... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

An early Madonna single, with production from Reggie Lucas and Jellybean Benitez. 12-inch, Vinyl record

An early Madonna single, with production from Reggie Lucas and Jellybean Benitez. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

An early Madonna single – featuring some sweet Niles Rodgers production and some clubby Jellybean touches on "Like A Virgin"! 7-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

... CD

Titles include "Suedehead", "The Ordinary Boys", "Dial A Cliche", "Margaret On The Guillotine", "Late Night Maudlin Street", "Every Day Is Like Sunday", "Little Man What Now", and "Alsatian Cousin". LP, Vinyl record album

A great comeback moment for one of the seminal songwriters of 60s southern soul – heard here in a surprisingly faithful setting that really returns Dan Penn to his glory! The tunes include many numbers that Dan wrote, but which were made famous by other singers at the time – and although early demo versions with vocals by a young Penn would circulate over the years, these later takes are quite strong too – produced by Dan himself, on titles that include "Cry Like A Man", "Dark End Of The Street", "Do Right Woman", "You Left The Water Running", "I'm Your Puppet", and "Memphis Women & Chicken". CD

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... CD

... CD

... CD

Prime live material from the Ramones – recorded on the final night of 1977, right when the group was at the height of their power! If you ever got a chance to see The Ramones back in the day, the sound was really amazing – every bit as short, sharp, and focused as the studio records – but even more so, as the group would work through their set list with razor-sharp intensity, almost this juggernaut of punk rock sound that never lets up from start to finish! That quality is definitely in place here, as the whole thing tears through an incredible set list that includes "California Sun", "Rockaway Beach", "Teenage Lobotomy", "I Wanna Be A Good Boy", "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker", "Suzy Is A Headbanger", "I Don't Care", "Havana Affair", "We're A Happy Family", "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", "Let's Dance", "Chainsaw", "Do You Wanna Dance", "You're Gonna Kill That Girl", "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment", "Glad To See You Go", and "Blitzkrieg Bop". LP, Vinyl record album

The Ramones really caught their classic recorded sound for the first time on Leave Home – the second of their three perfect late 70s milestones. As amazing as the debut is, its two-channel shrieking buzz saw sound bowed nicely to the slightly more digestible but just as cathartic roar of the follow ups. Titles include "California Sun", "Glad To See You Go", "Suzy Is A Headbanger", "Pinhead", "What's Your Game", "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment", and "I Remember You". Also included on the CD are "Babysitter" and the great "Carbona Not Glue" – previously left off all but the first vinyl pressing to accommodate the minor hit they had in "Rock 'N' Roll High School". The bonus material on this Rhino edition consists of a 16 track, 1976 live recording from the Hollywood Roxy – not bad for a record that only had 15 tracks to begin with! The live set is heavy on tracks from the debut, and includes "Loudmouth", "Beat On The Brat", "Chain Saw", "53rd & 3rd", "Today Your Love, Tomorrow The World", "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", and "Havana Affair". CD

... CD

First up is Can't Stand The Rezillos – a record with guitars fast and hard enough to almost be late 70s punk rock, but which often comes off with a more playful, whimsical new wave sort of approach! Tracks are short and hook-heavy – produced by Bob Clearmountain with that razor-edged quality he brought to his best work of the time – and the trading off of lead vocals between Fay Fife and Eugene Reynolds makes the record hang nicely in a space between Blondie and The Ramones! Titles include "Flying Saucer Attach", "No", "Top Of The Pops", "2000 AD", "It Gets Me", "Glad All Over", and "Cold Wars". Next is Mission Accomplished – a fierce little live set from The Rezillos – one that comes as quite a surprise, since the group had only issued one studio set before – but a great choice overall, as the live setting really seems to set them on fire! Things here are harder, faster, and sharper than on their debut – with more punk speed and energy in the guitars, even if the songs themselves are more in a power pop mode – as tuneful as they are quick-moving! The concert was actually the group's last – recorded at a time when they'd announced a breakup – and that maybe gives the whole thing an urgency that was missing before, and which really makes us wish they'd kept recording. Titles include "Top Of The Pops"," Mystery Action", "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonite", "Thunderbirds Are Go", "No", "Teenbeat", "Ballroom Blitz", "Destination Venus", and "Culture Shock". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

