... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The breakout album for The Cryan Shames – a wonderfully groovy harmony pop combo from the 60s – one with a sound that's very much the best Sunshine Pop of LA, even though these guys hail from our hometown of Chicago! The vocals come together with a really magical feel – sometimes mellow and drifty, ala The Association – sometimes vibrant and soaring, in a really catchy way! The whole album's great – with just a touch of Brit invasion guitar jangle behind the vocals at times – and titles include "Heat Wave", "We'll Meet Again", "If I Needed Someone", "Hey Joe", "Sugar & Spice", "July", "I Wanna Meet You", and "Ben Franklin's Almanac". LP, Vinyl record album

Groovy 60s pop – a mix of the harmony style of groups like Harper's Bizarre, with some of the more garagey sounds of groups like The Shadows Of Knight. The album's got a great jangly quality – especially on the guitars, which are produced with a nice sharp edge that offsets that sweetness of the vocals. Titles include "Hey Joe", "Sugar & Spice", "July", "I Wanna Meet You", and "Ben Franklin's Almanac". 18 tracks in all! CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful set by Carmen McRae – captured at San Francisco's Sugar Hill in 1962 – backed by a tight trio! Carmen is in sweet form here, very loose and and wise, and the group knows just how to fill out the sound. She scats loosely on the opening "Sunday", nearly hits a weep on "What Kind Of Fool I Am", and actually manages to breathe some life into "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" – no mean feat! The players include Norman Simmons on piano, Victor Sproles on bass, and Stu Martin on the kit. Other tracks include a playful "A Foggy Day", "Let There Be Love", "This Is All I Ask", "Thou Swell", "It Never Entered My My Mind" and "Make Someone Happy". CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

A lost bit of late 60s Latin – with a really soulful feel! The band has an extremely strong instrumental sound, with a twin trombone lineup that's nice and tight – and they work with lots of dark descending chord progressions, spinning out tunes that bubble in blue notes, and nicely blend together bits of jazz, Latin soul, and some of the straighter Latin approaches that were taking root in the early salsa years. Most tracks have Spanish language vocals by Luisito Alvarez – and the record's filled with great tracks like "Sex", "Esa Mujer", "Mi Guajira", "Sugar On Sunday", and the firey "El Musico". CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

A surprisingly groovy musical based on the film Some Like It Hot – one of the better of a slew of 20s-set musicals that played big on Broadway in the 60s! The music and lyrics are by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, respectively – but the thing that really makes the soundtrack itself work is the lead performances by Robert Morse and Tony Roberts – the former always a charming presence on the stage, the latter a surprisingly good straight man. Elaine Joyce handles the Marilyn Monroe character – and the music sports some nicely jazzy arrangements by Elliott Lawrence. Titles include "It's Always Love", "Hey Why Not", "Sugar", "November Song", and "Sun On My Face". 2CD version features a full bonus mix of the score – remixed just for this release, with better sound than the original album! CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

A bit hit for Stanley Turrentine – and a pretty darn nice record of extended groovers, with a harder sound than you might expect from the tongue-licking cover, and a title of Sugar! The record's only got three cuts – one of them Stanley's famous version of "Sugar", the other two pretty nice ones ("Sunshine Alley" and "Impressions") – all done in a mode that sounds a lot more like harder Prestige sessions from the same time – that great period when the label was stretching out with some electric piano jazz funk. Butch Cornell's on organ, and his work on the album's part of its success, as is the nice hard drumming of Billy Kaye, who actually hits an Idris Muhammad-ish groove at parts! Titles include "Sugar", "Sunshine Alley", and "Impressions". Also features the previously unissued "Gibraltar". CD

Music from April Stevens, Sue Thompson, Marcie Blane, Judy Scott, Debbie Dovale, Linda Lloyd, Susan Singer, Maureen Scott, Maureen Evans, Carole Deene, Susan Maughan, Barbara Chandler, Michelle Scotti, Kathy Linden, Jackie Shannon, Susan Christie, Helen Shapiro, Hayley Mills, Shepherd Sisters, The Percells, The Castle Sisters, and Gonnie Barrs – 22 tracks in all. CD

Quite an unusual album from drummer Roy Haynes – an obscure 70s Japanese-only set, produced by Teruo Nakamura – and featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano and Ron Carter on bass! Lots of original tunes by Haynes and Carter – and a sound that's way more than just a standard trio date! LP, Vinyl record album

