... CD

One of the greatest Halloween tunes of all time – and a single that still gets plenty of play in all the many decades since its release! Bobby Boris Pickett was a broadcast personality, but does a great job here with all the voices on the original tune – which is also backed by a great follow-up too! 7-inch, Vinyl record

The first American recording of Swedish reed genius Mats Gustafsson – done at a time when he was first reaching out to the Chicago jazz scene, the start of a legacy that would continue for decades! Mats is already an amazing force on his horns here – which include soprano, baritone, and fluteophone – flowing out with unusual textures and shapes that quickly mark him as one of the most unique and spontaneously creative players to emerge from the European scene in years. The first half of the set has Gustafsson working with percussionist Michael Zerang – whose sense of soundshape really matches Mats on reeds. The second is maybe a more unusual pairing, as both forces were an important part of Chicago at the time – Gene Coleman on clarinet, and Jim O'Rourke on guitar, accordion, and percussion – working strongly as an improviser, before he left the city for Sonic Youth and a host of other great endeavors. Titles include "Parrot Fish Eye", "I'll Give You This", "Knotted Canvas", "Even The Rain", "Dolphin Nap Music", "Where's The End", and "Tied Door". CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Eight tracks, including "Train To Nowhere", "Vicksburg Blues", "It Hurts Me Too", "May Be Wrong", and "Train To Nowhere". Produced by Mike Vernon, and the band includes Roger Earl & Lonesome Dave! LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

The first US album by The Zombies – a brilliant little record that shows the group as way more than just a Brit Invasion combo! The songs are short, rocking, and nearly all very catchy – but they've got an airy quality that elevates them past simple pop, into the god-like territory that would emerge even more strongly on later work by the group. Most songs are originals by Rod Argent or Chris White – and the set includes the hits "Tell Her No" and "She's Not There" – plus "Summertime", "What More Can I Do", "I Don't Want To Know", "Sometimes", "It's Alright With Me", "Can't Nobody Love You", "Work N Play", and "Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

The first US album by The Zombies – a brilliant little record that shows the group as way more than just a Brit Invasion combo! The songs are short, rocking, and nearly all very catchy – but they've got an airy quality that elevates them past simple pop, into the god-like territory that would emerge even more strongly on later work by the group. Includes the hits "Tell Her No" and "She's Not There" – plus "Summertime", "What More Can I Do", "I Don't Want To Know", and "Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

... 78 RPM, Vinyl record

Nine tracks, including "Train To Nowhere", "Vicksburg Blues", "It Hurts Me Too", "May Be Wrong", and "Tolling Bells". Produced by Mike Vernon, and the band includes Roger Earl & Lonesome Dave! CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic little record, and exactly what it sounds like – soloist Evan Parker performing with a set of recordings of birds! And yet the record's also way more than that, too – as the recordings, created by John Coxon and Ashley Wales, have more sonic texture than birdsong – so that they act almost as this fuller backdrop while Parker fronts on soprano or tenor – blowing in ways that are spare and open, but often beautifully melodic too – maybe a bit like Misha Mengelberg performing with his parrot on that strange tape from 1964! The set features four different tracks, each of them really beautiful, but in a different way. LP, Vinyl record album

A sweetly compressed mid 70s gem from Chris Rainbow – hardly a mainstream pop album, but one that's recorded with a near-perfect sound overall! Chris is probably best known for his work with Alan Parsons, but he's even better here on his own – singing sweet little tunes that have the vocals pressed up flat against the instrumentation – all in a style that's somewhat smooth, but never as glossy as mainstream music from the time. There's a personal sound amidst the professionalism – kind of a next-level evolution of a singer/songwriter mode – quite far from folk roots, and often with a touch of soul, given some of the players on the album. Rainbow wrote and produced the whole album himself – and titles include "Tarzana Reseda", "Funky Parrot", "On My Way", "Glasgow Boy", "Home Of The Brave", "In Memory", "Is The Summer Really Over", and "A Woman On My Mind". CD

Maybe not as all-out perfect as the Redd Foxx albums from the same time, but still pretty darn great – with routines that include "The Bad Dream", "The Telephone", "Mr Bear", "My Family", and "The Preacher's Parrots". LP, Vinyl record album

Derek Smith on piano, Nicki Parrott on bass, and Joe Ascione on drums. CD