Sweetly grooving vocals from Judy Roberts – a Chicago homegirl, but one with the warm sunny touches of the California scene of the late 70s! The record's got Judy working with a tight small combo – keyboards, bass, guitar, and percussion – grooving away in a sweet mode that works well with her vocals – almost bossa-inspired at points, but mostly with a soaring, open sort of quality that's almost a cross between some of the hip European singers of the 70s, and the best jazz vocal talents from the Bay Area. The album's got some nice electric remakes of tunes like "Senor Blues", "Round Midnight", and "Last Tango In Paris" – plus the tracks "The Other World", "The River Must Flow", "Rainbow In Your Eyes", and "No Turns". CD

Saxophone and piano duos. CD

There's never been a better bit of throwback dancefloor fodder ever! Sure, these guys were blaring out of every cheap radio at the time, and it was just about impossible to walk into a shopping mall without hearing "Groove Is In The Heart" for about 5 years after the album came out – but to us, that was a great thing, and the record represents one of the high points in pop music of the past few decades. Thanks to some skillful sampling by Towa Tei, the group were grounded in a rich history of funk, house, disco, soul, and Brazilian influences – all of which they managed to blend with a postmodern perfection that other groups could only ever dream of! The big hits are certainly very familiar, but the whole album's a delight – and tracks include "Who Was That?", "Smile On", "Try Me On . . . I'm Very You", "World Clique", "ESP", and "Good Beat". This great expanded 2CD edition includes a full CD of remixes, too – 26 tracks in 2CDs! Given that the weird mixes and extrapolations of tunes by the group were such a big part of their larger sound, the extra material really helps get a full picture of the album's greatness! CD

Amazing box set – five full albums of material, plus lots of bonus tracks too! First up is Flowers – a soaring classic from The Emotions – thanks to some supreme help from the Earth Wind & Fire side of the soul spectrum! This set has the trio really sounding great – with Kalimba Productions by Maurice White and Charles Stepney – and a good deal of EWF help on the instrumentation as well! The girls break out of the rootsier style used on their earlier Stax recordings, and manage to fit perfectly with the jazzy tinges of the new grooves – and, along with Ramsey Lewis and EWF, the Emotions were part of a hugely successful trinity during the late 70s – one that took the indie soul roots of the Chicago scene and turned it into landmark big business for Columbia Records. The album's got a new approach to female group soul that would go onto shape R&B for years to come – and titles include "Flowers", "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love", "We Go Through Changes", "Special Part", and "You've Got The Right To Know". Next is Rejoice – a huge hit for both The Emotions and Maurice White – whose Kalimba Productions handled this album in the same hit mode they'd been using for Earth Wind & Fire! There's a polished, soaring bounce her that definitely shows the Earth Wind & Fire touch – and which takes the girls miles from their rougher, rootsier soul of the Stax/Volt years – yet like all the best EWF records of the time, the sound is also plenty soulful, with lots of righteous undercurrents. The album includes the group's wonderful track "Don't Ask My Neighbors", a heavenly tune that builds on a long tradition of sweet female soul from Chicago; the super-huge "Best Of My Love", a hit on dancefloors and radios for years to come – and many other nice numbers like "Blessed", "How'd I Know That Love Would Slip Away", and "Key To My Heart". Sunbeam is great little album from The Emotions – largely because it sounds a lot like prime mid 70s Earth Wind & Fire, with female vocals added over the top – ultimately, pulling away with a soulful charm all its own! Maurice White produced the whole set, and it's got a soaring spacey sound that provides a perfect spiritual edge to the girls vocals – taking them way past the hits, into much more sophisticated soul territory. There's a beautifully righteous vibe going on throughout – a sound that's almost like Minnie Riperton at her 70s Capitol best – and titles include "Love Vibes", "Walking The Line", "Time Is Passing By", "I Wouldn't Lie", "Smile", and "Spirit Of Summer". Come Into Our World has the sweet Emotions at the top of their game – one of the brilliant albums that has the soulful trio working hand in hand with Earth Wind & Fire! The girls were plenty great in their early years, but working with Maurice White and company, they really took off – hitting a whole new level that really unlocked some deeply spiritual power in their vocals! And sure, the approach also yielded the group plenty of hits – but for good reason, too – given the classic quality and all-great nature of a set like this. Maurice White produced, and the lineup is filled with plenty of Earth Wind & Fire players too – working with some great arrangements from Tom Tom 84, Wade Marcus, and others. Tunes are balanced between clubby numbers and some nice midtempo moments – and titles include "Where Is Your Love", "Cause I Love You", "Come Into My World", "On & On", "I Should Be Dancing", "Layed Back", and "Yes I Am". New Affair has The Emotions breaking free a bit from the Earth Wind & Fire influence, and grooving nicely with a sweet 80s feel! The girls' voices are still quite wonderful – some of the deepest harmonies in the female soul world at the time – and the tunes kick it up nicely in a blend of snapping bassy club tracks and mellower cuts that sweetly sway with their great vocals! Loads of wonderful tracks – and an album not to miss! Titles include "Turn It Out", "There'll Never Be Another Moment", "Now That I Know", "Love Lies", "When You Gonna Wake Up", and "Here You Come Again". 3CD set features 8 bonus tracks – including "Boogie Wonderland (12" mix", "Don't Ask My Neighbors (single version)", "I Should Be Dancin (single version)", "My Baby Dance", "Changes", "Where Is Your Love (single version)", and "Flowers (single version)". CD

