... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

A fantastic bit of jazz from Denmark – recorded at the end of the 70s, but much more like some of the hippest MPS/Saba experiments of the late 60s! The group's led by drummer Lief Johansson, and has a way of moving through larger arrangements with the mix of modernism and swing we love from Clark Boland Big Band, or the work of Gustav Brom in his prime. There's a cool wordless vocalist on a few tracks – singer Tove Norholdt, who hits these cool Scandia tones – and other players include Erling Kroner on trombone, Anders Muller on piano, Per Goldschmidt on baritone and tenor, Jesper Nehammer on alto and tenor, and Michael Hove on baritone, soprano, and alto. Includes versions of the Mingus tunes "Goodbye Porkpie Hat", "Peggy's Blue Skylight", and "Selfportrait In Three Colors" – plus originals "The Hi-Lief Suite", "Jo Jo", and "I'm Trying I'm Dying". LP, Vinyl record album

Fierce, freewheeling work by this excellent group – a quartet that features mindblowing trombone from Eje Thelin, a player we totally love – plus piano from Joachim Kuhn, who also blows a bit of alto sax – and bass from Adelhard Roidinger and drums from Jacques Thollot. Very free at times – and with the same energy as the BYG/Actuel releases! LP, Vinyl record album

The lovely Lill Lindfors serves up a host of Swedish versions of Anglo pop tunes – all set to groovy arrangements from Bjorn Jason Lindh! LP, Vinyl record album

Really unique work from The Soulful Dynamics – a Liberian group who relocated to Germany at the end of the 60s, and recorded in English with a mad mix of styles! Their approach here is a blend of South and West African pop modes of the 60s – touched with more of a British beat group sound in the guitars and overall rhythmic approach to the tunes, making them extremely catchy tracks that often have a nice sing-songy twist to the lyrics. And although the group's not really that much of a truly African ensemble, they did pave the way for bigger 70s African-styled groups on the European scene – allowing their own pop-styled approach to groom audiences for hipper later work. CD features 26 tracks in all – a great batch of singles from the group's years on Philips, Decca, and Metronome. Titles include "Lady From Amsterdam", "Crying Man", "Jungle People", "Monkey", "Shake Shake Shake", "Mademoiselle Ninette", "Birdy", "Coconuts From Congoville", "Azumba", "Doctor Man", and "Wanna Love You". CD

One of Europe's greatest jazz musicians ever – captured here on two rare albums from the 50s! Although Lars Gullin was mostly a baritone player, his rich talent on the instrument won him many accolades during the postwar years – and he recorded a huge amount of albums, both here in the US, and home in his native Sweden. These two sessions were originally issued in Sweden on Metronome, but are offered here in the versions issued by Atlantic in the US during the late 50s. Both records are some of Gullin's best straight material from the time – and they feature him swinging hard and straight-ahead, in a perfect setting made up of some of Sweden's finest players. Titles include "Always", "After 8pm", "Half Nelson", "So What", "Fedja", and "Perntz". Great to have back out again – and what a deal! (Please note that the CD had to omit the track "Ma" because of space limitations.) CD

A great little set that brings together the big bang of electro pop that hit the UK scene at the start of the 80s – work from that moment when previous, more experimental strands of music from the initial post-punk years started cleaning things up, going for hooks, and making some pretty darn catchy music in the process! Yet the work here is also maybe still far from some of the overplayed big hits of a few years later – that key moment when early experimenters were crafting some great tunes, but still not sounding too commercial – and sometimes enticing other artists who didn't always record in this mode to join in on the fun! And if you think you know all the sounds from this time, this box set might give you a big surprise – as there's plenty of work here that we didn't expect – not just more obscure tunes by bigger names, but also some obscure artists who fit right into the groove – all given plenty of coverage in the large booklet of notes. 3CD set features 58 tracks in all - with work by The Passage, Berlin Blondes, Buggles, M, Silicon Teens, Rockets, John Foxx, Science, Fad Gadget, Zeus, OMD, Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls, Dark Day, Der Plan, Kevin Harrison, Japan, Dalek I, Taxi Girl, Systems, Karel Fialka, Nini Raviolette, The Korgis, Alex Fergusson, The Metronomes, Lori & The Chameleons, and others. CD