... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

A rare Art Blakey performance from a tour in Tokyo – featuring a crack 1961 lineup with Lee Morgan on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Bobby Timmons on piano – all grooving together nicely! The set was recorded in Sankei Hall on January 2, 1961 – and titles include "The Summit", "Blues March", "Moanin", "It's Only A Paper Moon", "Nelly Bly", "Dat Dere", "Night In Tunisia", and "Round Midnight". CD

An album with some surprisingly soulful moments, thanks in part to some well-chosen samples from classic years of soul – including snippets of work from The Impressions, James Brown, Minnie Riperton, and The Spinners – all of whom really provide some nice balance with the more hardcore lyrics upfront! That balance is maybe Freeway showing his Philly pedigree – next to plentiful guests who include Jay Z, Beanie Sigel, Snoop, Nelly, Nate Dogg, Faith Evans, Sparks, and others. Tracks include "Free", "What We Do", "Don't Cross The Line", "Turn Out The Lights", "Victim Of The Ghetto", "Flipside", "You Got Me", "Alright", "You Don't Know", and "Life". LP, Vinyl record album

A fitting title for this scorching set tracks led by the incomparable Lee Morgan – captured over several dates throughout 1960 at the legendary Birdland club – and backed up by Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers! Nothing but legends on the stage here – with Morgan's trumpet out front of Blakey on the kit, Bobby Timmons on piano, Wayne Shorter on tenor, and Jymie Merrit on bass. The tracks on the first disc were recorded on three dates in the spring and summer of '60, and they include "The Chess Players", "This Here", "The Midget", "Nelly Bly", "Dat Dere", "Justice", Night In Tunisia" and more. Disc two features numbers recorded in the summer and fall of the same year, and it includes "Lester Left Town" with Lester Young sitting in on piano, "It's Only A Paper Moon", "This Here", Sakeena's Vision", "Koko's Waltz" and more. CD

One of the early 00s "commercial" LP's that's at least as dope as our underground favorites – real hip hop that still keeps the party people movin', with a number of cuts produced by the Neptunes & Swizz Beats. Tracks include the instant classic "Nothin", plus "Hit Me Slime" featuring Nas, Ice-T, Nelly, & others, "God's Favorite", "Grimey", "Nahmeanuheard" (original and remix), "Mr. CEO", "Live My Life" featuring Ja Rule, "Full Mode", "Love Ya Moms" featuring Capone & others, "Head Bussa", "Wanna Be Like Him", "Black Clouds", "Banned From Another Club", "Now I Pray", "Consider This" featuring Kelis, and the bonus track "The Life Of A (Gangsta) Capone". LP, Vinyl record album

With Nelly Furtado. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Tracks from Usher, Lil Jon, Chingy, Three 6 Mafia, Pitbull, Khia, Lil' Flip, Ying Yang Twins, Nelly, Youngbloodz, and TI – 18 tracks total. CD

Second volume recruiting contemporary jazz artists reworking rap songs as modern smooth jazz. We're not certain if the world needs a smooth jazz version of Nelly's "Hot In Herre" or Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", but we guess everything has it's place. 12 tracks in all, including a medley called "Here They Come", stringing together bits and pieces of Black Sheep's "The Choice Is Yours", Digable's "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)", Busta's "Wooh Hah! Got You All In Check" and Tribe's "Award Tour", plus versions of "Electric Relaxation", "Still Not A Player" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

On Things Fall Apart ?uestlove, Black Thought, DJ Scratch, Rahzel and co. reinvigorated the scene with a Philly style soulful, melancholy groove that seemingly influenced the entirety of the NuSoul world – and it could even be argued that the Roots birthed that whole scene. Phrenology carries that torch, but it's so, SO much more, as the heady nature weighed the previous LP down in spots, and Phrenology is a sprawling exercise in expectation-busting perfection! "Rock You" kicks things off in explosive fashion, forgoing the laid back, yet angry soul backbone the group pioneered in hop hop, for a massive electro pulse pounding style – with Black Thought frenetically spitting confrontational wisdom until the synth unexpectedly dives into a short burst of live hardcore punk with "!!!!!!!" (we know what you're thinking, but trust us, it REALLY works). "Sacrifice" features a surprisingly effective chorus sung by Nelly Furtado, and other guest spots include Kweli heating up "Rolling With Heat", Ursula Rucker kicking some reverential poetry on "Waok (ay) Rollcall", and Musiq on the single "Break You Off". Other highlights include the late 80s Bomb Squad-like production on "Thought @ Work", the group's live instrumentation (and ?uestlove's always great trap work) and soul claps on tunes like "The Seed (2.0)", the epic "Water", and "Complexity" with Jill Scott. If you're solely of the 2 turntables and a mic camp you may want to head elsewhere, but if you've been anxiously awaiting the new Roots LP like we have, you'll be knocked straight on your arse, welled up with tears of joy. The best major label hip hop album of '02, and a beauty to go in the time capsule for future generations to learn, and mourn what they missed first hand. Amazing!!! Other tracks include "Quills", "Pussy Galore", and "Something In The Way Of Things (In Town)". CD