Brian Eno at the crux of his career – hanging perfectly between the guitar-heavy glam of earlier years, and the spacey electronics of later material – both of which he presents wonderfully on the record! The album is one of his last to feature real rock songs, with the kind of vocals you'd know from Eno's first two albums – and it mixes straighter styles with more complex electronic soundscapes, resulting in some wonderfully cold and abstract material that prefaces musical territory that many other artists wouldn't hit until the following decade! Titles include "Golden Hours", "The Big Ship", "St Elmos Fire", "Sky Saw", "Spirits Drifting", and "Becalmed". CD

A brilliant little soundtrack from Dizzy Gillespie – composed by Mal Waldron, and played by Diz with a sound and sensitivity that few of his other 60s albums can match! The feel here is quite bold and righteous – a perfect accompaniment for the documentary-like black and white images of Shirley Clarke's film – set in Harlem, and mostly recorded on location in the early 60s! Dizzy's tone is wonderful – bracing one minute, blue-toned the next – and the rest of the group is wonderful too – with James Moody on tenor and flute, Kenny Barron on piano, Chris White on bass, and Rudy Collins on drums. There's a richly expressive feel to the music that makes the set hold up fantastically both as a soundtrack and as a jazz album – and titles include "The Pusher", "Duke's Fantasy", "Coney Island", "Bonnie's Blues", "Duke's Awakening", "Coolie", and "Enter Priest". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic Isleys from the mid 70s! The record has the group dropping their heavy funk style (which was sounding a bit tired by this point), and picking up a strident soul groove that buoyed their tracks with a spiritual sound that reminds us of some of the best moments from the Brother Brother Brother album! This one includes the incredible song "Harvest For The World", one of the most anthemic soul songs of the 70s – and a monster groover that mixes message-driven vocals with some tight guitar work. Other tracks include "You Still Feel the Need", "Let Me Down Easy", and "People of Today" – and the whole album's one of the group's best from the 70s! Features a bonus track – a version of "Summer Breeze", recorded live in the studio! CD

