A sprawling 5CD box set of benchmark 80s indie pop from the UK – chronologically sequenced (for the most part) from the beginning to the end of the decade – with so many brilliant songs both straight-up classic and others that are relatively forgotten! Incredible stuff from the post punk guitar years, to dreamier and more psych steeped sounds, to the dancier grooves late in the decade that laid the groundwork for the 90s. Classics and early singles by Prefab Sprout, TV Personalities, Everything But The Girl, Pulp, Biff Bang Pow!, Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, The Soup Dragons, House Of Love, The Shamen, The Rosehips, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonder Stuff, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, James, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Lloyd Cole & The Commotion, The Darling Buds, The Boo Radleys and many, many more! More than 130 tracks in all – with a thick booklet of notes! Kind of like a Nuggets for the indie 80s British scenes! SO many great songs, but to name a few: "Revolutionary Spirit" by Wild Swans, "The Missionary" by Josef K, "Lions In The Garden" by Prefab Sprout, "A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Live)" by TV Personalities, "Just Like Honey (demo October '84)" by Jesus & Mary Chain, "Oblivious" by Aztec Camera, "Velocity Girl" by Primal Scream, "Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy" by The Wedding Present, "If I Said" by The Darling Buds, "Son Of A Gun (demo)" by The LAs, "The Hardest Thing In The World" by Stone Roses, "Catweazle" by The Boo Radleys and many, many more! CD

A sprawling 5CD box set of benchmark 80s indie pop from the UK – chronologically sequenced (for the most part) from the beginning to the end of the decade – with so many brilliant songs both straight-up classic and others that are relatively forgotten! Incredible stuff from the post punk guitar years, to dreamier and more psych steeped sounds, to the dancier grooves late in the decade that laid the groundwork for the 90s. Classics and early singles by Prefab Sprout, TV Personalities, Everything But The Girl, Pulp, Biff Bang Pow!, Primal Scream, The Wedding Present, The Soup Dragons, House Of Love, The Shamen, The Rosehips, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Wonder Stuff, The Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, James, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Lloyd Cole & The Commotion, The Darling Buds, The Boo Radleys and many, many more! More than 130 tracks in all – with a thick booklet of notes! Kind of like a Nuggets for the indie 80s British scenes! SO many great songs, but to name a few: "Revolutionary Spirit" by Wild Swans, "The Missionary" by Josef K, "Lions In The Garden" by Prefab Sprout, "A Picture Of Dorian Gray (Live)" by TV Personalities, "Just Like Honey (demo October '84)" by Jesus & Mary Chain, "Oblivious" by Aztec Camera, "Velocity Girl" by Primal Scream, "Go Out And Get 'Em, Boy" by The Wedding Present, "If I Said" by The Darling Buds, "Son Of A Gun (demo)" by The LAs, "The Hardest Thing In The World" by Stone Roses, "Catweazle" by The Boo Radleys and many, many more! CD

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A great document of a famous 70s TV special from Diana Ross – and a record that also features excellent guest work from Bill Cosby and The Jackson 5 – as well as an odd Motown appearance from Danny Thomas! Ross dominates the set, working with sublime larger arrangements that really showcase her growing power as a solo star – on titles that include "Close To You", "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "I Love You", "Remember Me", and "Don't Rain On My Parade". And Bill Cosby steps in for a bit of dialogue with Ross – as they talk together, then lead into a surprising duet on Randy Newman's "Love Story"! The Jackson 5 serve up two nice medley tracks – "I'll Be There/Feelin Alright" and "Mama's Pearl/Walk On By/The Love You Save" – and Danny Thomas does a bit of comedy, but doesn't sing – thankfully. LP, Vinyl record album

Not the usual album you might expect from a group with a trio in the name – as there's no piano in the mix, and instead the album features some sparkling trumpet from the great Allan Botschinsky – heard here at the height of his youthful, modern powers! The combo's led by drummer Bjarne Rostvold, whose touch on the kit is superb – snapping and swinging at most moments, but often in really subtle ways – with a level of dexterity that we get to hear more strongly here than on some of Bjarne's sessions as a sideman. Also great is bassist Nils Henning Orsted Pedersen – no stranger to most, but already really captivating here at a young age – and as melodic as he is rhythmic, which really fills out the sound. Titles include "Greensleeves", "Tricotism", "S'Posin", "Ease It", "Squeeze Me", and "Perhaps". LP, Vinyl record album

