Than Ever Now", and "Don't Bust Yo Bubbles". 2CD set features bonus tracks – 7" mixes of "Born To Get Down", "Bump De Bump Yo Boodie", "Where I'm Coming From", and "She Was Once My Woman" – plus "I Just Wanna Turn You On (12" mix)". CD

Features Anderson on trombone, John Scofield on guitar, Anthony Davis on piano, Mark Dresser on bass, and Johnny Vidacovich on drums. CD

One of the "bottomest" albums you'll ever hear – as trombonist Curtis Fuller meets baritone saxophonist Tate Houston – for a real session of "bone" and "bari" grooving that's one of the most striking Blue Notes of the time! The album features the pair working hard to push their instruments past conventional expectations – gliding with a fluid ease that you really wouldn't expect, yet still working out all the gutbuckety soul propensities that the instruments possess. Part of the strength of the session is the rhythm section – which features Sonny Clark on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – but another strong aspect is the choice of material, which includes some nice originals like "Again", "Pickup", "Nita's Waltz", and "Algonquin". CD

One of the "bottomest" albums you'll ever hear – as trombonist Curtis Fuller meets baritone saxophonist Tate Houston – for a real session of "bone" and "bari" grooving that's one of the most striking Blue Notes of the time! The album features the pair working hard to push their instruments past conventional expectations – gliding with a fluid ease that you really wouldn't expect, yet still working out all the gutbuckety soul propensities that the instruments possess. Part of the strength of the session is the rhythm section – which features Sonny Clark on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – but another strong aspect is the choice of material, which includes some nice originals like "Again", "Pickup", "Nita's Waltz", and "Algonquin". CD

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One of the "bottomest" albums you'll ever hear – as trombonist Curtis Fuller meets baritone saxophonist Tate Houston – for a real session of "bone" and "bari" grooving that's one of the most striking Blue Notes of the time! The album features the pair working hard to push their instruments past conventional expectations – gliding with a fluid ease that you really wouldn't expect, yet still working out all the gutbuckety soul propensities that the instruments possess. Part of the strength of the session is the rhythm section – which features Sonny Clark on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums – but another strong aspect is the choice of material, which includes some nice originals like "Again", "Pickup", "Nita's Waltz", and "Algonquin". LP, Vinyl record album

It doesn't get much better than this for the early 90s, the man with the crisp lisp holding down the mic as only he can over a jazzy, bouncing Large Professor beat. 12-inch, Vinyl record

The last Savoy Brown album to feature the duo of Kim Simmonds and Paul Raymond – and a record that still holds on to all the classic power of the group! The more direct blues influences have been toned down by this time, and fused more into a sound that's a trademark for the group – tight, but never slick – a cool, compressed confidence that has the vocals and sharp guitars coming across with a great deal of charm! Tracks are nice and long, with plenty of guitar interplay – and titles include "Part Time Lady", "This Day Is Gonna Be Our Last", "Get Up & Do It", "Skin N Bone", and "She's The One". CD

The second album by the Tom Tom Club – showing this Talking Heads spinoff project as way more than a fluke! The sound here is similar to the first – a sing-song blend of rhythms that's got one foot in the island and one in the street, peppered with a quirky approach overall that makes for some very nice tunes. Wally Badarou gets in some nice work on the album, and tracks include "Pleasure Of Love", "Never Took A Penny", "On The Line Again", "This Is A Foxy World", and "The Man With The 4 Way Hips". LP, Vinyl record album

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With Phil Wright on piano, Louie Spears on bass, and Dave Tucker on drums. CD

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Deep stuff from Erma! "Big Boss Man" is a heavy number that sounds like Ike & Tina – but even rawer – and "Don't Catch" is a bluesy number, very rootsy, almost in a Chicago electric mode! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Jimmy McGriff on organ – with Bill Easley on tenor saxophone, Al Grey on trombone, Melvin Sparks on guitar, and Bernard Purdie on drums! CD

Features flute from a young Peter Gabriel! Titles include "Time", "Katmandu", "I Wish I Wish", "Lillywhite", "Pop Star", "Maybe You're Right", "Lady D'Arbanville", and "I Think I See The Light". LP, Vinyl record album