Four important albums from Jade Warrior – all brought together here in a single set! Floating World is the first album in Jade Warrior's mid-70s run for Island Records – and a set that marks a key shift for the group – a moment when they leaned even more heavily into their interest in global sounds, dropped most of their vocals, and used their impeccable instrumentation to take off in really amazing ways! The core duo of Tony Duhig's guitar and Jon Field's flute serve up most of the instrumentation here – and both players handle plenty of percussion too – yet there's a richness to the record that's undeniable too, which is a great testament to the way the pair make really special music together! Martha Mdenge serves up some guest vocals on the final track "Quba", the group take on the legendary "Monkey Chant" of Balinese music, and other titles include "Red Lotus", "Clouds", "Mountain Of Fruit & Flowers", "Waterfall", and "Easty". Kites is one of the most ambitious records ever from Jade Warrior – a set that expands their core sound in a wonderful way, with all sorts of great guests who really add a lot to the music! As before, the duo of Tony Duhig and Jon Field are at the core – guitar, flute, and plenty of percussion – but augmented here with all sorts of cool contributions by guests who include Fred Frith on violin, Gowan Turnball on saxes, and Jeff Westley on electric piano – plus Clodagh Simonds on a bit of vocals – all really bringing a new sort of majesty to the sort of music that the group delivered on their previous record – but without losing the sense of intimacy either. Titles include "Towards The Mountains", "Wind Song", "The Emperor", "Songs Of The Forest", "Quietly By The River Bank", and "The Last Question". Waves is a key moment in the continuing evolution of Jade Warrior – and a set that nicely moves the group from the prog styles of their roots, into leaner territory that's almost jazz-based at times! Some of the group's contemporaries were making such shifts, but usually in a way that was more heavy handed – where the lightness that Jade Warrior had on previous records really guides the music here – as they work with their core combination of keyboards, flute, guitar, and plenty of percussion – with additional work from Dave Duhig on lead guitar, Maggie Thomas on alto recorder, and Steve Winwood on moog, piano, and keyboards! There's a bit of vocals on the record from a female singer – but most of the tracks just have this gentle instrumental flowering – moving through an album-length suite that includes the tracks "Caves", "Groover", "River To The Sea", "Song Of The Last Whale", "The Sea", and "Wave Birth". Way Of The Sun is a set that's got a few sharper edges than some of the previous records by Jade Warrior – yet one that still hangs nicely in that Eastern-inspired blend of jazz and prog that made their Island Records years so great! As before, the album works as a unified whole – each track crucial to the overall feel of the set – with plenty of excellent work on flute from Jon Field, amidst more conventional guitar, keyboard, and percussion. There's some occasional nice guest moments on flugelhorn, harp, and saxes – and titles include "Sun Ra", "Dance Of The Sun", "Heaven Stone", "Moontears", "Sun Child", "Carnival", and "Death Of Ra". CD

Percussion duets between Tony Oxley and Stefan Holker – with electronics by the latter – all served up at a level that reminds us why Oxley has been such an important improvising talent on the drums over the course of his many decades in music! As with the best improvisers, Tony is able to shift into a mode that's very resonant with his partner on a date – which in this case means work on drums that's often more spacious and textural than some of his other recordings – very aware of all the sonic possibilities of his instrument, and served up in ways that are often far from conventional sounds and rhythm! The CD features six improvisations, of varying lengths – but with a nicely unified vibe. CD

Nothing too peaceful here – at least not in a sleepy sort of way – as The Rascals are really hitting on all burners, and starting to mix a bit of funk in with their groove! The record's a great extension of the group's last work on Atlantic – and it takes that already-righteous territory, and furthers it a bit more with some heavy rhythms on the bottom, and nicely jamming guitar work on the top! There's a great sense of soul that informs the whole album – even at some of the more rockish points – and titles include the excellent side-long cut "Peaceful World", a long instrumental workout with a nice slow bubbling funky sound that's almost in the style of Chicano rock. The albumf eatures guest work from jazz players like Hubert Laws on flute, Alice Coltrane on harp, Garnett Brown on trombone, Joe Garrell on tenor sax, and Joe Newman on trumpet – and other titles include "Little Dove", "Visit To Mother Nature Land", "Happy Song", "Icy Water", "Sky Trane", and "In & Out Of Love". LP, Vinyl record album

