One of the earliest albums ever from Harold Budd – an artist who'd later rise to great ambient fame in the following decade, but who's maybe at his most sophisticated here! The set has all the hallmark of the new musical experiments that Brian Eno was showcasing on his Obscure Music label – where the set first appeared – and Budd plays electric piano with a very cool set of contemporary musicians – a lineup that includes alto sax from Marion Brown, harp from Maggie Thomas, marimba from Michael Nyman and John White, and glockenspiel from Gavin Bryars. Brian Eno produced the record, and vocalizes slightly – and tracks have a long-spun, almost spiritual vibe – on titles that include "Bismallahi Rrahmani Rrahmani", "Two Songs (Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord/Butterfly Sunday)", "Madrigals Of The Rose Angel", and "Juno". LP, Vinyl record album

A landmark moment – both for Brian Eno, and for experimental music in general! Although Eno began his solo run with some searing, guitar-heavy records that were even wilder than his early work with Roxy Music – he also began experimenting with more sensitive aspects of sound on albums like Another Green World and Before & After Science – an approach he takes here to the farthest degree, by opening up himself and creating a whole new genre of ambient music in the process! Gone are the raspy, sometimes nasty vocals – and in their place is virtually nothing – just beautifully open music that uses scores that are somewhat cyclical – but at a pace that's very different than the minimalism of the period – and maybe even more minimal too. The record features four long tracks, one with piano by Robert Wyatt – really beautiful stuff, like some strange dark sonic crystal that fell out of the skies years ago, and which still remains a mystery to all ears that stumble upon it! LP, Vinyl record album

A unique promo only release compiled in the early 80s by Eno himself, selecting what he considers his most "mainstream" work from his 70s albums. Titles include "Baby's On Fire", "No One Receiving", "I'll Come Running", "Backwater", "The Great Pretender", "King's Lead Hat", "Dead Finks Don't Talk", "St Elmo's Fire", "Third Uncle", and "Everything Merges With The Night". LP, Vinyl record album

A compilation LP of sorts – though at the time of its release most of this material had not been heard in this form! The album's more or less part of the "Ambient" series Eno had started that year with Music For Airports – and it's presented with similarly simple, elegant packaging – a cool divergence from the more striking Eno of a few years before. The set is made up of various bits, recorded either exclusively for film use, or that in one way or another found their way into films – and contains mostly short tunes, some thematic, others purely sonic wallpaper, but always compelling! 18 tracks, including "M386", "Aragon", "Two Rapid Formations", "Slow Water", "Sparrowfall", "Evenings In Dense Fog", "A Measured Room", "Strange Light", and "Final Sunset". LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

One of those killer records from that 80s moment when Robert Fripp rebooted King Crimson with a lean lineup that had a really fantastic sound – with more guitars and vocals from Adrian Belew, a younger player who really had the same ear as Fripp for unusual sounds from guitars – alongside Tony Levin on bass and Chapman stick, and the great Bill Bruford on drums! Titles include "Elephant Talk", "Frame By Frame", "Thela Hun Ginjeet", and "The Sheltering Sky". CD

One of our favorites by King Crimson – and a record with a lot more jazz than some of their others! Players include Mel Collins on lots of flutes and saxes – plus guests Keith Tippett on piano, Mark Charig on cornet, and Harry Miller on bass! CD

One of our favorites by King Crimson – and a record with a lot more jazz than some of their others! Players include Mel Collins on lots of flutes and saxes – plus guests Keith Tippett on piano, Mark Charig on cornet, and Harry Miller on bass! CD

One of our favorites by King Crimson – and a record with a lot more jazz than some of their others! Players include Mel Collins on lots of flutes and saxes – plus guests Keith Tippett on piano, Mark Charig on cornet, and Harry Miller on bass! 40th Anniversary Edition includes 6 CD bonus tracks, plus hi-res DVD-audio stereo and surround mixes. CD

The kind of Roxy Music album that nobody would have expected back when Brian Eno was in the group – but a set that really helped expose the group to a whole new generation, and find a way to develop that special style that Bryan Ferry had brought to the group in the previous decade! There's a leaner vibe going on here – with the core trio of Ferry, Andy Mackay, and Phil Manzanera finding a way to be a bit more subtle than before, both instrumentally and lyrically – while still having Bryan do that oddly sinister thing with his vocals, almost in a way that undercuts all the new young stars that were emerging in the younger generation. The recording quality is superb – especially on the vocals and Manzanera's work – and titles include "More Than This", "Take A Chance With Me", "India", "The Space Between", and "To Turn You On". CD

