One of the earliest mainstream steel band records issued in the US – by a group sponsored by Pan Am Airlines! LP, Vinyl record album

Wolfgang Pushcing on saxophone and flutes, Linda Sharrock on vocals, and Uli Scherer on piano and keyboards. CD

An 80s groove classic! This track has a killer sound that mixes bass-heavy funk with a tight electric keyboard sound – and it rips along nicely with a very catchy hook. The cut's one of our all-time favorites from this time, and it's got a hard funky groove that keeps on going! 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

AkkoSax are Siggi Haider and Hannes Sprenger. CD

... CD

Glen Campbell cut plenty of fantastic songs for Capitol Records – but year after year, some of the best were written by the young Jimmy Webb – an important 60s songwriter who brought magic to a number of different singers, but maybe clicked most strongly with Glen! You'll know the key tracks here, as they represent some of Campbells biggest early hits – but his association with Webb goes way past those few tracks, through a legacy of great 70s recordings that are presented here – in a package that features every single Glen Campbell recording of a Jimmy Webb tune through the start of the 80s – including live material, and even a more obscure track done for Atlantic Records too. The sensitivity of Webb's material is really on full display here – and the whole thing is a great contrast to some of the thinner greatest hits packages of Campbell's material – presented with very detailed notes, lots of great vintage images, and a set list of 23 tracks that include "You Might As Well Smile", "Just This One Time", "I Keep It Hid", "The Moon's A Harsh Mistress", "Galveston", "Didn't We (live)", "In Cars", "Highwayman", "Early Morning Song", "Christian No", "It's A Sin When You Love Somebody", "Adoration", "Wichita Lineman", "Where's The Playground Susie", "I Was Too Busy Loving You", "Just Another Piece Of Paper", and "Ocean In His Eyes". CD

... CD

Sammy belts it out wonderfully on a set of show-stoppers – tunes with Broadway sources, but redone here by Sam with a tight, jazzy finish! The approach makes the record one of his best of the 60s – a really solid set that virtually reinvents each tune – giving them the Davis positive spin, and really stepping out strongly on titles that include "Once In A Lifetime", "Begin The Beguine", "Something's Coming", "Can't We Be Friends", "Too Close For Comfort", and "A Lot Of Livin To Do". LP, Vinyl record album

Strong work from the great Merle Haggard, resilient even near the end of his life on I Am What I Am. CD

... CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Essential funk in a single set – three killer albums from James Brown's legendary backing group! First up is Food For Thought – the classic first album by The JBs – James Brown's Fred Wesley-led backing band, and the force behind most of his greatest records of the early 70s! The band are incredible at this point – sharper, harder, and funkier than just about any other combo around – and that includes all the thousands of groups in the funky 45 underground who were always trying to copy their sound, but never got things this right! Not only are the rhythms the stuff of legend – but the use of the instruments is far far above the norm – as can be heard on the mindblowing "The Grunt", which was sampled heavily by Public Enemy to great fame – and which features a saxophone solo that sounds more like a whistling tea kettle! The set collects some of the group's best early singles, and includes all of the short little funky cuts that made them a legend right out of the box – "Pass the Peas", "The Grunt", "These Are The JBs", "Hot Pants Road", "Wine Spot", "To My Brother", "Blessed Blackness", "Theme From King Heroin", "Escapism (parts 1 & 2), and "Gimme Some More" – all together here in one tight little album of massive funky hard beats and breaks! Doing It To Death is an incredible album – a landmark piece of funk that nobody should be without, funk fan or not! The album is the second to feature James Brown's famous backing combo of the early 70s – and unlike their first one, which was really more of a collection of singles, this album has the group playing hard, long, and loud, in the free funk improvisational mode that was James' real contribution to the music at the time. The tracks are all incredibly long, with James at the forefront, egging the band on with shouts and comments – but also letting them open up large instrumentally, playing in a mode that's as much jazz as it is funky soul. The whole thing's peppered with some nice shorter segues between tracks – but the long cuts are the winners, and are some of the best funk ever recorded! Titles include "Mo Peas", "Doing It To Death", "La Di Da La Di Day", "You Can Have Watergate, Just Gimme Some Bucks & I'll Be Straight", and "Sucker". Last up is Damn Right I Am Somebody – quite possibly our favorite record by the JBs, ever! The set starts with a wonderful conversational bit – rapping and musing on the idea of "Damn Right, I Am Somebody" – showing the group in a political and righteous mode for the first time ever. The grooves then kick in – with the same heavy funk as on earlier records, but also a nice nod towards experimental production – from strange fade ups and fade downs, to stark time and rhythm changes, and even bits of electronics used to create some very cool moments in the grooves! The whole thing's as dead funky as can be, and is stuffed with insane classics like "Blow Your Head", "Same Beat", "Damn Right I am Somebody", "I'm Payin' Taxes, What am I Buyin'", and a great cover of Marvin Gaye's "You Sure Love to Ball"! CD

