Includes the songs "Marque's Song", "Velly Velly Good", "Pang", "Rama's Seven", "Govinda", "Abdul", "Praparierte 20 Jahre Spater", "Erin In Konstanz", "Hob Ou Salam", "Barks", and "Lonely Nights". CD

A real killer from this legendary progressive group – a set that's from a time when their lineup included the great Mal Waldron on electric piano, and the mighty Sigi Schwab on guitar! With both those players in the mix, there's a strong jazz current going on here – although one still touched with some of the prog elements you'd guess from the title too – two basses, heavy drums, organ, and even some electric violin and tenor too – served up on long, jamming tracks that really showcase the way that fusion and prog blended together effortlessly on the German scene of the early 70s! There's also some vibes in the mix too – and titles include "Warm Canto", "Entrances", "A Place To Go", and "Dirge". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes the songs "3 Continents", "Kawalli", "Turkish Drums", "Robbed In Spain", "Yulyus In Madurei", "Blues 21", "2 Keys", "Rhubabdreams", "Chlebnikov", "Mejor Venti", "Flip Out", and "Burru Gara Dara". CD

A late entry in the career of the legendary Embryo – but a set that may well be the group's most organic to date! Despite the early 90s date of the record, there's a very acoustic feel to the whole thing – a sound that's even rootsier than any of the group's classics from the 70s, with a whole host of percussion and instrumental elements that really live up to the album's title and cover! The set was recorded in Lagos, and only seems to have a bit of bass and guitar alongside a wide range of rhythms and a few regional stringed instruments too – and at a few points, a bit of vibes come into the mix to create some even more instrumental sounds. The whole thing is instrumental, and really without any hoke or cliche – far far better than any other session of this type we've heard from the time. Titles include "Konga", "Mao In Afrique", "Sango", "Bush", "Wole Alade", "Dun Dun Mix", and "Yulius' Song". CD

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One of the more obscure albums from Embryo – a set recorded after their prog jazz classics of the 70s, and which still shows the group nicely pointing their music forward! There's maybe more avant rock elements in the mix than before, but still plenty of jazzy moments, and a nice use of instrumentation from around the globe – as they did in the past – and the whole thing comes across with some of the unusual criss-crossing of European and African elements you might find in the work of Aksak Maboul at the same time! Tracks are of varying lengths, with varying instrumentation, and the double-length record features material recorded over the course of a few different years – with titles that include "Egypt Straat", "Wasserrader", "Pia Pia", "Nigeria Karnataka", "Evas Zimmer", "La Blama Sparozzi", "Xingu", and "Reportage". CD

One of the earliest recordings of the Embryo group – a set of live tracks that predates all of their studio sessions, and which features the group in a much more jazz-based vein! The music was recorded at a time when the German combo was working heavily with American pianist Mal Waldron – who is featured here on about half the tracks – and their sound is much more vibes-based, with a dark and brooding approach that's clearly influenced by the Modern Jazz Quartet, but also features traces of Walt Dickerson (whose sound is apparent in many of the tracks), and the work of some of the European vibes-based combos of the time. The main solos are by Christian Burchard on vibes and Waldron on piano, and the only other instrumentation includes bass and drums in rhythm support. Features great versions of Waldron's "The Cool World", "For Bob", "Bud Study", "Fire Waltz", and "Anka's Trance" – plus Walt Dickerson's "Infinite You". CD

One of the most jazz-based groups of the German prog scene of the early 70s – heard here on a rare outing that features Mal Waldron playing electric piano with the group! Despite Waldron's presence, though, the real keyboard star of the set is Jimi Jackson – who plays mellotron and organ on the record, and sounds especially wonderful on the side-long track "The Call" – a fantastic 17-minute track that arose out of collective improvisations by the group! Instrumentation on the whole set is great – and includes the keyboards, plus heavy bass, vibes, marimba, guitar, sax, and even a bit of electric violin! Titles include "Radio Marrakesch/Orient Express", "Dreaming Girls", and "The Call". CD

A stunner of an album – light years ahead of Phil's earlier work in America – a bit funky at times, with some really open-ended modern sounds! The album features Phil with his incredible European Rhythm Machine – a group that includes Gordon Beck on electric piano, Henri Texier on bass, and Daniel Humair on drums – and the fat basslines of Texier are a wonderful match for the keyboards of Beck – both perfectly balancing things out on the groove! Tracks are long, and a mix of hard out soloing with some nice rhythmic grooving – almost in a modal fusion mode, but not quite – and titles include "Josua", "The Meeting", "Freedom Jazz Dance", and "Ode A Jean-Louis". LP, Vinyl record album