Soul Sugar is a fantastic album, and one of Jimmy's hardest to find on either LP or CD! The set is quite different than most of Jimmy's other work – and it features short, hard, funky tracks that feel more like obscure 7" singles than any of Jimmy's straighter soul jazz work. It almost sounds like The JBs are backing him – as the drums are tight, bass is great, and the overall groove is fantastic! The record's a little like Jimmy's Electric Funk album, but harder, with more breaks and basslines – and a non-stop groove that's a pure delight for any fan of deep funk! Great stuff, with "Ain't It Funky Now", "The Now Thing", "Fat Cakes", "New Volume", and "Bug Out". Groove Grease is a funky organ workout from Jimmy McGriff – a set that's got his famous talents on the Hammond out front of a larger ensemble – but in a way that's very different than some of his albums of that type from the 70s! There's lots of electricity in the mix – electric piano from Horace Ott, bass from Richard Evans, and guitar from Wayne Bennett – mixed with sharp work on horns from Cliff Davis on tenor and flute, Murray Watson on trumpet, and Johnny Beard on baritone – three players who really flesh out the sound! The album's got some excellent stone funky classics – like "The Bird", "Groove Grease", and "Plain Brown Bag" – plus some surprisingly funky readings of standards like "Canadian Sunset" and "Mr Lucky", both made to sound super-nice, thanks to excellent work on bass and drums! CD

One of the few albums ever cut by Billy Butler – the brother of Jerry Butler, and a key force on the Chicago soul scene during the late 60s and early 70s. This one's Billy's sole effort for Curtom, and it's a self-produced, self-arranged album that shows that he was still going strong during the mid 70s. Some of the tracks have a funky soul sound, like the "Sugar Candy Lady" and "Feel The Magic" – but there's also a bunch of nice mellow groovers, in the Chicago 70s soul style that was going down with some of the other Curtom artists at the time. Billy arranged and produced, and this is his last great effort as a soul artist. With the cuts "Alone At Last", "Play My Music", "My Love For You Grows", and "I Know The Feeling Well". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic anthology of Flint, MI soul great Regional Garland – 70s soul empires were built on lesser talent than you'll find on this set put together by Egon & Now Again! Garland is a performer, producer, songwriter and arranger of whom we were most familiar with for his work with the group Hunt's Determination – a taste of which is included here, along with Regional's recordings with The Perfections, 21st Generations, Mixed Sugar, Brilliance and others. Even the few Hunts Determination records we were familiar with show a fairly staggering stylistic range, while holding together as a tight whole – and that's all the more impressive with a broader collection of work with varying personnel here. The heart of the collection is early-to-late 70s recordings, from dancefloor soul, funk and strains of disco later in the decade – revelatory stuff for us. We knew the man was good, but, damn! The set also features several mid 80s recordings with that era's synth textured sound with the 70s soul vocals surprisingly well. Includes "I Need Love" & "Hey James" with 21st Generations, "Get On Down" & "Girl You Better Hurry" with The Perfections, "I Need Love" and "Are We Through" with Hunts Determination, "15 Ain't Young No More", "It's A Bad Feeling" and "Disco Jam Bam Bam" with Mixed Sugar, the previously unreleased "Gangster Girl" and "I'm Sad We've Broke Up", "I'm Falling In Love" with Vann & Reggie, "Hit Girl" with Brilliance and more. Nice notes with personnel, and a couple bonus versions "I Need Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic album, and one of Jimmy's hardest to find! The set is quite different than most of Jimmy's other work – and it features short, hard, funky tracks that feel more like obscure 7" singles than any of Jimmy's straighter soul jazz work. It almost sounds like The JBs are backing him – as the drums are tight, bass is great, and the overall groove is fantastic! The record's a little like Jimmy's Electric Funk album, but harder, with more breaks and basslines – and a non-stop groove that's a pure delight for any fan of deep funk! Great stuff, with "Ain't It Funky Now", "The Now Thing", "Fat Cakes", "New Volume", and "Bug Out". LP, Vinyl record album