Includes nine different mixes of the title track. CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A stone classic from the team of Morrissey and Marr – a record that manages to wear its politics on its sleeve, yet still express things in a highly personal way! The balance is a key part of what made The Smiths go farther than just about all their 80s Brit indie contemporaries – and is what still keeps them going so many years later – not to mention great songwriting, haunting vocals, and some damn catchy guitar! Titles include "The Headmaster Ritual", "What She Said", "I Want The One I Can't Have", "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", "Nowhere Fast", "Barbarism Begins At Home", and "Well I Wonder". LP, Vinyl record album

A full-length live set from The Smiths – and one that's a surprisingly great complement to their studio material of the time! The album's got a nicely different vibe on some cuts – not all-out jams or improvisations, but maybe just a bit more character than some of the studio versions – and the way the material is combined makes for a surprisingly lively vibe – again a nice change from the previous albums! Titles include "The Queen Is Dead", "Vicar In A Tutu", "Cemetry Gates", "London", "The Draize Train", "Still Ill", "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side", and "Panic". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Tainted Love", "Sex Dwarf", "Frustration", "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye", and "Bedsitter". LP, Vinyl record album

A really tremendous album from The Talking Heads – and a set that moves far past their already-great early records, to really show a rhythmic complexity we never would have expected! Brian Eno is helping the group in the studio again here, and the record really shows both David Byrne and Eno's late 70s fascination with global rhythms – elements that are often used in spare, simple little ways to really help inflect the tunes with a playful imagination that goes way beyond the colder post-punk and new wave of most of their contemporaries! The balance of previous aesthetics with these new grooves is wonderful – heard to great effect on the classic club cut "I Zimbra" – but brewing up strongly underneath on gems that include "Mind", "Paper", "Cities", "Life During Wartime", "Memories Can't Wait", "Air", "Heaven", "Animals", "Electric Guitar", and "Drugs". CD includes 4 bonus tracks, 3 of which are previously unissued, plus DVD with 5.1 surround mix of the orginal album and bonus videos taken from a German TV appearance. CD

Some of the most compelling grooves the Talking Heads ever recorded – a set that sparkles with imaginative touches, and railroads forward on a wave of complicated rhythms! The sound is brilliant throughout – a genre-less approach that sheds the group's earlier art nerd aesthetic for one that's clearly influenced by late 70s funk and club – but takes that influence in a whole new direction! The whole thing's even fresher than some of the artier downtown moments that bubbled around at the time – as David Byrne and the group actually managed to cross over big with the record – hitting not only urban markets, but also getting some play from the classic rock crowd too. Brian Eno produced, and co-wrote the songs with the group – and some great Green World-esque electronics bubble through the mix, and hold the whole thing together beautifully. Titles include "Houses In Motion", "Once In A Lifetime", "The Great Curve", "Crosseyed & Painless", "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)", "Listening Wind", "Seen & Not Seen", and "The Overload". LP, Vinyl record album

David Byrne brings his love of funk and soul to the forefront – tightening things up a bit from before, but still staying strongly in a classic Talking Heads groove! The record's possibly the last of the group's initial classic run, and has a surprisingly soulful feel at times – a hybrid of early 80s funk and club modes, played by guests who include Wally Badarou on synth, Bernie Worrell on keyboards, and Steve Scales and David Van Tieghem on percussion. Nona Hendryx sings a bit of backing vocals too – and Byrne really steps up to the grooves without ever going too far over the top. Titles include "Burning Down The House", "Making Flippy Floppy", "Girlfriend Is Better", "Slippery People", "I Get Wild/Wild Gravity", "Swamp", "Moon Rocks", "Pull Up The Roots", and "This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)". LP, Vinyl record album

