Speedy West may be the greatest pedal steel slinger in the history of the instrument, and together with ace guitarist Jimmy Bryant they bridged the gap between the 50s Western swing of Bob Wills and the soon to arrive Sun Records sound with their pioneering country-jazz instrumentals. This is essential stuff for fans of traditional country stompers – or sweaty, swaggering boogie in any genre! Tracks include "Stratosphere Boogie", "Blue Bonnet Rag", "Cotton' Picking", "Old Joe Clark", "Slepwalker's Lullaby", "Arkansas Traveler", "The Night Rider", "Speedin' West", "Comin' On", "Bryant's Bounce", "Pickin' Peppers", "Shuffleboard Rag", "Filppin' The Lid" and lots more. CD

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Killer grooves from the legendary Joe Cuba – maybe one of his greatest albums of the 60s, and one of those sets where he took his small combo sound and moved it into a great Latin Soul groove! The playing is great, with the same sort of boogaloo vibe that Joe had with the Bang Bang album – and the album's filled with killer cuts that include "My Man Speedy", "I'm Insane", "Talk About Luv", "You Better Believe It", "TCOB", and "Hey Joe Hey Joe". LP, Vinyl record album

Great work by this legendary hard swinging band – an early 60s American album issued on Atlantic Records, in the years before the Clark Boland Band's legendary run on MPS! Despite the early date, the album's got all the core elements of the band's sound in place – soaring rhythms, sharp-edged frontlines, and some great solo work by players who include Benny Bailey, Derek Humble, Jimmy Woode, Shahib Shihab, Idrees Sulieman, and Fats Sadi – coming together in a brilliant trans-Atlantic meeting of jazz talents! Tracks include "Long Note Blues", "Speedy Reeds", "Sonor", and "Om Mani Padme Hum". CD

A strange 60s chapter in the career of trumpeter Chet Baker – but one that we sure like a heck of a lot! These sides were recorded as an answer to the big success of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass over at A&M Records – and for the sessions, Chet's trumpet was backed by jaunty, brassy arrangements penned by Jack Nitzsche. And while it might be easy to dismiss the tunes as copycat sound-a-likes, they're really not – as Nitszche brings in a much fuller groove to most of the numbers than Herb Alpert ever did – more of a sunny LA pop feel that has the whole group really gliding along on bold waves of sound all topped off by Baker's horn – sounding stronger and more confident here than on most of his other recordings of the 60s! There's a definite Latin undercurrent to most of the numbers, but also a fair bit of mainstream pop instrumentation as well – a style that's bolder and not nearly as compressed as the A&M approach to Tijuana – and one that explodes with some youthful LA energies! 10 numbers in all, including "Flowers On The Wall", "Mexico", "Hot Toddy", "El Paso", "Come A Little Bit Closer", "Speedy Gonzales", "Cuando Calienta El Sol", and "24 Hours To Tulsa". LP, Vinyl record album

A huge tribute to the long legend of country music on Capitol Records – with an especially strong focus on Bakersfield work! The set features 60 tracks in all – with work from Johnny Gimble, Merle Haggard, Louvin Brothers, Skeets McDonald, Tommy Collins, Jimmie Davis, Leon Payne, Tex Williams, Hank Thompson, Faron Young, Wanda Jackson, Joe Maphis, Dick Curless, Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, Ferlin Husky, and others – but oddly no Buck Owens! LP, Vinyl record album

Four incredible albums from the young Georgie Fame – plus a bonus CD of rare material, bonus tracks on all CDs, and 18 previously unreleased tracks – all in a box set with a 48 page book, 5 postcards, and a poster too! First up is Rhythm & Blues At The Flamingo – blistering early work from a young Georgie Fame – a set that definitely lives up to the Rhythm & Blues in the title! The set was recorded live at London's hip Flamingo club – and Georgie and The Blue Flames are very much in command of the crowd – burning with the intensity of a American small organ combo, especially the early 60s variety that often played equal parts soul jazz and R&B! Georgie's on the Hammond, and also sings with a rough-edged style that's plenty soulful, and incredibly appealing – a mode that oozes charisma, but never sounds fake or forced. Titles include "Do The Dog", "Eso Beso", "Work Song", "Baby Please Don't Go", "Shop Around", "Humpty Dumpty", and "You Can't Sit Down". Fame At Last is a brilliant mix of jazz, soul, and R&B – all filtered through a mod sort of London freshness, as early proof that the city could always take some great things from our own musical roots, and feed it back to us with a whole new flavor! Georgie's no copycat here, though – and the sound is instantly Fame-like – a style that's really not the sort that any Americans were doing at the time, and certainly never this well. Hard-burning Hammond colors most of the tunes here – played with a tightly vamping quality – but it's Georgie's charmingly crackling vocals that really win us over! Titles include "Gimme That Wine", "Pink Champagne", "Monkeying Around", "Green Onions", "Let The Sunshine In", "Get On The Right Track Baby", "I'm In The Mood For Love", and "I Love The Life I Live". Sweet Things is a definite sweet thing from Georgie Fame – a record that has him filling in his sound even more than before, with tremendously soulful results! The backings here are bigger than before – a bit tooled in an American soul mode, but still with that beautifully raspy Georgie Fame touch – lots of jazzy inflections on the vocals, and a way of handling a tune, even a familiar one, and really working it on his own level. Hammond still fills in most of the tunes, but other instrumentation includes some nice African percussion from Speedy Acquaye, saxes from Pete Coe, and some nice bold drums from John Mitchell. These come out to the forefront on the classic funky tune "Music Talk" – and still sound great on other numbers that include "The World Is Round", "Last Night", "Dr Kitch", "My Girl", "Ride Your Pony", and "Sweet Thing". Sound Venture is one of the jazziest early albums from Georgie Fame – a set that has him singing with the big band of Harry South, at a level that's a lot more complicated than some of his other work with The Blue Flames! The style here still has that mod 60s London feel, but it also has some deeper inflections as well – modes borrowed a bit from Jon Hendricks or Mose Allison, yet served up with even greater complexity – at a level that really points towards the tremendous growth Fame would unleash over the next few years. Members of the group include Tubby Hayes, Ronnie Scott, Tony Coe, Dick Morrisey, Kenny Wheeler, and many other key Brit jazz figures of the time – and titles include "Three Blind Mice", "Dawn Yawn", "Feed Me", "Lovey Dovey", "Lil Darlin", "Lil Pony", "I Am Missing You", and "Many Happy Returns". CD5 is Bend A Little – a package with 20 unusual titles – demos, rare tracks, and outtakes – including unreleased tracks, IBC recordings, and even two German tracks too! Plus, each individual CD comes with bonus tracks – 40 bonus tracks, in addition to the 20 more titles on the Bend A Little set – a huge amount of material! CD