The kind of Roxy Music album that nobody would have expected back when Brian Eno was in the group – but a set that really helped expose the group to a whole new generation, and find a way to develop that special style that Bryan Ferry had brought to the group in the previous decade! There's a leaner vibe going on here – with the core trio of Ferry, Andy Mackay, and Phil Manzanera finding a way to be a bit more subtle than before, both instrumentally and lyrically – while still having Bryan do that oddly sinister thing with his vocals, almost in a way that undercuts all the new young stars that were emerging in the younger generation. The recording quality is superb – especially on the vocals and Manzanera's work – and titles include "More Than This", "Take A Chance With Me", "India", "The Space Between", and "To Turn You On". LP, Vinyl record album

The fourth album from Roxy Music – a brilliant statement of their early genius through and through! The album has the group moving strongly past the Eno years, into a tighter framework that still contains many of the darker themes of earlier records. Ferry's lead vocals are incredibly majestic – rising to heights to match the European greats of years past who were his inspiration – and the group's tight blend of reeds, guitar, and moody keyboards gives the whole album an off-kilter sense of instrumentation that really sets it apart from the pack. There's an artfulness here that's never overdone, and the whole thing comes together with a magic that's impossible to describe, but which is Roxy at their best. Titles include "Out Of The Blue", "The Thrill Of It All", "Three & Nine", "Triptych", "Casanova", and "Prairie Rose". CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Keith Tippett on piano, music box, bells, and percussion; Andy Sheppard on saxophone and African flutes. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Brian Eno at the crux of his career – hanging perfectly between the guitar-heavy glam of earlier years, and the spacey electronics of later material – both of which he presents wonderfully on the record! The album is one of his last to feature real rock songs, with the kind of vocals you'd know from Eno's first two albums – and it mixes straighter styles with more complex electronic soundscapes, resulting in some wonderfully cold and abstract material that prefaces musical territory that many other artists wouldn't hit until the following decade! Titles include "Golden Hours", "The Big Ship", "St Elmos Fire", "Sky Saw", "Spirits Drifting", and "Becalmed". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the biggest moments in the career of guitarist Harvey Mandel – an album based around his famous cover of "Cristo Redentor", a tune written by Duke Pearson for one of Donald Byrd's "with voices" albums, which was then turned into a spacey guitar classic by Mandel's trippy work. The tune's here in full force – backed up by an album of like minded tunes – 60s trippy guitar mixed with jazz influences, in a messed up Bay Area style that was every bit the product of its time as more famous rock albums coming out of the San Francisco scene. Titles include "Cristo Redentor", "Before Six", "The Lark", "Snake", "Long Wait", "Bradley's Barn", and "You Can't Tell Me". CD

Featuring Paul Beavis, Robert Fripp, Toyah Willcox, and Trey Gunn. Cassette

A rare bit of bossa nova from the early 60s – originally only issued in Argentina, but done with the warm grace and mellow groove of Brazil's best work at the time by Joao Gilberto or Carlos Lyra! Like both of those artists, Reginaldo Bessa's a poet in his approach to music – gently playing acoustic guitar alongside a bit of percussion and flute, and singing in a spacious, airy sort of style that further emphasizes the subtle shadings of the words in the tunes. The whole thing's got a really lovely feel that's totally great – a quality that we'd normally only reserve for some of the real bossa classics from Rio – and the album's an especial treat because most of the tunes here are original, not versions of overdone bossa standards! Titles include "Voce Ja Foi A Bahia", "Samba Dissonante", "Salo", "No Tempo Da Vovo", "O Samba Que Eu Nao Fix", "Fix Un Samba", "Cancao Do Amor So", and "Sabado Em Copacabana". CD

