... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

From the 20/20 LP! "Kindness For Weakness" features Talib Kweli. 12-inch, Vinyl record

A smoking little set from one of the most soulful talents on the Japanese club scene – the mighty DJ Kawasaki, who seems to be breathing new life into international house music with tremendous efforts like this! The feel here is totally great – soaring, joyful, and totally filled with live, love, and energy – none of the clunky beats of the too-experimental crowds, or the fake soul that's been seeping into New York or London work of late – just right-on-the-money groovers, served up with an instant-classic sort of sound! Lyrics are all in English – and sung by a host of guests who include Gordon Chambers, Lena Fujii, Karin, Tasita D'Mour, and Heather Johnson – and a few tracks are instrumental, to further show Kawasaki's talents with a warmly soulful groove on his own. Titles include "Cosmic Lullaby", "Elevate Your Mind", "You Can Make It", "Because Of You", "Planetary Track", "So Far Away", "It Makes Me Feel Like Dancin", and "Bright Like Light". CD

... CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Roy Edridge joined by Joe Andrew Gardner, Abrams Quebvec, Rozelle Gayle, Theodore Sturgis, Harold West & others. CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Two rare tracks from the Crossover Records years of Darrow Fletcher – issued here for the first time on 45! "What Are We Gonna Do" is wonderful – a tune that's got a great bumping groove, soaring strings, and this strong message-oriented lyric from Darrow that really knocks things out of the park! "Honey Can I" is from a few years later, and has this warm midtempo groove – maybe more in a modern soul mode overall, but with a style that's great for the fantastic Fletcher vocal approach! 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

Straight, strong, and soulful work from pianist Lafayette Harris – working here with a nicely understated trio that features Peter Washington on bass and Lewis Nash on drums – both musicians with more than enough sensitivity to make some subtle contributions, while still letting Harris dominate the lead and do his thing! The tracks are all relatively short – most in the four or five minute range – but like a piano pro of the old school, Harris really packs a lot into a little space – on titles that include "Bloomdido", "Love Me In A Special Way", "Things Ain't What They Used To Be", "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying", "He's My Guy", and "The Juicy Blues". CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

"You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else" is one of the all-time great tracks by Philly International's best girl group – and it's served up here in a special disco mix, which runs for a full 8 minutes! 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... Book

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

The rare lost legacy of the Music Makers Band – a funky group from Georgia who are best known under their previous incarnation as The Mighty Chevelles – who cut the superb Black Gold album the year before! The work here was never issued at the time, but represents some well-done sessions at the legendary Capricorn Studios – the group even sharper than before, and mixing in some clubby elements with their funk – but all without ever losing the edge that made them great in the first place! Kenny Dope remastered all the work here from the original multi-track masters – and each tune is presented in a well-crafted vocal version, and the set also features instrumentals, plus some extended mixes by Kenny as well. Titles include "That Look In Your Eyes", "You Can Be", "Lady In My Dream", "Shake Your Booty", "Let Me Start Lovin You", "We're The Band", and "That True Love Of Mine". CD

The rare lost legacy of the Music Makers Band – a funky group from Georgia who are best known under their previous incarnation as The Mighty Chevelles – who cut the superb Black Gold album the year before! The work here was never issued at the time, but represents some well-done sessions at the legendary Capricorn Studios – the group even sharper than before, and mixing in some clubby elements with their funk – but all without ever losing the edge that made them great in the first place! Kenny Dope remastered all the work here from the original multi-track masters – and each tune is presented in a well-crafted vocal version, and the set also features instrumentals, plus some extended mixes by Kenny as well. Titles include "That Look In Your Eyes", "You Can Be", "Lady In My Dream", "Shake Your Booty", "Let Me Start Lovin You", "We're The Band", and "That True Love Of Mine". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Easily our favorite album ever by Ann Peebles – not just for the beathead title track, but also because it seems to be the one record where she brings a bit something extra to the studio! The sound is certainly in the classic Hi Records mode here – thanks to production by Willie Mitchell – but there's also a deeper groove overall, a stronger burning bottom, and an all-soul sound to most tracks that goes way beyond simple cliches of southern soul. Ann's vocals are tremendous throughout – sometimes sweet, sometimes mean – and titles include the sublime "I Can't Stand The Rain", plus "Run Run Run", "One Way Street", "You Keep Me Hangin On", and "If We Can't Trust Each Other". CD

Easily our favorite album ever by Ann Peebles – not just for the beathead title track, but also because it seems to be the one record where she brings a bit something extra to the studio! The sound is certainly in the classic Hi Records mode here – thanks to production by Willie Mitchell – but there's also a deeper groove overall, a stronger burning bottom, and an all-soul sound to most tracks that goes way beyond simple cliches of southern soul. Ann's vocals are tremendous throughout – sometimes sweet, sometimes mean – and titles include the sublime "I Can't Stand The Rain", plus "Run Run Run", "One Way Street", "You Keep Me Hangin On", and "If We Can't Trust Each Other". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the rarest 70s albums in the Sun Ra catalog – and one of the most unique, too – given that the format here is a piano trio, of the style often used by other jazz musicians – but completely transformed here in the hands of Ra! The music is sometimes straight, but always with angles – taking off nicely from the Horo Records mode right before – and delivered by Ra with this new sense of confidence and historical imagination on the keys of the piano – with great support from Richard Williams on bass and Luqman Ali on drums. There's no spacey production or weird instrumentation – but still, as with the Horo and Improvising Artists material, Sun Ra shows us what a tremendous jazz musician he can be in a more familiar setting – a great snap back to all those who ever might have called him a pretender. Titles include "Blythe Spirit Dance", "Tenderness", "Days Of Happiness", and "Magic City Blue". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

