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An amazing package – one that comes in a tiny replica of the original home of Motown Records in Detroit! As you'd guess from the title, the 11CD set features every single Motown track that ever hit #1 on the charts – almost 200 classic songs, running from the early 60s right up through the 90s – with work by The Temptations, Four Tops, Diana Ross, Boyz II Men, The Contours, Rockwell, The Originals, Marvin Gaye, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, High Inergy, The Dazz Band, Rick James, Commodores, and lots more! The package also includes a photo book with classic images and notes – but man, what we dig most of all is that tiny house of hits packaging – a really amazing thing! Plus, this version of the set also features a bonus CD that wasn't in the original version – with 12 more tracks whose cover versions charted at #1! CD

One of the greatest soul groups of the 70s – finally given their due on this double-length set! Bloodstone may not have charted as strongly as some of their contemporaries back in the day, yet they always delivered top-shelf work that was filled with incredible harmonies, deft vocal leads, and other subtle touches that really made their music stand out from the rest. This 16 track package includes some key tracks from their London Records years, plus a few bits from later recordings too – and the group's harmonies are in fine form throughout – whether on the spacey ballad soul of "Natural High", or on the funkier uptempo material of "Traffic Cop". Other titles include "Take These Chains", "Do You Wanna Do A Thing", "We Go A Long Way Back", "Train Ride", "Give Me Your Heart", "That's Not How It Goes", "My Little Lady", and "Outside Woman". CD

A great illustration of the sorts of qualities that always made the British scene so interesting over the years – as even in the big year of hits that was 1972, these groups still had a way of coming up with all sorts of interesting modes and really fresh styles – maturing the earlier experiments of prog rock, going for some continued inventiveness in more edgey groups, and furthering a new generation of songwriting that took things way past too-familiar pop themes! The depth of music here is really great – and although the set features a few bigger names, they're easily matched with a number of groups who never charted on our side of the Atlantic, and who were really part of the record-buying cognoscenti on both sides of the ocean – represented here by the kind of album nuggets that really pushed this generation past singles and 45s! As with other Esoteric packages in this series, the choice of cuts is great – never too familiar, but also never too obscure for obscure's sake – as the 55 track package moves through work by Khan, Bombadil, Pretty Things, Ten Years After, Skin Alley, Rare Bird, Edgar Broughton Band, Uriah Heep, Hawkwind, Atomic Rooster, Barclay James Harvest, Mellow Candle, Van Der Graaf Generator, Help Yourself, Matching Mole, Bond & Brown, Vinegar Joe, Nektar, Family, Free, and others! CD

Heavy dubs by the Mad Professor of Massive Attack's great Protection LP. The Professor takes the trip hop pioneer's album into uncharted territory with some great atmospheric dub renderings of the tracks. 8 tracks in all, including "Radiation Ruling The Nation (Protection)", "Bumper Ball Dub (Karmacoma)", "Trinity Dub (Three)", "Cool Monsoon (Weather Storm)", "Eternal Feedback (Sly)", "Moving Dub (Better Things)", "I Spy (Spying Glass)" and "Backward Sucking (Heat Miser)". CD

Seminal sounds from Joseph Spence – a groundbreaking Bahamian artist whose style was an equal mixture of calypso and blues! The rhythms here are certainly Caribbean, as is the style of the lyrics on many numbers – but the spotlight often shines most strongly on the acoustic guitar work by Spence, which often echoes styles that you'd find much more in the rural south in the postwar years – particularly in the strength of its phrasing! No surprise, the set was recorded by Folkways blues historian Samuel B Charters – and titles include "Brownskin Girl", "Coming In On A Wing & Prayer", "There Will Be A Happy Meeting In Glory", "Jump In The Line", "I'm Going To Live That Life", and "Face To Face That I Shall Know Him". LP, Vinyl record album