... CD

... CD

An unlikely pairing of albums, but another nice 2-fer of classic Atlantic sides. The Jazz Messengers album is a great one – and features the firey hardbop of Blakey's late 50's Messengers (with Johnny Griffin and Bill Hardman) meeting the modernist piano playing of Monk, who was really hitting his stride at this point on his own Riverside recordings. The session's an interesting one, and if it lacks the groove of the usual Blakey album, Monk more than makes up for any lack of soulfulness by throwing in some nice complicated piano lines. We still prefer Bobby Timmons to Monk with Blakey – but the album's worth having, and includes nice Monk tracks like "Evidence", "Blue Monk", "I Mean You", and "Purple Shades". The MJQ session's a live one, and features the usual tightly arranged chamber jazz approach. Tracks on that one include "Bag's Groove", "Blues Milanese", "Pyramid", and "The Cylinder". CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A much-needed look at the early sound of The Blue Notes – a performance right before they left South Africa, and with a nicely different sound than some of their later London performances issued on the Ogun label! The group here are already very much in their own sound and spirit, but with less of the free improvisation of the 70s – more some of the rhythmic modes you'd know from other South African jazz of the period, but mixed with the kind of complexity you'd hear in a Charles Mingus record – all sorts of of amazing arrangements that are peppered with really wonderful solos from the members of the sextet! The lineup is different than the quartet and quintet dates of the following decade – with tenor saxophonist Nick Moyake working alongside Dudu Pukwana on alto, Mongezi Feza on trumpet, Chris McGregor on piano, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Luis Moholo on drums. The set features a range of great modern jazz compositions by the players – including "Coming Home", "Two For Sandi", "Dorkay House", "B My Dear", "Vortex Special", and "Now". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

A huge collection of work – one that not only gets at the brilliance of the young Jacques Brel as a singer on the Francophone scene, but which also showcases his tremendous talent for penning fresh and original songs – a number of which are served up here in versions by other singers of the time! There's something really special about a Jacques Brel tune – as he cuts to the heart of humanity, exposing dreams, follies, fears, and sadness with a mix of wit and emotion – a balance that nobody else has been able to touch this well – and which also carries over, even when another singer might be handling his songs! The first 4CDs of the set bring together key early recordings by Brel – 89 tracks from his early years on Barclay. And the remaining 2CDs offer up key interpretations of his tunes – another 45 titles, performed by artists who include Juliette Greco, Marc E Odile, Denise Andre, Yves Montand, Jacqueline Nero, Vera Gran, Colette Chevrot, Pia Colombo, Yvette Giraud, Les Riff, and many others – including a fair bit of artists who are not represented well in the world of reissues! CD

Great live work from the Clifford Brown/Max Roach group of the 50s – including material recorded at Basin Street in 1956, but different than the classic Emarcy album of the same name! These Basin Street sides are from April and May of 1956 – and feature a group with Sonny Rollins on tenor sax, alongside Brown's trumpet and Roach's drums, plus bass from George Morrow and piano from the great Richie Powell. Tunes are live broadcasts from the club, complete with an announcer calling the tunes – but are nicely tight, and very much in the spirit of the group's official albums from the time – even though Roach is replaced by drummer Willie Jones on a few of the tracks. Titles include "Valse Hot", "I Feel A Song Comin On", "What's New", and "Sweet Clifford". Added to these are 2 tracks from a Carnegie Hall performance in 1955 – featuring the same group, but with Harold Land in place of Rollins – on titles that include "I Get A Kick Out Of You" and "The Blues Walk". CD

Titles include "Concentration" and "I Don't Know" – both in two different versions – plus "Musical Heatwave, "Silhouettes", "He Can't Spell", and "Lips Of Wine". LP, Vinyl record album

Classic early live material from the Dave Brubeck Quartet – already humming along nicely with some great alto sax from Paul Desmond! The group's in fine form here – a bit more relaxed and open than on their Columbia recordings – with plenty of creative piano lines from Dave, showing just a slight dose of modernism, and lots more of that cool, icy alto sax work that made Desmond a standout right from the start. Rhythm is by Ron Crotty on bass and Joe Dodge on drums – and titles include "Laura", "Lullaby In Rhythm", "For All We Know", "All The Things You Are", and "I'll Never Smile Again". CD

