Great stuff – one of the amazing early albums from the team of Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger – kind of a next-generation to the Brit beat group sound of the mid 60s – one that moves beyond simple R&B modes, to bring in more sophisticated soul and jazz touches! Driscoll's vocals are amazing – some of the boldest belted out in the British scene at the time – and Auger's Hammond work really cooks throughout – at a level that easily makes him one of the best UK organists to hit the scene, amidst some very heady company in the 60s. There's a few bluesy moments, but our favorites are the funky ones – especially the group's reading of "Season Of The Witch", which is tremendous. Other cuts include "In & Out", "Black Cat", "Goodbye Jungle Telegraph", and "Break It Up". LP, Vinyl record album

Some great funky grooves by this legendary British ensemble – featuring excellent keyboard work by Brian Auger, recorded during the period when he was really beginning to stretch out a bit, and hit a much more open-ended kind of sound. Julie Driscoll is still on vocals, singing in her raw sound, but Brian's Trinity group gets a fair number of nice instrumental moments on the set – which are greatly appreciated! Titles include the classic and sample laden "Light My Fire", "Czechoslovakia", "Finally Found You Out", "In Search Of The Sun", "Ellis Island", "I've Got Life", and "Save The Country". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A huge batch of material in one well-done set – a package that brings together four classic late 70s albums in a dee jay style – all produced by Joe Gibbs, and two of which have never been on CD before – all with bonus tracks and the usual top-shelf Doctor Bird presentation! As the dee jay mode rose up strongly in Jamaica during the mid 70s, Joe Gibbs was one of the key producers to really get the sound just right – layering the spoken, sing-song vocals over heavy rhythms in just the right way – less abstract than dub tracks, but also a lot looser and more flowing than more mainstream work of the time – especially in comparison to some of the big global reggae hits. At the time of such fame, Gibbs just dug deeper with material of this nature – served up here on the albums Three Piece Suit by Trinity, Under Heavy Manners by Prince Far I, Natty Superstar by Ranking Joe, and Inna Him Head by Prince Mohammed – the last two of which have never been on CD. The set's got 44 tracks in all – which includes bonus titles too! CD

The third album from Brian Auger & The Trinity – and the first to feature the group recording without vocals from Julie Driscoll! The sound here is just as soulful as before – a tight take on American soul jazz and funky soul of the 60s – pushed along by Auger's mighty work on the Hammond organ, and featuring (this time around) some male lead vocals, which seem to give the album an even deeper feel than earlier work! Auger's included some great covers of American tunes like "I Want To Take You Higher", "Listen Here", and "Maiden Voyage" – all redone with some great Brit beat group touches – and the album also features a great take on Faure's "Pavane", and Auger's own "Just You Just Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Great UK beat group grooves from the late 60's – featuring the amazing voice of Julie Driscoll and the hard Hammond organ sounds of Brian Auger! Auger's working here with his Trinity group – the small combo that had a firey Jimmy McGriff-like quality – as you'll hear on their cover of McGriff's own "Kiko" – plus other groovers like "I Know You", "Let's Do It Tonight", and "Fool Killer". LP, Vinyl record album

Brian Auger's first album away from singer Julie Driscoll – and a landmark batch of funky organ work that made big waves in both the rock and jazz worlds at the time! Auger's really stretching out here – getting past the simple R&B of his roots, and going into a bubbling funky style that's clearly touched by chromatic inspirations from Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith – both of whom are referenced by some of the song structures on the set. The album's filled with killer organ-based instrumentals – some lean and stripped down, others full and rich – and all of them coming across with a richly soulful sound that you'd hardly expect from a member of the British rock scene! Titles include "Day In The Life", "Red Beans & Rice", "Definitely What!", and his classic "Bumpin' On Sunset". Great stuff, and the kind of Brian Auger material that will convince you of his talents! Includes the bonus track : "What You Gonna Do?". CD

Brian Auger's first album away from singer Julie Driscoll – and a landmark batch of funky organ work that made big waves in both the rock and jazz worlds at the time! Auger's really stretching out here – getting past the simple R&B of his roots, and going into a bubbling funky style that's clearly touched by chromatic inspirations from Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith – both of whom are referenced by some of the song structures on the set. The album's filled with killer organ-based instrumentals – some lean and stripped down, others full and rich – and all of them coming across with a richly soulful sound that you'd hardly expect from a member of the British rock scene! Titles include "Day In The Life", "Red Beans", "Definitely What!", and his classic "Bumpin' On Sunset". LP, Vinyl record album

