Ann Peebles sings straight from the heart on this classic early set for Hi Records – a record that's to female vocals what Al Green's work of the time meant to male soul! As with Green's Hi Records of the time, Willie Mitchell is firmly in charge of production and backings – working with that warmly glowing Memphis soul style that carved whole new territory in soul music for the 70s – a maturing and mellowing of earlier southern modes, in a way that helps Peebles hit some fresh and uncliched sounds with her vocals. At a time when so many other singers were trying to copy Aretha, Ann's approach is mighty fresh – as you'll hear on tracks that include "I Take What I Want", "Slipped Tripped & Fell In Love", "What You Laid On Me", "Trouble Heartaches & Sadness", "99 Pounds", "I've Been There Before", and "Somebody's On Your Case". LP, Vinyl record album

Not really famous, but gritty & grooving bluesy gospel soul from Famous L Renfroe – and artist who might even be more mysterious to us after hearing the record! The Flying Sweet Angel Of Joy is kind of a dreamlike mix of impassioned vocals, electric guitar and bass, with some drums. There's often chorus backing vocals behind the spirited, but easygoing lead vocals, and the sound often has a gritty soul blues vibe underneath the emotive, spiritual lead vocals. Titles include "Children", "Believe", "Feed", "Reaching", It's So", "Why Not I", "And Man", "His Love", "Circle", "War" and "Tell". CD

An obscure 70s album from the legendary Roosevelt Sykes – but a set that captures the singer and pianist at the height of his powers! The format here is very stripped-down – often just a focus on Sykes himself, with the occasional addition of a bit of guitar from Louisiana Red or Johnny Shines, both of whom sing slightly too. Sugar Blue also adds in harmonica on a few numbers – but the overall feel is more that of Roosevelt working by himself, almost in an after hours mode – then welcoming in some friends as they drop by to sit in on a few numbers. Titles include "Dream Woman", "Mistake In Life", "Music Is My Business", "A Good Woman", "How Long", "Funky Side", and "Leavin Chicago". CD

An obscure 70s album from the legendary Roosevelt Sykes – but a set that captures the singer and pianist at the height of his powers! The format here is very stripped-down – often just a focus on Sykes himself, with the occasional addition of a bit of guitar from Louisiana Red or Johnny Shines, both of whom sing slightly too. Sugar Blue also adds in harmonica on a few numbers – but the overall feel is more that of Roosevelt working by himself, almost in an after hours mode – then welcoming in some friends as they drop by to sit in on a few numbers. Titles include "Dream Woman", "Mistake In Life", "Music Is My Business", "A Good Woman", "How Long", "Funky Side", and "Leavin Chicago". LP, Vinyl record album

A heck of a discovery – early recordings Townes Van Zandt cut in mid 60s Nashville – a couple of years before his official solo debut, and a soul shakingly beautiful mix of his country folk blues storytelling and some more rollicking numbers that work exceptionally well! One of the things that's most striking about it is how wise and knowing his songs and his voice are this early in his game, with the more intimate voice and guitar numbers sounding great. The few songs with busier instumentation work, too, and that's even more surprising give the Townes loner folk ouvre. We didn't think there could be much Townes left unreleased, especially of this quality! Titles include "Black Widow Blues", "Maryetta's Song", "Hunger Child Blues", "Black Jack Mama", "When Your Dream Never Dies", "Big Country Blues", "Gypsy Friday", "Colorado Blues", "Black Crow Blues" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Townes revisiting his own time-honored tunes from the late 60s onward, often backed by just a second guitar or fiddle, spare settings that maximize the stark power of his songwriting and voice! The voice is really the key here, distinctive in both the songwriting – with some of the most effective story songs about lost souls and wayward love in the modern folk or country canon – and in performance, here sounding as clear and soulful as ever, and in much stronger form than we remembered! Beautiful stuff. Includes "Pancho & Lefty", "If I Needed You", "For The Sake Of The Song", "Our Mother The Mountain", "Dollar Bill Blues", "No Place To Fall", "Lungs", "White Freightliner Blues", "Don't You Take It Too Bad", "Tower Song", "Waitin' Round To Die", "Colorado Girl" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

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Gritty revival blues from RL Burnside – and a record that really broke his music into a wider audience! Of course, it helps that the set features guest appearances from Kid Rock and Lyrics Born – the latter we enjoy more than the former – but the overall vibe is still very much in the best spirit of Burnside's other music – on titles that include "Detroit Boogie (parts 1 & 2)", "Someday Baby", "Goin Down South", "Go To Jail", "Bird Without A Feather", "Glory Be", "Goin Away Baby", "Rollin & Tumblin", and "Stole My Check". LP, Vinyl record album