Vince Guaraldi's wonderful music for the first-ever cartoon to feature the Peanuts characters in animated form – a sublime batch of jazz instrumentals that forever changed the face of music in shows of this nature! Vince steps out with an amazing sound right from the start – even different than his previous jazz records from the San Francisco scene – with a more careful balance of swing and sadness, lyricism and soul – always played in a subtle, understated way that really makes the music come through with a lasting degree of power. Core sounds are from the trio of Guaraldi on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and Colin Bailey on drums – and titles include key early versions of the "Charlie Brown Theme" and "Linus & Lucy" – plus "Oh Good Grief", Pebble Beach", "Schroeder", and "Blue Charlie Brown". LP, Vinyl record album

Vince Guaraldi's wonderful music for the first-ever cartoon to feature the Peanuts characters in animated form – a sublime batch of jazz instrumentals that forever changed the face of music in shows of this nature! Vince steps out with an amazing sound right from the start – even different than his previous jazz records from the San Francisco scene – with a more careful balance of swing and sadness, lyricism and soul – always played in a subtle, understated way that really makes the music come through with a lasting degree of power. Core sounds are from the trio of Guaraldi on piano, Monty Budwig on bass, and Colin Bailey on drums – and titles include key early versions of the "Charlie Brown Theme" and "Linus & Lucy" – plus "Oh Good Grief", Pebble Beach", "Schroeder", and "Blue Charlie Brown". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes music from James P Johnson, Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Johnny Hodges, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Earl Hines, Thelonious Monk, Glen Miller, Count Basie, and more – 100 tracks in all! CD

Two of the coolest trumpeters from the LA scene of the 50s – reunited here in a never-issued album from the start of the 70s! At the time of the set, Jack Sheldon was the real star of the date – big on TV, and a very confident, cool player – as well as a singer with a wonderfully distinct sound (which some folks might remember from Schoolhouse Rock or The Merv Griffin Show!) Jack started out in the mellow modes shared by Chet Baker during his early years – but by the time of this set, he was a nicely different player – which makes the pairing with Baker so great – especially as this was a time when Chet was really laying low, and hardly recording at all. The rest of the group features Jack Marshall on guitar, Dave Frishberg on piano, Joe Mondragon on bass, and Nick Ceroli on drums – a very sprightly combo who add a lot to the record – and both Chet and Jack sing on the record, in addition to serving up trumpet solos too. The record is an especially great one for Sheldon – very confident vocally, and really at the height of his powers here as both a singer and instrumentalist – with that wry approach that we love so much. Titles include "Evil Blues", "You Fascinate Me", "Once I Loved", "Too Blue", "Just Friends", "But Not For Me", "I Cried For You", and "Historia De Un Amor". CD

Oki Kim is a really great saxophonist – a spiritual avant player who's not gotten much exposure on our side of the Pacific, but one who's cut some fantastic material in Korea – including this really wonderful album! Kim composed the material, and leads a group that also features flute, piri, bass, and percussion – often used in these really earthy, personal sort of ways – so that his tenor comes across with even more soulful power than it otherwise might! There's definitely a few edgier tracks, as Oki knows how to do some really great things with his reeds – and the album also features a bit of voice from time to time. Titles include "A Game Played In The Land Of The Moon", "Song Of Dongmyo Shrine", "The Great Root", "Brothers Of May", "The Thief", and "Solitary Revolution". LP, Vinyl record album

The first-ever album from The Monkees – a set that's overflowing with great numbers from the teams of Boyce & Hart and Goffin & King – plus one original by Mike Nesmith himself! The whole thing's groovy as groovy can be – and despite any thoughts that folks at the time might have had about these guys being just a TV one-off, the album's got fantastic staying power over the years – thanks to wonderful vocals, impeccable production, and a great selection of songs! Titles include "Theme From The Monkees", "Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day", "Last Train To Clarksville", "Sweet Young Thing", "Papa Gene's Blues", "Take A Giant Step", "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day", and "Saturday's Child". CD

The first-ever album from The Monkees – a set that's overflowing with great numbers from the teams of Boyce & Hart and Goffin & King – plus one original by Mike Nesmith himself! The whole thing's groovy as groovy can be – and despite any thoughts that folks at the time might have had about these guys being just a TV one-off, the album's got fantastic staying power over the years – thanks to wonderful vocals, impeccable production, and a great selection of songs! Titles include "Theme From The Monkees", "Just Doesn't Seem To Be My Day", "Last Train To Clarksville", "Sweet Young Thing", "Papa Gene's Blues", "Take A Giant Step", "Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day", and "Saturday's Child". LP, Vinyl record album

