Great remixes from Monday Michiru's Routes album – and a set that really continues her strong tradition of collaboration with some of the hippest talents of the underground! As with some of our favorite Michiru remixes from years back, the tracks here are more re-imaginations or re-recordings of her music than anything else – hardly just new beats or keyboards added into the mix, and often versions that have the tunes taken in rich new directions – always with the soulful, positive energy we love in Monday's originals. Collaborators include Part Time Heroes, Jephte Guillame, and Carlos Mena – and titles include "The Right Time (Yellowtail rmx)", "Hung Up (PTH sprung up mix)", "You Don't Know (feat Part Time Heroes)", "Philosophy Road (PTH hideout mix)", "The Right Time (Jephte's tet kale mix)", and "Don't (Casamena backyard mix)". CD

A pretty darn beautiful album of solo guitar tracks – recorded in 1982 by Japanese musician Masayuki Takayanagi, and featuring only electric guitar, played with a spare raspy edge – recorded in a rough style that's quite unusual for a Japanese jazz session of the time! However, it's this style of recording that really brings out the best of the album – as the complicated stylings of Takayanagi ring out with a much more honest sound than you'd expect on an album of this nature – reminding us more of earlier work by Lee Konitz collaborator Billy Bauer than most of the late 70s guitar heroes from Japan! The sound is beautiful throughout – and titles include a version of Charlie Haden's "Song For Che", a reading of Lennie Tristano's "Lennie's Pennies", and a great version of Ornette's "Lonely Woman". CD

An insane amount of work from the great Clarence Reid – one of the secret heroes of the Miami funk scene of the 70s – in that he often spent a good deal of his time in the studio, helping out others – and not recording as many albums on his own! Yet during that time, working out of the TK Records studios, Reid definitely managed to sling out plenty of funky 45s – most of which are brought together here in a massive package that finally gives Clarence his due as a Miami soul legend! The set's got a massive 45 tracks in all – most titles that we'd only ever had as 7" singles over the years – and which run from Reid's key late 60s years through some surprising 70s entries as well. Titles include "Real Woman", "Ruby", "Mr Smith's Wife", "Shake Your Butt", "Caution Love Ahead", "Baptize Me In Your Love", "Down The Road Of Love", "Masterpiece", "I've Been Trying", "Chicken Hawk", "Part Time Lover", "I'm Gonna Do Something Good To You", "Miss Hot Stuff", "Mr Hot Stuff", "You Knock Me Out", "You Got To Fight", "I'm A Man Of My Word", "Funky Party", "Winter Man", and the cut "Why Baby (parts 1 & 2)", done with Gloria! CD

Great later work from this 60s southern soul legend – a set that's maybe more rarities than hits – even though there's some classic Percy Sledge tunes in the mix as well, just served up in later versions! The collection's a great illustration of the way that true soul heroes keep on making great music long after the charts and radio play have kept them in the mainstream – and, apart from a rare few who get a late-life chance to work with a famous rock producer, or maybe get some Rolling Stone hype, there's plenty of others who never fully get that shot – yet keep on making wonderful music like this. As usual with Sunset Blvd, there's almost no details as to where the specific tracks are from – but we can say that the material is all from later in Sledge's career, and still has that incredible voice working through superb material – some lesser-known gems and remakes of some of his older Atlantic tracks. The set includes a few tracks on CD for the first time ever – remakes of "Spooky", "Warm & Tender Love", and "Sweet Soul Music" – plus "Hard Lovin Woman" – and other cuts include "Twine Time", "Honest As Daylight", "Blue Water", "It Tears Me Up", "Dark End Of The Street", "I've Been Loving You Too Long", "She's Too Pretty To Cry", "Tell It Like It Is", and "If She Were Mine". CD