Four incredible albums from Hammond legend Brian Auger – a key link between jazz and the headier sounds of the UK scene at the end of the 60s! First up is Open – one of the amazing early albums from the team of Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger – kind of a next-generation to the Brit beat group sound of the mid 60s – one that moves beyond simple R&B modes, to bring in more sophisticated soul and jazz touches! Driscoll's vocals are amazing – some of the boldest belted out in the British scene at the time – and Auger's Hammond work really cooks throughout – at a level that easily makes him one of the best UK organists to hit the scene, amidst some very heady company in the 60s. There's a few bluesy moments, but our favorites are the funky ones – especially the group's reading of "Season Of The Witch", which is tremendous. Other cuts include "In & Out", "Black Cat", "Goodbye Jungle Telegraph", and "Break It Up". Definitely What is a landmark batch of funky organ work that made big waves in both the rock and jazz worlds at the time! Auger's really stretching out here – getting past the simple R&B of his roots, and going into a bubbling funky style that's clearly touched by chromatic inspirations from Wes Montgomery and Jimmy Smith – both of whom are referenced by some of the song structures on the set. The album's filled with killer organ-based instrumentals – some lean and stripped down, others full and rich – and all of them coming across with a richly soulful sound that you'd hardly expect from a member of the British rock scene! Titles include "Day In The Life", "Red Beans", "Definitely What!", and his classic "Bumpin' On Sunset". Streetwise is filled great funky grooves by the legendary Trinity group – featuring excellent keyboard work by Brian Auger, recorded during the period when he was really beginning to stretch out a bit, and hit a much more open-ended kind of sound. Julie Driscoll is still on vocals, singing in her raw sound, but Brian's Trinity group gets a fair number of nice instrumental moments on the set – which are greatly appreciated! Titles include the classic and sample laden "Light My Fire", "Czechoslovakia", "Finally Found You Out", "In Search Of The Sun", "Ellis Island", "I've Got Life", and "Save The Country". Befour is the third album from Brian Auger & The Trinity – and the first to feature the group recording without vocals from Julie Driscoll! The sound here is just as soulful as before – a tight take on American soul jazz and funky soul of the 60s – pushed along by Auger's mighty work on the Hammond organ, and featuring (this time around) some male lead vocals, which seem to give the album an even deeper feel than earlier work! Auger's included some great covers of American tunes like "I Want To Take You Higher", "Listen Here", and "Maiden Voyage" – all redone with some great Brit beat group touches – and the album also features a great take on Faure's "Pavane", and Auger's own "Just You Just Me". LP, Vinyl record album

Some great funky grooves by this legendary British ensemble – featuring excellent keyboard work by Brian Auger, recorded during the period when he was really beginning to stretch out a bit, and hit a much more open-ended kind of sound. Julie Driscoll is still on vocals, singing in her raw sound, but Brian's Trinity group gets a fair number of nice instrumental moments on the set – which are greatly appreciated! The CD brings together all the tracks from the original double LP – and titles include "Light My Fire", "Czechoslovakia", "Finally Found You Out", "In Search Of The Sun", "Ellis Island", "I've Got Life", and "Save The Country". CD

The complete Blue Note recordings of trumpeter Dizzy Reece – an amazing West Indian player who made some big waves on the London scene of the late 50s, then came to the US to cut a few key sides! Reece had an approach to the trumpet that shared some of the boldness of his US contemporaries on the hardbop scene, but which also occasionally had a few more exotic touches as well – not just in Dizzy's phrasing, but also in the way he liked to set up a tune – mixing modern and soulful modes together nicely, in a way that made him a perfect match for the Blue Note era that boasted work by Horace Silver and Art Blakey! The 3CD set features Dizzy's three Blue Note albums Blues In Trinity, Star Bright, and Soundin Off – plus material that was unissued at the time, but later appeared on the now-deleted Comin On CD – a real lost treasure of a session that has Dizzy stepping out even more strongly than before. Players include Hank Mobley, Tubby Hayes, Donald Byrd, Art Taylor, Walter Bishop Jr, Stanley Turrentine, Musa Kaleem, and Art Blakey – and titles include "Blues In Trinity", "Color Blind", "Shepherd's Serenade", "Groovesville", "The Rebound", "A Variation On Monk", "Blue Streak", "Ye Olde Blues", "Comin On", "Sands", "Goose Dance", "Achmet", and "The Case Of The Frightened Lover". CD