Two of the coolest trumpeters from the LA scene of the 50s – reunited here in a never-issued album from the start of the 70s! At the time of the set, Jack Sheldon was the real star of the date – big on TV, and a very confident, cool player – as well as a singer with a wonderfully distinct sound (which some folks might remember from Schoolhouse Rock or The Merv Griffin Show!) Jack started out in the mellow modes shared by Chet Baker during his early years – but by the time of this set, he was a nicely different player – which makes the pairing with Baker so great – especially as this was a time when Chet was really laying low, and hardly recording at all. The rest of the group features Jack Marshall on guitar, Dave Frishberg on piano, Joe Mondragon on bass, and Nick Ceroli on drums – a very sprightly combo who add a lot to the record – and both Chet and Jack sing on the record, in addition to serving up trumpet solos too. The record is an especially great one for Sheldon – very confident vocally, and really at the height of his powers here as both a singer and instrumentalist – with that wry approach that we love so much. Titles include "Evil Blues", "You Fascinate Me", "Once I Loved", "Too Blue", "Just Friends", "But Not For Me", "I Cried For You", and "Historia De Un Amor". LP, Vinyl record album

Iggy Pop's mid-to-late 70s era working David Bowie as a co-writer, producer and incredible creative foil – in a 7CD box set! It includes Iggy's first 2 and to this day all-time great solo albums The Idiot and Lust For Life, neither of which seem to have aged a day since 1977, a full CD of alternate mixes and out-takes, the original classic live album TV Eye – 1977 that compiled soundboard recordings from the '77 tour – and perhaps this box set's deepest dug treasure trove – 3CDs of complete sets from that same 1977 tour at London's Rainbow Theatre, The Agora in Cleveland, and at Mantra Studios in Chicago! While the Idiot and Lust Of Life showed Iggy to be a lot more versatile of a front man and songwriter to anyone who might not have seen past the manic firebrand howling out front for The Stooges, his live material from that era is pretty amazing too, embracing the Stooges catalog with some of the more innovative style of his early solo albums –bigger arrangements, woozy keyboards and soulful back up singers among them without sacrificing any of the...well, we gotta say it...any of the raw power. Nearly as ferocious as ever but with a real sense of style and craft – and there's a wealth of it collected here for the first time ever. Also includes a 40-page hardback book! CD

One of the biggest albums ever from The Chambers Brothers – a set that helped them cross over big into the mainstream – shaking off their previous folksy roots with a rumbling approach to psychedelic soul! The record's got a much heavier groove than any of the group's previous work – a way of hitting a track that still holds onto their gospel-influenced roots, but which also brings in plenty of the fuzzier, funkier touches that were sparking in soul music during the late 60s – especially over at Columbia Records, where their labelmate Sly Stone was capturing a big audience with a very similar sound. The record features the full-length version of the group's massive "Time Has Come Today", an excellent psychedelic soul number that's been lifted for movies and TV shows more times than we can count – and other tracks include "People Get Ready", "Please Don't Leave Me", "In The Midnight Hour", "What The World Needs Now Is Love", "All Strung Out Over You", "I Can't Stand It", "So Tired", and "Uptown". "A New Time, A New Day" has the Chambers working in a number of styles, sweating hard in a gritty version of Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose" and to some funky percussion and call-and-response vocals on "Do Your Thing", and grooving softly on "Guess Who" and others. Other tracks include Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone", "Love Is All I Have", "You Have The Power - To Turn Me On", "Rock Me Mama", and "Satisfy You". LP, Vinyl record album

A long-overdue collection of the brilliant work of German easy composer Berry Lipman! Lipman was the hipster monniker of bandleader Friedel Berlipp – a pseudonymn that Berlipp used for a series of dreamy and groovy easy listening albums in the late 60s and 1970s, records that were a blend of European tropical fantasies with some of the easy grooves that were coming out of American labels like A&M. Lipman's style is heavy on the horns – in a manner that's a bit like Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass, but with a smoother 70s sound. Imagine the Love Boat soaring through some easy bossa island – trumpet in the lead, groovy TV singers in the background, with soaring strings and the slightest touch of funk from time to time – and you've only got part of the picture! The set's put together with a lot of care – and it includes some English notes and photos of Lipman looking very groovy in the 70s. Titles include "Concerto For Young Lovers", "Night Fever", "Wives & Lovers", "Bonita Carmencita", "Beach Party In Santa Cruz", "Hey Du", "I Like It", "Easy Drummin", "Helicopter Power", "Girl Talk", "The Girl From Ipanema", and "Saludos Amigos". CD