A vintage set from the great Ebo Talyor – an artist who's been recording new music in recent years, but who sounds even better here on one of his classics! Ebo's got a fair bit of jazz mixed in with his sound – a layering of flute, trombone, tenor, guitar, and keyboard parts with a strong sense of solo – a bit like South African jazz of the period, especially in the way the instruments really open up in the midtempo grooves! Rhythms are laidback, but still nicely present – not as speedy as Afro-Funk, but not much slower either – and there's also room for plenty of lyrics on the tracks, too – although it's the instrumental solos we think we like the best. Titles include "Reality", "If You Care", "Come Along", "Egya Edu", "Enye Wo Nyame Nko", and "Gyae Su Na Nkomo". LP, Vinyl record album

Ten tracks from The Dice Man, Autechre, I.A.O., Speedy J, Musicology, UP!, Autechre, Speedy J, and Dr Alex Paterson. CD

A surprisingly soulful album from this novelty singer from the 70s! Back in the day, Charo was everyone's idea of a joke on TV, but this album's actually a pretty great little session – thanks to help from Vince Montana and the Philly crew! The album has Charo breathily singing and talking most of the lyrics – inflecting them with a slight Latin accent, as you'd expect from her many appearances on game and variety shows in the late 70s. Vince more than keeps things cool, though – providing some great soulful grooves, and a bit of vibes, to really flesh out the tunes, and keep them from being simple disco knockoffs. Titles include "Cookie Jar", "Speedy Gonzalez", "Only You", "Dance A Little Bit Closer", "El Reloj", "More Of You", and "Borriquito". LP, Vinyl record album

A vintage set from the great Ebo Talyor – an artist who's been recording new music in recent years, but who sounds even better here on one of his classics! Ebo's got a fair bit of jazz mixed in with his sound – a layering of flute, trombone, tenor, guitar, and keyboard parts with a strong sense of solo – a bit like South African jazz of the period, especially in the way the instruments really open up in the midtempo grooves! Rhythms are laidback, but still nicely present – not as speedy as Afro-Funk, but not much slower either – and there's also room for plenty of lyrics on the tracks, too – although it's the instrumental solos we think we like the best. Titles include "Reality", "If You Care", "Come Along", "Egya Edu", "Enye Wo Nyame Nko", and "Gyae Su Na Nkomo". LP, Vinyl record album

Take a trip to the sea with this mighty sweet collection – a whole batch of boat and summer-related tracks from the glory days of the 7" single – served up in a variety of different genres, and with a mix of music that would work pretty darn well for a winter cruise as well! The package has all the great look and groovy vibe as the other excellent entries in the Destination series from Bear Family – detailed notes that match the colorful package, and a set list of 33 tracks we never would have thought to bring together like this – with titles that include "Cool Water" by Jack Scott, "Sippin Soda" by The Shells, "The Breeze" by Helen Scott, "Cool Shade" by Don Drummond, "Magic In A Summer Night" by Myron Lee & the Caddies, "Twistin On A Liner" by Joey Dee & The Starlighters, "Sea Cruise" by The Keil Isles, "It's A Lovely Day Today" by Dick Haymes & Eileen Watson, "Teenie Weenie Bikini" by Mitchell Torok, "There's Gonna Be A Party On The Beach" by Bobby gray, "Rippling Waters" by Speedy West, and "Breaker" by The Polaras. CD

A killer collection – sounds spanning western swing, early bluegrass, and classic Capitol country – with tracks by Rose Maddox, Red Simpson, The Louvin Brothers, Faron Young, The Farmer Boys, Big Bill Lister, The Milo Twins, Gene O'Quin, Jimmy Bryant & Speedy West, Hank Thompson, Merle Travis, Skeets McDonald, and others! LP, Vinyl record album

One of those LPs that will go a long way towards rewriting the place of the south in the hip hop history books, from the era before the ascendancy of the ATL, etc. etc. Some of these cuts are definitely aimed at getting butts clapping, but there's more than a few respectable rhymes here, some excellent DJ work, and of course, loads of bass. 23 tracks in all, including "Speedy & Poncho", "Ain't No Doubt About It", "Dynamic Duo", "Do You Like Bass?", "Slow Draggin", "Madness To The Brink Of Insanity","Just Cruisin", "Suckers Frontin", "I'm Gonna Make It Real Funky For You", "The E & The Sea-Gull", "Give 'Em An Example Of How A DJ Works", "Abracadabra", "Feel The Bass III", "Shake Your Booty Baby" and "The Boo-Boo Of Rough J Rough". CD