A beautiful lost record from the 70s – recorded by a singer from Harlem, but attending a Quaker school in Pennsylvania – which makes for a wonderfully cool blend of sounds and styles on the set! There's almost an acoustic core to the record, but the set also uses just the right amount of bass as well – next to piano that has some jazzy undercurrents, and which has the record coming across somewhere in the folksy soul territory of Terry Callier – recorded with a very similar sense of sophistication in both the songs and the performances! Shira's voice is great – very personal, and just right for the material – and titles include "Fingerpainter", "Cool Dude", "Here I Stand", "I Want To Lay With You", "Lights Gleam Lonely", "Touch Of Blue", "Gimme Magic", and "In An Open Field". LP, Vinyl record album

The fantastic lost legacy of The Harlots Of 42nd Street – a cross-dressing group who were Manhattan contemporaries of the New York Dolls, but who never got their best shot at fame! If anything, the group's lyrics are grittier than the Dolls – more in the streetwise/street scene mode of early solo Lou Reed, with plenty of tales from the gutter on up – and although their sound may be a little less punkish, their overall approach is still nice and raw, and completely unique! The group only issued one single back in the day, and this set is the first full-length document of their music – with titles that include "S&M", "Refuse To Be Misused", "Cool Dude & Foxy Lady", "Mother Nature", "Polyethylena Purebred", "Spray Paint Bandit", and "Double Bubble Bustin Baby". LP, Vinyl record album

A legendary album – and for good reason too – a set that's as mysterious as it is funky, and a record that's stayed at the top of our crates for years! The album features a really unusual collective of musicians, pulled together under the guidance of producer Paul Winley – a group that features George Benson on guitar, Dave Baby Cortez on organ, Willis Jackson on tenor sax, and Earl Williams on some massively funky drums! The music's a mix of funky jazz and gritty soul – put together with some really weird studio touches – including an uncredited male voice that comes in and out of the tracks, bad-rapping along with some very hip commentary. Ann Winley sings the female vocals on the set – often egged on by the dude – but the real charm of the record lies at the bottom – the wicked drums, funky basslines, and choppy instrumental bits that have gotten the set sampled plenty over the years. Titles include the classic "Smokin Cheeba Cheeba" alone, the groovy "Finger In It", a great breakbeat version of "Ain't No Sunshine" with a tenor solo by Willis Jackson, and the slow bluesy talking cut "Fed Up", a baaaad rap about a couple splitting up – done here in both vocal and instrumental versions. CD

A fantastic explosion of funk, soul, and club – put together at a level that may well even top the first Supafunkanova collection! As before, the cuts here are all super-rare and obscure – but all kick heavy ass when it comes to tight rhythms and catchy clubby grooves – never straight disco or mainstream boogie – but borrowing plenty from the mainstream to turn out cuts with a really raw, underground vibe! There's a slight touch of hip hop in the mix – more that old school skating mode – and the whole thing definitely shows Joey's decades in cutting great cuts for the dancefloor – and his big love of the best groups from the hinterlands. 2LP set features the titles "Drive Me Insane" by Airplay, "Betcha Got A Dude On The Side" by Star Quality & Class, "Cool Out" by Magnum Force, "Spunk In The Funk" by Blue Denim Band, "Walk" by Sam Culley Band, "Sound Reason (Joey Negro edit)" by Splash, "Making Love Will Keep You Fit" by Brenda Harris, "Let's Get High" by Nice & Tight Band, "Easton Assassin" by Sunburst Band, and "Super Stimulus" by Stimulus. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest early albums from Japanese keyboardist Takehiro Honda – a real meeting of Japanese and European talents – as Honda plays electric and acoustic piano alongside tenor and soprano from the great Gerd Dudek – with bass from Gunter Lenz and drums from Motohiko Hino! The vibe here is very different from many of Honda's other early 70s albums – with very long tracks that open up and build spaciously, making some especially great use of Dudek's flowing talents on reeds, which can sometimes be sharp, sometimes warm – matched with some equally dynamic energy from the drums of Hino, who's also a really key part of the set! Tracks are all nicely extended – and titles include "Flying To The Sky", "Floating On The Sea", and "Dji Dji Eitch Eitch". CD

A very cool set, with work by players who include Albert Mangelsdorff on trombone, Ack Van Rooyen and Manfred Schoof on trumpets, Gunter Lenz on bass, Wolfgang Dauner on piano, and Rolf Kuhn, Heinz Saur, Gerd Dudek, and Emil Mangelsdorff on saxes! LP, Vinyl record album