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One of the last couple of great records Waits made for Island, and a defining moment in his career! Leave it to Waits to cut a bunch of songs that wrestle with mortality and the fleeting nature of life head on, but have as much fun with it as he does worry or mourn. It's got some rumbling raw material as gritty as anything he'd recorded before or since, beautifully sung ballads and cool, creaky speak-singing tunes. Truly a signature effort and one for both the casual fans and Waits diehards. Includes the classic "I Don't Wanna Grow Up", "Earth Died Screaming" "Dirt In The Ground", "Such A Scream", "All Stripped Down", "Let Me Get Up On It", "Whistle Down The The Wind", "That Feel" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

With Danny Stiles on trumpet and flugelhorn, Al Cohn on tenor, Hank Jones on piano, Steve Gadd on drums, and Milt Hinton on bass. LP, Vinyl record album

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Guitarist Julian Lage is working here with a slightly expanded group, yet still comes across with a sound that's as warm and intimate as some of his previous material! The core trio with Jorge Roeder on bass and Dave Kings on drums is expanded with the addition of Levon Henry on saxes, Patrick Warren on keyboards, and Kris Davis on piano – elements that are often used in loose, spare ways – so that Lage's work on the strings is always center stage, and maybe captured with a moody vibe that's partly ECM, but with some of the Americanist leanings of projects from Bill Frisell in the phrasing. Titles include "Myself Around You", "Northern Shuffle", "Omission", "South Mountain", "Speak To Me", "Two & One", "Vanishing Points", "As It Were", "76", and "Nothing Happens Here". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare Japanese-only album from trombonist Roswell Rudd – one of his few full length statements of genius from the mid 70s! The album's got a very collaborative feel overall – one that takes off from some of Rudd's better-known work of the "new thing" era, but opens things up tremendously with more of a relaxed loft jazz sort of approach. Players shift somewhat throughout the set, and the instrumentation mixes Rudd's work on trombone and percussion with soprano sax from Steve Lacy, trumpet from Enrico Rava, voice from Sheila Jordan, tenor from Tyrone Washington, and electric piano from Patti Brown. There's a deeply personal vibe to the whole record, one that reminds us a bit of the spirit of Rudd's great Flexible Flyer album – and titles include "You Blew It", "Blues For The Planet Earth", "Cement Blues", "Bethesda Fountain", "Street Walking", and "Blown Bone". CD also features one more bonus track – the beautiful "Long Hope", recorded in 1967 with Karl Berger on vibes, Robin Kenyatta on alto sax, Lewis Worrell on bass, and Horacee Arnold on drums. CD

Vocalist Amy Sheffer works with an all-star cast here – a very cool quartet that includes Billy Bang on violin, William Parker on bass, and Lou Grassi on drums! Bang is especially great, and his work on violin often recalls the spirit of the 80s work that really made us fall in love with his music – a great companion to the offbeat vocalizations of Sheffer, who certainly channels some of the more groundbreaking vocal jazz modes that emerged from the 70s scene onwards. The tracks were recorded in 2001, and some just feature Sheffer's voice with drums – on titles that include "You Rise", "Words From TS", "Drone Bone", "Improv", "Museeum", "Hovering", and "Bleddidit". CD