The greatest album to date from Sugarman 3 – one of the funkiest combos of the past 50 years! The group's organ/sax sound has never sounded so great – and it's pumped up even further here from some added guest instrumentation, including drums from Bernard Purdie, plus vocals on a number of cuts from deep funk legends Lee Fields, Charles Bradley, and Naomi Davis. The whole thing's as funky as funky can be – the kind of a record that would be selling for $300 if it came out in the 70s, and which is even nicer to have at a low everyday price! Titles include "Shot Down", "Modern Jive", "Funky So & So", "Take It As It Come", "Pure Cane", "Promised Land", "Country Girl", "La Culebra", "Down To It", "Honey Wagon", and "Bosco's Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A bit hit for Stanley Turrentine – and a pretty darn nice record of extended groovers, with a harder sound than you might expect from the tongue-licking cover, and a title of Sugar! The record's only got three cuts – one of them Stanley's famous version of "Sugar", the other two pretty nice ones ("Sunshine Alley" and "Impressions") – all done in a mode that sounds a lot more like harder Prestige sessions from the same time – that great period when the label was stretching out with some electric piano jazz funk. Butch Cornell's on organ, and his work on the album's part of its success, as is the nice hard drumming of Billy Kaye, who actually hits an Idris Muhammad-ish groove at parts! Titles include "Sugar", "Sunshine Alley", and "Impressions". CD also features a bonus live version of "Sugar"! CD

The midnight sugar here comes from pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto – who's playing with a soulful, bluesy sort of style – one that reminds us a bit of Ray Bryant back in the 60s, but which also comes across here with a fair bit of lighter, lyrical touches as well! As with other Three Blind Mice albums from the time, the tracks here are all longish and open-ended – recorded with a nice sort of brightness that breaks from other jazz traditions, and moving in surprising ways at each new twist and turn. The group also features the great Isao Fukui on bass and Tetsujiro Obara on drums – and titles include "I'm A Fool To Want You", "Midnight Sugar", "The Nearness Of You", and "Sweet Georgia Blues". CD

That's the classy Chi-Lites on the cover, but the set features music from a nice array of deep soul talents of the 70s – pulled together from a mix of tracks from labels that include Hi Records, Brunswick, TK, and Invictus! As you'd guess from the title, the set focuses on male singers only – both groups and individuals – and the package has a good mix of southern styles and a few bits from up north – mostly from the earlier part of the 70s. Tracks include "Under My Wings" by Smith Connection, "Sweet Surrender" by Ollie Nightingale, "Star Bright Star Lite" by Syl Johnson, "Let Me Back In" by Tyrone Davis, "Don't Leave Me Starvin For Your Love (part 1)" by Lamont Dozier, "I Can't Do Enough For You Baby" by Tommy Tate, "I Don't Do Windows" by OV Wright, "Higher & Higher" by Jackie Wilson, "Home Is Where The Hatred Is" by Gil Scott Heron, "Take Me To The River" by Al Green, and "Living In The Footsteps Of Another Man" by The Chi-Lites. CD

A record that was an instant classic from the moment it was first released – and a set that's still pretty darn pleasing all these many years later! At a time when mainstream soul was often too smooth or too poppy, D'Angelo came along and not only found a way to return the music to the years of its power with singers like Al Green or Marvin Gaye – but also managed to bring in some of the best hip hop elements of his generation too, at a level that was far more successful than most other blends that had been tried before! Production is nice and lean, and super-crispy – at a level that so many folks are still copying all these years later – and the set's full of classics that include "Cruisin", "When We Get By", "Smooth", "Me & Those Dreamin Eyes Of Mine", "Brown Sugar", "Alright", and "Jonz In My Bonz". CD

