... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Ice T's third album, and a set that still has all the nicely biting style of his early best! The approach here is great – as political as the cover implies, but with a nice sense of wit, too – that quality that already made Ice stand so far apart from others who were getting mired down in their hardass stance – but without also ever sounding too flip about the subject matter. The balance is what soon brought him to Hollywood, but it's always got a lot more edge on record – served up here with superb production and beats from Afrika Islam. Titles include "You Played Yourself", "The Girl Tried To Kill Me", "Freedom Of Speech", "What Ya Wanna Do", "Hit The Deck", "Peel Their Caps Back", "Shut Up Be Happy", "Lethal Weapon", and "The Hunted Child". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

An early Madonna single, with a nice Niles Rodgers remix on the a-side. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Papa Don't Preach", "Open Your Heart", "Live To Tell", "Where's The Party", "True Blue", and "La Isla Bonita". LP, Vinyl record album

Features the mega hit "I Melt With You" – plus loads of other great tracks including "Life In The Gladhouse", "Face Of Wood", "Someone's Calling", and "After The Snow". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest mainstream rock and roll debuts of all time – and a record that still blows away just about any other later work by The Pretenders! The set's got this raw, sneering power that's neither punk, nor new wave – but which seems to be very much of that moment – a very unique blend of the group's Ohio roots and their London experience – honed to razor-sharp perfection, but never slick or polished at all. Chrissie Hynde is quite far from her ballad modes, and brings this raw, adult vibe to the record that really sets a whole new level for women in rock – never sweet, but never sexed-up either – standing as firmly in the group alongside her masculine cohorts as she does on the cover. Production is great – oddly dark in all the right ways, but with a very simple elegance – and the album's near-perfect from start to finish – with tracks that include "Precious", "The Phone Call", "Tattooed Love Boys", "Private Life", "Kid", "The Wait", and "Mystery Achievement". LP, Vinyl record album

Alright, let's get this straight right now – the songs don't sound the same, they ARE the same and that's why we love them! If you found a way to concentrate 30 years of the best rock & roll into two and a half minutes of beautiful primal energy that still managed to qualify as ear candy, would you try to change things up? Tracks include "Rockaway Beach", "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker", "Why Is It Always This Way", "Surfin Bird", "Do You Wanna Dance", and "Cretin Hop". LP, Vinyl record album

With "Little Bit O'Soul", "I Need Your Love", "Outsider", "What'd Ya Do?", "Highest Trails Above", "Somebody Like Me", "Psycho Therapy", "Time Has Come Today", "My-My Kind Of Girl", "In The Park", "Time Bomb" and "Everytime I Eat Vegetables I Think Of You". LP, Vinyl record album

A surprisingly solid, oft-overlooked end of the 70s set for Sire by Flamin' Groovies – their final effort for the label – and a hard-groovin' gem! Like their previous couple of classic records, this one was recorded in England, with Groovies guitarist Cyril Jordan co-producting, and it's a nice mix of rawly rocking originals and some cool cover versions – with "Jumpin' In The Night", "Next One Crying", "First Plane Home", "In The USA", "Down Down Down", a cool, kinda shambling guitar rock takes on Warren Zevon's "Werewolves Of London" and Bob Dylan's "Absolutely Sweet Marie" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Madness back when they were strongly in a ska vein! Titles include "One Step beyond", "Tarzan's Nuts", "Madness", "Chimunks Are Go", "Razor Blade Alley", and "Land Of Hope & Glory". LP, Vinyl record album

Early work from Dianne – handled with a lot more laidback production than on later albums, a sweetly soulful approach with some nice California touches! Billy Childs gives Dianne some great backing on piano and keyboards – and other players include Harvey Mason, Billy Carroll, and Ernie Watts. Tracks include the nice groover "Better Days" – plus "Welcome To My Love", "Mi Vida", "Sire Serenade", "Hesitations", "Perfect Love", and "Passageway". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Music from James Mason, Clifford Nyren, Family Underground, Pulse, Kevin Burroughs Neeley, Rokk, Luther Davis Group, Lamar Thomas, Mellow Madness, De'sire, and more. CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Hurricane", "Isis", "Joey", "Romance In Durango", "Sara", and "One More Cup Of Coffee". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