An early indie single from The Buckinghams! 7-inch, Vinyl record

Heavy Nigerian funk from the great Segun Bucknor – an artist who was working during the same Afro Funk revolution as Fela Kuti & Africa 70, but one who never fully got the exposure he deserved on a global level! By the time of these cuts, Segun had already been working hard in a variety of different groups – and he emerges at the start of the 70s with a bold new vision in music – one that draws on the same American soul and funk inspirations that you'll hear on the records of Geraldo Pino, but which also has some moodier elements at times too – a heady current that's clearly inspired by the psych generation, and taken to some more message-oriented lyrics at times. The blend is wonderful, especially when most cuts have these deeply funky rhythms at the bottom – and this 2CD package is a fantastic introduction to his music, with 16 long cuts that include "Sorrow Sorrow Sorrow", "Poor Man No Get Brother", "Dye Dye", "Only In My Sleep", "Adanri Sogbasogba", "Baby Get Your Thing", "Love And Affection", "Son Of January 15th", "La La La", "Gbmojo", "Ayinde Ogo", "Who Say I Tire", "You Killing Me", "Adebo", and "That's The Time". CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Late-life work from this Irish folk singer – a talent who first flourished in the late 40s, then was rediscovered during the British folk boom at the end of the 60s! LP, Vinyl record album

Don Byron on clarinet and bass clarinet, Lonnie Plaxico and Reggie Workman on bass, Pheeroan Aklaff and Ralph Peterson Jr on drums, Kenny Davis on electric bass, Bill Frisell on guitar, Richie Schwarz on marimba, Edsel Gomez and Joe Berkovitz on piano, Greta Buck on violin, and Sadiq as the poet. CD

... CD

Larry Carlton on guitar and Terry McMillan on harmonica with Michael Rhodes on bass and Chris Layton and John Ferraro on drums. CD

... CD

James Carter on soprano and tenor saxophone, Cyrus Chestnut on piano, fender rhodes and organ, Ali Jackson on drums, and Reginald Veal on bass. CD

Wickedly fuzzy funk! Jimmy Castor recorded in a lot of different styles during the 70s – but the one he used on this album is still his best – and the album may well be his lasting testament of funky genius! The record's a non-stop guitar-heavy batch of classic funk tracks – and it features the storming break track "It's Just Begun", the funky goofy "Troglodyte", and plenty other nice moments like "Bad", "LTD", "I Promise To Remember", and "Psychee". Fuzzy guitar meets heavy drums meets some of the most insane lyrics ever on a mainstream funk album! Jimmy can always be great – but he really knocks it out of the park on this monstrous classic. LP, Vinyl record album

Includes 41 tracks on 2 CDs. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

39 tracks in all – a set of tunes that spans the group's entire career! CD

Three great later soundtracks from Stelvio Cipriani – an artist who's mostly known for his famous 70s material on the Italian scene! First up is Baciami Strega – a score that really continues the keyboard genius that set Cipriani apart from the pack in the 70s – served up here with keyboards that are a mix of acoustic and electric piano, plus a few more 80s-styled digital keys – all with qualities that have a lot more warmth than most other keyboard scores of the time, and which update Cipriani's approach, but with the aesthetics of the new decade. Next is Don Bosco – a soundtrack that has a wonderfully warm vibe, with light orchestrations that are usually fronted by a key solo instrument – usually a guitar or harmonica line, all delivered in a style that's got all that spacious sensitivity we love in Stelvio's work of the 70s! Last up is the beautiful Se Non Avessi L'Amore – Stelvio Cipriani at his finest – with all the warm, lovely tones that have always made his music so great – especially when he scores on the "amore" side of the spectrum! The film's a bit more recent than some of the 70s classics we've always loved from Stelvio, but the sound is right up there with his best mellow moments of years back – lots of light strings, gliding along in haunting themes – using a Morricone-like sense of space, punctuated nicely by a bit of piano too! 3CD set features 65 tracks in all! CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

Michael Moore on alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, melodica, and celesta, Ernst Reijseger on cello, and Han Bennink on drums and celesta. CD

A fantastic live performance from Alice Coltrane – and one that features a very heavy-hitting group – stretching out here in a beautiful performance of extended tracks that maybe takes off even more than some of Coltrane's famous albums for Impulse Records! The group is great – and features features both Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp on tenor, in a spirit that's as strong and righteous as Alice's Ptah The El Daoud album – plus more doubling from two bassists – Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee – two drummers – Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis – plus tambura from Tulsi and harmonium from Kumar Kramer – all laid out with both piano and harp from Alice Coltrane herself. The set features four very long tracks – "Shiva Loka", "Africa", "Leo", and "Journey In Satchidananda". CD