Current Rage were one of the more obscure groups to come out of the Athens, GA scene in the early 80s – but they've also got all the instantly creative energy that made that short-lived world of music every bit as exciting as some of the best New York sounds at the time! There's a nicely choppy approach to the rhythms going on here, and plenty of strong guitar play too – deft music that's somewhere in the territory of Pylon, and like that group, maybe a warmer US answer to British post-punk sounds of the same time. Titles include "Right Side Of The Brain", "Bitte Schoen", "Sweet Torture", "My Dog Sam", "Looking Through Gels", and "Scream In The Dark". Expanded version features bonus tracks that include "Adventures In America", "Punch A Clock", "The Theme", "Constant Hiss (demo)", and live tracks "My Dog Sam", "AF", "Tequila", and "The Book Pressed Flowers". CD

Current Rage were one of the more obscure groups to come out of the Athens, GA scene in the early 80s – but they've also got all the instantly creative energy that made that short-lived world of music every bit as exciting as some of the best New York sounds at the time! There's a nicely choppy approach to the rhythms going on here, and plenty of strong guitar play too – deft music that's somewhere in the territory of Pylon, and like that group, maybe a warmer US answer to British post-punk sounds of the same time. Titles include "Right Side Of The Brain", "Bitte Schoen", "Sweet Torture", "My Dog Sam", "Looking Through Gels", and "Scream In The Dark". Expanded version features bonus tracks that include "Adventures In America", "Punch A Clock", "The Theme", "Constant Hiss (demo)", and live tracks "My Dog Sam", "AF", "Tequila", and "The Book Pressed Flowers". LP, Vinyl record album

Current Rage were one of the more obscure groups to come out of the Athens, GA scene in the early 80s – but they've also got all the instantly creative energy that made that short-lived world of music every bit as exciting as some of the best New York sounds at the time! There's a nicely choppy approach to the rhythms going on here, and plenty of strong guitar play too – deft music that's somewhere in the territory of Pylon, and like that group, maybe a warmer US answer to British post-punk sounds of the same time. Titles include "Right Side Of The Brain", "Bitte Schoen", "Sweet Torture", "My Dog Sam", "Looking Through Gels", and "Scream In The Dark". Expanded version features bonus tracks that include "Adventures In America", "Punch A Clock", "The Theme", "Constant Hiss", and live tracks "My Dog Sam", "AF", "Tequila", and "The Book Pressed Flowers". LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent work by a near-forgotten act that blossomed briefly at the end of the 60s folk-rock boom – the incredible Earth Opera, a group that tied together many styles into a rich and unique sound! The album came out of the crumbling Boston scene of the late 60s – showing echoes of that city's optimistic folk scene of the earlier part of the decade, sliding into the more introspective musings of the singer/songwriter era. The group was the brainchild of singer/guitarist Peter Rowan, but also featured quite a bit of support from a young David Grisman – playing here on mandolin, piano, and a bit of alto sax. The tracks are folksy, but with lots of jazzy undercurrents – almost in a Tim Buckley mode at times, but with themes that are farther reaching, and often more political. The album's an obvious testament to the downfall of the US – surprisingly resonant in recent years – and features titles that include "Roast Beef Love", "The American Eagle Tragedy", "Home To You", "Alfie Finney", and "All Winter Long". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal sounds from Segun Bucknor – one of the most soulful singers on the Nigerian scene of the 70s, and an artist who can mix funky grooves with some of the deeper currents and moodier themes that you'll hear in Zamrock recordings of the time! The album begins with some excellent upbeat riffing – but also balances things out wonderfully with some slower funk numbers – tunes that used blue organ lines that really fit the spirit of the vocals, while bubbling along a more gentle groove! The sound is pretty darn fresh, all these many years later – and the album's a great illustration of the revolutionary power that Bucknor brought to the scene. Titles include "The Price Of Love", "No Condition Is Permanent", "Everybody Wondering Why I Love You", "The Good Things Of Life", "Tragedy", and "Nigeria One & Forever". CD