A really fantastic live album from Nina Simone – recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1966, and delivered with that hard-burning energy that always makes Nina's concert performances so mindblowing! There's a lean, mean groove to the record – sharply soulful piano from Simone, and backing from a group that includes some exceptional work on drums from Robert Hamilton – a player who really helps kick up the rhythms at times – while Nina delivers these searing lyrics that definitely showcase the more righteous, political side of her spectrum! The set's a great addition to the Philips material from this period – and titles include a killer version of "Mississippi Goddam", plus "You've Got To Learn", "Blues For Mama", "Be My Husband", "Music For Lovers", and "I Loves You Porgy". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge slice of work from a crucial year in electronic music – all tracks from 1981, a time when the experiments of the 70s were giving way to more tuneful recordings of the 80s – at a level that would soon dominate the world of pop around the globe! Yet although some of these artists would later have top 40 hits, much of the work here has more of an edge than you'd expect – music that mixes some of the darker sounds of the post-punk years with a more song-based approach that has some of the better singers really hitting their stride, while others let the electronics dominate a bit more – often with sounds that are more analogue than digital! Cherry Red was one of the key labels issuing some of this music at the time – and they do an equally great job here by bringing together tracks from their own catalog and work from other labels too – a big package that features 51 titles in all, detailed notes, and selections by Nw Musik, Richard Bone, Dramatis, YMO, Hazel O'Connor, Drinking Electricity, Yello, Chris & Cosey, Schleimer K, Naked Lunch, Blue Zoo, AK 47, John Foxx, Portion Control, Analysis, Fallout Club, Second Layer, The Passage, Virna Lindt, Eyeless In Gaza, The Limit, Visage, Japan, Fasion, Voice Farm, and many others. CD

A great collection of rare gems from the Studio One label – one that's filled with unusual material that we've not seen elsewhere! Some of the tracks are alternate mixes, some are unissued recordings – and there's also a nice range of material that goes past the more familiar early period of the label, which is normally the most reissued. Titles include "Hush Up (unreleased stereo mix)" by Larry & Alvin, "I Need You Girl (stereo mix)" by Larry Marshall, "Mr Moses (stereo mix)" by Lloyd Charmers, "I'm In Love With You (original JA mix)" by Lloyd Williams, "Freedom Justice Equality" by Alf & Teep, "Torture & Flames" by Jackie Bernard, "Mark I Word" by Winston Prince, "Give Me True Love (stereo mix)" by The Meditators, "Down In The Bone Yard" by The Three Tops, "Down By The Sore (7" version)" by The Silvertones, and "Jay Dip (stereo mix)" by Prince Jazzbo. CD

Pretty hairy stuff from Peter Brotzmann and crew – a set that blasts right out of the gate with some really bone-rattling noise! The album's a live set, recorded recently in Amsterdam – featuring Brotzmann on alto, tenor, b flat clarinet, and tarogato – alongside Toshinori Kondo on electric trumpet, Massimo Pupillo on electric bass, and Paal Nilssen Love on drums. The electricity in the instruments can definitely be felt on the title track "Hairy Bones" – a hard-driving tune that runs for over 30 minutes, and which really recalls the energy that Brotzmann had a few decades before, when crossing over big to new audiences around the globe. "Chain Dogs" is even longer, but starts a bit slower – but then really bursts forth with more noisy elements on trumpet and bass – some really speaker-rattling stuff! CD

A key transitional album for The Kinks – a record that took them from the lighter "picture postcard" rock of their late 60s albums, into the headier concepts that would mark most of their early 70s work! The concept here is fortunately a light one – a faux-hillbilly sort of groove, carried off by Ray and the group in a nice mix of London Muswell and East Tennessee. The tunes are nicely short and focused, with some older styles of music that almost give the record a Tom Waits-ish feel at times – and titles include "Muswell Hillbilly", "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues", "20th Century Man", "Skin & Bone", "Alcohol", and "Have A Cuppa Tea". LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet electric 70s funk from Blue Mitchell – blowing here in some of the hippest arrangements of his career! Blue's trumpet alone is always pretty darn great, but for this album he's working with arranger Dave Matthews – who gives the tunes fierce groove that mixes vamping guitars with snapping drums – sort of picking up the groove that Matthews forged with James Brown, but allowing for a lot freer jazz interplay! The guitars are often recorded in a cool way that has them sounding a bit "watery" alongside the rhythms – so much so, you'd swear they were keyboards at times – and this approach sounds really great underneath Blue's tighter, harder, more punctuated solos over the top of the tracks. Additional support comes from horn players Joe Farrell and Seldon Powell – and titles include "Funk Walk", "Blue Funk", "Funny Bone", "Golden Feathered Bird", "Harmony Of The Underworld", and "Hot Stuff". CD