Features John Scofield and Pat Metheny on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass, and Bill Stewart on drums. CD

Features John Scofield and Pat Metheny on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass, and Bill Stewart on drums. LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Howard Tate is one of the most overlooked soul singers of the late 60's – and this is his only album from that decade! Part of the problem was probably that he recorded for Verve, a label that didn't really put its soul catalog that well (even though the label cut some excellent uptown sides in the late 60s.) Don't let the label fool you, though, because this is prime soul material, with Jerry Ragovoy doing the production, and Howard singing a great mix of hard soul and smoother uptown sounds. Tracks include "Part-Time Love", "Get It While You Can", "Baby, I Love You", "How Come My Bull Dog Don't Bark", and "Look At Granny Run Run", which is kind of goofy. LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A nice rump-shakin' bass single off the Move Somethin' album. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Rare east coast rock from mid 60s Queens, NY by The Vagrants – Forest Hills High School alum who deliver raw, fuzz guitar & organ garage firebombs and sweeter, more tuneful melodies with pretty much equal excellence! The group cut a slew of great singles for Southern Sound, Vanguard, and ATCO – making quite a splash in NY and bare a ripple anywhere else at the time. We're frankly kinda stunned that their Nuggets track was the only thing we'd heard before this great compilation from our friends at Light In The Attic. Includes a nice booklet with notes by Mike Stax (of Ugly Things) and reminiscences from the late Johnny Ramone – a fellow Forest Hills High student and Vagrants fan. Very highly recommended! Titles include "Oh, Those Eyes", "You're Too Young", "I Can't Make A Friend", "Young Blues", "The Final Hour", "Your Hasty Heart", "Respect", "Beside The Sea", "A Sunny Summer Rain", "And When It's Over" and "I Don't Need Your Loving. CD

Very tripped out work from Melvin Van Peebles – the multi-talented artist who had a huge influence on African American film in the 70s! Melvin's working here in a a mode that combines soul, folk, funk, and lots of the more messed-up sounds that you'd hear on his own soundtracks for his films. And yes, he can't sing – but he has this wild way of muttering while singing, one that makes the album a really compelling document of culture and politics in the early 70s! The overall feel is sort of like Eugene McDaniels' work for Atlantic from the same time – but more messed up, disorganized, and rootsy! Titles include "Superstition", "Birth Certificate Ain't Nothing But A Death Warrant Anyway", "So Many Bars", and "Eyes On The Rabbit". CD

The deepest work to date from Vibration Black Finger – a group headed up by UK drummer Lascelle Gordon, and who effortlessly mix together acoustic jazz elements and other sonic elements – very much in the best spirit of some of their contemporaries on the London scene! Gordon's drums and percussion are at the core of each number – but the instrumentation shifts a fair bit as the set goes on – with flute, piano, keyboards, reeds, and bass from a variety of different guests – including Nat Birchall on tenor and Julie Kjaer on alto and flute! There's a few vocal moments – courtesy of the great Maggie Nicols and Ebony Rose – but most of the set is instrumental, and titles include "Soul Fire", "Only In A Dream", "Persia & Cornelius", "Twelve Wire Byrd", "Gutkind's Dream", "Can't You See What I'm Trying To Say", "Acting For Liberation", and "Empty Streets". CD

The deepest work to date from Vibration Black Finger – a group headed up by UK drummer Lascelle Gordon, and who effortlessly mix together acoustic jazz elements and other sonic elements – very much in the best spirit of some of their contemporaries on the London scene! Gordon's drums and percussion are at the core of each number – but the instrumentation shifts a fair bit as the set goes on – with flute, piano, keyboards, reeds, and bass from a variety of different guests – including Nat Birchall on tenor and Julie Kjaer on alto and flute! There's a few vocal moments – courtesy of the great Maggie Nicols and Ebony Rose – but most of the set is instrumental, and titles include "Soul Fire", "Only In A Dream", "Persia & Cornelius", "Twelve Wire Byrd", "Gutkind's Dream", "Can't You See What I'm Trying To Say", "Acting For Liberation", and "Empty Streets". LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Very nice spacey soul from the late 70s Columbus, Ohio scene by Norman Whiteside's Wee – a mindblowing mix of jazz funk sophistication, harmony vocals and electric keyboard led psychedelic soul! Whiteside started Wee after the dissolution of Capsoul Records, where he was an important figure to say the least – and here he's working with a great group of Columbus players harmony vocals in the frontline, backed by some great jazzy arrangements, with slight touches of a Mizell groove. Many of the tracks have a mellow midtempo feel, and some really innovative use of electric keyboards and flanged production on the vocals. A fantastic rediscovery from the fertile 70s Ohio scene! This stellar Asterisk reissue of the 9 track original Owl LP extends the tracklist to 19 songs – including a bunch of previously unreleased tracks – with "I'm All Changed", "Alone", "Put It In Real Good", "Leavin You Alone", "Try Me" (album and 45 versions), and "Find Me, Love Me", "Stay", "Trying To Tell You How I Feel", "I Luv You", "Do You Know", "I Think I Am In Love With You" and more. CD

