A brilliant standout in a late 60s world of blues rock – a set that goes way beyond what most of Steve Miller's contemporaries were doing at the time – to find a brave new world that's all its own! As before, the drums are key to the group's sound – harder and funkier than most of their contemporaries – with a propulsive energy that really pushes the group past any sort of sleepy cliches, and allows Miller to grab a whole host of other influences, and manage to forge them into the sound. Tim Davis is the mighty man on the kit – really kicking it throughout – and the group also features work from future jazz singer Ben Sidran on keyboards, and an appearance by Paul McCartney on one track too! Titles include "Space Cowboy", "Got Love Cause You Need It", "Celebration Song", "In My Dark Hour", "Kow Kow", and "Brave New World". LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliant standout in a late 60s world of blues rock – a set that goes way beyond what most of Steve Miller's contemporaries were doing at the time – to find a brave new world that's all its own! As before, the drums are key to the group's sound – harder and funkier than most of their contemporaries – with a propulsive energy that really pushes the group past any sort of sleepy cliches, and allows Miller to grab a whole host of other influences, and manage to forge them into the sound. Tim Davis is the mighty man on the kit – really kicking it throughout – and the group also features work from future jazz singer Ben Sidran on keyboards, and an appearance by Paul McCartney on one track too! Titles include "Space Cowboy", "Got Love Cause You Need It", "Celebration Song", "In My Dark Hour", "Kow Kow", and "Brave New World". CD

The birth of genius – 2 key mid 60s albums from swinging Brit jazzer Johnny Keating – both of which showcase his tightly rhythmic "Keating Sound" approach! Keating had originally worked as an arranger in the 50s group of Ted Heath, but after stepping out on his own in the 60s, he came up with a really fresh approach to big band grooving – one that was highly syncopated, in a choppier style of rhythm than many other groups were using at the time, and which was very much in the snapping mode of the best 60s pop work of the time. This new sound meant that Keating could take just about any tune and swing it on its ear – cutting up the basic structure of the song, and rebuilding it in sharper, tighter blocks of sound. The result is a style that's quite different from the usual big band groove – one that makes for some extremely playful instrumentation, but which manages to still keep moving strongly ahead without resorting to too many tricks or gimmicks. For both albums, Keating's working with some great British talents that include Shake Keane on trumpet, Tubby Hayes on saxes, David Snell on harp, and Jim Sullivan on guitar. The CD features a total of 24 tracks that are a wonderful introduction to the Keating Sound of the 60s – with titles that inlcude "Paris", "Brave New World", "Serenata", "Speak Low", "Listen", "The Preacher", "Hey Girl", "Bee Bom", "My Kind Of Girl", and "The Chihuahua". CD

A huge turning point for Sonic Youth – one of those records that suddenly made the world understand that they could craft songs as well as they could craft noise – propelling them from the New York underground onto the turntables of hipsters around the globe! The set's still one of our favorite by the group – and includes the beautifully sinister "Death Valley 69", with fantastic guest lyrics from Lydia Lunch – plus "Brave Men Run", "Society Is A Hole", "Ghost Bitch", "I Love Her All The Time", "Just Is Might", "I'm Insane", and "Justice Is Might". LP, Vinyl record album