A great little group – not from Nashville, but instead the UK – where they get some excellent production from Mickie Most, who really brings out an edge in their music! Includes their great reading of "Tobacco Road" – plus "Google Eye", "I Like It Like That", "Parchment Farm", "Hurtin Inside", and "Need You". LP, Vinyl record album

70s issue of this masterpiece of psychedelic pop – a set that really captures that key shift from R&B-influenced sounds to much headier territory on the UK scene! Spooky Tooth came to this debut with a fair bit of previous activity in other groups – and there's a core energy here that still holds onto the soul-influenced grooves of the mod scene – which makes for some romping cuts that are almost freakbeat tunes, but which are twisted nicely with some fuzzier production and longer-haired expressions! The vocals have a nice undercurrent of soul – unabashedly powerful, but years before such a style would sound cliche – and the drums, bass, and guitar leap into the fray with equally wonderful energy. The approach is a bit like Procol Harum at the start, but more individual – and titles include "Too Much Of Nothing", "Society's Child", "Bubbles", "Forget It I Got It", "It Hurts You So", "Sunshine Help Me", and "Love Really Changed Me". LP, Vinyl record album

2 early Capitol classics by Lou Rawls – back to back on one CD, and perfectly paired throughout! Black and Blues is quite possibly the first truly great Lou Rawls album for Capitol – an all-out swinging jazz session done with arrangements by Onzy Matthews, in a mode that firmly helped put the Lou Rawls sound on the map! The tracks are mostly older numbers from a long lineage of blues and R&B – but with hipper 60s touches by Matthews in the backings, Lou really swings the work into a whole new territory – moving older, clunky compositions into more adult, more mature modes that aren't nearly as sad or downtrodden as their roots! Titles include "I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water", "Roll Em Pete", "Kansas City", "World Of Trouble", "Trouble In Mind", "Strange Fruit", and "Six Cold Feet Of Ground". Tobacco Road was a real breakthrough for Lou – a set that again paired him with arranger Onzy Matthews, and which even more deeply explored the unique space between jazz, soul, and the blues that became Rawls' prime territory back in the 60s! Matthews' backings are hip and jazzy throughout – filled with bold horn touches from players that include Lou Blackburn, Curtis Amy, Sonny Criss, and even Horace Tapscott – who's playing trombone here instead of his more familiar piano. Ray Crawford's guitar underscores a good number of the tracks here with that clean, lean, single-note style of his – but Lou is the clear star throughout with his deeply-voiced lyrics of older familiar tunes. Titles include his landmark reworking of "Tobacco Road", plus "Summertime", "Stormy Weather", "Rocking Chair", "Ol Man River", "St Louis Blues", and "Sentimental Journey". CD also features 2 bonus tracks – "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" and the previously unissued "Gloomy Sunday". CD

A monster record by Brother Jack McDuff, and one of his best-ever – in our humble opinion! At first glance, the album appears to be just a bunch of jazz covers of standards and pop tracks – like "Tobacco Road", "Shadow Of Your Smile", "This Bitter Earth", and "Teardrops From My Eyes" – but Jack's got some help from JJ Jackson on the arrangements, and the outwardly simple tracks are twisted into these amazing grooves that have Jack wailing away in strange choppy funky ways on the organ! The whole album must be heard to be believed, and the version of "Shadow Of Your Smile", which starts with a nice break, is worth the price of the album alone! Plus, the whole thing's packaged in a very groovy cover, too. LP, Vinyl record album

A real breakthrough for Lou Rawls – a set that again paired him with arranger Onzy Matthews, and which even more deeply explored the unique space between jazz, soul, and the blues that became Rawls' prime territory back in the 60s! Matthews' backings are hip and jazzy throughout – filled with bold horn touches from players that include Lou Blackburn, Curtis Amy, Sonny Criss, and even Horace Tapscott – who's playing trombone here instead of his more familiar piano. Ray Crawford's guitar underscores a good number of the tracks here with that clean, lean, single-note style of his – but Lou is the clear star throughout with his deeply-voiced lyrics of older familiar tunes. Titles include his landmark reworking of "Tobacco Road", plus "Summertime", "Stormy Weather", "Rocking Chair", "Ol Man River", "St Louis Blues", and "Sentimental Journey". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the coolest cuts ever from Tommy Youngblood – a groove that's got this deep horn down in the bassline, which seems to darken the whole tune in a really great way – and bring out a fantastic raw quality in Tommy's vocals! "Nobody But Me" is another great tune – and even more upbeat than the main cut – almost funky, with riffing guitar and a Northern Soul tempo, and sweet horns that soar over the top while the vocals take off! 7-inch, Vinyl record