The weird, raw and legendary debut of teen trio The Shaggs – recorded in a single day and issued by the Third World label back in the day, before slowly building a devoted cult following over the years! The Shaggs story of a young girl group and their dad manager dreaming big and hoping for stardom, but the stunningly primitive sound actually makes the patron saints of outsider art rock and indie rock to come – it's messy and amazing to this day! Odd and hypnotic, it's an outsider classic unlike any other. Includes "Philosophy Of The World", "That Little Sports Car", "Who Are Parents", "My Pal Foot Foot", "My Companion", "I'm So Happy When You're Near", "Things I I Wonder", "It's Halloween", "Why Do I Feel?", "What Should I Do", "My Companion", "Sweet Thing", "We Have A Savoir" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic sounds from Jackie Shane – a Canadian soul singer who's achieved a bit of recent fame, due to her legacy as an underground trans figure – but an artist who'd already be a winner, even without such a fascinating back story! Fortunately, both sides of Jackie's life are included here – a stunning array of rare soul singles from the late 60s, alongside a heavy package of notes, photos, and other bits of Shane's unusual story – all given the wonderful Numero Group treatment! These guys have a way of digging out stories even where you might not expect them – so in the case of Jackie, their efforts are extra-important – and the heavy weight of the record really seems to emphasize that fact – as the whole thing's really a double-whammy of Numero genius. But again, even without all of that, the whole thing's more than essential for any fan of underground soul – especially female soul – half the set features her rare singles, the other lost live work – with titles that include "Sticks & Stones", "Cruel Cruel World", "Comin Down", "In My Tenement", "Send Me Some Lovin", "I've Really Got The Blues", "Stand Up Straight & Tall", "Cruel Cruel World", "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", "Any Other Way", "Shotgun", "I Don't Want To Cry", and "Money". CD

Cecil Taylor's first LP for the Candid label – and a landmark album that really lets him open up for the first time in years at a recording session! The album was cut at Nola's Penthouse in 1960, and the core group is Cecil's trio with Buell Neidlinger on bass and Dennis Charles on drums – but Archie Shepp joins the group on tenor on two tracks, "Air" and "Lazy Afternoon". The remaining three have a sound that's not always heard on other Taylor albums from the 60s – a bit bluesy, with playing that might be called a bit "straight", but which also shows Cecil's command of the jazz idiom in a mode that allows keen comparison with other players of his generation. Titles include "EB", "This Nearly Was Mine", and "Port Of Call". CD

Cecil Taylor's first LP for the Candid label – and a landmark album that really lets him open up for the first time in years at a recording session! The album was cut at Nola's Penthouse in 1960, and the core group is Cecil's trio with Buell Neidlinger on bass and Dennis Charles on drums – but Archie Shepp joins the group on tenor on two tracks, "Air" and "Lazy Afternoon". The remaining three have a sound that's not always heard on other Taylor albums from the 60s – a bit bluesy, with playing that might be called a bit "straight", but which also shows Cecil's command of the jazz idiom in a mode that allows keen comparison with other players of his generation. Titles include "EB", "This Nearly Was Mine", and "Port Of Call". CD

Go out of the world with The Three Sounds on this sweet little set for Blue Note – as the trio are at their early best, and working with a care of craft that you won't find on other 60s albums for labels like Verve or Mercury! The mighty Gene Harris is in the lead on piano, moving between a great blend of lyrical and more soul-based styles – given great accompaniment from Bill Dowdy on drums and Andy Simpkins on bass – the latter of whom is an overlooked genius, with this round tone and solid touch that really holds the group together! Titles are a nice mix of exotic standards and gutbuckety originals – and tunes include "My Silent Love", "Just In Time", "Out Of this World", "Out Of the Past", "Sanctified Sue", and "Girl Of My Dreams". CD