Tracks include "Chant 12 For Pacific Islands", "The Trace", "Currents and Tides", "Road To Body", "Wave Sad, Weave Slow", and "Mirage Returns". CD

Great grooves from the French scene of the 80s – a time when Parisian musicians were picking up a lot of the electro soul elements from the New York scene, but also mixing them with other currents of European and African dancefloor modes! This set's a bit later than the first volume in the Chebran series, and maybe even more compelling too – as the increased electronic elements in the music make for loads of wonderful touches that are waiting to be rediscovered by a 21st Century audience – the expected beats, keys, and basslines – but also some great ways of electrifying the vocals, especially when the lyrics are more chanted than sung. There's a huge world to discover here – and titles include "Ta Face Preface" by Brigitte & Michot, "Jawla Feli" by Hamidou, "C'Est Tabou" by Marie Jose Fa, "Funky Rap" by Phil BArney, "Lipstick (Shout)" by JM Black, "Ettika (vers maxi inedite)" by Ettika, "Propriete Privee" by Sammy Massamba, "Dansez Le Raksi" by Nordine Staifi, "Cairo Connection" by Philippe Chany, "Qu'Est Ce Qui Ne Va Pas" by Alfio Scandurra, "Break Magic Dance" by Creole Star, "Yamna" by Ganawa, and "La Rage Du Funky (rmx)" by Manu. CD

A completely obscure batch of tunes – so much so that only two of the cuts here have been reissued – and a set that's every bit as wonderful as previous entries in this long-running series! Overall, there's probably a bit more soul than jazz – but every track within is on the hipper side of the spectrum – the sort of work that easily blends genres, and which comes from 70s acts working far from the mainstream, in a wonderful groove that's very much their own! Most numbers have a midtempo groove – perfect for the jazzier elements in the soul cuts – and as with previous editions in the series, there's a righteous current that gives most of these tracks a very positive, uplifting vibe. Titles include "It's A Long Road" by Babe, "Bend A Little" by Mirage, "Slip Back Into The Magic" by Leaves Of Autumn, "I Got The Hots For You"b y Ronnie Miller, "Hey Flicka" by Mikael Neumann, "Future Shock" by Synot, "Oh Senor" by Jan Lewis Group, "Mister Jones" by Charles Vickers, and "The Ring" by Dianne Elliott. CD

A completely obscure batch of tunes – so much so that only two of the cuts here have been reissued – and a set that's every bit as wonderful as previous entries in this long-running series! Overall, there's probably a bit more soul than jazz – but every track within is on the hipper side of the spectrum – the sort of work that easily blends genres, and which comes from 70s acts working far from the mainstream, in a wonderful groove that's very much their own! Most numbers have a midtempo groove – perfect for the jazzier elements in the soul cuts – and as with previous editions in the series, there's a righteous current that gives most of these tracks a very positive, uplifting vibe. Titles include "It's A Long Road" by Babe, "Bend A Little" by Mirage, "Slip Back Into The Magic" by Leaves Of Autumn, "I Got The Hots For You"b y Ronnie Miller, "Hey Flicka" by Mikael Neumann, "Future Shock" by Synot, "Oh Senor" by Jan Lewis Group, "Mister Jones" by Charles Vickers, and "The Ring" by Dianne Elliott. LP, Vinyl record album

Snotty New York proto-punk with more than just an undercurrent of comedy running through the beefy tunes, and a heavy dose of good ol' swagger! The Dictators are truly, completely punk – even if Go Girl Crazy pre-dates the genre classification by a year or so – and even if their groove is closer to a crotch thrusting, garage version or parody (?) of Bad Company than it is the more revolutionary CBGBs bands. These are punks in the truest sense – sarcastic and ironic. Handsome Dick Manitoba and the boys run through 9 numbers on the classic original album – "The Next Big Thing", "I Got You Babe", "Back To Africa", "Master Race Rock", "Teengenerate", "California Sun", "Two Tub Man", "Weekend", "(I Live For) Cars & Girls" and more. CD