Herbie Man gets nitty and gritty at the Muscle Shoals Studios – bringing his funky flute to the southern powerhouse of sound, and hitting some of his most soulful grooves of the time! The approach here is really great – definitely cast in the southern soul mode that was associated with Muscle Shoals, but also done with the looseness of a jazz record – so that the sound's a fair bit different than similar projects coming out of the scene at the time. Most tracks are long and flowing – with lots of sweet electric elements that include vibes from Roy Ayers, guitar from Eddie Hinton, and keyboards from Barry Beckett. Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love slide in on horns – but Herbie's flute is still the main solo element, and it gets plenty of space to stretch out with some great trippy grooves! Titles include Edwin Birdsong's "Can You Dig It?", plus Sonny Sharrock's "Blind Willy", and Herbie's own "Panama Red's Panama Hat" and "Claudia Pie". LP, Vinyl record album

Weird and wild sounds from Jerry Novac – an artist who fits right in with the openly progressive style of Atlantic's Embryo label at the start of the 70s! The tracks are long and sometimes trippy – and Novac plays piano and organ, and adds vocals – while Buzzy Feitan and Eric Gale add in some guitar – next to drums from John Dzubak. Titles include "I Am A Classified Freed Speak", "Beyond The Look", and "Present 2nd Ave". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Herbie Mann's biggest albums – and one of his funkiest too! The cover's a bit of an off-putter – although it probably helped sell the record, back in the day – but the grooves are as rock-solid as anything that Herbie cut at the time – tight, focused, and a perfect showcase for his soulful work on flute! Tracks have a groove that's somewhat relaxed – almost a shift from the soul jazz vibe of Mann's earlier Atlantic work into some of the freer modes that were showing up in the CTI generation – and the players on the date include both Duane Allman and Cornell Dupree on guitars, Richard Tee on keyboards, Chuck Rainey on bass, Ralph MacDonald on percussion, and Bernard Purdie on drums – a player whose work here is definitely a key part of the sound! All tracks are long and slinky funky – and titles include "Push Push", "Spirit In The Dark", "What's Going On", "What'd I Say", and "Never Can Say Goodbye". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest albums ever by Attila Zoller – an oft-overlooked Hungarian guitar player who only issued a few records here in the US! The record doesn't exactly have a funk sound, but it does have a cool soulful groove – one with an open ended sound that's similar to other titles on Herbie Mann's Embryo subsidiary of Atlantic – a great mix of modes that really lets Attila open up! Herbie Hancock's on electric piano, and Sonny Brown is on drums. The cuts are shortish, with more tightness than Zoller's other albums from the time – and a nice tone that sounds great next to Herbie's keyboards. Includes the titles "Horns", "Wild Wild Wes", "At Twilight", and "Sweet Hustler". LP, Vinyl record album

The third album by Black Sabbath – the album that put the heavy in metal – one of the most influential rock albums of all time and a record that finds Sabbath at absolute peak perfection! This is the one that set the Sabbath style in stone, honing in the the heavy riffs, thundering drums and eerie mood perfectly. Includes the ultra classics "Sweet Leaf" and "Children Of The Grave", plus "After Forever", "Lord Of This World", "Solitude", "Into The Void" and the instrumentals "Embryo" and "Orchid". LP, Vinyl record album

Ever-adventurous composer, arranger and coronet player Rob Mazurek teams up with similarly creative wanderer Emmett Kelly (Cairo Gang, Josh Abrams Natural Information Society and more)! Alien Flower Sutra finds the duo and their guest players crafting a pretty awesome mix of interstellar psych-jazz-folk with vocals and guitar – with lots of fuzzier, jazzier instrumental passages. Very cool stuff on International Anthem, which has quickly become one of Chicago's best indie labels for free thinking creative output! Mazurek handles the electronic treatments, synths and coronet, with Kelly's lyrics, voice and guitars, and accompanied by Guilherme Granado, Carlos Issam Thomas Rohrer and Brittany Mazurek. Includes "Back To The Ocean, Back To The Sea", "Android Love Cry", "Blackout", "Bright Nights Havoc", "I Untied My Wrists", "Of Time Wasted", "Remember Nothing", "Embryo Genesis", "We Are One" and "Overture Towards The Beginning Of The End Of Time". CD

Very cool work from Psi – a hip 70s German group who were partly fusion, partly prog – in that special sort of blend shared by a rare few contemporaries – such as Embryo, Perigeo, or Zzebra! As with all three of those groups, the musicians here are clearly schooled in jazz, but also really want to open up in some of the freedoms explored by the long-haired younger generation – not in an avant way, but in a style that mixes some funky currents in the rhythms with more freewheeling solos and the occasional jamming passage – served up by a quintet lineup that includes loads of wonderful keyboards, plus tenor, guitar, bass, drums, and percussion! There's no vocals at all on the record – no need, as the instruments speak volumes – and titles include "Elektrische Kall Heinzje", "Horizonte", "Under Der Schurze Liegt Die Wurze", and "Bettgerausche". CD