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A rich array of compelling work from Lord Luther McDaniels – vocal group classics, offbeat R&B, and some early soul stormers – all brought together in a wonderful document to his great years in the Bay Area music scene! There's a really offbeat feel to lots of these cuts – a difference from some of the more put-together work coming out of LA, and a lot more homegrown overall – but in a great way that really keeps things interesting, and which marks Luther as an artist who was always willing to experiment with his sound! Lots of these cuts have a nicely raw quality, but are still pretty well produced, too – kind of creatively raw, rather than just accidentally so – and as with Ace's usual standards, the booklet is filled with images and notes that really help illuminate Luther's already-illuminating music. CD features work cut under his own name, and with The 4 Deuces, The Esquires, The 5 Hearts, and The Garnets – titles that include "WPLJ", "Down It Went", "You Led Me On", "Wheelin & Dealin", "Turn The Key", "Donna Dee", "A Thinkin Man's Girl", "Two Of A Kind", "Poor Boy's Song", "Be There Baby", "Someone Somewhere", "Heartbreak Train", "Tell Ya What", and "Just One More Chance". CD

The beginning of an amazing run on RCA for vocalist Jon Lucien – working here in a sublime blend of styles that's way beyond simple soul or standard jazz! Lucien's got a sound that's unlike anything we can think of – apart from the countless imitators who've tried for his style in recent years – and this initial RCA album is a musical masterpiece that's filled with joy, life, and emotion – all without any of the cliches that such a reference might imply! Arrangements are by Lucien, with some occasional help from Horace Ott and Stanley Rubinstein – all a swirling blend of strings, jazz, and some groovier rhythms at the bottom that have made this record an underground favorite for years. Titles include a killer version of "Who Will Buy", done as a breezy jazz groover, in a way that's made it a classic jazz dance track for years – plus "I Am Now", "How Insensitive", "Love For Sale", and "Dindi" – all given the lush, lovely, swirling, soulful Lucien sound! LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

A very cool recording, done in Kenya on a cell phone in contemporary years – but one that comes across with a very timely vibe, given that Oduor Nyagweno is one of the last living masters of his craft! That craft is his handling of the nyatiti instrument – an eight stringed smallish harp that has these stark tones that are often as metallic as they are melodic, and played here with these modal, cyclical passages alongside his vocals – so that the instrument is often doubling in rhythm while also providing melody! There's a few other guests along the way, but almost all of the album features Nyagweno just on vocals and nyatiti – on titles that include "Olang", "Otieno", "Kwetu Nyawara", "Asuka", "Dero", and "Maya Thumwa Manyaka Nene". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A funky 70s killer from Japanese arranger Norio Maeda – very different than his 60s material, and also different than you might guess from both the image on the cover, and the "samba" in the title! There's some Brazilian influence in the rhythms, but the approach is fuller, richer, and handled with lots of sweet CTI-style electric touches – including great keyboard work from Maeda himself, guitar from Shigeru Suzuki, and nicely strong basslines from Haruomi Hosono – quite a surprise on a set like this! Larger horn lines really top the set in a nice way – and there's great percussion from Motoya Hamaguchi – on titles that include funky jazz takes on "Wave", "Desafinado", "Constant Rain", "Manha De Carnaval", "Summer Samba", and "The Girl From Ipanema". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album