A tremendous record from one of the hippest soul singers ever – and an album that has Gil Scott-Heron really pushing forward after his initial classics for the Flying Dutchman label! There's less spoken material here and more sung passages – as Gil's really discovering his confidence as a singer, moving effortlessly between jazz and soul – and getting superb accompaniment from Brian Jackson, who plays both acoustic and electric piano next to Gil's electric. Backings are spare – just bass and drums – and it's no surprise that the album was released on the legendary Strata East label, as it rivals the rest on that imprint for righteous spiritual power! Titles include Gil's classic "The Bottle" – which went on to become a huge hit in many versions – plus the beautiful "Your Daddy Loves You", heard here in the original version – and the tunes "Peace Go With You Brother", "Back Home", "Rivers Of My Fathers", and "A Very Precious Time". Plus, this US reissue has 4 bonus cuts, including live versions of "Winter In America", "Your Daddy Loves You", and "The Bottle/Guan Guanco" – and an alternate take of "Song For Bobby Smith". CD

Way before Sinatra first grabbed the "Chairman Of The Board" title for his own musical persona, Basie laid great claim to the tag with this tight little album for Roulette! The album's got the 50s Basie band working at the height of their powers – with original compositions written and arranged by Frank Foster, Ernie Wilkins, Thad Jones, and Frank Wess – all of whom play in the bad, along with other all-stars like Freddie Green, Billy Mitchell, and Al Grey. The sound is tight, soulful, and searing Basie all the way through – with tunes that include "Segue In C", "Blues In Hoss' Flat", "Who Me?", "The Deacon", "Half Moon Street", "Mutt & Jeff", "TV Time", "Speaking Of Sounds", and "HRH". LP, Vinyl record album

Completely unreleased music from this legendary Boston group – one that features Mission Of Burma working with leader Dredd Foole, in a set of cuts that are completely incendiary all the way through! The material is mostly live, and even edgier than their studio work – and shows the sonic intensity and complexity that the Burma musicians bring to the performance – especially the organ and guitar work of Roger Miller, which really shows how much understanding of sound and power he's picked up in a few short years! The set features 10 live tracks – 9 of which were recorded at the legendary Rat Club – plus 2 more home recordings that are solo numbers – titles that include "So Tough", "Play With Fire", "Not A Beast", "Touch", "Greatest Band In Hell", "TV Eye", "Not The Same", "Behind You", and "Paint It Black". CD

A strongly soul-based set from Jose James – and a record that really pushes forward the amazing journey in music he's given us over his killer albums of the past decade or two! Jose already has a voice that's tremendous – but here he opens up his production skills as well, and has this way of blending together elements from soul, Brazilian music, and other global sources – but all with a majestic focus that's maybe even more powerful given how easy and organic his vocals sound! In a world of TV-trained younger singers who always try way too hard to show you how they can sound soulful, Jose James is still such a wonderful relief – demonstrated here on titles that include "Black Orpheus", "Dark Side Of The Sun", "Isis & Osiris", "Let's Get It", "Saturday Night", "38th & Chicago", and "Place Of Worship" – which features a great guest appearance from Brazilian singer Xenia Franca. CD

Perhaps THE greatest Quincy Jones album of the 60s – a hard-swinging batch of big band bossa tunes – and one of the greatest American takes on the bossa sound ever! Quincy really brings a lot of soul to the set – syncopating the bottom end of the tunes to really bring out the rhythms, and working with a jazzy flourish of horns that creates all these quick and clever little turns in the tunes! The sound's been heard most famously on the incredible track "Soul Bossa Nova" – an original by Quincy for the set, which has gone onto much greater fame through its use in the film Austin Powers, and a bazillion TV commercials! But the whole album's great too – and other tracks include "Serenata", "Lalo Bossa Nova", "Boogie Bossa Nova", and "Chega De Saudade". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe the best place to start if you're looking to dive into the short but incredible legacy of music left behind by Bob Marley – as the album marked a real global turning point for the singer, and includes a number of tracks that are still his standout classics after all these years! The set was recorded in London, but with a nicely understated sound – just the right focus on all the best elements of the Wailers sound – in a way that creates a magical flow throughout. And sure, some of the cuts here are some of Bob's biggest hits ever – but heard in the context of the core album, they've got a lot more righteous power than when they're cribbed for a commercial or a TV soundtrack. Titles include "Natural Mystic", "Three Little Birds", "One Love/People Get Ready", "Exodus", "So Much Things To Say", "Guiltiness", "The Heathen", "Jamming", "Waiting In Vain", and "Turn Your Lights Down Low". CD