A mindblowing contribution to the early catalog of Pink Floyd – served up here in a special series of CD/DVD combinations that bring together rare recordings, unusual mixes, different versions, live tracks, and some beautiful film performances too! This packages focuses on the instrumental year of 1968 – a time when the group was really growing – with tracks that include two different BBC sessions, with titles that include "Murderotic Woman", "The Massed Gadgets Of Hercules", "Let There Be More Light", "Point Me At The Sky", and "Embryo" – plus other tracks "Rogers Boogie (Capitol Studios version)", "Song 1 (Capitol Studios)", "Julia Dream", "It Would Be So Nice", and the single version of "Careful With That Axe Eugene". The DVD/Blu-Ray features great material – including performances on Tienerklanken in Brussels, and Paris performances a Bouton Rogue, Tous En Scene, and Samedi Et Compagnie. Also features very cool replica materials of items from the period! CD

A mindblowing contribution to the early catalog of Pink Floyd – served up here in a special series of CD/DVD combinations that bring together rare recordings, unusual mixes, different versions, live tracks, and some beautiful film performances too! There's loads of very cool, unique material here – five tracks that are alternates of material recorded for the More album, including "Seabirds", "More Blues", "Theme", and "Hollywood" – plus the track "Embryo", from a Harvest Records sampler – and four instrumental live tracks from the Paradiso in Amsterdam, plus five more from a BBC session in May! The first DVD/Blu-Ray disc features The Man & The Journey performed in Amsterdam, which is 76 minutes – and the other disc features performances from the London rehearsals for that performance, plus festival performances in Paris, Essen, and Belgium. Set also comes with cool replica memorabilia from the period! CD

Tracks from Gong, Guru Guru, Hawkwind, Faust, Embryo, Chris Karrer, and Man. CD

Nice one! This is a sparkling set of 14 groovers pulled from some of the odder albums on Atlantic Records. Although best known as a soul label, Atlantic also cut some pretty mean funky jazz material – especially during the late 60s/early 70s, when they were running the groovy Vortex and Embryo sub-labels. This set was put together by Russ Dewbury, and it features some great groovers that we almost never see on vinyl these days. Tracks include "Baby, I Don't Know Where" by Air, "Live Humble" by Yusef Lateef, "The Power Of A Smile" by Herb Geller, "Vibrafinger" by Gary Burton, "Jan Jan" by The Fabulous Counts, "New Bell" by Manu Dibango, "Shorty Rides Again" by Les McCann & Eddie Harris, and "Cherrystones" by Eugene McDaniels. Very nice – and very groovy! CD

The third album by Black Sabbath – the album that put the heavy in metal – one of the most influential rock albums of all time and a record that finds Sabbath at absolute peak perfection! This is the one that set the Sabbath style in stone, honing in the the heavy riffs, thundering drums and eerie mood perfectly. Includes the ultra classics "Sweet Leaf" and "Children Of The Grave", plus "After Forever", "Lord Of This World", "Solitude", "Into The Void" and the instrumentals "Embryo" and "Orchid". CD

A great early album by this famous 70s bassist – originally issued as the album Infinite Search on Embryo, but expanded here with the additional track "Cerecka". One of the greatest moments ever from bassist Miroslav Vitous – a very cool album recorded for the trippy Vortex label! The lineup here has Miroslav working with key help from the American underground – piano from Herbie Hancock, tenor from Joe Henderson, and drums from Jack DeJohnette – plus added guitar from John McLaughlin, who seems to have the same spacey sensibilities as Vitous! Henderson really opens up too – in that fluid style of his post-Blue Note work on Milestone – and obviously Herbie's a great one for a set like this too – hitting some of the spiritual modes of his Warner work. Some tracks are nice and long – and titles include "Freedom Jazz Dance", "Infinite Search", "I Will Tell Him On You", "Mountain In the Cloudes", and "Epilogue". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest albums ever by Attila Zoller – an oft-overlooked Hungarian guitar player who only issued a few records here in the US! The record doesn't exactly have a funk sound, but it does have a cool soulful groove – one with an open ended sound that's similar to other titles on Herbie Mann's Embryo subsidiary of Atlantic – a great mix of modes that really lets Attila open up! Herbie Hancock's on electric piano, and Sonny Brown is on drums. The cuts are shortish, with more tightness than Zoller's other albums from the time – and a nice tone that sounds great next to Herbie's keyboards. Includes the titles "Horns", "Wild Wild Wes", "At Twilight", and "Sweet Hustler". CD

