Man, these guys keep blowing our minds again and again with each new album – stretching out even farther than before, yet still hanging on to all the best elements of their sound! This time around, Nostalgia 77 still have the bolder jazz style forged on their previous experimental recordings – but the groove is a lot more focused and dynamic – soaring out with the depth of a spiritual soul jazz session from the 70s – and often topped by some great vocals from Lizzy Parks, a wonderful singer with qualities that remind us of Dee Dee Bridgewater or Jean Carn back in their earliest days! The bass is right up front on most tracks – giving the tunes a darkly pulsating feel – and the instrumentation is mostly acoustic, and certainly spontaneous – a very welcome change from some of the stiffer, colder modes of the downtempo generation! Titles include "Quiet Dawn", "Arora", "Wildflower", "Stop To Make A Change", "Dreamers Dance", and "Little Steps". CD

A free jazz jam from the Nostalgia 77 Octet – easily their most far-reaching work to date, and only available on a limited edition vinyl EP! "The Impossible Equation" has the group stretching out in a side-long jam of space jazz proportions – building very slowly with a style that's even more sonically focused than their previous efforts – sounding nicely tripped up, but still a bit funky at the bottom, thanks to a bassline that steps strongly along underneath some of the more psychedelic solos! Instrumentation is mostly acoustic, as with other Octet records – but the production makes for some especially spacey sounds. The flipside features a great version of "Desert Fairy Princess" – done in a really righteous 70s soul jazz mode – plus the shorter "Well Being I", which is a bit outside! LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the greatest music we've heard so far from Nostalgia 77 – a group who started many years back as a jazz-referenced project – but one who here are definitely a fully-fledged combo with a very spiritual vibe! As before, producer Benedic Lamdin is at the helm of the lineup – yet the production is minimal, and instead the whole thing has this instrumental flowering of group members in ways that really fit the spirit of music by Dollar Brand, Chris McGregor, and Sun Ra – who are all covered on the set alongside the group's own original compositions too! The horn work is especially wonderful – a blend of flute from Gareth Lockrane, tenor from James Allsop, and trumpet from Alex Bonney – held down by bass from longtime 77 stalwart Riaan Vosloo on bass, plus Tim Giles on drums, and Ross Stanley on piano and organ. Titles include "Dakar", "Ishmael", "The Sun Is Big", "Love In Outer Space", "Flower", and "The Hooper". CD

Maybe the greatest music we've heard so far from Nostalgia 77 – a group who started many years back as a jazz-referenced project – but one who here are definitely a fully-fledged combo with a very spiritual vibe! As before, producer Benedic Lamdin is at the helm of the lineup – yet the production is minimal, and instead the whole thing has this instrumental flowering of group members in ways that really fit the spirit of music by Dollar Brand, Chris McGregor, and Sun Ra – who are all covered on the set alongside the group's own original compositions too! The horn work is especially wonderful – a blend of flute from Gareth Lockrane, tenor from James Allsop, and trumpet from Alex Bonney – held down by bass from longtime 77 stalwart Riaan Vosloo on bass, plus Tim Giles on drums, and Ross Stanley on piano and organ. Titles include "Dakar", "Ishmael", "The Sun Is Big", "Love In Outer Space", "Flower", and "The Hooper". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most awe-inspiring Nuggets sets yet – a massive ode to the late 60s San Francisco scene – a wide, wide breadth of amazing singles from a disparate selection of acts – bound by a 120-page hardcover, richly illustrated book! Love Is The Song We Sing isn't at all the lumbering box of hippie nostalgia you might be expecting – it's weighted very heavily in leftfield obscurities, out numbering the big hits by at least 10-to-1 – with harshly buzzing tunes, groovy psychedelia, and topical folk tunes alike. The book is full of great photos, in buoyant color and stately black & white, with notes on each individual track, an essay & track commentary by Alec Palao, a piece by early Rolling Stone figurehead Ben Fong Torres, and an additional piece by Gene Sculatti. This is one of the best Rhino boxes we've ever seen, and that's saying something, isn't it – with amazing songs by Dino Valente, Country Joe & The Fish, Blue Cheer, Sly Stone, Ace Of Cups, Count Five, Moby Grape, Beau Brummels, Flamin' Groovies and many more! Disc one "Seismic Rumbles" includes "Let's Get Together" by Dino Valente, "You Were On My Mind" by We Five, "Number One" by Charlatans, "Can't Come Down" by Warlocks, "She's My Baby" by Mojo Men, "Human Monkey" by Frantics and loads more. Disc 2 "Suburbia" includes "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five, "Foolish Woman" by Oxford Circle, "Rubiyat" by Immediate Family, "Hearts To Cry" by Frumious Bandersnatch and more. Disc 3 "Summer Of Love" includes "Carl Street" by Mystery Trend, "Superbird" by Country Joe & The Fish, "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane, "Summertime Blues" by Blue Cheer, "Underdog" by Sly & The Family Stone, "Loading Zone" by Bells and lots more. Disc 4 "The Man Can't Bust Our Music" includes "Evil Ways" by Santana, "Revolution" by Mother Earth, "I'm Drowning" by Flamin' Groovies, "Dark Star" (single version) by Grateful Dead, "Get Together" by The Youngbloods and more. 77 tracks on 4CDs! CD

