A classic 50s album issued on the Dig label – one in which the great Johnny Otis takes on a whole host of early rock and R&B hits, but serves them up in a special mode that's very much his own! Given that the music of Otis really helped lay the groundwork for rock in the 50s, especially on the west coast – and given that Johnny always had a constellation of great artists to work with – you can bet that the sounds here are definitely a cut above – hardly slavish covers of tunes, and instead some mighty nice numbers that deliver plenty of surprises of their own! Titles include "Gee", "Sincerely", "Honey Love", "Only You", "One Mint Julep", and "At My Front Door" sung by the Jayos – plus "Please Don't Leave Me", "The Midnight Creeper", "Hey Hey Hey Hey", and "Long Tall Sally" by the Johnny Otis Orchestra. CD expands the original album with 12 more bonus cuts, most never issued before – tracks by Mel Williams, Prince Moreland, Arthur Lee Maye, Jeannie Barnes, and Mel Williams! CD

Some of the most hard-hitting work ever recorded for the Old Town label – a selection of R&B tracks from Hal Paige & His Wailers, James Wayne, Ursula Reed, Bob Gaddy, and Larry Dale! LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A classic 50s album issued on the Dig label – one in which the great Johnny Otis takes on a whole host of early rock and R&B hits, but serves them up in a special mode that's very much his own! Given that the music of Otis really helped lay the groundwork for rock in the 50s, especially on the west coast – and given that Johnny always had a constellation of great artists to work with – you can bet that the sounds here are definitely a cut above – hardly slavish covers of tunes, and instead some mighty nice numbers that deliver plenty of surprises of their own! Titles include "Gee", "Sincerely", "Honey Love", "Only You", "One Mint Julep", and "At My Front Door" sung by the Jayos – plus "Please Don't Leave Me", "The Midnight Creeper", "Hey Hey Hey Hey", and "Long Tall Sally" by the Johnny Otis Orchestra. CD expands the original album with 12 more bonus cuts, most never issued before – tracks by Mel Williams, Prince Moreland, Arthur Lee Maye, Jeannie Barnes, and Mel Williams! CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Music from The Animals, The Kinks, Dusty Springfield, Diane Renay, The Ronettes, The Paris Sisters, The Ventures, The Pyramids, Terry Stafford, Dean Martin, Herman's Hermits, and more. CD

A cool cooker from Rafy Diaz – and a set that's got a way more modern salsa vibe than you might guess from its cover! Arrangements are by Bobby Valentin and Juan Lopez, who really make things swing – and the singer on the set is wonderful! Titles include "El Flojon", "Vengo Contento", "No Llorare", "La Escuela De La Vida", "Yo No Hay Amor", and "Tremenda Variacion". LP, Vinyl record album

Mazzy Star's second album and first for Capitol, one of those rare, wonderful moments in the early 90s when a band that had been bubbling just under the popular radar hooked up with a major label and managed to hit both a popular and creative peak! This one really hasn't aged a day since it came out. The songwriting pair of guitarist David Roback and Hope Sandoval – the former transcending pop psych influences as far back as the early 80s in The Rain Parade, the latter with one of the most hauntingly beautiful voices in rock at the time – put together their best, moodiest effort. Includes the breakout hit "Fade Into You", a cool cover of Arthur Lee & Love's then recent "Five String Serenade", "Blue Light", "She's My Baby", "Wasted", "Into Dust", "So Tonight That I Might See", "Mary Of Silence", "Unreflected" and "Bells Ring". LP, Vinyl record album

Late 60s Bosstown psychedelia at its finest – and one of the coolest psych era nuggets on the MGM label! The '68 Ultimate Spinach LP has enough raw, hypnotic rock & roll in the mix to have made it a bonafide hit LP at the time, but there's all kinds of weirder, tripped out and kind of baroque touches that kind of make it one of the stranger LPs to walk on the edge of the mainstream – with oddball spoken word bits and more. Includes "Ego Trip", "Sacrifice Of The Moon (In Four Parts)", "Plastic Raincoats/Hung Up Minds", the 8 minute standout "(Ballad Of The) Hip Death Goddess" certainly one of the more influential jams on the record, plus "Your Head Is Reeling", "Dove In Hawk's Clothing", "Baroque #1", "Funny Freak Parade" and "Pamela". LP, Vinyl record album