An album recorded in the Netherlands, but a set that hits right to the heart of RL Burnside's Mississippi roots – thanks to a beautifully spare, careful presentation of the music! Most numbers feature just Burnside on vocals and guitar – with a vibe that's similar to the field recordings that first introduced the world to his talents – those delta-raised styles that have an immediate tie back to the early years of blues on 78rpm discs, especially in this session – where RL seems to almost be reaching back further than the style of some of his other recordings of the same period. Titles include "Skinny Woman", "See What My Buddy Done", "Shake Em On Down", "Don't Care How Long You're Gone", "Jumper On The Line", "Long Haired Doney", and "Greyhound Bus Station". LP, Vinyl record album

Some of the earliest work ever recorded by Fleetwood Mac – and a set that you'll find quite different than their smooth crossover hits of the mid 70s! This set has the group in raw, bluesy territory throughout – but already not being slavish to their Chicago inspirations – and instead stepping out with the young Peter Green already making a name for himself as one of the most unique new talents on guitar – in a lineup that also features Jeremy Spencer on slide guitar and piano, John McVie on bass, and Mick Fleetwood on drums. Green also blows a bit of harmonica – on titles that include "Long Grey Mare", "Hellhound On My Trail", "Looking For Somebody", "Got To Move", "My Baby's Good To Me", and "No Place To Go". LP, Vinyl record album

Al Green's first major album, and a killer batch of Memphis soul tracks with a sound that's a bit rawer than later years. The formula for the hits is firmly in place – and Al's beautiful voice is swept up wonderfully in very sympathetic production by the great Willie Mitchell. Although Mitchell had worked fine on his own before the record, it's his work with Green that really pushes him to the top of the soul hall of fame – as it's hard to imagine how anyone could have come up with a better showcase for Al's amazing voice. Proof of this can be heard on the record's great original tunes by Green – like "All Because", "I'm A Ram", "You Say It", and the classic "Tired Of Being Alone" – as well as on covers like "Driving Wheel", "Can't Get Next To You", and "Light My Fire". CD

Heavenly soul doesn't get any more heavenly than this! Al Green's at the height of his powers here – working in that wonderfully smooth, wonderfully warm style that made his early 70s material so wonderful! This album's maybe slightly less iconic than some of Green's other titles for Hi Records – but only because it's less chock-full of hits, even though the quality and sound is every bit as high as the rest of them! Willie Mitchell did an impeccable job on production – and titles include the classic track "Love Ritual" is a great little groover with a funkier sound than usual for Al, which is fine by us – and other tracks include "LOVE", "The Love Sermon", and "There Is Love" Hey, they weren't kidding with that title! CD

Warm wonderfulness from the great Al Green – a record that may have a pale-looking cover, but a set that's one of Green's most deeply soulful albums ever! There's a grace and a glow to the set right from the very first note – that really unique presentation and performance that makes these early 70s Green albums such enduring treasures – and so unlike anything else that's ever come since, no matter how many folks were influenced by Al's sound! The production is perfect – with Al helping Willie Mitchell at the helm, as they balance together the richness of the instrumentation with core elements in the rhythms – on titles that include Al's stone classic "Love & Happiness", plus "I'm Still In Love With You", "I'm Glad You're Mine", "What A Wonderful Thing Love Is", "Look What You Done For Me", and his great remake of Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times" – a country/soul classic if there ever was one! LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful album that's easily one of John Lee Hooker's finest moments of the 70s – a set recorded live before a small audience at Hunter College in New York, but done with a feel that makes the whole thing even more timeless than most of Hooker's other albums of the decade! The mix has the vocals right up front – way more than even the guitar, at a level that really captures all the personal inflections and amazing tones in the lyrics – as well as John Lee's hip spoken intros as he works his way through the songs. Make no mistake, this isn't one of those hokey "college blues" albums that were coming out at the time – but instead a timeless portrait of one of the true originators, working here at his best. Titles on this first volume include "I Miss You So", "Jesse James", "Dark Room", "Boogie Chillum", "Boom Boom", and "One Scotch One Bourbon One Beer". LP, Vinyl record album