A classic bit of club crossover from Matt Johnson – served up here in a whopping 10 minute 12" single version! We're actually more partial to "Three Orange Kisses" – which is a much darker, exotic-styled number. 12-inch, Vinyl record

It would be awfully easy to write off the Tom Tom Club as just a Talking Heads side project or spinoff group if it weren't for the irresistible grooves on singles like this one, which thanks to an early sampling has become a hip hop breakdance classic. Served up here in a special promo 12" mix. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A triumphant third album from The Smiths – one that really focuses the energy of their previous sets, and helps them find a new sort of sonic perfection! Those haunting guitars are still in all the right places – as are Morrissey's heartfelt lyrics – but there's also a nice balance here between humor and honesty, which may well make the album the most appealing Smiths set to our ears! Titles include "The Queen Is Dead", "Never Had No One Ever", "Vicar In A Tutu", "Cemetery Gates", "Frankly Mr Shankly", and "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others". CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Titles include "Papa Legba", "Love For Sale", "Puzzlin Evidence", "People Like Us", "City Of Dreams", and "Wild Wild Life". LP, Vinyl record album

The first album by The Tom Tom Club – a group that started out as a side project by Talking Heads members Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz – but which went onto have a surprising life of its own! Like the Talking Heads at the start of the 80s, Tom Tom Club were very open to pulling together rhythms from the soulful underground – bits of Caribbean influence and certainly some sounds from hip hop too – but used in these cool sing-songy tunes that also had ties to the same New York underground scene that gave the world ESG and Liquid Liquid! Yet there's also a nicely complex set of textures, too – thanks to work on the record by Adrian Belew and Steve Stanley – both of whom can balance out funky elements and more interesting textures. The record took off immediately with the track "Genius Of Love" – inspired by hip hop, and respected by that scene too – as was the album's classic "Wordy Rappinghood". The whole thing's great – an excellent document of the moment, but more timeless too – and other titles include "L'Elephant", "As Above So Below", "On On On On", "Lorelei", and "Booming & Zooming". LP, Vinyl record album

An early classic – with the cuts "People Are People", "Everything Counts", "Love In Itself", "Get The Balance Right", "Leave In Silence", and "Work Hard". CD

An 80s pop treasure – and a real bright spot in a mainstream world that often had plenty of clunky moments! The album represents a great step forward for the duo of Ben Watt and Tracey Thorn – as Watt's arrangements are even fuller and more focused than before – still lots of jazz in the mix, but on a larger scale that's really great – almost pushing them into a classic old school style – with a blend of orchestrations and vocals that's perfect for both the songwriting and Tracey Thorn's vocals! Titles include "Come On Home", "A Country Mile", "Careless", "Sugar Finney", "Come Hell Or High Water", "Fighting Talk", and "Little Hitler". LP, Vinyl record album

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

... 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

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A killer first album from the Aussie punk greats – one of the best remembered bands from the fertile scene down under – and a hugely influential record to punks the world over! Certainly one of the best facets of the group is their punchy way of distilling far reaching influences, from blues damaged grooves picked up from lumbering psychedelic predecessors (hello, Roky Erikson) to tighter, simple bursts of raucous fury. Essential! Includes "What Gives?", "Non-Stop Girls", "Descent Into The Maelstrom", "New Race", "Do The Pop", "Murder City Nights", "Anglo Gir Desire", "Hit Them Again", "You're Gonna Miss Me" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

The birth of punk rock as a bonafide genre, and not only that, a record that changed the rules – stripping rock and roll back down raw essentials – and unwittingly appearing as one of the greatest rock albums ever made. Given the stripped, buzzing simplicity, it's impossible to describe this record without sounding like a blow hard, but you really can't overstate what these four goony guys from Queens accomplished. 30-odd years of the most visceral pop music concentrated into 2 minute, 3 chord blasts of beautiful sonic catharsis – and they could barely even play! It's astonishing. Thanks boys! Tracks include "Blitzkrieg Bop", "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend", "Beat On The Brat", "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue", "I Don't Wanna Around With You", "Loudmouth", and "Today Your Love Tomorrow The World". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