A sharp Statement Of Intent from DJ Format – whose format is timeless boombap and deft live instrumention on this solid set – which includes collaborations with Sureshot La Lock, Phill Most Chill, Nostalgia 77 and others! Classic craft, though timelessly inventive. The spacey sci fi funk of the Nostalgia 77 collabos is as hot as you'd expect, as are the other diverse sounds at play here. Includes "Staetement Of Intent", "A Quick Ego Trip", "Dope Pusher" and more with Sureshot La Rock, "Spaceship Earth" feat Edan, "Notes In Quotation" and "The Long Goodbye" feat Nostalgia 77 Quintet, "Terror" feat Mr Lif, "Beyond Disco" with The Simonsound, "Live At The Place To Be" with Phill Most Chill & Sureshot La Rock and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A really incredible album – a set that's filled with far more soul and feeling than you might guess from the youthful image on the cover! Matthew Halsall's a pretty young player, but his sound here is really amazing – not just on his own trumpet solos, but on the overall feel of the album – which is beautifully composed, and put together with a sense of spirit that takes us back to Strata East at its most sophisticated in the 70s! There's a really beautiful balance here – ambition in the writing that recalls other UK efforts from The Heritage Orchestra or Nostalgia 77 Octet – but an execution that's much leaner overall, deeply personal lines played by a relatively small combo – quintet formation on all numbers, featuring Halsall's trumpet alongside great reedwork on soprano sax, flute, alto, and tenor – supported by soaring rhythms on piano, bass, and drums – all handled with the majesty of an early 70s McCoy Tyner album, or some of the other great modally-inspired work of the American post-Coltrane generation. Tremendous stuff throughout – a record that held us rapt from start to finish – with 5 original compositions that include "On The Other Side Of The World", "Reflections", "Freedom Song", "Sending My Love", and "Sachi". LP, Vinyl record album

Gregory Porter live at London's Royal Albert Hall – backed not only by his excellent core band, but also the 60+ piece London Studio Orchestra – really pulling off a masterstroke in the way he can bring out all the lush promise of the orchestral setting while staying rooted in intimate soul! Credit conductor and arranger Vince Mendoza for the subtle finesse of the orchestra – never getting too big and lush for the sake of bigness – but it's the warmth of Gregory Porter's voice at the center that gives this such a real vibe, steering free of nostalgia on songs from his Nat King Cole & Me project while bringing grander instrumentation, but no less intimate of a vibe to songs from Porter's own songbook. Includes "Mona Lisa", "Don't Lose Your Steam", "Hey Laura", "Smile", "In Heaven", "The Lonely One", "Ballerina", "Miss Otis Regrets", "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas", "Nature Boy", "But Beautiful", "Ballerina", "For All We Know", "When Love Was King", "I Wonder Who My Daddy Is" and more. and more. 19 tracks on the CD – and it comes with the DVD of the performance, too! CD