Demo versions of every single track that appeared on the PJ Harvey album Is This Desire – maybe even more of a match for some of the songs on the record than previous demo releases, given that the standard record has a nicely stripped-down vibe at times! Yet there's also a strong difference here – a to-the-core sound that shows how much PJ Harvey could sometimes hide behind the larger mix of a record, even when she was sounding emotive – as there's a very personal, intimate quality here. Titles include "Angeline", "The Wind", "The Sly Lit Up", "A Perfect Day Elise", "Is This Desire", "The Garden", "No Girl So Sweet", and "My Beautiful Leah". CD

Demo versions of every single track that appeared on the PJ Harvey album Is This Desire – maybe even more of a match for some of the songs on the record than previous demo releases, given that the standard record has a nicely stripped-down vibe at times! Yet there's also a strong difference here – a to-the-core sound that shows how much PJ Harvey could sometimes hide behind the larger mix of a record, even when she was sounding emotive – as there's a very personal, intimate quality here. Titles include "Angeline", "The Wind", "The Sly Lit Up", "A Perfect Day Elise", "Is This Desire", "The Garden", "No Girl So Sweet", and "My Beautiful Leah". LP, Vinyl record album

Yuri Honing on tenor saxophone, Wolfert Brederode on piano, Joost Lijbaart on drums, and Gulli Gudmundsson on bass. CD

A great early record from Rod McKuen – maybe more of a beat poetry record than some of his later work – with jazzy backings by Paul Gray, and a group that features Tiny Timbrell on guitar and Phil Sobel on flute! LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet sax from the great Tom Scott – two early 80s Columbia albums in a single package! Desire is proof that Scott could still make an electric jazz album sound more soulful than most of his mainstream contemporaries! There's a really great sense of balance here – production that's certainly polished, but instrumentation that's never sleepy at all – those always-sharp reeds we love from Tom, especially on alto and soprano sax – plus some great keyboard work from Victor Feldman, who has a similar sense of space and timing ot match Scott's groove! The set's got a feel that's a bit like some of the few really great albums from Dave Grusin – and some cuts have vocals, although mostly of the backup type. Titles include "Desire", "Sure Enough", "The Only One", "Stride", "Chunk O Funk", and "Meet Somebody". Target features a wide range of styles from saxophonist Tom Scott – some tracks that are in the funkier fusion he scored with in the 70s, but others that have some soul and pop touches as well! Scott's horn is still nice and sharp when he gets to step out in the solo spotlight – more so on the instrumental tracks, but a bit less so on the vocal ones – which feature singers who include Maria Muldaur, Kenny James, and Lee Ving. Other players include Harvey Mason on drums, Ernie Watts on tenor and alto, Victor Feldman on keyboards, and Paul Jackson on guitar – and titles include "Burundi Bump", "The Biggest Part Of Me", "He's Too Young", "Aerobia", "Target", and "Come Back To Me". CD

A lovely title, and a lovely little record too – every bit as poetic as its promise – with haunting trumpet lines by Ambrose Akimusire, nestled nicely in an acoustic quintet that also features Gerald Clayton on piano and Walter Smith III on tenor! There's an understated quality to the record that's really nice – none of the too-modern modes you might guess from the cover image (we'll admit that sometimes we're suspicious of contemporary Blue Note mixing it up too much) – and instead a style that's mighty fresh, yet still pretty earthy – modern, yet never too outside – and a sense of soul that informs proceedings and really helps keep things on track. Titles include "Jaya", "Henya", "Far But Few Between", "Confessions To My Unborn Daughter", "The Walls Of Lechuguilla", and "My Name Is Oscar". CD