Mazzy Star's second album and first for Capitol, one of those rare, wonderful moments in the early 90s when a band that had been bubbling just under the popular radar hooked up with a major label and managed to hit both a popular and creative peak! This one really hasn't aged a day since it came out. The songwriting pair of guitarist David Roback and Hope Sandoval – the former transcending pop psych influences as far back as the early 80s in The Rain Parade, the latter with one of the most hauntingly beautiful voices in rock at the time – put together their best, moodiest effort. Includes the breakout hit "Fade Into You", a cool cover of Arthur Lee & Love's then recent "Five String Serenade", "Blue Light", "She's My Baby", "Wasted", "Into Dust", "So Tonight That I Might See", "Mary Of Silence", "Unreflected" and "Bells Ring". CD

Bubbling euro-electro disco from Italy, and if you're anything like us, this stuff is like popcorn – we just can't get enough! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Rob Mazurek's Sao Paulo Underground group just keeps on getting better and better – and opening up with new ideas we never would have expected in their music just a few years before! The group's been an important springboard for a newly emotional, spiritual side of Mazurek's music – but they've also gelled together so wonderfully, they've hit some really tremendous territory as a unit – and on this set, they almost re-embrace some of the electronics of Rob's more abstract years, but find a way to create sounds that live up to their emotional range on previous records. The balance is wonderful – we can't imagine anyone else pulling it off this well – and although the songs might still have some jazz aspects, they also maybe function more as paintings in sound – with Rob on cornet, moog, Mellotron, percussion, and a modular synth – with Mauricio Takara on drums, cavaquino, and more electronics; Guilherme Grando on keyboards and electronics; and Thomas Roher on flutes, soprano sax, rabeca, electronics, and percussion. The sound of the music is as dense as the image on the cover – and maybe as cosmic, too – and titles include "Fire & Chime", "Violent Orchid Parade", "Cambodian Street Carnival", "Estrada Para A Oeste", "Of Golden Summer", and "Falling Down From The Sky Like Some Damned Ghost". CD

With musical selections by Bob Crosby & The Cats, Harry James, Sammy Kaye, The Hit Paraders, Bing Crosby, and Benny Goodman. LP, Vinyl record album

Prince in a grand groove – really hitting a new level of funk with a razor-sharp edge – and even blowing away some of his work on previous records! The record's a soundtrack for a film – Under The Cherry Moon – and although that movie never had the success of Purple Rain, we actually think it left behind an even stronger musical legacy – one that has Prince finding even more of a funky voice than before, with so many wonderfully freaky twists and turns! The music never got the showcase it might have deserved, because of the failure of the film – but it's one of our favorite Prince albums ever, and includes the massively funky "Kiss", the closest Prince ever got to James Brown, The whole album's got some great sweeping, pop psyche orchestral arrangements by Clare Fischer – and titles include "Christopher Tracey's Parade", "I Wonder U", "Under The Cherry Moon", "Girls & Boys", and "Anotherloverholenyohead". LP, Vinyl record album

Early genius from The Carpenters – a really tremendous little album, and one that's quite different than their soft rock hits of the 70s! There's a plenty playful feel to the set – energy that comes right off the best Sunshine Pop of late 60s A&M Records – to which this album is a perfect link – a mode in which the studio's as much a part of the sound as Richard and Karen's own contributions – wrapped up with a heavenly approach by producer Jack Daugherty. Tunes are simpler, sometimes more personal – and there's lots of nice basic music touches along the way – a piano here, sweet keyboard there, some gentle drums, and more – all to make the music sound totally groovy! If you've ever heard the Roger Nichols music for A&M, and wondered how he could have such a later link to this pair, this is the album to show you the way. Titles include "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing", "Your Wonderful Parade", "Turn Away", "All Of My Life", "Ticket To Ride", "Don't Be Afraid", "What's The Use", and "Someday". LP, Vinyl record album