With Ron Carter and Roy Haynes. LP, Vinyl record album

One of Joe McPhee's strongest early albums – and a real breakthrough from his sound on Nation Time (also issued as part of the Unheard Music Series.) The group here is a trio – with Mike Kull on electric and acoustic piano, and Harold E Smith on percussion – and the lack of a bass player gives the group an incredible sense of freedom, letting them wail away on long tracks with a strong bent for musical and spatial exploration. The two most marked examples of this are "Astral Spirits" and "Delta" – both searching numbers that start with an electric piano/tenor sound that you might have heard on a Joe Henderson album on Milestone from the same time, but which take that sound to unheard of limits, pushing the keys and the sax to full capacity. The album also includes the longer track "Ionization", which is a fiercely jamming number with a slightly straighter bent. CD

... CD

Japanese pianist Masahiko Sato is in a great trinity here – working with European players Peter Warren on bass and Pierre Favre on drums – on two side-long tracks that bristle with imagination! The music was recorded live at Studio 70 in Munich, and has the flow of some of the best free improvisation of the time – these boundless lines on piano from Sato, who's almost in a Cecil Taylor mode, but takes these nice pauses of introspection – while Favre does a great job of holding back, then kicking forth with energy – often in bursts that are nicely unified with Warren's bass. Titles include "Trinity" and "Far Trip". CD

This is the Slums' biggest outing so far without the full participation of Jay Dee – but never fear, Jay shows up here on a few tracks, and you also get beats by Hi Tek and others. The tracks are mostly on the short side, moving the flow along at a consistent clip – and the beats are the nice kind of tight, minimal synth bumps. There's also some sweet, soulful touches not unlike the ones we love so much on the best Blackalicious tracks. Pure hip hop that sounds comfortably new, but without any concessions to current trends! Tracks include "Tainted" and "Star" with Dwele, "Insane", "Slumber", "Let's", "S.O.U.L.", "Love U Hate", "Unisex", "La La", "All-Ta-Ment", "Get Live", "What Is This", "Hoes", "Disco", "Fall In Love", and more. 23 in all, including skits and interludes. LP, Vinyl record album

The great Brian Auger reaches way back into his catalog here – and brings together both classic cuts from his earliest years playing Hammond on the UK scene, and some unissued material that appears here for the first time ever! The set's maybe most noteworthy for featuring Auger in some more R&B-styled cuts – including versions of "Walkin" and "I See A Man Downstairs" that have Sonny Boy Williamson joining Auger's Trinity combo – and two cuts by the early combo Steampacket, versions of "Watch Your Step" and "Sidewinder"! Yet the set's nice and long, and features plenty more great cuts too – all with killer keyboard work from Brian, on titles that include "Straight Ahead", "Freedom Jazz Dance (live)", "Straight Ahead", "A Better Land", "Red Beans & Rice (live)", "Save Me (live)", "Light My Fire", "Indian Rope Man", "Jeannine", "Poinciana", "Total Eclipse", "Fill Your Head With Laughter", "Planet Earth Calling", and "Splatch". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautifully sensitive soundtrack for this early film from the team of Bud Spencer and Terence Hill – very different than most of the other western music of the time – which is a fitting accompaniment to the unique actions of the pair onscreen! There's a fair bit of acoustic guitar in the instrumentation, used in ways that are sometimes warmer and more sentimental than you'd expect – played with a subtle sort of character that really comes through in this well-done reissue of the music – and which gets even better when groovier elements on piano or horns come into the mix. Things build nicely as the set moves on, with a very vivid feel throughout – and titles include "Remember", "Il Carro Al Fiume", "Assalto Alla Diligenza", "Ranch Di Parker", "Trinity E Bambino A San Jose", and "Trinity Stand Tall". CD