Ann Peebles sings straight from the heart on this classic early set for Hi Records – a record that's to female vocals what Al Green's work of the time meant to male soul! As with Green's Hi Records of the time, Willie Mitchell is firmly in charge of production and backings – working with that warmly glowing Memphis soul style that carved whole new territory in soul music for the 70s – a maturing and mellowing of earlier southern modes, in a way that helps Peebles hit some fresh and uncliched sounds with her vocals. At a time when so many other singers were trying to copy Aretha, Ann's approach is mighty fresh – as you'll hear on tracks that include "I Take What I Want", "Slipped Tripped & Fell In Love", "What You Laid On Me", "Trouble Heartaches & Sadness", "99 Pounds", "I've Been There Before", and "Somebody's On Your Case". CD

An unusual session recorded by Swamp Dogg for Hi Records at the start of the 70s – a bit more polished and less full-on nasty than some of the usual Dogg grooves from the 70s, but still with plenty of that heavy Jerry Williams groove at the bottom! The album's got a nice tightness that we really love – with all original material, save for some great covers of John Prine's "Sam Stone" and The Beatles' "Lady Madonna" – both of which showcase Swamp Dogg's key appeal to the crossover crowd of the time. But it's the original tracks that we really love, especially those numbers that lay back and get a bit more personal – showcasing a side of Williams' persona that's not as caught up in Swamp Dogg's posturing. Titles include "Sam Stone", "Complication No 5", "If It Hadn't Been For Sly", "In My Resume", "Captain Of Your Ship", and "Your Last Dirty Trick". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare Mississippi blues from Ranie Burnette – recorded in the early 80s, but with a timeless style that takes us right back to the delta! The approach here is similar to some of the best Georgia rural blues of the time – very spare and stripped-down, with mostly just guitar and vocals from Ranie, often with some folksy undercurrents – and some occasional harmonica on two tracks from Abe Keg Young. There's no attempt to modernize the music at all, and the quality of Ranie's gritty guitar comes through beautifully in the space of the recording – on titles that include "Lonesome Moon Blues", "Gone Dead On You", "One String Baby", "Yonder Goes My Baby", "Shake Em On Down", and "Dough Roller Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic full length debut from Cassowary – aka Miles Shannon, an artist who's equally skilled as a jazz musician and a singer – working here in a really great style that's a strong hybrid of the two sides of his talents! The keyboard lines are wonderful – served up on a variety of instruments, plus piano as well – and maybe often the lead of the track, even when there's a bit of vocals – as the style of singing usually seems to fall in line with the warm glow of the keyboards, instead of the usual mode. Cassowary also plays a bit of tenor – as you might guess from his youthful image on the cover – and the whole thing's got this fantastic vibe that reminds us of some of the hip jazz/soul hybrids that have come from the LA scene in recent years. Titles include "114 Degrees", "Belt Notch", "Price Went Up", "Starlight", "Superhiro", "Roach", and "Cyclical". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare work from the legendary Honeyboy Edwards – a blues guitarist who was a key force in helping the music make the transition to an electric mode in the 40s – but an artist whose talents were eclipsed by so many others he worked with at the time! This set's got a real back-to-basics vibe – Edwards captured in a spare setting, in a series of revival recordings done by Adelphi – with a focus on his vocals and guitar that take us right back to his early years working street corners and juke joints. Titles include "Bull Cow Blues 2", "Little Boy Blue", "Love Honeyboy Slow", "Don't Mistreat A Fool", "Howlin Wind", "Meet The Mornin Train", and "Hot Springs Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

What can we say? Most of the biggest hits, and many of the very best tracks cut in the prime of Al Green's career – which is to say some of the very best Memphis soul ever recorded! 10 essential tracks in all, and it's just one of these Greatest Hits packages of pure, inarguable perfection – with "Call Me", "Let's Stay Together", "Tired Of Being Alone", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Here I Am (Come & Take Me)", "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", "I Can't Get Next To You", "You Ought To Be With Me", "Look What You Done For Me" and "Let's Get Married". LP, Vinyl record album

Jessie Mae Hemphill might look like an 80s blues artist on the cover, but the record's got a much more vintage vibe – as the set features field recordings done on New Years Eve in 1989, with Jessie Mae singing in a style that seems geared to ring in the year with the ghosts of the past! The music has this really dark, moody vibe – guitar progressions that are cyclical and downturning – almost the sort of energy that Nick Cave was trying to put in his music at the time, but could never do this well – especially when topped with the raw, raspy vocals of Hemphill. Titles include "Holy Ghost", "DC9", "Run Get My Shotgun", "Married Man Blues", "Train Train", and "Nothing That You Say". LP, Vinyl record album