Heavy drums and a good dose of soul – both of which make Black Pearl stand out a bit from many of their late 60s contemporaries! There's a definite bluesy undercurrent to the group's music, but the riffs are also pretty hard and fast too – almost a bit funky at times, and delivered with a starker sort of groove than the usual blues rock combo. The musicianship is super tight throughout – really at a superstar level, but without sounding slick or commercial – and the album alone is worth it for the sharp drums and guitar leads, but also sports some pretty great vocals too – with almost a garagey soul sort of feel. Titles include "White Devil", "Mr Soul Satisfaction", "Thinkin Bout The Good Times", "Crazy Chicken", "Forget It", "Climbing Up The Walls", "Reach Up", "Bent Over", and "Endless Journey". CD

Freak and fuzz from an ultra-cool Venezuelan group of the early 70s – one who are as experimental as they are funky – effortlessly mixing together some wicked work on guitars and keyboards with some heavy rhythms on the bottom! The overall sound is more late 60s than you'd guess from the date in the title – and almost feels like some of that Detroit work that would have a psych combo picking up soulful currents from Motown, but recording in a garagey style that gave the whole thing a really great edge! That's definitely the vibe here – on some killer cuts that include "Superlombriz Atomica", "Sodoma Y Gomorra", "Solo No Puedo Vivir", "Oyeme Guajira", "Vi Una Luz", and "Tu Me Caes Mal". LP, Vinyl record album

Silvano Monasterios manages to swing strongly, yet also hit some great angular notes as well – a style that's echoed here by the work of saxophonist Troy Roberts and clarinetist Anat Cohen, who each play on different tracks on the set! Monasterios is clearly the main attraction, but the way he works with each reed player brings a special sort of twist to the record – as the musicians pour out force and feeling over some nicely complicated currents in the rhythms from Jonathan Dadurka on bass, Rodolfo Zuniga on drums, and Roberto Quintero on percussion. Almost all the tunes are originals by Silvano – and titles include "A Tropical Mirage", "Awash With Secrets", "Faith In You", "Blue In Red", "Eternal Blue Sky", and "Partly Sunny". CD

A great look at a really lost legacy in music from Charlie Rich – obscure sides recorded for RCA Records in the early 60s – done after his initial rush of genius on Sun Records, and before his later commercial success on Epic! Charlie's got one of the all-time great voices in pop music – a richness that easily rivals that of Memphis contemporary Elvis Presley, and which never fully got its due at the time – even though labels like RCA and Smash provided Rich with some fantastic material and production! Charlie's work for Smash has been picked up by the cognoscenti in recent years, and we'd honestly put these RCA tracks right up alongside them – with a similar Tennessee blend of soul and rock, rural and urban – all delivered by Charlie's incredibly charming vocal approach, and recorded with a depth that goes way beyond the usual RCA production modes of the time. There's plenty of currents of soul in the mix – even some New York-styled modes, which really work well with Rich – and this 40 track set is the first time this material has ever been pulled together – long-overdue, and a real treat to our ears! Titles include "Like Someone In Love", "Lady Love", "Nice & Easy", "Big Boss Man", "It's All Over Now", "The Grass Is Always Greener", "Now Everybody Knows", "My Mountain Dew", "The Big Build Up", "She Called Me Baby", "Gentleman Jim", "Christmas Greetings", "All Of My Friends Are Gonna Be Strangers", "Is Goodbye That Easy To Say", "Tragedy", "Ten Dollars & A Clean White Shirt", "Tomorrow Night", and "No Room To Dance". CD