The music of Eric Alexander never fails to amaze us – and even though we own dozens of his albums from previous years, a record like this can make us sit up and take immediate notice all over again! Alexander's not just a great tenorist, he's also a great tunesmith – able to roll out not just an impeccable solo of his own, but also always make sure that the whole tune is equally great – served up here in the wonderful unity of Harold Mabern on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums – long-familiar players who have a lot to do with the overall strength of the album! Mabern plays a bit of Fender Rhodes on a few tracks – which makes for a nice change and a slightly different mood – and titles include "So Many Stars", "Jennie's Dance", "T Bone Steak", "Frenzy", "Full House", and "Blues For Mo". CD

An overlooked set from the 80s soul mainstream – the first solo album from the lead singer from Champaign! Pauli Carman's look on the cover definitely gives away the feel of the album – sweet 80s soul with a nice blend of beats and keyboards in the mix, all with the right sort of emphasis to balance out the vocals! Pauli's got a bit more bite than you'd expect for such a classy look on the cover – but he's also great at sliding into a mellow, or midtempo number – the kind of quiet storm 80s tracks that are often a good balance to the more beat-heavy tracks on a record like this. Titles include "Dial My Number", "Lose Control", "High & Low", "You Impress Me", "Flashback", "Close To The Bone", and "Dangerous". CD features the bonus track "Dial My Number (ext dance version)". CD

A massive set from the legendary Chic – and a set that has the dancefloor combo coming down perfectly throughout! Riffing Nile Rodgers guitars really make the tunes cook – as does the superb production – and although the record played plenty in discos and radios of the mainstream, it's still got a raw funky power that holds up brilliantly over the years! The set features the legendary "Le Freak" – a classic cutting track from the old school – plus "I Want Your Love", "Sometimes You Win", "Savoir Faire", "Happy Man", and "(Funny) Bone". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest Blue Note funky jazz sets of the late 60s – an all-out soul fest headed up by funky Lou Donaldson, and featuring some incredible work on drums from Idris Muhammad – who was still calling himself Leo Morris at this point! Muhammad's work on the drums is fantastic – not just in the snap-funk mode of some of his oft-sampled Blue Note classics, but also hitting these nicely changed-up rhythms that dance along with a free sense of joy, love, and life – one that seems to open Lou up even more than before! Other players on the set are great too – and include a young Charles Earland on organ, Blue Mitchell on trumpet, and Jimmy Ponder on guitar – cooking up some incredible licks that fill in the spaces between the grooves with a wash of soulful colors! Titles include a great version of the James Brown Classic "Say It Loud", plus the originals "Snake Bone" and "Brother Soul" – and surprisingly great takes on "Summertime" and "Caravan"! LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal Italian horror soundtrack music from Goblin! By this point, the band had completely evolved from a prog-oriented jazz rock band, into a group that was very well suited to handle a diverse array of movie scores and horror themes. The keyboards are still at the core – and there's a nice mixture of electric and acoustic, which makes for a very nice juxtaposition of moods – and the group have come up with some fantastically spooky tracks that really evoke all the pulsating terror and bone-chilling horror of the stiff early slasher films. This CD includes a number of extra tracks in addition to the material issued the already rare vinyl release – and there's a total of 15 titles that include "Buio Omega", "Quiet Drops", "Strive After Dark", "Bikini Island", and "Ghost Vest". CD

Includes the songs "First Time I Met The Blues", "The Way You Been Treating Me", "Sit And Cry (The Blues)", "This Is The End", "Stone Crazy", "When My Left Eye Jumps", "My Time After While", "Hold That Plane", "Hello San Francisco", "Five Long Years", "First Time I Met The Blues", "A Man Of Many Words", "T-Bone Shuffle", "When You See The Tears From My Eyes", "Ten Years Ago", "Blues At My Baby's House", "She Suits Me To A T", and "Just Teasin'". CD