Very very early work from Etta Jones! The record has a much rawer R&B type sound than her later work – less polished than her years at Prestige, with an approach that's more in the King style used with Lorez Alexandria. Tracks are mostly solos, but sung with a nice bluesy touch – and the group is directed by Don Abney, with guitar by Bill Jennings. Titles include "White Cliffs Of Dover", "People Will Say We're In Love", "Sweethearts On Parade", "Mountain Greenery", "I Thought About You", and "When I Fall In Love". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few instrumental albums ever recorded by George Martin – best known as the producer for The Beatles during the 60s, but a fab talent on his own! The format's what you'd guess from the title – a set of Brit Invasion tunes, all redone by Martin in groovy instrumental easy versions. The album actually includes a few original tunes – and the approach to the music blends together tight rocking rhythms, strings, floating piano, and some other isolated instrumentation – all of which makes for a sound that's as delightful as Martin's production on other work! Originals include "Frost Over London", "Theme One", and "Elephants & Castles" – and the album features versions of "I Am The Walrus", "Hole In My Shoe", "Whiter Shade Of Pale", "To Sir With Love", and "King's Road Raspberry Parade". LP, Vinyl record album

Mos Def brings a veering diversity to New Danger – his first album in five years – a record that hits on tried-and-true Rawkus flavored beats and rhyme schemes, slow-rolling, smoked out soul & blues, and Quickness-era Bad Brains-esque arena rock! Of course our favorite cuts are the straight up hip hop tracks, produced by Minnesota with a percolating, synth-layered sound that works really well – giving the backdrop kind of a pulpy, cinematic sweep. Other tracks feature Mos and his soul/rock/blues outfit Black Jack Johnson. Mos clearly refuses to be roped in by anyone's expectations at this point – a quality that reminds us of Common's Electric Circus – in spirit, if not in the actual sound. Tracks include "Boogie Man Song", "Ghetto Rock", "Zimzallabim", "The Rape Over", "Blue Black Jack" featuring some straight electric blues guitar work by the one-and-only Shuggie Otis, "Bedstuy Parade & Funeral March", "Sex, Love & Money", "Sunshine", "Grown Man Business", "Modern Marvel", "Life Is Real", "War" (produced by Beatnut Psycho Les) and more. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest Christmas albums we've ever heard – and maybe one of the coolest sets ever from this legendary soul instrumental project from Chicago! The Soulful Strings are already great on other albums, but they really blow us away here with the way they completely transform familiar tunes – using the impeccable arrangements of the great Richard Evans, and a host of hot strings from Dorothy Ashby on harp, Cleveland Eaton on bass, and Phil Upchurch on guitar – plus a bit of hip vibes from Bobby Christian as well! And Evans' style here really outdoes itself – and hits a similar level to the best Charles Stepney material on Cadet at the same time – making for amazing sounds on titles that include "Little Drummer Boy", "Snowfall", "Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairy", "Sleigh Ride", and "Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers". Way more than a Christmas record – and actually one we'll happily play all year long! LP, Vinyl record album