Amazing box set – five full albums of material, plus lots of bonus tracks too! First up is Flowers – a soaring classic from The Emotions – thanks to some supreme help from the Earth Wind & Fire side of the soul spectrum! This set has the trio really sounding great – with Kalimba Productions by Maurice White and Charles Stepney – and a good deal of EWF help on the instrumentation as well! The girls break out of the rootsier style used on their earlier Stax recordings, and manage to fit perfectly with the jazzy tinges of the new grooves – and, along with Ramsey Lewis and EWF, the Emotions were part of a hugely successful trinity during the late 70s – one that took the indie soul roots of the Chicago scene and turned it into landmark big business for Columbia Records. The album's got a new approach to female group soul that would go onto shape R&B for years to come – and titles include "Flowers", "I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love", "We Go Through Changes", "Special Part", and "You've Got The Right To Know". Next is Rejoice – a huge hit for both The Emotions and Maurice White – whose Kalimba Productions handled this album in the same hit mode they'd been using for Earth Wind & Fire! There's a polished, soaring bounce her that definitely shows the Earth Wind & Fire touch – and which takes the girls miles from their rougher, rootsier soul of the Stax/Volt years – yet like all the best EWF records of the time, the sound is also plenty soulful, with lots of righteous undercurrents. The album includes the group's wonderful track "Don't Ask My Neighbors", a heavenly tune that builds on a long tradition of sweet female soul from Chicago; the super-huge "Best Of My Love", a hit on dancefloors and radios for years to come – and many other nice numbers like "Blessed", "How'd I Know That Love Would Slip Away", and "Key To My Heart". Sunbeam is great little album from The Emotions – largely because it sounds a lot like prime mid 70s Earth Wind & Fire, with female vocals added over the top – ultimately, pulling away with a soulful charm all its own! Maurice White produced the whole set, and it's got a soaring spacey sound that provides a perfect spiritual edge to the girls vocals – taking them way past the hits, into much more sophisticated soul territory. There's a beautifully righteous vibe going on throughout – a sound that's almost like Minnie Riperton at her 70s Capitol best – and titles include "Love Vibes", "Walking The Line", "Time Is Passing By", "I Wouldn't Lie", "Smile", and "Spirit Of Summer". Come Into Our World has the sweet Emotions at the top of their game – one of the brilliant albums that has the soulful trio working hand in hand with Earth Wind & Fire! The girls were plenty great in their early years, but working with Maurice White and company, they really took off – hitting a whole new level that really unlocked some deeply spiritual power in their vocals! And sure, the approach also yielded the group plenty of hits – but for good reason, too – given the classic quality and all-great nature of a set like this. Maurice White produced, and the lineup is filled with plenty of Earth Wind & Fire players too – working with some great arrangements from Tom Tom 84, Wade Marcus, and others. Tunes are balanced between clubby numbers and some nice midtempo moments – and titles include "Where Is Your Love", "Cause I Love You", "Come Into My World", "On & On", "I Should Be Dancing", "Layed Back", and "Yes I Am". New Affair has The Emotions breaking free a bit from the Earth Wind & Fire influence, and grooving nicely with a sweet 80s feel! The girls' voices are still quite wonderful – some of the deepest harmonies in the female soul world at the time – and the tunes kick it up nicely in a blend of snapping bassy club tracks and mellower cuts that sweetly sway with their great vocals! Loads of wonderful tracks – and an album not to miss! Titles include "Turn It Out", "There'll Never Be Another Moment", "Now That I Know", "Love Lies", "When You Gonna Wake Up", and "Here You Come Again". 3CD set features 8 bonus tracks – including "Boogie Wonderland (12" mix", "Don't Ask My Neighbors (single version)", "I Should Be Dancin (single version)", "My Baby Dance", "Changes", "Where Is Your Love (single version)", and "Flowers (single version)". CD