Searing and melodic pop psychedelia from Tommy James – partly backed by the Shondells, and partly by the group Neon on this set from the start of the 70s – with reverby guitars that waver off into the heavens and hooks the sink to the bone! It's great stuff for us, which heady psychedelic fans might have found too self consciously catchy, and pop fans might have found weird and off putting, but the mix of those vibes make it all the more uniquely appealing to our ears. Titles include "Ball And Chain", "Meet The Comer", "Light Of Day", "Come To Me", "Lady Jane" and "Quicksilver". This Rev Ola CD version includes 2 bonus tracks: "Draggin The Line" and "Church Street Soul Revival". CD

A feisty bit of jazz funk with a classic edge, great solo work from guitarist Rodney Jones – very much in the vein of some of the recent jamband titles on Blue Note. The group's a no-nonsense one with a lineup that includes Lonnie Smith on organ, Idris Muhammad on drums, Maceo Parker on alto, and Jones on guitar, jamming away like he's Melvin Sparks on some classic jazz funk set for Prestige! The production has a bit of a modern flourish, but the groove is very much in the pocket – and the album includes a nice remake of "Soul Makossa", plus the tracks "Groove Bone part 1", "Soul Eyes", "One Turnip Green", "Ain't No Sunshine", "Soup Bone", and "Soul Manifesto". CD

A bit of a leftfield project for Diana Krall – one that has kind of a 20s Vaudeville-styled theme – done with a stripped down, sting-buzzing sound, produced by T Bone Burnett! We dig this one a lot – and while it's sung, played and performed in a way that's reminiscent of the era, it's got a fresh and contemporary feel. The always great guitarist Marc Ribot's angular take on the spirit of the songs is an integral part of the sound, as is T Bone's skewed view of Americana – but it's Diana's show, and she's wonderful! It takes a special voice to come across as subtle and understated as she does here, though still carrying the tunes in an elegant way. More stylistic detours like this, please! Includes "We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye", "There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth The Salt Of My Tears", "Just Like A Butterfly That's Caught In The Rain", "Glad Rag Doll", "Let It Rain", "Lonely Avenue", "Wide River To Cross", "When The Curtain Comes Down" and more. CD

One of our favorite-ever albums from Esther Phillips – an album that really helped her transform her sound for the 70s! The approach here is a lot more jazzy than before – served up with a good dose of funk, thanks to arrangements from Pee Wee Ellis – fresh from his work with James Brown, but even more electrically-oriented here! The groove is great – and the album's one of the best Kudu sides from the early 70s – a perfect blend of soul, jazz, and funk – all wrapped up with a new level of sophistication that benefits all parties involved. Other players include Richard Tee on keyboards, Eric Gale on guitar, Bernard Purdie on drums, Airto on percussion, and Hank Crawford on alto sax. Titles include an incredible cover of Gil Scott Heron's "Home Is Where The Hatred Is", plus "From A Whisper To A Scream", "Till My Back Ain't Got No Bone", "Your Love Is So Doggone Good", Scarred Knees", and "Baby, I'm For Real". LP, Vinyl record album

The stunning first full length album from The Pixies – produced with a completely sublime touch by the great Steve Albini! There's a brilliance here that's kept this record playing strongly for decades (maybe too strongly, if you ask the roommates of some folks out there) – and although the sound here has spawned countless imitations, it's never as great as here in the hands of the originators! Titles include "Bone Machine", "Break My Body", "I'm Amazed", "Vamos", "Cactus", "Where Is My Mind", "Gigantic", "Something Against You", and "Broken Face". CD

Music from the Nels Cline Singers, Scott Amendola, Bone Structure, Erik Friedlander, Alex Cline, Mark Dresser, Jeff Gauthier, and Kate McGarry. CD