A repackaged version of an earlier Bethlehem album by pianist Claude Williamson – originally issued with his own name as the title. The new choice of title is an odd one, because if anything, the album's very much a jazz-based outing – one that has Williamson working in some of his finest form of the 50s, in trio formation with Chuck Flores on drums and Don Prell on bass. Flores' light work on the kit is really great, and a sensitive side of the accompaniment that almost seems to let Claude open up with a heavier hand than usual on the keys. Titles include the originals "Blue Notoriety" and "June Bug", plus "I'll Remember April", "Jersey Bounce", "The Last Time I Saw Paris", and "Have You Met Miss Jones". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet modern R & B from Philly's Jaguar Wright, off her Denials, Delusions and Decisions LP,with help from NuSoul star Bilal. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

A special vinyl sampler from Frank Zappa – intended to point the way towards the big run of releases that would soon come on CD under the same title! The set brings together some of the best of that enterprise – and features live performances from 1969 through 1984 – all mastered by Bernie Grundman, with sound that really made most of the Zappa bootlegs on the market obsolete! Titles include "The Florida Airport Tape", "Sharleena", "Nanook Rubs It", "The Evil Prince", "You Call That Music", "King Kong", "Dickie's Such An Asshole", "Cosmic Debris", "Montana", "The Torture Never Stops", and "Plastic People". New version remastered again by Bernie Grundman! LP, Vinyl record album

Includes selections by Dead Kennedys, KGB, Offs, Mutants, Pink Section, and Tuxedomoon. LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Big Joe Williams, James & Fannie Brewer, John Lee Granderson, Otis Spann, Mary Ross, Bill Jackson, James Brewer, Johnny Young, Avery Brady, Fannie Brewer & Jimmy Brown. CD

The "nuggets" in the title is very well placed here – as all the cuts here have every bit as much freak and fuzz as the American garage and pre-punk work chronicled famously on the lengendary Nuggets series! Yet these tracks are all even more obscure, and all come from African sources that never got any exposure over here back in the day – records from Zambia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe – all brought together in a massive collection that's filled with heavy guitar work, and a fair bit of monstrous basslines too – which gives some of these tracks a slightly funky current at the bottom, even while the guitars and vocals are tripping out up top! The collection's a great complement to some of the Zamrock reissues from Now Again in recent years – and titles include "The Bad Will Die" by Keith Mlevhu, "Can't You Hear Me" by Paul Ngozi, "Black Power" by Peace, "Mad Man" by Born Free, "Breakthrough" by Funkees, "Few Bena Zambia" by Revolutions, "Come Home" by Wells Fargo, "Amanaz" by Amanaz, "Don't Take Me For A Ride" by Founders, "Like A Chicken" by Witch, and "Making Life Out Of Music" by Eye Q. Also includes the reworked "No Time (Pilooski edit)" by Witch. CD

A much-needed look at the Japanese rock scene at the start of the 70s – one that was going through as many amazing changes as the world of music in the US and UK, but which has always been far out of reach for most listeners in the English-speaking world! The collection's not super-underground – a number of these artists recorded for major labels – but overall, the sounds within will be a fresh discovery for most ears – and a mindblowing one as well, with music at a free-thinking level that rivals some of the best work coming out on hip Anglo imprints at the time – like Harvest, Vertigo, or Island Records! Lyrics are all in Japanese, but all other aspects of the music echo the hippest Brit modes of the period – some folksy acoustic material, reworked with hipper jazzier currents – some broodingly dark sounds that would never have emerged a few years before – and an overall nicely organic vibe that really holds together all the way through. There's no avant, prog, or noisy material – which makes for a tight focus that really makes the whole thing feel very unified – and the notes provide plenty of background for novice English-speaking listeners, too. Titles include "Rokudenashi" by Fluid, "Mizu Tamari" by Fumio Nunoya, "Curry Rice" by Kenji Endo, "Sotto Futari De" by Kazuhiko Yamahira & The Sherman, "Otokorashiitte Wakarukai" by The Dylan II, "Zeni No Koyoryoku Ni Tsuite" by Ryo Kagawa, "Ware Ware Wa" by Tetsuo Saito, "Marianne" by Gu, "Boku Wa Chotto" by Harumi Hosono, and "Konna Fu Ni Sugite Iku No Nara" by Maki Asakawa. LP, Vinyl record album

The riddim here is "Pressure & Slide", with vocalists including Johnny Osbourne, Tenor Saw, Yellowman, Sugar Minott, Owen Gray and others. LP, Vinyl record album