... LP, Vinyl record album

The first album by The Tom Tom Club – a group that started out as a side project by Talking Heads members Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz – but which went onto have a surprising life of its own! Like the Talking Heads at the start of the 80s, Tom Tom Club were very open to pulling together rhythms from the soulful underground – bits of Caribbean influence and certainly some sounds from hip hop too – but used in these cool sing-songy tunes that also had ties to the same New York underground scene that gave the world ESG and Liquid Liquid! Yet there's also a nicely complex set of textures, too – thanks to work on the record by Adrian Belew and Steve Stanley – both of whom can balance out funky elements and more interesting textures. The record took off immediately with the track "Genius Of Love" – inspired by hip hop, and respected by that scene too – as was the album's classic "Wordy Rappinghood". The whole thing's great – an excellent document of the moment, but more timeless too – and other titles include "L'Elephant", "As Above So Below", "On On On On", "Lorelei", and "Booming & Zooming". LP, Vinyl record album

The great first album from The Undertones – driving, catchy as hell punk 'circa '79 – they were far from originators, but the tunefulness sets them apart in a pretty big way! Blistering, but loveable punk from Northern Ireland. Includes "Family Entertainment", "Male Model", "Teenage Kicks", "Jump Boys", "Here Comes The Summer", "Get Over You", "Jimmy Jimmy", "(She's A) Runaround", "I Know A Girl", "Listening In" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Sublime sneering work from the great Richard Hell – a key album in the evolution of punk on the US scene! The record marks a huge shift after Hell left Television – harder, nastier sounds – almost on a par with the Dead Boys on Sire, but a bit more artistic too – especially given Hell's penchant for creative wordplay. The mighty Robert Quine is on guitar – and tracks include the seminal "Blank Generation" and "Love Comes In Spurts", plus "Liars Beware", "The Plan", Walking On The Water", and "Another World". LP, Vinyl record album

A late 80s high point for Ice T – and a benchmark west coast solo rap classic! Ice T's persona has always been over the top, but he's also great at pointing out the harsh realities of life in a violent world, and he's in peak form on Rhyme Pays – with the classic "6 In The Morning", "Make It Funky", and lots more. Other cuts include "Squeeze The Trigger", "Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin' Ain't Easy)", "I Love Ladies" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A big crossover classic for the champions of the Minneapolis scene – their first for Sire and featuring some of the greatest rock songs of the 80s, be it college radio, mainstream or any thing – greatness period! The sound is a bit more polished than the Twin Tone years, but there's no scrubbing out the shambling attitude, and truth be told, the more soul-searching material here is some of the best stuff they'd ever record. Includes the all time classics "Left Of The Dial" and "Hold My Life", plus "Little Mascara, Lay It Down Clown", "I'll Buy", "Kiss Me On The Bus", "Waitress In The Sky", "Swingin Party", and "Here Comes A Regular". LP, Vinyl record album

Badass work from Martha Velez – a rock singer at the core, but one with some plenty soulful touches! The album's a UK effort with help from a host of top-shelf talents at the time – but the groove is pretty gritty, and almost has that key rock/funk crossover mode that female singers were hitting in the US – a somewhat colorblind groove that often worked better for a singer like Velez than it did for male vocalists trying for a similar groove. Drums are nice and heavy on some cuts, and the album sports organ from Brian Auger, guitar from Eric Clapton, and heavy bass from Jack Bruce. Titles include "Swamp Man", "I'm Gonna Leave You", "Drive Me Daddy", "Feel So Bad", "Tell Mama", "Very Good Fandango", "A Fool For You", and "Come Here Sweet Man". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album