A double-length collection of work from two obscure Atlanta soul labels – the Tragar and Note imprints, both run by local producer Jesse Jones! Back in the day, Atlanta wasn't nearly as big of an outlet for soul records as it's become in recent years – so Jones' labels were key in showcasing under-exposed local talent in the city, a range of soul groups, solo singers, and funk combos – all produced here with a really fresh sound! Nearly every track here is super-obscure – and there's few southern soul cliches to get in the way of the music – no overdone blues, no Hotlanta disco, no Muscle Shoals copies – just honest-to-goodness indie soul at its best – full of life, vitality, and personality – all presented with the usual deep-digging Numero look at the artists in the notes. The package is one of the biggest Numero collections so far – and really tells the tale of this crucially overlooked scene – a key link between more familiar southern styles and rising Northern modes, all with a personality of its own. Titles include "All Because of You" and "Down In The Country" by Tee Fletcher, "The Hump" and "Tipping Strings" by The Knights, "Somebody Got A Help Me" and "Love is So Mean" by Richard Cook, "Ain't That Sharp" by Young Divines, "Watch The Dog That Bring The Bone" by Sandy Gaye, "Messing Around" by Bobby Owens & The Diplomats, "Shake Daddy Shake" and "Try" by Eula Cooper, "Tumbling Down" by Langston & French, "You Got A Spell On Me" by Bill Wright, "Now That I'm Wise" by Nathan Wilkes, and "Nitecap" by L Daniels. LP, Vinyl record album

Funky genius from the legendary Stax studios! During the 60s, Stax was well known for their work in the soul music field – turning out hit singles by the likes of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and others – but after 1968, when the label finished their deal with Atlantic, they really started getting down and dirty, and hitting on all burners in the funk department. This tasty set features 21 tracks from those exiting years –many of them only ever issued on singles, and a few of them by some of the label's more famous LP artists – but all of them with a nice Memphis funky groove! Titles include "Turn Your Damper Down" by Rufus Thomas, "Broadway Freeze" by Harvey Scales, "Life Is Funky" by Round Robin Monopoly, "The Dryer" by Roy Lee Johnson, "She's My Old Lady Too" by Lee Sain, "Slipped & Tripped" by The Sweet Inspirations, "Brothers & Sisters" by Kim Weston, "Movin Dancer" by Bobby Holley, "Eli's Pork Chop" by Little Sonny, "A Man Never Knows" by Chris & Shack, "Grab A Handful" by Art Jerry Miller, "I'll Kill A Brick (About My Man)" by Hot Sauce, "Watch The Dog That Brings The Bone" by Inez Foxx, "Sock Soul" by The Bar Kays, and "Getting Funky Round Here" by Black Nasty! CD

Funky genius from the legendary Stax studios! During the 60s, Stax was well known for their work in the soul music field – turning out hit singles by the likes of Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and others – but after 1968, when the label finished their deal with Atlantic, they really started getting down and dirty, and hitting on all burners in the funk department. This tasty set features 21 tracks from those exiting years –many of them only ever issued on singles, and a few of them by some of the label's more famous LP artists – but all of them with a nice Memphis funky groove! Titles include "Turn Your Damper Down" by Rufus Thomas, "Broadway Freeze" by Harvey Scales, "Life Is Funky" by Round Robin Monopoly, "The Dryer" by Roy Lee Johnson, "She's My Old Lady Too" by Lee Sain, "Slipped & Tripped" by The Sweet Inspirations, "Brothers & Sisters" by Kim Weston, "Movin Dancer" by Bobby Holley, "Eli's Pork Chop" by Little Sonny, "A Man Never Knows" by Chris & Shack, "Grab A Handful" by Art Jerry Miller, "I'll Kill A Brick (About My Man)" by Hot Sauce, "Watch The Dog That Brings The Bone" by Inez Foxx, "Sock Soul" by The Bar Kays, and "Getting Funky Round Here" by Black Nasty! CD

Massive grooves from the mighty Hamilton Bohannon – the kind of skittish, nervous rhythms that made his funk unlike any other artist of the 70s! There's a sense of rhythmic progression here that's super-tight, but often quite subtle in its inflections – a mode that went onto have a huge influence on many generations after the disco era – especially house from Chicago and Detroit! Yet heard here in its original form, the approach is almost even more mindblowing – played live, with a hypnotic feel that's completely compelling – as the grooves shift slowly with subtle phases that often move independently of the vocals – which themselves are often just added to the mix as an afterthought. Bohannon wrote, arranged, and produced – and the record's a sublime blend of guitar, bass, and drums used in mighty fresh ways! Tracks include "Have A Good Day", "Dance With Your Parno", "South African Man", "The Fat Man", "Red Bone", "Truck Stop", and "Rap On Mr. DJ". LP, Vinyl record album