A great later gem from Shirley Ellis – a nice change from her better-known hits from a few years before, as the singer takes on some cool tunes that really let her show off her versatility as a singer! Some cuts have a sock-soul vibe, others are slightly more mellow – and the set's got some great arrangements from Charles Calello, on titles that include "Sugar Let's Shing-a-Ling", "Soul Time", "How Lonely Is Lonely", "Birds Bees Cupids & Bows", "Back Track", "Music & Memories", and "Waitin". LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic anthology of Flint, MI soul great Regional Garland – 70s soul empires were built on lesser talent than you'll find on this set put together by Egon & Now Again! Garland is a performer, producer, songwriter and arranger of whom we were most familiar with for his work with the group Hunt's Determination – a taste of which is included here, along with Regional's recordings with The Perfections, 21st Generations, Mixed Sugar, Brilliance and others. Even the few Hunts Determination records we were familiar with show a fairly staggering stylistic range, while holding together as a tight whole – and that's all the more impressive with a broader collection of work with varying personnel here. The heart of the collection is early-to-late 70s recordings, from dancefloor soul, funk and strains of disco later in the decade – revelatory stuff for us. We knew the man was good, but, damn! The set also features several mid 80s recordings with that era's synth textured sound with the 70s soul vocals surprisingly well. Includes "I Need Love" & "Hey James" with 21st Generations, "Get On Down" & "Girl You Better Hurry" with The Perfections, "I Need Love" and "Are We Through" with Hunts Determination, "15 Ain't Young No More", "It's A Bad Feeling" and "Disco Jam Bam Bam" with Mixed Sugar, the previously unreleased "Gangster Girl" and "I'm Sad We've Broke Up", "I'm Falling In Love" with Vann & Reggie, "Hit Girl" with Brilliance and more. Nice notes with personnel, and a couple bonus versions "I Need Love". CD

... CD

Mainstream repackaging of a wonderful set by Carmen McCrae – captured at San Francisco's Sugar Hill in 1962 – backed by a tight trio! Carmen is in sweet form here, very loose and and wise, and the group knows just how to fill out the sound. She scats loosely on the opening "Sunday", nearly hits a weep on "What Kind Of Fool I Am", and actually manages to breathe some life into "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" – no mean feat! The players include Norman Simmons on piano, Victor Sproles on bass, and Stu Martin on the kit. Other tracks include a playful "A Foggy Day", "Let There Be Love", "This Is All I Ask", "Thou Swell", "It Never Entered My My Mind" and "Make Someone Happy". LP, Vinyl record album

Massive Miami grooves from Robert "Rocky" Mizell – not one of the Mizell brothers from the west coast, but a Florida artist with a sound that's equally nice! The album's the only one we've ever seen from Rocky, and it's got a sweet TK Records groove all the way through – rhythms that are definitely on the funkier side of Miami soul, arranged by Rocky himself, and produced to perfection by Willie Clarke! The tunes are all originals – mostly collaborations between Mizell and Clarke – and the album's got a great way of sounding smooth while still keeping things funky – that perfect Miami balance that would soon disappear when things got a bit more commercial. Titles include "Shake Your Body Down", "This Must Be Love", "Never Never Girl", "Hey Sexy Dancer", "Take It Easy Babe", and "Come To Me". CD

Smoking work on Hammond from Freddie Roach – a key player in the Blue Note lineup of the 60s, and a strong link between the label's soul jazz and modern sides! The sound here is a really beautiful one – partly in the organ/tenor mode forged by Baby Face Willette and John Patton in their early recordings for Blue Note, but also stretching out in that way that started to show up in Patton's later work, and in the seminal work from the time by Larry Young. Freddie's touch on the keys is really opening up here – clearly driven by some more original ideas that help push the album past the more R&B influenced sound of some of his earlier work. Players on the set include Joe Henderson on tenor, Eddie Wright on guitar, and Clarence Johnston on drums – and title cuts include "Brown Sugar", plus "All Night Long", "Have You Ever Had The Blues", and "The Right Time". CD

Smoking work on Hammond from Freddie Roach – a key player in the Blue Note lineup of the 60s, and a strong link between the label's soul jazz and modern sides! The sound here is a really beautiful one – partly in the organ/tenor mode forged by Baby Face Willette and John Patton in their early recordings for Blue Note, but also stretching out in that way that started to show up in Patton's later work, and in the seminal work from the time by Larry Young. Freddie's touch on the keys is really opening up here – clearly driven by some more original ideas that help push the album past the more R&B influenced sound of some of his earlier work. Players on the set include Joe Henderson on tenor, Eddie Wright on guitar, and Clarence Johnston on drums – and title cuts include "Brown Sugar", plus "All Night Long", "Have You Ever Had The Blues", and "The Right Time". LP, Vinyl record album

Though one of her groovy Hazlewood produced albums, she only does two Hazlewood-penned tunes on this one: "Coastin", and "Sugar Town". The rest of the songs are the old-timey standards like "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Vagabond Shoes", "Let's Fall In Love", "Oh! You Beautiful Doll" and "Hard Hearted Hannah", though you might not guess that from the hot front cover featuring Nancy posing in a mod pink bikini. CD