The long awaited return of Brazilian iconoclasts Os Mutantes – featuring original Mutante Sergio Dias and a great new band – plus songwriting contributions from Tom Ze and Jorge Ben – a forward looking endeavor, not at all a nostalgia trip! It's been around 30 years since the previous Os Mutantes album, and the never predictable Dias sounds as fresh and energized as we hoped he'd be – with bright, catchy-as-hell melodies, wildly playful carnivalesque sounds as well as more rootsy acoustic bits, on songs that fearlessly blend genres and influences. It's hard to imagine that we'll ever love records from Mutantes, or anyone else in any genre, as much as we love the late 60s stuff – but this is excellent, and among the better Mutantes records since the Rita Lee era. Dias sings and plays electric & acoustic guitars, Egyptian oud, organ, percussion, harmonica and handles the string arrangements, and fellow Mutantes this time out include percussion, drums & vocals by Dinho Leme and Bia Mendes, vocals, piano & keys by Henrique Peters and Fabio Recco, percussion & sound design by Simone Sou, bass, flute, strings and string arrangements and more by Citor Trida. Titles include "Hymns Of The World (Intro)", "Querida Qierida", "Teclar", "2000 E Agarrum", "Baghdad Blues", "O Careca", "O Mensageiro", "Anagrama" featuring Tom Ze, "Aamba Do Fidel", "Nada Mudou", "Gopala Krishna Om", "Hymns Of The World (Final)" and more. CD

The first album from Klaus Doldinger's legendary Passport – a jamming little group that was one of THE European fusion combos of the early 70s! The sound here is much more fierce and full on than Doldinger's straighter jazz recordings of the 60s – but it's also kind of a nice extension of that work too – one that takes the soul jazz influences of the earlier decade into a more rock-driven sound than many other groups were hitting at the time. In a way, the progression is similar to the move from beat group to progressive styles followed by a fair bit of UK jazzers – but Doldinger tops his style off here with some nice electricity on moog and keyboards! Other players include Jimmy Jackson on organ and Udo Lindenberg on some mighty heavy drums – and titles include "Madhouse Jam", "Continuation", "Lemuria's Dance", "Uranus", "Schirokko", "Nostalgia", and "Hexensabbat". CD

Samara Joy is a rare jazz singer – the sort who manages to have ties to the past, but also really bring so much of her own spirit to the music – not subtle inflections on the tunes, but instead this really personal style that has her absorbing older tracks and turning them into something new – and serving up some great vocal styles of her own! In other words, this isn't a retro-styled record of standard jazz remakes – as Samara's her own sort of singer, right from the start – working with no-nonsense small combo instrumentation that features Pasquale Grasso on guitar, Ben Paterson on piano, and Kenny Washington on drums – on titles that include "Linger Awhile", "Sweet Pumpkin", "Social Call", "Guess Who I Saw Today", "Nostalgia", and "Can't Get Out Of This Mood". LP, Vinyl record album

Samara Joy is a rare jazz singer – the sort who manages to have ties to the past, but also really bring so much of her own spirit to the music – not subtle inflections on the tunes, but instead this really personal style that has her absorbing older tracks and turning them into something new – and serving up some great vocal styles of her own! In other words, this isn't a retro-styled record of standard jazz remakes – as Samara's her own sort of singer, right from the start – working with no-nonsense small combo instrumentation that features Pasquale Grasso on guitar, Ben Paterson on piano, and Kenny Washington on drums – on titles that include "Linger Awhile", "Sweet Pumpkin", "Social Call", "Guess Who I Saw Today", "Nostalgia", and "Can't Get Out Of This Mood". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the best ever efforts from the Monkees – really the first album where Mickey, Peter, Davy and Mike took creative control from the TV people – and created and album of groovy late 60s pop to rival those of their influences! Headquarters famously features a lot more original material than previous LPs – and it still sounds remarkably fresh! It really doesn't feature any of their huge hits, so it stands up really well without the crutch of nostalgia! Titles include "You Told Me", "I'll Spend My Life With You", "Band 6", "I Can't Get Her Off My Mind", "Mr Webster", "Sunny Girlfriend", "Zilch", "No Time", "Early Morning Blues And Greens", "Randy Scouse Git". LP, Vinyl record album

Bebop is alive and well in this classic 60s set by McPherson – blowing hard here in a Bird-esque mode on alto, but also with some of the soulfulness of Jackie McLean during the 50s. The group features Carmell Jones on trumpet, Barry Harris on piano, Nelson Boyd on bass, and Al Heath on drums – and titles include "Variations On A Blues By Bird", "Wail", "Hot House", and "Nostalgia". CD