An early Madonna single, with a nice Niles Rodgers remix on the a-side. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Papa Don't Preach", "Open Your Heart", "Live To Tell", "Where's The Party", "True Blue", and "La Isla Bonita". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Don't think "experimental", think funky club tracks – as Jo Bisso did a great job of crossing over to the American mainstream in the 70s, thanks in part to a famous album on TK Records! That work is referenced here, alongside some much more obscure tracks – all with an approach to club music that mixes African touches with some of the more unusual styles of the New York scene – including a few keyboard-heavy moments that would have been right at home on the P&P family of labels! The set's the first to really do justice to the creative talents of Bisso for the clubs – and titles include the long "Play Me" suite, plus "Your Love", "Let's Keep it Together", "Midnight", "Disco Madonna", "Lover's Concerto", "Don't Fight The Feeling", "Love Beat", "Tonight", "Chocodate", "The Mystery With Me", and "Don't Think About It". LP, Vinyl record album

A lost bit of dreamy bossa from the 60s – recorded in Brazil at the end of the decade, but unavailable to most of the world for years! The session's got a gently snapping, always jazzy approach that easily matches the best takes on the bossa coming out from Rio and LA at the time – and the album's done in a style that really makes best use of the warmly soulful piano lines of Dom Salvador, while also hitting some harder rhythms that bristle with plenty of bossa jazz energy, thanks to the presence of drummer Wilson Das Neves! Vocals are often in a mode that showcases singer Valeria, but with support from harmonies on the chorus – and the record's got a sunny sort of groove that almost reminds us of classics by Mario Castro Neves & Samba SA! Titles include "Sambou Sambou", "Ponteio", "Viola Enluarada", "Vesti Azul", "Lady Madonna", "Deixa", "Alegria Alegria", and "Retrato Em Branco E Preto". CD

A massive package – the full rare Undertaker album from Derrick Harriott & The Crystalites, plus an insane amount of bonus tracks too! The core album is instrumental – a wicked set of rhythms from The Crystalites, a group who have a vibe that's right up there with the best of the late 60s Kingston scene, but a groove that's definitely their own – almost a razor's edge to some of the rhythms, as they snap through some excellent late rocksteady/early reggae modes! Harriott produced, and adds in all these cool touches and sounds that almost predate some of the later experimental modes of Lee Scratch Perry. Titles include "The Undertaker", "Bombshell", "Biafra", "The Bad", "Lady Madonna", "Fistful Of Dollars", "The Barefoot Brigade", and "Dr Who". 2CD set features 14 more instrumental tracks from The Crystalites – plus 27 more Harriott-produced numbers, including work by Rudy Mills, Junior Murvin, Keith & Tex, The Chuckles, Eric Donaldson, Pat Satchmo, Tinga & Ernie, and The Ethiopians. CD

A really cool look at albums that never happened – planned projects that were almost produced, but which fell apart at some point in the creative process – leading to a surprisingly large legacy of lost albums by some of rock music's biggest stars! Sure, everyone knows a few of these – like The Beach Boys' Smile – but this book opens the door to lots lots more – including projects by The Kinks, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Buffalo Springfield, Madonna, The Sex Pistols, Beastie Boys, and many more. Best of all, the book presents the albums almost as if they actually existed – in short sections within larger chapters that each feature an imagined cover, projected release dates, and a short section that tells the story of the record – which often features a "what happened next" sidebar to show where the creative process landed. The great presentation really helps illuminate the material – and the book is 256 pages, in color throughout. Book

The first album by Palais Schaumburg – and easily the hardest set the group ever recorded – a really mad batch of rhythms that comes off with raw post punk energy! At some level, the group share a lot with some of their post-prog German contemporaries – some of the noisy elements of Einsturzende Neubauten, the hypnotic grooves of Die Krupps, or the playful electronics of Pyrolator – yet at another level, Palais Schaumburg also remind us a lot of the arty, dubby groups of the UK scene at the time – with the basslines up a fair bit in the mix, and cold-toned lyrics that snap along with the skittish rhythms amidst the occasional flurry of horns – almost in a space between The Slits, Rip Rig & Panic, and the more experimental pre-country years of The Mekons. Great stuff all around – very ripe for rediscovery today – with tracks that include "Die Freunde", "Wir Bauen Eine Neue Stadt", "Gute Luft", "Grunes Winkelkanu", "Morgen Wird Der Wald Gefegt", "Madonna", and "Eine Geschichte". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the funkiest albums ever from Junior Parker – a great little set that shows he had a lot more to offer than just the average bluesman! The album's got a nice little soul sound in the backings – tight rhythms from Horace Ott, who nicely avoids a lot of the cliches that the blues business was hitting at the time – in order to keep Junior in hip territory that's filled with breaking drums and heavy basslines! There's a few key crossover tracks here, plus some surprisingly sweeter numbers – and the album's a gem through and through – well-appreciated by new generations over the years, thanks to its diversity of tracks! Titles include a great break version of "Taxman" – plus two more Beatles numbers, "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Lady Madonna" – and the tracks "Outside Man", "Darling Depend On Me", "You Know I Love You", "River's Invitation", and "Just To Hold My Hand". CD

The image of a female singer at a piano is nothing new, but it definitely has a very special place in the history of jazz – maybe one of the few spots where a female instrumentalist could really get some time in the spotlight, while also breaking past some of the more standard cliches of teary-eyed torch singers too! This set is an excellent overview of the tradition – and features material from the early years of jazz, when there was maybe a stronger through-line to blues as well – then follows artists up through a huge boom in the postwar years – as piano lines got more modern, and vocal approaches did too! The set does a great job of mixing up traditions – still following some of the more blues-based artists through the 50s as well – and as with every great set on the Fremeaux label, the set features detailed notes in English and French on all the contents. 76 tracks in all – with selections by Cleo Brown, Una Mae Carlisle, Katie Webster, Lilette Thomas, Shirley Horn, Madonna Martin, Christine Chatman, Jeri Southern, Blossom Dearie, Hadda Brooks, Frantic Fay Thomas, Louise Johnson, Martha Davis, Nellie Lutcher, Clara Ward, Ira Mae Littlejohn, Paula Watson, Arizone Dranes, Camille Howard, and a number of others. 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