Mos Def brings a veering diversity to New Danger – his first album in five years – a record that hits on tried-and-true Rawkus flavored beats and rhyme schemes, slow-rolling, smoked out soul & blues, and Quickness-era Bad Brains-esque arena rock! Of course our favorite cuts are the straight up hip hop tracks, produced by Minnesota with a percolating, synth-layered sound that works really well – giving the backdrop kind of a pulpy, cinematic sweep. Other tracks feature Mos and his soul/rock/blues outfit Black Jack Johnson. Mos clearly refuses to be roped in by anyone's expectations at this point – a quality that reminds us of Common's Electric Circus – in spirit, if not in the actual sound. Tracks include "Boogie Man Song", "Ghetto Rock", "Zimzallabim", "The Rape Over", "Blue Black Jack" featuring some straight electric blues guitar work by the one-and-only Shuggie Otis, "Bedstuy Parade & Funeral March", "Sex, Love & Money", "Sunshine", "Grown Man Business", "Modern Marvel", "Life Is Real", "War" (produced by Beatnut Psycho Les) and more. LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest Christmas albums we've ever heard – and maybe one of the coolest sets ever from this legendary soul instrumental project from Chicago! The Soulful Strings are already great on other albums, but they really blow us away here with the way they completely transform familiar tunes – using the impeccable arrangements of the great Richard Evans, and a host of hot strings from Dorothy Ashby on harp, Cleveland Eaton on bass, and Phil Upchurch on guitar – plus a bit of hip vibes from Bobby Christian as well! And Evans' style here really outdoes itself – and hits a similar level to the best Charles Stepney material on Cadet at the same time – making for amazing sounds on titles that include "Little Drummer Boy", "Snowfall", "Dance Of The Sugarplum Fairy", "Sleigh Ride", and "Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers". Way more than a Christmas record – and actually one we'll happily play all year long! CD

An incredible follow up to the first New Orleans Funk compilation on Soul Jazz – even harder-hitting than the first, and filled with funky rare gems! This set took nearly a decade to follow the first, but it's been well worth the wait – and the crew at Soul Jazz have clearly used all that time to dig way past the obvious on the New Orleans scene, and come up with a really incredible batch of all-funky cuts all the way through! Even if you've got a dozen other New Orleans funk collections in your collection, you'll find plenty here to win you over – as the package goes out of its way to pull cuts from rare singles and under-reissued material – then wraps the whole thing up with the usual extra-thorough Soul Jazz approach to liner notes and details. And while some of the names are familiar here, they're nicely interspersed with lesser-known folks who keep things fresh – making for a winning lineup that really sets a new standard for this sort of set. Titles include "The Twitch" by Danny White, "Street Parade" by Earl King, "Four Corners" by Lee Dorsey, "Hot Tamales" by The Prime Mates, "Tequila" by Allen Toussaint, "Right Place Wrong Time" by Ray J, "Gossip" by Cyril Neville, "Hold On Help Is On The Way" by G Davis & R Tyler, "Funky Belly" by Warren Lee, "I'm Mr Big Stuff" by Jimmy Hicks, "The Rubber Band" by Eddie Bo, "12 Red Roses" by Betty Harris, "What Do You See In Her" by Inell Young, "You Keep Me Hanging On" by Bonnie & Sheila, "Yeah You're Right You Know You're Right" by The Gaturs, "The Tap" by Porgy Jones, and "Bo Diddley" by Art Neville. CD

A classic compilation – and we can't get enough of Horace Andy's sweet falsetto keening over these chugging, fat rhythms! A tremendous set of sides Andy cut in the mid-70s, packaged together with a few of the cuts in dub versions – all from a period when Horace was really hitting new heights in his music. While Andy cut many seminal sides for Coxsonne Dodd's Studio One – this work, some of it in collaboration with the great Bunny Striker Lee, stands among his best – and also often features Horace with firm creative control. Titles include "Serious Thing (a serious version)", "Skylarking (a better version)", "Reggae Rhythm (it's gone internationally)", "Youths Of Today (Jah Youths)", "Don't Let Problems Get You Down (No Problem)", "Mr Bassie (discomix)", "Pure Ranking (discomix)", "Good Vibes (dub vibes)", "Ital Vital (Ital Ites dubwise)", and "Control Yourself (version under control)". LP, Vinyl record album