A hell of a singer, working here with some wonderful grooves from Timo Lassy – an artist we've really loved for his own jazzy projects in the past! Joyce Elaine Yuille has this style that's very classic, and very groovy – jazz-based, with a nice rasp in her voice that really brings out some of the more soulful qualities in the music – and able to write her own lyrics, too – which makes for a wonderful record that's full of fresh sounds at every turn! Lassy's music is wonderful too – tightly snapping on the rhythms, but never forced – and with a jazz current that's a nice change from other contemporary soul production, which might have been added to the record with a bigger label. But clearly, the real star of the show is Joyce – a talent that will definitely be huge in years to come – a rock-solid singer and songwriter who may well turn out to be the female equivalent of Gregory Porter. Titles include "Come With Me", "Tryin Times", "Chaos", "It's Madness", "Make Right", "Welcome To My World", "Follow The Sun", and "Late I Rise". CD

Maybe one of the most mindblowing sets ever put together by the Dust To Digital label – a set that follows on their long-running exploration of 78rpm music from around the globe, and one that presents all these rare tracks in a really incredible format! The set's got a box for the package, which contains a huge 184 page book that's filled with notes, images, and illustrations – a beautiful object in and of itself, which is then matched with 4CDs worth of recordings you'll never hear otherwise – sounds from the start of the 20th century all the way through the late 60s, working together to provide an alternate history of global sounds – all with a sensitivity for track selection that may well match the famous Harry Smith look at American recordings. There's a total of 100 tracks in all – music from Russia, Cuba, Mexico, Macedonia, Surniname, Romania, Morocco, Nigeria, and many other points from around the globe – mindblowing sounds in a really lavish package! And yes, the whole thing is crazy expensive – but if you tally the cost of tracking down the scratchy original 78s, you're getting a heck of a deal – especially with the box and book. CD

A second amazing collection of rare funk tracks from the Mid East – work that didn't exist in the same "scene"-styled world as American funk, but which instead comes from a disparate group of recordings that surprisingly, amazingly, turned out to be pretty darn funky! Musical modes differ throughout the tracks in a really nice way – but most of the tunes are unified through strong use of electric bass and heavy percussion – mixed up from number to number, in a way that opens the door to a stunning world of musical exploration we never would have experienced otherwise! We've really grown to love the Habibi Funk label in recent years – and although other records have been great, this set may well be their crowning achievement. Titles include "Sultan Qaboos Song" by Sal Davis, "Ahlo Jedba" by Fadou, "Music De Carneval" by Magdy El Hussainy, "Badala Zamana" by Zohra, "Casba" by Ahmed Male, "El Fen" by Ait Meslayene, "Haditouni" by Douaa, "Tendme" by Ibrahim Hesnawi, and "Reet" by Hamid El Shaeri. LP, Vinyl record album

There's never been a better bit of pop throwaway dancefloor fodder ever! Sure, these guys were blaring out of every cheap radio at the time, and it was just about impossible to walk into a shopping mall without hearing "Groove Is In The Heart" for about 5 years after the album came out – but to us, that was a great thing, and the record represents one of the high points in pop music of the past few decades. Thanks to some skillful sampling by Towa Tei, the group were grounded in a rich history of funk, house, disco, soul, and Brazilian influences – all of which they managed to blend with a postmodern perfection that other groups could only ever dream of! The big hits are certainly very familiar, but the whole album's a delight – and tracks include "Who Was That?", "Smile On", "Try Me On . . . I'm Very You", "World Clique", "ESP", and "Good Beat". LP, Vinyl record album