The first really major album from Rare Earth – issued on their own self-named subsidiary of Motown! The set's a perfect blend of the rich undercurrents of the heady Detroit scene of the late 60s – at one level a tripped-out rock record with styles that almost hint at MC5, at another level a batch of blue-eyed funky soul, with keen appreciation for the grooves coming out of the headier end of the Motor City indie spectrum! There's lots of tripped-out guitar work on the set – reminiscent of contemporary work by Dennis Coffey and George Clinton – mixed with a Mitch Ryder, R&B-inspired vocal style that actually comes across pretty darn well. Added to this is the group's flat-out ability to jam – showcased best in the side-long title cut "Get Ready" – a massive jammer which runs for nearly 22 minutes, and takes up all of side two! Other tracks include "Train To Nowhere", "Magic Key", "Tobacco Road", and "In Bed". LP, Vinyl record album

A pretty great little live set – recorded in Central Park in the late 60s, before a very large crowd! Lou sounds great, as always – and the Ramsey Lewis material is very much in the spirit of the live mid 60s Cadet recordings. Maxine Brown is the real treat, though, as the live setting is quite a contrast to her more staid sides for Wand. Maxine sings "In The Midnight Hour" and "Soul Serenade", Lou Sings "They Don't Give Medals", "Tobacco Road", and "On Broadway", and Ramsey plays "Salute To Ray Charles", "Hang On Sloopy", and "Goin Out Of My Head". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the many Roger side projects recorded during the height of the Zapp era – an album of longer vocal tracks produced by Roger, and featuring singer Dick Smith, with backings by the usual suspects from the larger Zapp posse. 4 of the album's 6 songs are remakes of older hits, given a smooth slick 80s groove – and titles include "Tobacco Road", "Sunny", "By The Time I Get To Phoenix", "Stay With Me Baby", and "Over & Over Again". LP, Vinyl record album

Brilliant garage psych from Blues Magoos – a group that's raw and punchy enough to pummel, but pulled off some sweeter numbers and lighter harmonies incredibly well! Walloping drums, excitable vocals and wailing organ grooves – the cracked the charts, but still bring a fully charged proto punk vibe. Totally excellent, the kind of thing we wish were staples of oldies radio, but for whatever reason are left to deeper rock diggers to discover all these years later. Includes "Sometimes I Think About", "Love Seems Doomed", "Worried Life Blues", "Tobacco Road", "One By One" and "I'll Go Crazy". LP, Vinyl record album

Titles include "Entrance", "Tobacco Road", "Jimmy's Gospel", "A Different Game", "Peace Pipe", and "Back In The Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

Brilliant garage psych from Blues Magoos – a group that's raw and punchy enough to pummel, but pulled off some sweeter numbers and lighter harmonies incredibly well! Walloping drums, excitable vocals and wailing organ grooves – the cracked the charts, but still bring a fully charged proto punk vibe. Totally excellent, the kind of thing we wish were staples of oldies radio, but for whatever reason are left to deeper rock diggers to discover all these years later. Includes "Sometimes I Think About", "Love Seems Doomed", "Worried Life Blues", "Tobacco Road", "One By One" and "I'll Go Crazy". CD

A cool set of stripped down versions of John D Loudermilk tunes that he cut for Warner Bros in the early 70s – including some of his greatest songs! Other versions of many of these tunes were recorded for earlier LPs on RCA with bigger, weirder arrangements – but they're still plenty eccentric here with acoustic guitar, harmonica and whistling! Includes "Ricky's Tune", "When I Was Nine", "Abilene", "Google Eye", "Tobacco Road", "The Jones'", "Lord Have Mercy", "The Habit" and "I Wanna Live". LP, Vinyl record album

Get Ready, the first really major album from Rare Earth, is a perfect blend of the rich undercurrents of the heady Detroit scene of the late 60s – at one level a tripped-out rock record with styles that almost hint at MC5, at another level a batch of blue-eyed funky soul, with keen appreciation for the grooves coming out of the headier end of the Motor City indie spectrum! There's lots of tripped-out guitar work on the set – reminiscent of contemporary work by Dennis Coffey and George Clinton – mixed with a Mitch Ryder, R&B-inspired vocal style that actually comes across pretty darn well. Added to this is the group's flat-out ability to jam – showcased best in the side-long title cut "Get Ready" – a massive jammer which runs for nearly 22 minutes, and takes up all of side two! Other tracks include "Train To Nowhere", "Magic Key", "Tobacco Road", and "In Bed". Ecology is some blue-eyed soul from Detroit's Rare Earth. The most popular track from this record was "Born To Wander" but there are some other good ones like "(I Know) I'm Losing You" by the Temptations – Norman Whitfield produced the track for this album and it clocks in at over ten minutes long. Other titles include "Long Time Leavin", "Satisfaction Guaranteed", "Nice Place To Visit", "No 1. Man", and a version of "Eleanor Rigby". CD