Saxophonist Chelsea Carmichael has a really beautiful sound here – a style that's spiritual, but spacious too – so that her flow is one that often has a nice sense of space between the notes, as she moves through tracks that effortlessly blend live instrumentation with a few additional production elements! Shabaka Hutchings produced the set, but nicely lets the vibe flow from Chelsea's own inspiration – as she works with lean instrumentation from a lineup that features David Okumu on guitar, Tom Herbert on bass, and Edward Wakili Hick on drums – the last of whom has this great way of crackling gently underneath the tenor! Titles include "There Is A Place (It's Not Here)", "Bone & Soil", "Myriad", "The River Doesn't Like Strangers", "Hiaro/Hadali", "There Is You & You", and "All We Know". LP, Vinyl record album

An early leader session for Jimmy Cleveland – one that pulls him out of the Lionel Hampton group, and puts him in the company of a number of different all-stars – top level players that Mercury brought together in three different sessions for the album. Players include Lucky Thompson, Cecil Payne, Barry Galbraith, Wade Legge, Paul Chambers, and Jerome Richardson – and it's the quality of the ensemble grooving that really makes the album swing, a lot more than Cleveland's solos on his own. Titles include "Vixen", "Hear Ye Hear Ye", "See Minor", "Bone Brother", "Count 'Em", and "Little Beaver". CD

An early leader session for Jimmy Cleveland – one that pulls him out of the Lionel Hampton group, and puts him in the company of a number of different all-stars – top level players that Mercury brought together in three different sessions for the album. Players include Lucky Thompson, Cecil Payne, Barry Galbraith, Wade Legge, Paul Chambers, and Jerome Richardson – and it's the quality of the ensemble grooving that really makes the album swing, a lot more than Cleveland's solos on his own. Titles include "Vixen", "Hear Ye Hear Ye", "See Minor", "Bone Brother", "Count 'Em", and "Little Beaver". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the rawest sounds coming out of the Portland scene of the early 90s – served up in a solid way that avoids most of the pitfalls of their contemporaries on the scene! Dead Moon have all the wild energy of other Northwest groups of the time, but hone things down to a core essence that's totally great – very punkish in presentation, yet also with lots of echoes of the earlier Northwest garage scene of the 60s – although kind of a very messed-up take on that sound as well! The album's primal sound holds up strongly throughout – and titles include "Get On Board", "Spectacle", "Jane", "Down The Road", "Pain For Pretty", and "Crazy To The Bone". LP, Vinyl record album

Two great albums from a time when Maynard Ferguson was really hitting his stride – back to back on one CD! New Sounds is a really nice set, and very much in the best spirit of the excellent early 60s albums that Maynard cut for Roulette! As with those, there's some great players working in the group – a lineup that includes Willie Maiden on tenor sax, Dusko Goykovich (horribly misspelled in the notes) on trumpet, Ronnie Cuber on Baritone, and Lanny Morgan on alto – all of whom get to step out in short but soulful solos that make the tracks bristle with more excitement than you'd think. And as with other Cameo jazz sides from the time, Rufus Jones is on drums – bringing in a nice little punch to the tracks that kicks them up in just the right sort of way. Titles include the originals "Bossa Nova De Funk", "Maine Bone", and "At The Sound Of The Trumpet" – plus a version of "Watermelon Man", and the bonus track "The Song Is You". Come Blow Your Horn is a surprisingly nice album of big band material from Maynard – recorded at a time when he was just getting his start as a big name, and still handling some hip enough players to make the groove swing! One track claims to have a "Dusan Goykovich" as a soloist – who we can only imagine to be our man Dusko Goykovich – and the record has plenty other nice solos by Lanny Morgan. Arrangements are by Don Sebesky, Al Cohn, Willie Maiden, and Oliver Nelson – and tracks include "Groove", "Whisper Not", "Blues For A Four String Guitar", "New Hope", and "Naked City Theme". CD