The magnificent voice of Chris Connelly serves up a sublime tribute to the work of Nico – a set that's not a reworking of just her key classics, but which also includes a huge amount of original new songs by Chris as well! Connelly put together the double length set after being inspired by the book on Nico, You Are Beautiful & You Are Alone – and the spirit of that well-penned biography really moves throughout the tracks, as Chris balances his own originals with really different takes on the Nico tunes – all at a level that really comes across like some modern day masterpiece that feels like it was years in the making! If you've never heard Connelly sing, you'll be blown away – and the setting of the whole project really seems to have him at his best – in a selection of two dozen songs that include "Ripcord Ripcord", "The Last Mile", "Union Square West", "Eulogy To Lenny Bruce", "I Cannot Care For You", "The Falconer", "The Black Rooms Of Richeleiu", "Reims 12/74", "A Slow Jones In New York", "Running Pure", and "Andy Incidentally". CD

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Joseph Malik really knocks us out with this one – and takes off with a sound that's well deserving of the "directions in music" tag in the title! At its core, the record has a similar feel to the spacey soul of Joseph's first set for Compost – lots of warm songwriting with slight folksy touches – in a Terry Callier-inspired mode that stakes out new space for the 21st century. But the sound here is also quite different – supported by arrangements and production by David Donnelly – who provides just the right blend of modes to push Malik's music boldly forward – using light keys, snapping rhythms, and a really rich tapestry of sound to fill up the spaces, and give the album a really majestic sound! The set's one of the strongest full albums we've heard from Compost in a while – and it's likely to keep Malik at the top of our play pile for a long time to come! Titles include "Nebula", "Silent Fools", "Aquarius Song", "Diablo", "Dream Dancer", "Believe & See", "Mistress Moonlight", and "Casualties Of War". CD

A pair of albums from this near-forgotten group – both originally issued by Elektra, and presented here with bonus tracks too! First up is the self-titled Crabby Appleton – a set that's got a surprising sort of late psych vibe at times – almost as if the group were hanging on to some of the modes that first got them started, while also stretching out with some of the new sophistication that the 70s had to offer! That psych touch is maybe no surprise, though, given that the group's singer Michael Fennelly was in The Millennium – and works here with some heavier rockers who were in Stonehenge – all in a surprising mix of modes that really keeps things interesting throughout! Titles include the big single "Go Back", plus "Peace By Peace", "To All My Friends", "Some Madness", "Hunger For Love", "Last Night In Your Sleep Fred", "Some Madness", and "The Other Side". Next is Rotten To The Core, the second and last album from Crabby Appleton, and a record that's got the group picking up some harder edges than before – shedding some of the lighter psych elements for harder modes on the downturning grooves, almost as if the group had some blues inspirations they didn't showcase the first time around! The shift is one that has us almost thinking that the group could have hit the heights of 70s AM rock, had they held the course – with lots of surprising nuggets throughout, in a set list that includes "Makes No Difference", "Lucy", "It's So Hard", "Tomorrow's A New Day", "You Make Me Hot", "Gonna Save You", and "Love Can Change Everything". 2CD set features bonus material – "Go Back (alt mono single)", "Try (alt mono single)", "My Little Lucy (alt mono single)", "Some Madness (mono single)", "Can't Live My Life (alt mono single)", "Grab On", "Tomorrow's A New Day (alt mono single)", and "It's So Hard (alt mono single)". CD

Saxophonist Darius Jones is an artist whose music is always in flux – especially in recent years when he's really been stretching out – and that quality is really opened up here in a great cover feature! This issue of the The Wire also features articles on the legendary new age synth wizard Steve Roach, the avant folk group Shovel Dance Collective, avant jazz group Ahmed, and Danish instrumentalist Clarissa Connelly – plus more on the scene in Dublin, the cover art of D'Angelo's Voodoo, and Indian electronic musician Arushi Jain – as well as the usual huge section of record reviews, and Ka Baird on the Invisible Jukebox! And also includes a bonus CD – a new edition of The Wire Tapper, with a great selection of contemporary underground sounds. Magazine

The debut album from Crabby Appleton – and a set that's got a surprising sort of late psych vibe at times – almost as if the group were hanging on to some of the modes that first got them started, while also stretching out with some of the new sophistication that the 70s had to offer! That psych touch is maybe no surprise, though, given that the group's singer Michael Fennelly was in The Millennium – and works here with some heavier rockers who were in Stonehenge – all in a surprising mix of modes that really keeps things interesting throughout! Titles include the big single "Go Back", plus "Peace By Peace", "To All My Friends", "Some Madness", "Hunger For Love", "Last Night In Your Sleep Fred", "Some Madness", and "The Other Side". LP, Vinyl record album