D12's sophmore full length is a pretty fair improvement over the largely forgettable debut – particularly the single "My Band", one of the rare cuts in which Eminem seems to have a pretty good time lampooning is own image. Other tracks include "Git Up", "Loyalty" featuring Obie Trice, "Just Like U", "In The Morning", "How Come", "D12 World", "American Psycho II" featuring B-Real and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Four incredible albums from the young Georgie Fame – plus a bonus CD of rare material, bonus tracks on all CDs, and 18 previously unreleased tracks – all in a box set with a 48 page book, 5 postcards, and a poster too! First up is Rhythm & Blues At The Flamingo – blistering early work from a young Georgie Fame – a set that definitely lives up to the Rhythm & Blues in the title! The set was recorded live at London's hip Flamingo club – and Georgie and The Blue Flames are very much in command of the crowd – burning with the intensity of a American small organ combo, especially the early 60s variety that often played equal parts soul jazz and R&B! Georgie's on the Hammond, and also sings with a rough-edged style that's plenty soulful, and incredibly appealing – a mode that oozes charisma, but never sounds fake or forced. Titles include "Do The Dog", "Eso Beso", "Work Song", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Shop Around", "Humpty Dumpty", and "You Can't Sit Down". Fame At Last is a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and R&B – all filtered through a mod sort of London freshness, as early proof that the city could always take some great things from our own musical roots, and feed it back to us with a whole new flavor! Georgie's no copycat here, though – and the sound is instantly Fame-like – a style that's really not the sort that any Americans were doing at the time, and certainly never this well. Hard-burning Hammond colors most of the tunes here – played with a tightly vamping quality – but it's Georgie's charmingly crackling vocals that really win us over! Titles include "Gimme That Wine", "Pink Champagne", "Monkeying Around", "Green Onions", "Let The Sunshine In", "Get On The Right Track Baby", "I'm In The Mood For Love", and "I Love The Life I Live". Sweet Things is a definite sweet thing from Georgie Fame – a record that has him filling in his sound even more than before, with tremendously soulful results! The backings here are bigger than before – a bit tooled in an American soul mode, but still with that beautifully raspy Georgie Fame touch – lots of jazzy inflections on the vocals, and a way of handling a tune, even a familiar one, and really working it on his own level. Hammond still fills in most of the tunes, but other instrumentation includes some nice African percussion from Speedy Acquaye, saxes from Pete Coe, and some nice bold drums from John Mitchell. These come out to the forefront on the classic funky tune "Music Talk" – and still sound great on other numbers that include "The World Is Round", "Last Night", "Dr Kitch", "My Girl", "Ride Your Pony", and "Sweet Thing". Sound Venture is one of the jazziest early albums from Georgie Fame – a set that has him singing with the big band of Harry South, at a level that's a lot more complicated than some of his other work with The Blue Flames! The style here still has that mod 60s London feel, but it also has some deeper inflections as well – modes borrowed a bit from Jon Hendricks or Mose Allison, yet served up with even greater complexity – at a level that really points towards the tremendous growth Fame would unleash over the next few years. Members of the group include Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tony Coe, Dick Morrisey, Kenny Wheeler, and many other key Brit jazz figures of the time – and titles include "Three Blind Mice", "Dawn Yawn", "Feed Me", "Lovey Dovey", "Lil Darlin", "Lil Pony", "I Am Missing You", and "Many Happy Returns". CD5 is Bend A Little – a package with 20 unusual titles – demos, rare tracks, and outtakes – including unreleased tracks, IBC recordings, and even two German tracks too! Plus, each individual CD comes with bonus tracks – 40 bonus tracks, in addition to the 20 more titles on the Bend A Little set – a huge amount of material! CD

One of the lasting moments of genius from trumpeter Jon Hassell – his second entry in Brian Eno's 4th World series, and a set that's even more mindblowing than the first! As with that one, the approach here mixes together electric and acoustic sounds, with an imagined landscape of possibilities – music that sometimes feels as if it's come from ethnographic sources, but other times feels as if it's floated down from the future! Hassell blows trumpet on all tracks, often with a fair bit of electronic processing – alongside lots of percussion from other players, all mixed up by Daniel Lanois in the studio. The sound is almost a more abstract extension of the mixture of jazz and global elements that Don Cherry first explored about a decade before – and titles include "These Times", "Gift Of Fire", "Chor Moire", "Courage", and "Dream Theory". Features the bonus track "Ordinary Mind". CD