Not really famous, but gritty & grooving bluesy gospel soul from Famous L Renfroe – and artist who might even be more mysterious to us after hearing the record! The Flying Sweet Angel Of Joy is kind of a dreamlike mix of impassioned vocals, electric guitar and bass, with some drums. There's often chorus backing vocals behind the spirited, but easygoing lead vocals, and the sound often has a gritty soul blues vibe underneath the emotive, spiritual lead vocals. Titles include "Children", "Believe", "Feed", "Reaching", It's So", "Why Not I", "And Man", "His Love", "Circle", "War" and "Tell". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty much flawless collection of tunes from Townes Van Zandt's most loved album from the late 60s to late 70s – a different tracklist from earlier Best Ofs, and a set that really does serve up a treasure trove of achingly beautiful songs! Includes some of the best material from Our Mother The Mountain, his self-titled LP, High, Low And In Between, Delta Mama Blues, Flyin' Shoes, Delta Momma Blues, the earlier records in that run long beloved, the later just as great if not oft-mentioned or the songs as oft-covered, with 16 great songs on 2LPs: "For The Sake Of The Song", "Pancho & Lefty", "To Live Is To Fly", "I'll Be Here In The Morning", "St John The Gambler", "Black Widow Blues", "Tower Song", "Tecumseh Valley", "Lungs", "Rex's Blues" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The great debut of Townes Van Zandt! On the level of pure songwriting, it's masterful – Townes was pretty much in peak form on that front even on the debut! The record is at it's best when it's at it's most intimate – simply letting his voice and acoustic guitar carry everything. There's some fairly adventurous production by Jack Clement & Jim Malloy, though – a bit out of character for Townes at his slightly later, more stripped down and iconic – but that's actually something we appreciate a lot more than we used to. Like the big budget studio recordings of Van Zandt's songs as covered by others, it goes to show just how sturdy and adaptable his songs are in different settings. Classic! Includes "For The Sake Of The Song", "Tecumseh Valley", "Many A Fine Lady", "Quick Silver Dadreams Of Maria", "I'll Be There In The Morning", "Sad Cinderella", "All Your Young Servants", "Sixteen Summers, Fifteen Falls" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest records to ever come out of the west coast punk scene at the end of the 70s and start of the 80s – incredibly well-penned and well-played – at a level that instantly leaves behind so many of its contemporaries! The themes of the tunes are fantastic – sung by Exene Cervenka and John Doe – as little tales of lust, greed, compromise, and decay – all set to the fantastic drums of DJ Bonebrake and the searing guitar of the great Billy Zoom! The quartet are amazing together – never missing a beat as they rip through classics that include "Your Phone's Off The Hook But You're Not", "Johnny Hit & Run Pauline", "Soul Kitchen", "Nausea", "Los Angeles", and "Sex & Dying In High Society". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection, and a very unique look at the legendary Hi Records – one that goes way past the big hits on the label, and which features the rare singles and unusual cuts that remind us what an important player Hi was on the Memphis scene during the Stax generation! The package features over 75 minutes of music, hand-selected by Japanese DJ/collector Daisuke Kuroda – a 25 track set that features rare singles by Veneice, Africano, Majik, Bobby McClure, George Jackson, Phillip Michell, Jean Plum, Iota, Odyssey, Larry Gordon, and Donna Rhodes – plus more by Al Green, Syl Johnson, OV Wright, Willie Mitchell, and Ann Peebles – including one track that has both Ann and Don Bryant! LP, Vinyl record album

The last studio album from the Reverend Gary Davis – and a set that was a great attempt to finally capture his talents in a well-recorded setting! Despite that fact, the presentation here is mostly in the spirit of Davis' roots – mostly with the man himself on vocals, guitar, banjo, and harmonica – the last of which is often overdubbed, given the 12 track recording – with some occasional added vocals from Sister Annie Davis. Most tracks were recorded in 1969, but the set also features two numbers recorded five years before – and titles include "Let's Get Together", "Sun Goin Down", "Lol I'll Be With You Always", "Out On The Ocean Sailing", "Birmingham Special", "Soon My Work Will All Be Done", and "There's A Destruction In That Land". LP, Vinyl record album