With 17 tracks including "World Of Trouble", "Tobacco Road", "Stormy Monday", "Dead End Street", "Love Is A Hurtin' Thing", "At Last", "Fine Brown Frame", and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". CD

War became so popular on their own in later years that it's easy to forget how they first sprung onto the soul charts – here, in an album of many styles that was put together by the wayward Eric Burdon after the dissolution of The Animals. We have to admit that Burdon was a genius to hook onto the rich talents of this LA combo – even though he really didn't know what to do with them on this record. Part of the album's an homage to Roland Kirk, part is an extended reworking of "Tobacco Road", and part is an overly-long bluesy passage called "Blues For Memphis Slim". Fortunately, the record also includes the monster groover "Spill The Wine", one of the first big crossover tracks to popularize the Chicano funk sound of LA – and a great little groover that still hooks us in today. LP, Vinyl record album

The first really major album from Rare Earth – issued on their own self-named subsidiary of Motown! The set's a perfect blend of the rich undercurrents of the heady Detroit scene of the late 60s – at one level a tripped-out rock record with styles that almost hint at MC5, at another level a batch of blue-eyed funky soul, with keen appreciation for the grooves coming out of the headier end of the Motor City indie spectrum! There's lots of tripped-out guitar work on the set – reminiscent of contemporary work by Dennis Coffey and George Clinton – mixed with a Mitch Ryder, R&B-inspired vocal style that actually comes across pretty darn well. Added to this is the group's flat-out ability to jam – showcased best in the side-long title cut "Get Ready" – a massive jammer which runs for nearly 22 minutes, and takes up all of side two! Other tracks include "Train To Nowhere", "Magic Key", "Tobacco Road", and "In Bed". LP, Vinyl record album

A double-stuffed collection of work from the legendary War – one of the hippest soul groups on the Cali scene of the 70s, and one who just kept on making great music as the years went on! This expanded collection is a great testament to the group's genius – and the way they started out mixing together jazz, Latin, and funk elements with a special Los Angeles spin – then successfully brought in some clubbier elements in the late 70s, but all without ever falling into the disco cliches of so many of their contemporaries! Throughout the years, War remained a group with impeccable musicianship and a deep sense of soul – as you'll hear here on a set of gems that includes "Me & Baby Brother", "The World Is A Ghetto", "Get Down", "Spill The Wine", "Slippin Into Darkness", "All Day Music", "Gypsy Man", "Why Can't We Be Friends", "Cisco Kid", "LA Sunshine", "Low Rider", "Galaxy", "Outlaw", "You Got The Power", "Cinco De Mayo", "Smile Happy", "So", "Summer", "Don't Let No One Get You Down", and "Tobacco Road". LP, Vinyl record album

A whole host of rare cuts from the original Kent Records label in LA – the 60s follow-up to the famous Crown/Modern/RPM imprint of the postwar years – a set of labels that gave the world plenty of amazing R&B tracks in the 50s! Here, Kent is going more for a 60s groove overall, but with qualities that still echo the nice edge of their older material – all in a package that pays tribute to a famous collection of Kent songs done by Ace Records forty years before – the start of a long love affair that's had Ace issuing plenty of tracks that never saw the light of day back in the 50s and 60s! That's definitely the case here – as rare cuts stand next to others making their vinyl debut – on a soaring soul lineup that includes "I Got Love" by The Other Brothers, "Long As I Got My Baby" by Jackie Day, "Down In The City" by The Marvellos, "The Sun Don't Shine Everyday" by The Saints, "I've Got To Win Your Love For Me" by The Simms Twins, "Stand Up Straight & Tall" by Jackie Shane, "Walk The Chalk Line" by Aaron Collins & The Teen Queens, "I'm Tired" by Billy Watkins, "That's It" by ZZ Hill, "Tobacco Road North" by Tommy Youngblood, and "I Was Born To Love You" by Johnny Copeland. LP, Vinyl record album