A lively little groover from the Sugarhill Gang – one based around the excellent "Daisy Lady" sample from 7th Wonder! The track makes great use of the original's brassy horns – inflecting a bright, almost Latiny finish on the tune – all to set the stage for some great rhymes from the crew! 12-inch, Vinyl record

A big hit for Stanley Turrentine – and a pretty darn nice record of extended groovers, with a harder sound than you might expect from the tongue-licking cover, and a title of Sugar! The record's only got three cuts – one of them Stanley's famous version of "Sugar", the other two pretty nice ones ("Sunshine Alley" and "Impressions") – all done in a mode that sounds a lot more like harder Prestige sessions from the same time – that great period when the label was stretching out with some electric piano jazz funk. Butch Cornell's on organ, and his work on the album's part of its success, as is the nice hard drumming of Billy Kaye, who actually hits an Idris Muhammad-ish groove at parts! Titles include "Sugar", "Sunshine Alley", and "Impressions". LP, Vinyl record album

A bit hit for Stanley Turrentine – and a pretty darn nice record of extended groovers, with a harder sound than you might expect from the tongue-licking cover, and a title of Sugar! The record's only got three cuts – one of them Stanley's famous version of "Sugar", the other two pretty nice ones ("Sunshine Alley" and "Impressions") – all done in a mode that sounds a lot more like harder Prestige sessions from the same time – that great period when the label was stretching out with some electric piano jazz funk. Butch Cornell's on organ, and his work on the album's part of its success, as is the nice hard drumming of Billy Kaye, who actually hits an Idris Muhammad-ish groove at parts! Titles include "Sugar", "Sunshine Alley", and "Impressions". Also features the track "Gibraltar", and a live version of "Sugar". CD

Two albums from Peggy Lee on one CD. First up is I Like Men! – an obscure album of "guy" songs from the end of the 50s! There's a playful feel to the music that fits Lee's vocals very well – as do the bouncy arrangements from Jack Marshall, who turns out to be one of the best musical partners that Peggy could ever hope for! The set's got that nice jazzy groove that really makes Lee's return to Capitol Records so great – and titles include "Good For Nothing Joe", "Charley My Boy", "Jim", "Bill", and "It's So Nice To Have A Man Around the House". On Sugar 'N' Spice Peggy's sweet as sugar, but working here with a heck of a lot of spice – thanks to arranger Benny Carter, who brings in a wonderfully jazzy feel to the set! The album's one of Peggy's best from her comeback years at Capitol – and a prime example of the syncopated, slinking mode of arrangement that was the best 60s discovery for the Peggy Lee voice – and which allowed her to create a unique space for her own maturing sexuality in pop music. The whole thing's great, and avoids the cliches of some of the other Peggy Lee albums from the time. Titles include "I Believe In You", "Ain't That Love", "The Best Is Yet To Come", "The Sweetest Sounds", "Teach Me Tonight", "Tell All The World About You", and "Big Bad Bill". CD

Amazing sounds from the legendary Rodriguez – the brilliant 70s singer who had a groove that was equal parts soul, funk, rock, and folk – and an overall approach that was pretty darn unique! Most numbers here have some acoustic guitar over slightly funky rhythms – perfectly scored to work with Rodriguez's raspy soul vocals, which have an undeniably heartfelt style – somewhere in a space between Terry Callier and early Jose Feliciano, but very much its own mode too! This CD features great gems from Rodriguez's years at Sussex Records – including three tracks not on the albums – "Can't Get Away", "Street Boy", and "I'll Slip Away" – plus other titles that include "Sugar Man", "Cause", "I Wonder", "Like Janis", "Jane S Piddy", "I Think Of You", "Inner City Blues", and "Sandrevan Lullaby Lifestyles". CD

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

A classic set from Stanley "Sugar Man" Turrentine – a nickname the reedman had at the time, given the success of his famous CTI Records version of "Sugar"! This set follows in that same great mode – jazzy, but a bit funky too – although couched with this gentle sense of soul that's perfect for that spacious style of soloing that Turrentine perfected over the years – a way of blowing openly, and without too much fuss – but managing to hit all the right notes along the way! There's a great glow to the whole record – an excellent easygoing sense of soul – and titles include an incredible reading of "Vera Cruz", done with Deodato on piano, and at a breakaway speed that's just great, and worth the price of the record alone! Other tracks feature piano by Harold Mabern or organ by Butch Cornell – and titles include "The Stretch", "Just As I Am", and "Pieces Of Dreams". LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

