The sound of industry, circa 1969 Italy – which means that everything sounds a heck of a lot groovier than you might expect! Soundtrack genius Alessandro Alessandroni handled the album – and it's completely fantastic right from the very first note – nothing like an industrial album, nor even some of the peppier "industry themed" sound library sets of the European postwar theme – and instead, the music is full of jazzy elements and cool wordless vocals – especially those scatting styles you'd know from Alessandroni's work with I Cantori Modern! Tremendous throughout – and quite possibly one of the grooviest albums the composer has ever given us. Titles include "Moto Blues", "Dialogando", "Circolazione", "Basso Regime", "Vie Motrici", "Escursione", and "Numero Uno". CD

A really rare chapter of the soundtrack legacy of Italian giants Guido & Maurizio DeAngelis – a pair who are best known for their crime/cop movie work of the 70s, but who step out here in a whole host of different TV projects instead! There's definitely some music here that resonates with that famous legacy, but there's also projects with different scenes and stories too – and which provide a much richer palette of sounds than you might expect – as the DeAngelis brothers move effortlessly between contemporary 70s settings and more historical ones, depending on the program! There's a total of 69 tracks in the big 3CD set – which features many tracks each from programs that include Dedicato A Una Coppia, Guaranta Giorni Di Liberta, I Marsigliese, Sul Filo Della Memoria, Delitto Di Regime, and Ipotesi Sulla Scomparsa Di Un Fisco Atomico. CD

A nicely done compilation that couldn't have been easy to put together – probably as solid of an anthology of the long-running, legendary anti-establishment Czech underground rock collective Plastic People Of The Universe – with material from as early as 1969 up to 1985! A lot bands from a lot of places can be described as "underground", but few as aptly as Plastic People. The group was once jailed by the Czechoslovak communist regime and part of the movement leading up the Velvet Revolution. Astounding stuff in a social/cultural/political frame, but the music is incredible! Influences of benchmark western style underground heavies of their time, from Beefheart to Zappa and well beyond, but Plastic People Of The Universe evolved into an amazing entity all their own! 31 tracks on 2CDs: "MGM (Metro Goldwyn Mayer)", "Magicke Noci (On Magical Night)", "Apokalyptickej Ptak (Apocalyptic Bird)", "Francovka", "Okolo Okna (Along The Window)", "Pf (Happy New Year)", "Podel Zdi A Doleva (Along The Wall And To The Left)", "Jednou Nohou (With One Leg)" and many more. CD

Anonymous experimentalists The Residents cover, satirize and stage an arty assault on the classic rock and pop regime! The group dispenses with all subtlety here, mocking the heck out of a couple decades worth of American pop culture soundtrack fodder. Anything that could be construed as "the sound of an era" gets skewered mercilessly – drag strip rockers become car crashes, pop songs are recast as creepy noise and other clearly satirical waves rush in throughout the 2 long pieces, but other movements are less obviously sarcastic, and even more innovative. It'd be smug if it wasn't so damn good! CD

Haunting work from the years immediately before the collapse of Yugoslavia – the first full album by the group Laibach, a key part of the artists collective known as Neue Slowenische Kunst. The album's perhaps the group's most jarring – with lots of very noisy passages, and turgid instrumentation used as the backdrop for songstatements on society, work, and life under the coming regime. Titles include "The New Acropolis", "Bloody Ground – Fertile Land", "War Poem", and "The State". CD

Some of the earliest recordings ever of songs by Elton John & Bernie Taupin – tracks cut at the studios of publisher Dick James Music – the guy who'd soon make enough money from Elton to launch his own record label! The set's almost a lost first album by Elton, as tracks were cut in late 1967 and early 1968 – one never-released track, and lots of early takes on material that would get cut later. The style's a bit different than Elton in later years – still the same soulfulness on vocals, but a bit more psych in the instrumentation – all of which makes for a great "what if?" sort of moment in his early career! Titles include "Tartan Coloured Lady", "When I Was Tealby Abbey", "Sitting Doing Nothing", "Angel Tree", "Regimental Sgt Zippo", "Watching The Planes Go By", "Hourglass", "A Dandelion Dies In The Wind", and "Turn To Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A groundbreaking collaboration between Brian Eno & David Byrne – recorded with a spare, stripped down love of electronics and found sound samples – in a mode that would have a huge influence on countless records to come! Part of the set resonates with the quirky grooves found in Byrne's early Talking Heads records – but the overall sound is much more stark than that work, and is characterized by key found vocals and odd ethnic bits that really set the tone for each new tune. Eno's influence is felt strongly in the simplicity of the tracks, and in the darkly resonant production modes – that classic Eno touch used here before it became a bit too trademark, in a way that could still make a record like this sound great, even when coming from major label sources! A key force in shaping countless genres to come in the next 25 years – with great tracks that include "America Is Waiting", 'Regiment", "The Jezebel Spirit", "Qu'ran", "Moonlight In Glory", "A Secret Life", "Come With Us", and "Mountain Of Needles". LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic work from Syn – a British group who are maybe best-remembered for giving the world future prog giants Chris Squire and Peter Banks – but who are already pretty darn great even without that later legacy of sound! The vibe here is a bit like Tomorrow – the early home of Steve Howe – in that the songs are mostly short, focused, and tuneful, but have all sorts of wonderfully new ideas and trippy touches around the edges – deeper than pop psych material coming out of the US at the time, but equally catchy in its own sort of way! Titles include "Created By Clive", "Flowerman", "14 Hour Technicolour Dream", "Merry Go Round", "The Gangster Opera", "Cadillac Dreams", "The Last Performance of The Royal Regimental Very Victorious and Valiant Band", "Mister White's White Flying Machine", "Love You", and "Sunset Boulevard Lament". LP, Vinyl record album