Dark, moody work from Second Layer – a UK post-punk group with ties to The Sound, working here with a fair bit of drum machine rhythms and the sorts of low-noise elements you might find in a record of the time on Factory Records! Like some of the best Factory folk, Second Layer have a slight undercurrent of punk at times – but take their music to much spookier territory with a sound that's pretty brooding, and almost a garagey take on spacier modes of the previous decade – definitely in territory that you might hear on a Martin Hannett production. Titles include "Zero", "Japanese Headset", "Black Flowers", "Underneath The Gloss", "Definition Of Honour", "In Bits", and "Fixation" – plus the bonus LP which includes the "Flesh As Property" and "State Of Emergency" EPs! LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime mid 70s work from The Average White Band – and a record that really has the group deepening their groove a bit – moving past the heavier funk of their roots, into some mellower grooves that are totally great! There's a great undercurrent of jazz in some of the playing here – a real consciousness for clever changes, hip instrumental flourishes, and some other fusion-inspired moments – although all delivered with an understated quality that's mighty nice. The feel's a bit like The Headhunters on their second album, or some of the great Wayne Henderson groups on Fantasy – a great mix of jazz funk and soul that makes the record one of our favorites by the group. Titles include "Sunny Days", "Digging Deeper", "Love Your Life", "Queen Of My Soul", and the stellar mellow "A Love Of Your Own". CD

Sublime mid 70s work from The Average White Band – and a record that really has the group deepening their groove a bit – moving past the heavier funk of their roots, into some mellower grooves that are totally great! There's a great undercurrent of jazz in some of the playing here – a real consciousness for clever changes, hip instrumental flourishes, and some other fusion-inspired moments – although all delivered with an understated quality that's mighty nice. The feel's a bit like The Headhunters on their second album, or some of the great Wayne Henderson groups on Fantasy – a great mix of jazz funk and soul that makes the record one of our favorites by the group. Titles include "Sunny Days", "Digging Deeper", "Love Your Life", "Queen Of My Soul", and the stellar mellow "A Love Of Your Own". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest moments of genius from the team of Stock Aiken & Waterman – a tune that's decidedly poppy, but has enough of a dark undercurrent to sit nicely next to more obscure 80s groovers! 12-inch, Vinyl record

A long-overdue package – one that finally brings together all the many strands of music from underground Cali rock legend Merrell Fankhauser! CD1 features some of Merrell's earliest music – a host of early singles by Merrell & The Exiles, some of which were issued on the Glenn and Golden Crown labels – mixed here with rare unissued titles too – for a whopping 19 tracks that offer up a rare look at Fankhauser's earliest years! CD2 features the classic Fapardokly record – a lost bit of legend from the west coast scene of the 60s – and a record that's maybe best-known as a showcase for the early genius of Merrell Fankhauser – who wrote most of the songs on the set, a good number of which were actually recorded for the record by his previous group, The Exiles! Yet despite that little bit of trivia, there's a great vibe going on here – a seminal shift in the Cali scene from garagey work to trippier modes – served up beautifully on titles that include "Glass Chandelier", "Suzie Cryin", "Tomorrow's Girl", "Lila", "Mr Clock", "No Retreat", "Gone To Pot", "When I Get Home", "Supermarket", and "The Music Scene". CD3 features the album Things, recorded by Merrell Fankhauser & HMS Bounty – a perfect blend of Fankhauser's earlier garage rock modes and latter trippier styles! The tunes are short and wonderfully tuneful – produced at Gold Star studios, with a simple, straightforward style that makes all the deftness of the songwriting come through even more – an approach that, although supposedly steeped in Pacific Ocean inspiration, almost feels more like that great moment when some UK groups of the mid 60s were tripping out, but not too much. Titles include "Lost In The City", "Your Painted Lives", "In A Minute Not Too Soon", "A Visit With Ashiya", "The Big Gray Sky", and "Rich Man's Fable". CD4 features MU – an incredible record, and one that really lives up to all its well-deserved legend over the years – one of those sets that's not just rare, but which has all the chops to really deliver the goods! A few short years before, Merrell Fankhauser was recording garage and psych on the LA scene – but here, he steps off the latter with a bit of post-60s hangover – working with a current of darkness that really changes things up, while still providing a great outlet for his legendary work on guitar – and his mindblowing sense of a lyric! Titles include "Ballad Of Brother Lew", "Eternal Thirst", "Too Naked For Demetrius", "Mumbella Baye Tu La", "The Clouds Went That Way", and "Nobody Wants To Shine". CD5 features MU's The Last Album – 20 more tracks recorded in 1974, but unissued for many years – and CD6 features the legendary Maui album from the enigmatic Merrell Fankhauser – a self-released set that drew inspiration from his time in Hawaii – even though the set was mostly recorded in LA and San Francisco! The tunes are beautiful – nicely evolved from Merrell's psych of earlier years, with a much more personal vibe – yet all without some of those west coast cliches that were creeping into more mainstream music of the period. You might get the vibe partly right if you could maybe imagine a more personal singer/songwriter take on the AOR vibe of the period – with leaner, better instrumentation and unslick production – but that's also only part of the picture too! Titles include "On Our Way To Hana", "Make A Joyful Noise", "Garden In The Rain", "Waterfall", "The Source", "Sail It Over The Ocean", and "We Were All Free". Box set features a very detailed book of notes – bonus tracks added to most of the albums, and a massive 95 tracks in all! 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