A really lovely instrumental album from the Japanese scene of the 80s – a set that's sometimes linked to the ambient work of the time, but a record that's got a lot more going on overall! The songs are shortish, and very tuneful – and there's some nicely exotic currents at times too – still very keyboard-heavy, with most work from Yuko Matsuzaki – but also with use of flute and a bit of oboe to provide these warmer woodwind currents that really give the record a special sort of magic – and maybe an undercurrent of sentiment that even links a bit to the world of anime soundtracks. Titles include "Spanish Rain", "Miracle Parade", "The White Dog Ate The Flower", "A Bientot", "Sleeping In A Peony", "From Within The Urn", and "Tapestry". LP, Vinyl record album

Never-heard work from the legendary Keith Hudson – material recorded with the Wailers Band at Tuff Gong studios shortly before his too-early death – finally seeing the light of day after all these years! The set features 6 core tracks that were recorded by Hudson, and very much in the same top form of his classics – with amazing vocals, and a really righteous message that's maybe a bit more hard-hitting than some of the more commercial Tuff Gong projects – given simple, subtle backings that really fit the groove! Titles include "I Know My Rights", "White Africa", "Run Run Run", "Rebel Rasta", and "Star Light". Added to these are 6 more dub tracks – billed as Jammy's Dub Encounter – with less lead vocals from Hudson, but some amazing production in the studio that really stretches things out – and wicked rhythms from Aston Barrett on bass, Junior Marvin on guitar, Tyrone Downie on keyboards, and Carlton Barrett on drums – on titles that include "Rites Of Dub", "Dub Africa", "Run The Version", "Rasta Dub", "Rites Of Version", and "Star Dub". CD

Disco grooves from a source you might not expect – the Japanese scene of the 70s, which was home to a surprisingly strong array of records that were perfect for the clubs! In retrospect, maybe the music's not such a surprise – given that 70s Japan was also a hotbed of electric fusion, and the kind of sharp instrumentation that provides the core to most of these tunes – wicked basslines, sweet keyboards, and funky drums that propel these tracks along in a wonderful way – even if you can't understand some of the Japanese lyrics over the top! In fact, many of these numbers are even more in the fusion or funk-inspired side of disco – less the crossover cuts with strings and big production, and more like the kind of American club tracks you might hear from Kudu Records or some of the other fusion labels. The package is proof that great sounds can be truly universal – and comes with detailed notes on the artists and scene at the time. Titles include "By By Session Band" by Lily, "Summer Champion" by Yuko Asano, "Dancin" by Junko Ohashi, "Rainbow Parade" by Masayoshi Takanaka, "Uragiri" by Mari Natuski, "Maboroshi No Hito" by Miyako Chaki, "Banana" by Kay Ishiguro, "Yashow Macashow" by Ebonee Webb, "Lovin Mighty Fire" by Nayoya Matsuko & Minako Yoshida, "Sentimental Hotel" by Rie Nkahara, and "Barato Yajuu" by Haruomi Hosono. LP, Vinyl record album

A really lovely instrumental album from the Japanese scene of the 80s – a set that's sometimes linked to the ambient work of the time, but a record that's got a lot more going on overall! The songs are shortish, and very tuneful – and there's some nicely exotic currents at times too – still very keyboard-heavy, with most work from Yuko Matsuzaki – but also with use of flute and a bit of oboe to provide these warmer woodwind currents that really give the record a special sort of magic – and maybe an undercurrent of sentiment that even links a bit to the world of anime soundtracks. Titles include "Spanish Rain", "Miracle Parade", "The White Dog Ate The Flower", "A Bientot", "Sleeping In A Peony", "From Within The Urn", and "Tapestry". CD

Includes tracks by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Sonny Rollins, Coleman Hawkins, Eric Dolphy, and others. LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic early material from Gregory Isaacs – captured here early in his career, and working in a deep roots reggae mode – recording at Channel One with great direction from Ossie Hibbert! The set's laidback and righteous, in ways that let all the soulful qualities of Isaac's vocals still come through – but in a very different way than on his later hits! The rhythms are provided by the Revolutionaries – a perfect choice for the record – and titles include "Slave Master", "Story Book Children", "Get Ready", "Set The Captives Free", "Hand Cuff", "Storm", "Sacrifice", and "Smile". LP, Vinyl record album