Titles include "Old Friends", "Immigrant Eyes", "Heavy Metal", "Doctor Good Doctor", "The Indian Cowboy", "Watermelon Dream", and "All Through Throwin Good Love After Bad". CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The original message rhyme, or at least the biggest one of its day, a track that would spawn a lot of imitiations, including more than a handful of followups from the Furious 5 and Melle Mel. 12-inch, Vinyl record

One of the all-time classic Italian film scores – a groundbreaking soundtrack from Nino Rota, and one of the first Italian works of this nature to hit the record racks in the US! The music is a beautiful blend of whimsy and sadness – penned by Rota with a variety of light themes that dance together with a dreamy sort of quality – romantic one minute, dramatic the next – always handled with Nino's inventive sense of musical play! Larger orchestrations come into play with smaller combo elements that evoke the new world of jazz and rock on the scene in Rome – and the whole thing is a musical delight throughout – with titles that include "La Dolce Vita", "Cadillac", "Via Veneto", "Titoli Di Testa", and "Valzer". 2LP set features 26 tracks in all – many more than the original record! LP, Vinyl record album

Three female singers/MC's with backing by the Sugarhill Gang Band – and rhymes that sound like they might have been written by the Sugarhill Gang. Maybe it's not up to the standards of other early female MC's like Sha Rock of the Funky 4 +1, but this is more like a 1979-era slow-tempo funk/dance track than a straight hip hop record. 12-inch, Vinyl record

Probably the best album ever cut by this DC funk group that defined the Go Go sound of the early 80s! The record features tracks that are a bit tighter than usual, with some nice heavy moments, and the occasional nice drumbreak. Titles include "Pump Me Up", "Drop The Bomb", "Get On Up", and "Hey Fellas". LP, Vinyl record album

Covers from Alison Krauss, Melissa Etheridge, Norah Jones, Joan Osborne, Shelby Lynne, Mindy Smith, Emmylou Harris, Kasey Chambers, Sinead O' Connor, Allison Moorer, and more. CD

Music from Byron Berline With Vince Gill, The Lonesome River Band, Ricky Skaggs, Peter Rowan, The Laurel Canyon Ramblers, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Hot Rize, Sam Bush & Jerry Douglas, The Seldom Scene, The Nashville Bluegrass Band, and more. CD

American film may have invented the genres of crime jazz and blacksploitation funk – but by the mid 70s, the Italian scene was really giving us a run for our money – as they turned out some amazing grooves for their legendary run of cop and crime films at the time! The movies were awash in music that really kept the action moving – heavy drums, badass basslines, wah wah guitar, and anything else that fit the spirit of a great chase or action scene. This collection brings together some of the best of that stretch – and, as with other of these recent Sugar productions, adds in some unreleased material that makes the package essential, even if you've already got work from this scene in your collection. Titles include "Il Cappotto Dilegno (edit)" by Riz Ortolani, "Poliziotto Spring M2" by Stelvio Cipriani, "Silkin Street" by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, "Ordine Firmato Inbianco" by Carlo Savina, "Onore E Guapparia M7" by Filippo Trecca, "L'Intoccabile Mr Cliff" by Riz Ortolani, "I Gabbianivolano Basso M13" by Roberto Pregadio, "Body Guard" by Stelvio Cipriano, "Il Braccioviolento Della Mala M10" by Vassili Kojucharov, and "L'Assassino Hale Ore Contate" by Luis Bacalov. CD

American film may have invented the genres of crime jazz and blacksploitation funk – but by the mid 70s, the Italian scene was really giving us a run for our money – as they turned out some amazing grooves for their legendary run of cop and crime films at the time! The movies were awash in music that really kept the action moving – heavy drums, badass basslines, wah wah guitar, and anything else that fit the spirit of a great chase or action scene. This collection brings together some of the best of that stretch – and, as with other of these recent Sugar productions, adds in some unreleased material that makes the package essential, even if you've already got work from this scene in your collection. Titles include "Il Cappotto Dilegno (edit)" by Riz Ortolani, "Poliziotto Spring M2" by Stelvio Cipriani, "Silkin Street" by Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, "Ordine Firmato Inbianco" by Carlo Savina, "Onore E Guapparia M7" by Filippo Trecca, "L'Intoccabile Mr Cliff" by Riz Ortolani, "I Gabbianivolano Basso M13" by Roberto Pregadio, "Body Guard" by Stelvio Cipriano, "Il Braccioviolento Della Mala M10" by Vassili Kojucharov, and "L'Assassino Hale Ore Contate" by Luis Bacalov. LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