A wealth of great albums from this groundbreaking trombonist – including Sliding Easy, The Opener, Bone & Bari, Curtis Fuller/Art Farmer, and Two Bones – an album only ever issued in Japan! CD

Another wonderful set from vibist Stefon Harris for Blue Note – with his group Blackout – a seriously tight unit with Harris's vibes and marimba atmosphere enveloping some great work on Fender Rhodes by Marc Cary, drums by Terreon Gully, alto sax by Casey Benjamin and acoustic bass by Darryl Hall. The opener "Nothing Personal" busts the set out of the gate really tight and excitingly, with some mellower, groovier tunes on the follow up tracks that touch on the 70s soulful vibe just enough, while keeping things very propulsively jazzy. Other tracks include "For Him, For Her", "Until","Red-Bone Netti-Bone", "Summertime", "Blackout", "King-Tut's Strut" and a nice turn on Bobby Hutcherson's "Montara". CD

A stunning record – and one that still chills us to the bone after all these years! The set's the first (and one of the few) from Joy Division – and really set a whole new standard for the post-punk underground – thanks partly to the group's brooding sense of darkness, but also to the brilliant production from Martin Hannett – who uses slight bits of electronics to augment the group's stark guitars and Ian Curtis' moody vocals. The whole thing's a classic – and titles include "Disorder", "She's Lost Control", "New Dawn Fades", "Interzone", and "I Remember Nothing". LP, Vinyl record album

Rodney Kendrick on piano, Justin Robinson on alto saxophone, Dewey Redman on tenor saxophone and Suona, Eric Wyatt on tenor saxophone, Patience Higgins on baritone saxophone, English horn, and bass clarinet, Tim "Bone" Williams on trombone, Graham Haynes on cornet and flugelhorn, Kiane Zawadi on euphonium and trombone, Tarus Mateen on bass, Taru Alexander on drums, Badal Roy on tabla, and Chi Sharpe, Daniel Moreno, and Ali Jackson on percussion. CD

The best of the early RCA years – with "Everybody's A Star", "20th Century Man", "Alcohol", "Skin & Bone", "Face In The Crowd", "Muswell Hillbilly", "Celluloid Heroes", and "Sitting In My Hotel". CD

A key transitional album for The Kinks – a record that took them from the lighter "picture postcard" rock of their late 60s albums, into the headier concepts that would mark most of their early 70s work! The concept here is fortunately a light one – a faux-hillbilly sort of groove, carried off by Ray and the group in a nice mix of London Muswell and East Tennessee. The tunes are nicely short and focused, with some older styles of music that almost give the record a Tom Waits-ish feel at times – and titles include "Muswell Hillbilly", "Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues", "20th Century Man", "Skin & Bone", "Alcohol", and "Have A Cuppa Tea". CD also features 2 bonus tracks – "Mountain Woman", and Kentucky Moon". CD

Production by Large Professor, Eric B, Biz Markie and G Rap keep the beats fresh, while the MC with the crisp lisp delivers the lyrical goods on classics like "Talk Like Sex", "Erase Racism", "Streets Of New York" and "Money In The Bank". Also includes "Bad To The Bone", "Play It Kool", "Death Wish and "Jive Talk", 12 tracks in all. LP, Vinyl record album

That's not Chuck Norris of martial arts fame, but the great postwar guitarist and singer – an artist who recorded a number of great indie singles on the LA scene of the late 40s and early 50s, all at a level that were every bit as great as material by some of his bigger contemporaries! Norris was born in Kansas City, brought up in Chicago, and headed to the west coast with influences from both of those scenes very much intact – an excellent guitarist with a raw, lean style that's part jazz, partly in the T-Bone Walker school – and a small combo vocalist with a style like Charles Brown, Johnny Moore, or some of the other cool LA singers who equally mixed jazz and blues. CD features detailed notes on Chuck, label scans of his records on Imperial, Selective, Aladdin, Mercury, and Atlantic – in a set that features 23 tracks that have Chuck both in the lead, and singing with other groups! CD

Roy Orbison's big comeback album at the end of the 80s – with production help from Jeff Lynne, Bono, and T-Bone Burnett! CD