The 16th entry in the epic Psychedelic Underground series – one that moves well past the 60s to include prog and post punk era numbers that splintered off and reconstituted from particles launched in the psychedelic 60s! Includes tracks by Tetragon, Xhol, Guru Guru, Surgery, Embryo, Radio Noisz Ensemble and more. Titles include "Snowstorm" by Tetragon, "Surrealistic Scenery" by Xhol, "Wellengamg" by Zoppo Trump", "Dance Of Some Broken Glasses" by Embryo, "Intro" by Surgery and more. CD

Mighty nice grooves from a series that might be better named as "Prog Rock Underground" – as most of the work here is from the 70s, and most from those great years of the German scene where it also seemed like there was plenty of jazz in the music as well! A few of these cuts are downright funk, and all are filled with great instrumentation – in an approach that's a nice change from some of the more familiar Brit prog modes of the same generation. Vocals are often an afterthought to the impeccable instrumentation – and titles include "My Dear Groovin" by Sunbirds, "Thoughts" by Exponent, "Space Guerilla" by Missus Beastly, "Kollektivtat" by Gila, "Kassiopeia" by Reaktor 4, "Tiflis" by Embryo, "Teppich" by Panko, and "Mankind Where Do You Go To" by Virus. CD

A late masterpiece from the Flaming Lips – one of their most unique and uncompromising records since they became leftfield hitmakers – and a record that works best as a whole! Embryonic is a grower, and the first record since The Soft Bulletin which, to our ears anyway, doesn't seem to have any illusions of a crossover ready single in the lineup. It's really a space rock record with fuzzy guitars and echoing noisiness, and a confident step out of "Do You Realize?" style speaks-to-everyone art pop, and into more of a dissonant, messy sound. It's a real thrill for us to see a longtime favorite not only get over into the mainstream consciousness and stay there for years, but to continue to challenge and innovate while they're hanging out there. Titles include "Convinced Of The Hex", "The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine", "Evil", "Aquarius Sabotage", "See The Leaves", "Your Bats", "Powerless", "Scorpio Sword", "Watching The Planets" and more. CD

Early genius from these Bay Area stalwarts – one of the greatest rock records of its time! Surrealistic Pillow is the second Jefferson Airplane album, but they took a number of huge creative leaps in the 8 months or so between their debut record and this one. This one is where they're joined by psych siren Grace Slick, but it's not just the line-up change that sets it apart. Surrealistic Pillow is a perfect title, as it's comforting and disorienting at the same time. It's also the magical confluence of wildly different spirits – with standout contributions by the entire band. Titles include the seminal "White Rabbit" – plus "Embryonic Journey", "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds", "DCBA 25", "How Do You Feel", "Today", "She Has Funny Cars", and "Plastic Fantastic Lover". CD

Early genius from these Bay Area stalwarts – one of the greatest rock records of its time! Surrealistic Pillow is the second Jefferson Airplane album, but they took a number of huge creative leaps in the 8 months or so between their debut record and this one. This one is where they're joined by psych siren Grace Slick, but it's not just the line-up change that sets it apart. Surrealistic Pillow is a perfect title, as it's comforting and disorienting at the same time. It's also the magical confluence of wildly different spirits – with standout contributions by the entire band. Titles include the seminal "White Rabbit" – plus "Embryonic Journey", "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds", "DCBA 25", "How Do You Feel", "Today", "She Has Funny Cars", and "Plastic Fantastic Lover". LP, Vinyl record album

Early genius from these Bay Area stalwarts – one of the greatest rock records of its time! Surrealistic Pillow is the second Jefferson Airplane album, but they took a number of huge creative leaps in the 8 months or so between their debut record and this one. This one is where they're joined by psych siren Grace Slick, but it's not just the line-up change that sets it apart. Surrealistic Pillow is a perfect title, as it's comforting and disorienting at the same time. It's also the magical confluence of wildly different spirits – with standout contributions by the entire band. Titles include the seminal "White Rabbit" – plus "Embryonic Journey", "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds", "DCBA 25", "How Do You Feel", "Today", "She Has Funny Cars", and "Plastic Fantastic Lover". CD

Early genius from these Bay Area stalwarts – one of the greatest rock records of its time! Surrealistic Pillow is the second Jefferson Airplane album, but they took a number of huge creative leaps in the 8 months or so between their debut record and this one. This one is where they're joined by psych siren Grace Slick, but it's not just the line-up change that sets it apart. Surrealistic Pillow is a perfect title, as it's comforting and disorienting at the same time. It's also the magical confluence of wildly different spirits – with standout contributions by the entire band. Titles include the seminal "White Rabbit" – plus "Embryonic Journey", "3/5 Of A Mile In 10 Seconds", "DCBA 25", "How Do You Feel", "Today", "She Has Funny Cars", and "Plastic Fantastic Lover". CD