The title song from one of the early hip hop movie classics! The track's an ode to the film's slain graffitti writer Raheim, and one of the last dope Melle Mel/Furious Five tracks. 12-inch, Vinyl record

A cool change from the usual from Ennio Morricone – a later soundtrack, and one that features some surprisingly jazzy tracks! Part of the set features the more standard Morricone orchestrations you might expect – some really great tracks that have offbeat larger arrangements that are nicely unsettling, but in a completely charming way. But other tracks are even more striking – and feature performances by the trio of pianist Enrico Pierannunzi – working here at his most fluid and vibrant, with a style that's even more evocative than most of his standard albums! A few numbers have a groove we've never heard from Enrico, and some of the orchestral tracks are mighty groovy too – very different than what you might expect from the 1980 date of the film. Titles include "Cinque Quarti", "Double Face", "Citta Viva", "Madre Assente", "Stranamente Un Giorno", and "Per Enrico Riccardo E Roberto". CD

"We Got The Funk" is a tune that definitely earns its title – a classic bit of boogie – and one of the few really standout non-hip hop tracks from Sugar Hill back in the day! The tune's a killer all the way through – almost a hip hop groove at times, save for the vocals in the lead – and it's backed here by "Tell Me What You See", another great groover! 12-inch, Vinyl record

A killer single from Trouble Funk with the band's trade mark percussive riffing, and as you'd expect from go go, loads of nice fills and breakdowns all centered around a fat rolling bass pedal groove. 12-inch, Vinyl record

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Plenty of fusion here – a heady brew of jazz, funk, and soul – all put together with a nice sense of tightness that really makes the grooves sparkle! The package is heavy on gems from the Fantasy Records catalog of the 70s – cuts that really define the newly sophisticated sound the label was hitting at the time – as it brought huge changes to the worlds of jazz and soul through its unique fusion of grooves! A number of cuts here are nice and long – the kind of extended numbers that Fantasy always did so well, mixed with a few other key cuts from different labels. Titles include "Time Is Movin" by The Blackbyrds, "Funked Up" by Gary Bartz, "Funky Motion" by Ronnie Foster, "Ga Gang Gang Goong" by Rusty Bryant, "Home Brew" by Arthur Adams, "Concrete Jungle" by Three Pieces, "Joyous" by Pleasure, "Movin" by Brass Construction, "What You Won't Do For Love" by Roy Ayers, "The Genie" by Bobby Lyle, "Can't Hide Love" by Carmen McRae, and "Tell Me What To Do" by Johnny Hammond. CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

A huge package of work from one of the first true superstars in hip hop – amazing DJ Grandmaster Flash, his MCs in the Furious Five, and a few other surprising guests along the way! Rather than look at the work of Flash on an album-by-album basis – which would quickly take you into some of the lesser-tier material from later years – this package follows his development over the course of key singles – which are then presented with all sorts of rare mixes from various formats as well! There's also two full albums – the early Sugarhill releases The Message and the UK-only Work Party – but the other seven CDs in the collection are brilliant dissections of the singles – with 99 titles in all, that run through cuts that include "Super Rappin", "It's Nasty", "Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash", "Flash To The Beat", "White Lines", "Beat Street", "Step Off", "We Don't Work For Free", "The Message", "The Message II", "Scorpio", "Showdown", "New York New York", "Jesse", "World War III", "We Don't Work For Free", and lots lots more! CD

"It's Nasty" features the old-school live in the studio back and forth rhyming style, backed by the classic Doug Wimbish, Keith Leblanc and Skip McDonald Sugar Hill band and spiced up with some nice effects from the Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love". 12-inch, Vinyl record

A fantastic comeback for the legendary Wanda Jackson – a country singer that was also one of the first female rock and roll artists too – heard here in a great back-to-basics set, co-produced by Justin Townes Earle! Titles include "Two Hands", "Old Weakness", "California Stars", "Tore Down", "The Graveyard Shift", "Pushover", "What Do You Do When You're Lonesome", and "Down Past The Bottom". LP, Vinyl record album