The rare first album from a heavenly Jamaican vocal group – the wonderful Pioneers, who have a rock-solid quality here that sounds even better with production from Joe Gibbs! The trio have a way of criss-crossing their vocals in the harmonies that's wonderful – bumping around with all these mellow-stepping grooves that seem to encourage them to stretch things out even more with the rhythms – all in a mode that's lean, lovely, and overflowing with the soulful currents that made this era in Jamaican music so great! Titles include "Me Naw Go A Believe", "You'll Never Get Away", "Shake It Up", "Whip Them", "No Dope Me Pony", "Sweet Dreams", "Jackpot", and "Give Me A Little Loving" – plus two tracks by the Righteous Flames too. PLUS, this 2CD package features a huge amount of bonus tracks – 42 more tracks that feature many other Joe Gibbs rocksteady work – lots more tracks by The Pioneers, plus more from Errol Dunkley, The Mellotones, Jackie Robinson, Lyn Taitt & The Jets, The Spanishites, Neville Hinds, The Royals, Invaders, and many more. CD

Fantastic freaky sounds from The Standells – a group who perfectly bridge the garage and psych worlds with their music, and who still sound years ahead of their time – even after the passage of decades! Sure, lots of other folks traveled in this territory in the 60s – but few folks could mix their modes together so well – garagey guitars, bluesy undercurrents, heavy fuzz, and this sneering kind of energy that was punk rock way before anyone even thought of coining that term! The set's probably best known for the group's massive hit "Dirty Water" – but the whole thing's wonderful, and is a jam-packed record of excitement from start to finish – with cuts that include "19th Nervous Breakdown", "Little Sally Tease", "Rari", "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White", and "Medication". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the most underground sounds you could ever hope to hear – quite literally, as the music on the set was recorded in a subterranean studio based in a cavern in Missouri! We could go on making endless jokes about "hard rock" and things like that – but we'll quickly skip past the novelty of the recording to let you know that the collection is a treasure trove of rare gems from Kansas and Missouri at the time – really great little groups who have a lot more to offer than the usual garage combos or c-grade psych outfits – as plenty of these guys are more than tight and tuneful enough to have hit the charts at the time! There's some great undercurrents of bigger styles running through the music at points – including surprising horn parts, soulful vocal inflections, and a sense of arrangement that makes for some really well-conceived music all the way through – even though the range of groups is quite varied. We're betting you don't have any of these singles at home in your collection – and the set features titles that include "She's A Part Of Me" by The Dantes, "The King Was" by Jaded, "Fraight" by William Jones, "In My Grave" by The Reactions, "One Day Girl" by Burlington Express, "Mustache In Your Face" by Pretty, "You'll Know The Words" by Larry Sands & The Sound Affair, "Think Before You Leave" by Mulligan, and "I Wish It Hadn't Ended That Way" by Tide. CD