El-P as visceral and inventive as hed been in years – and in hindsight, a strong solo effort pointing the way to the career peak to date that'd come with formation of Run The Jewels pretty soon after! You know damn well well that El-P is going out spit out ominous, though entrancing futuristic boom bap, and he does that as well as he has in years right here. What feels like an improvement over the past couple or 3 releases is in the vocals – sharp, furiously creative storytelling stands out really strongly on this one. It takes a major talent to shoot out such relentless and angry product that's easy to love and nod your head to, but you already know that's El-Producto, right?! Includes "Request Denied", "The Full Retard", "Works Every Time", "Drones Over Bklyn", "True Story", "The Jig Is Up", "Sign Here", "Oh Hail No" with Mr Mf'n Exquire and Danny Brown, "$4 Vic/Nothing But You + Me (FTL)" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The classic Hi Records vocals of Al Green, mixed with larger orchestrations – all for a sound that's completely sublime! Titles include "Look What You Done For Me", "Take Me To The River", "Tired Of Being Alone", "Call Me", "Let's Stay Together", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Here I Am", "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", "Sha La La", "I Can't Get Next To You", and "Let's Get Married". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare recordings of delta blues legend Mississippi John Hurt – captured solo and beautifully well on 3 dates in late 1964, recorded by Gene Rosenthal – with Hurt's distinctive way of a somehow gentle melodic acoustic blues guitar sound, coming from hard-strummed and plucked strings as unvarnished and amazing as can be – and a way with vocals that's just as unique and wonderful! It's got the intimacy of the best field recordings, but the sound quality and John's voice and guitar are in such fine form here, it feels "big" despite being as raw and real as can be. Includes "Slidin' Delta", "Louis Collins", "Staggerlee", "Monday Mornin' Blues", "Comin' Home", "Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor", "You Can't Come In", "Joe Turner", "Lonesome Am I", "Trouble Blues", "Nobody's Dirty Business", "Lovin' Spoonful", "Worried Blues" and "Avalon Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Wicked early work from Junior Kimbrough – sides that are quite different than some of his better-known recordings over the years! The material was cut in Memphis in 1966 by producer Quinton Claunch – and it's got a spare, rootsy quality that's totally great – slow moving drums underneath some echoey guitar – and great flat-nosed vocals from Junior that really send the tunes home – almost with a quality that makes you feel like he's humming the lyrics instead of singing them! Titles include two versions of "Feels So Good", plus "Meet Me In The City", "Lonesome In My Home", "Done Got Old", and "Feels So Bad". Also features bonus alternates of "Feels So Bad" and "Meet Me In The City". LP, Vinyl record album

Ann Peebles' first album for Hi Records – and the start of a tremendous run of southern soul classics! The set features Ann working with Willie Mitchell – in a mode that's similar to her later Hi work, but rougher too – with more of a hard soul edge than we're used to hearing in her vocals – a great moment in which the Hi Records sound was just coming together, but not as iconic as it was by the mid 70s – territory that really help us get a bit more of a glimpse at Peebles' roots! The album features Ann's versions of a number of southern soul tunes – claiming gems like "Chain of Fools", "Respect", and "Steal Away" for her own! And other tracks include "My Man – He's a Lovin Man", "Crazy About You Baby", "Give Me Some Credit", and "Walk Away". LP, Vinyl record album

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Al Green, 1973 – what could be better? The king of Memphis soul is at the height of his powers here – working in a setting that yielded less chart hits than some of his other albums for Hi Records, but which is still as sublime as the rest – thanks to an undeniable studio magic guided by Willie Mitchell! The sound is full, but never slick or smooth – and Al's vocals are tremendous throughout (but honestly, did you expect anything less?) Titles include "Call Me (Come Back Home)", "Here I Am (Come & Take Me)", "Funny How Time Slips Away", and the beautiful "Have You Been Making Out OK?" CD

Great work from OV Wright – one of the few singers who was still strongly carrying the Hi Records torch at the end of the 70s! Although Wright had sometimes been bluesier in the past, his late 70s Hi sides have a much mellower, mature sort of feel – a ripening of the seeds in his Backbeat label work, taken to nice new heights at Hi in the hands of Willie Mitchell. Mitchell's backings have a feel that's somewhat like his work with Al Green, but OV's style of singing is completely different – not as overtly sexy, but really personal in approach. Titles include "That's The Way I Feel About Cha", "A Little More Time", "I Don't Know Why", "No Easy Way To Say Goodbye", "Let's Straighten It Out", and "The Bottom Line". CD