A great early album from Junior Wells – and one that really opens up that more soulful side of his talents that was becoming a Chicago hallmark at the time! The set was produced by Samuel Charters, but has none of the rootsy vibe of his earlier work on Folkways – and instead matches the harmonica and raw vocals of Wells with a bit of horn backings on a few tunes by the great Ed Bland (of previous Sun Ra cinema fame, and later funk arrangements) – blown by the unlikely mix of Tom McIntosh on trombone, with trumpets by Clark Terry, Wallace Davenport, and Jimmy Owens! The core group has the mighty Buddy Guy on guitar, with Walter Williams on rhythm guitar and Douglas Fagan on tenor – and Junior knocks it out of the park, on tunes that include "So Sad This Morning", "When My Baby Left Me", "Stop Breakin Down", "Somebody's Tippin In", "You Don't Love Me", "Little By Little", and "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man". CD

A seminal set of Chicago blues – the first volume in a series of classic recordings done by Vanguard Records in an effort to show the rest of the world all the hip new sounds that were coming out of the Windy City in the 60s! The approach here is a bit like some of the rural blues sets from years past – in that Samuel Charters headed to Chicago, booked studio time, and managed to get some key groups at their best – all at a level that would soon be picked up by the Delmark label as they helped to document the scene! Junior Wells sings and plays harmonica in a quartet with Buddy Guy on guitar, on titles that include "Messin With The Kid", "Vietcong Blues", "All Night Long", and "It Hurts Me So". JB Hutto plays guitar and sings in his Hawks trio – on titles that include "Too Much Alcohol", "That's The Truth", "Going Ahead", and "Please Help". And Otis Spann plays piano and sings, with help from SP Leary on drums – on titles that include "Spann's Stomp", "Marie", "Burning Fire", and "SP Blues". CD

Underground club from the New York scene of the 80s – a mix of late disco, early hip hop, and some prime boogie groovers! The tracks are relatively long – mostly pulled from 12" singles – and there's a nicely eclectic mix of tunes here, really showing the scope of styles that played on the 80s dancefloors in the Big Apple – the kind of creative cuts that never charted big, but had plenty of impact back in the day. Titles include "Somebody's Loving You" by Klassique, "Let's Do It" by Convertion, "Rapper's Revenge" by Mike Gee, "On The One" by Lukk, "Hold On" by Kremecicle, "Just How Sweet Is Your Love" by Rhyze, "This Beat Is Mine" by Vicky D, "Main Thing" by Shot, "Please Don't Break My Heart" by The Affair, and "Share The Night" by World Premier. CD

Includes music by the Jade Four, Marvels, Cellos, Crests, Charters, Teenchords, Citations, Mello-Tones, Corvairs, Bob Chords, Young Tones, and more – 27 tracks total. CD

Hardly the kind of music you'd want to keep in the basement – as the set's overflowing with classic soul from the 60s – especially the kind of underground nuggets we love so much! If we had to pick a style, we might say that the collection's heavy on Northern Soul rompers from the American indie scene way beyond Detroit – but there's also lots of other tasty flavors on here too, including some special west coast numbers and early funk tracks that really give the whole thing a great sense of variety – while still keeping to the upbeat, lively rhythms that make the set so great! Every track's a winner – and although most of these tracks never charted at the time, most have gone onto win big fame through constant circulation between DJs and collectors over the past few decades. Titles include "Sock It To Em Soul Brother" by Bill Moss, "The Horse" by Cliff Nobles, "Sign On The Dotted Line" by Gene Latter, "Peaches N Cream" by The Ikettes, "Tramp" by Lowell Fulsom, "I'll Never Forget You" by Marke & Chris Jackson, "Take It Baby" by The Showmen, "Ooh Wee Baby I Love You" by Fred Jackson, "Giving Up" by The Ad Libs, "With This Ring" by The Platters, "One Eye Open" by Maskman & The Agents, "Baby Please Come Back Home" by JJ Barnes, "Gotta Give Her Love" by The Volumes, and "Believe In Me Baby (part 1)" by Jesse James & The Dynamic Four. CD