A real standout from Polly Jean Harvey – a set that somehow manages to have all the intensity of her previous records, but which hones things down to a mode that might well be called mellow at times – but which, to us, also seems to really give the music clarity, and maybe a more timeless vibe overall! The restraint is wonderful – and it's never commercial at all – as there seems to be even more of a focus on just the right balance between expression and songwriting, given added help in the studio by Flood. Titles include "No Girl So Sweet", "The River", "Catherine", "A Perfect Day Elise", "My Beautiful Leah", "The Wind", "Angelene", and "Electric Light". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic album from trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire – a set that really kicks his career up to the next level, and which is easily the most powerful record he's ever given us! The music finds Ambrose in many moods, all of them righteous – sometimes blowing hard and fierce in a small combo, sometimes issuing out more personal statements in a more stripped-down setting – working with players that include Harish Raghavan on bass, Justin Brown on drums, and Sam Harris on piano – plus vocalist Genevieve Artadi on one especially beautiful number that features Akinmusire on Fender Rhodes! We've loved the music of Ambrose for many years – and this is one of those faith-rewarding sets that always makes it so wonderful to follow the career of any key jazz musician – as we hope you'll also find on titles that include "Roy", "4623", "Moon", "Tide Of Hyacinth", "Cynical Sideliners", and "Mr Roscoe". CD

A fantastic album from trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire – a set that really kicks his career up to the next level, and which is easily the most powerful record he's ever given us! The music finds Ambrose in many moods, all of them righteous – sometimes blowing hard and fierce in a small combo, sometimes issuing out more personal statements in a more stripped-down setting – working with players that include Harish Raghavan on bass, Justin Brown on drums, and Sam Harris on piano – plus vocalist Genevieve Artadi on one especially beautiful number that features Akinmusire on Fender Rhodes! We've loved the music of Ambrose for many years – and this is one of those faith-rewarding sets that always makes it so wonderful to follow the career of any key jazz musician – as we hope you'll also find on titles that include "Roy", "4623", "Moon", "Tide Of Hyacinth", "Cynical Sideliners", and "Mr Roscoe". LP, Vinyl record album

The tenor of Ivo Perelman often sounds best in a more unusual setting – and that's definitely the case here, as he works in a trio with Gordon Grdina on oud and Hamin Honarai on tombak, daf, and percussion! The set definitely has some of the Mid East currents you'd expect from the instruments – but this is less of a "jazz meets world" setting, than it is a record that has Honari and Grdina improvising in free jazz modes on instruments with much different roots! If anything, the angular notes of Perelman might well be some of the most conventional sounds on the record – and if you know Ivo, you know that he's hardly anything but conventional. Titles include "Bridge To The Soul", "Purity Of Desire", "Music Of A Distant Drum", "Love Is A Stranger", and "Light Upon Light". CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

A record that's every bit as trippy as its cover – which features two sexy mermaids delivering love to a giant octopus! The sound here is maybe as many-tentacled as the guy in the picture – as it weaves together strands of spiritual jazz, psychedelic folk, and lots of other offbeat elements – all with a heady vibe that's sometimes atmospheric, sometimes more grooving – and which shifts throughout between shorter and longer tracks in the set! The group have ties to the earlier Heru Avenger project – and instrumentation includes percussion, keyboards, theremini, bass, guitar, and lots of processing and effects – on titles that include "Neuron", "Fathmos", "Trident", "Neptune", "Siren", "Tentacle", and "Poseidon". LP, Vinyl record album

An 80s soul classic from Philip Bailey – stepping out here from Earth Wind & Fire in a set that has him sparkling strongly as a solo act! The vocals still have that trademark Bailey sound – a wonderful range that's never overdone, and which seems to shine especially well on the mellow and midtempo tunes in the set! Production is by George Duke, who does a lot to preserve the jazzier warmth of Bailey's previous settings – and although there's a bit more crossover potential here, the sound is still never too commercial or aimed at the charts. Titles include "It's Our Time", "Trapped", "I Know", "I'm Waitin For Your Love", "Desire", "The Good Guy's Supposed To Get The Girls", and "Your Boyfriend's Back". LP, Vinyl record album

Contemporary deep soul from Barry Jean Fontenot – a singer who should be destined to be huge, given the power and presence he has on this six track release! Barry knows how to soar like a classic soul singer, but also never hangs his music on cliches – as the sound here is very much his own, right down to backing by The Fountains, who have a nicely different vibe than more retro-sounding combos – especially when they throw in a few key tenor solos that really deepen the mood! The guitar is also nice and bright, in a way that's different from other recordings of this nature – bringing out new colors in Barry's vocals, on titles that include "By The Edge Of The Sea", "Second Line", "Desiree", "Come On Down", "The Flow", and "It Ain't So Easy". LP, Vinyl record album