One of the grooviest spaghetti western scores we've ever heard – penned for an early collaboration between Terence Hill and Bud Spencer! The main theme "Trinity" starts off with some cool vocal backing by Alessandro Alessandroni's I Cantori Moderni, singing underneath the English-language lead vocal – and the group also make an appearance on the film's reprise of this song at the end of the movie. Other tracks mix together guitar, organ, whistling, and some other cool sonic elements that give the soundtrack a cool late 60s feel that reminds us more of some lost French gem than an Italian thriller! Titles include "Lazy Cowboy", "Un Cowboy e Due Ragazze", "Di Fronte Ai Killers", "Trinity: Con La Stella Di Viceseriffo", and "C'e Un Tempo Per Vincere". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the grooviest spaghetti western scores we've ever heard – penned for an early collaboration between Terence Hill and Bud Spencer! The main theme "Trinity" starts off with some cool vocal backing by Alessandro Alessandroni's I Cantori Moderni, singing underneath the English-language lead vocal – and the group also make an appearance on the film's reprise of this song at the end of the movie. Other tracks mix together guitar, organ, whistling, and some other cool sonic elements that give the soundtrack a cool late 60s feel that reminds us more of some lost French gem than an Italian thriller! Titles include "Lazy Cowboy", "Un Cowboy e Due Ragazze", "Di Fronte Ai Killers", "Trinity Con La Stella Di Viceseriffo", and "C'e Un Tempo Per Vincere". This huge 2CD version offers up the most overwhelming batch of music we've ever seen from the movie and the recording sessions – 16 tracks from the film, 11 more alternate tracks, and then 25 more bonus cuts in all! CD

One of the grooviest spaghetti western scores we've ever heard – penned for an early collaboration between Terence Hill and Bud Spencer! The main theme "Trinity" starts off with some cool vocal backing by Alessandro Alessandroni's I Cantori Moderni, singing underneath the English-language lead vocal – and the group also make an appearance on the film's reprise of this song at the end of the movie. Other tracks mix together guitar, organ, whistling, and some other cool sonic elements that give the soundtrack a cool late 60s feel that reminds us more of some lost French gem than an Italian thriller! Titles include "Lazy Cowboy", "Un Cowboy e Due Ragazze", "Di Fronte Ai Killers", "Trinity: Con La Stella Di Viceseriffo", and "C'e Un Tempo Per Vincere". LP, Vinyl record album

Osunlade's always had a sound that's deep, but this time around his entire approach seems even deeper than ever – maybe because this lavish package is as much a visual treat as it is an audio one! The set's as much of a book as it is a record – a heavy, hardcover package that has beautiful images on each page, writings too – all in tribute to the Orishas who've become a continuing inspiration for Osunlade – and helped move his music away from just simple dancefloor fare! And yet the tracks groove nicely, too – all in that deepest of house modes that the man's been giving us for many years – woven from strands of different cultural inspiration, and given a contemporary soulful spin – mostly from Osunlade himself on live drums, moog, Fender Rhodes, theremin, and other instrumentation – as well as vocals, and some guest help from Gabriele Poso, Oveous Maximus, Chateau Flight, and Tanya Blount. Titles include "No Way", "Pheramones", "Ser Al Santismo", "A Day Without", "Yeku Yeku", "Man O Wirdz", "Trinity Ov Me", "Idiosyncracy", and "Walkin In Paris". LP, Vinyl record album

Life! Liberty! Vengeance! A wild and very cool soundtrack for Tarantino's dual Blacksploitation/Spaghetti Western homage Django Unchained – featuring bits from some of our favorite Italian western composers mixed up with classic and contemporary funky soul and hip hop! It's the kind of soundtrack that could only happen for Quentin Tarantino – with rare and hard-to-find compositions by Luis Bacalov, Ennio Morricone, Riz Ortolani and Jerry Goldsmith on one hand – along with a few seemingly antithetical new compositions on the other – including a track penned by star Jamie Foxx for Rick Ross, a James Brown "Payback" remix with a vocal from the 2Pac archive, plus ones by Anthony Hamilton, John Legend and others! Last but not least, it's got some great bits of film dialogue by Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. Titles include "Django" by Luis Bacalov, "The Braying Mule" by Ennio Morricone, "Nicaragua" by Jerry Goldsmith with Pat Metheny, "Day Of Anger" by Riz Ortolani, "Unchained (The Payback/Untouchable)" by James Brown with 2Pac, "Who Did That To You?" by John Legend, "100 Black Coffins" by Rick Ross, "Trinity (Titoli)" by Annibale E I Cantori Moderni and many more. CD

An overlooked album of blue-eyed soul from Essra Mohawk – a singer who seemed to get better as the 70s moved on, and who works here with some nice jazzy touches in the backings! The album's got some great arrangements from Sonny Burke, who also plays keyboards – and the overall presentation of the album is more soul than you might expect, right down to some of the clubbier rhythms at the bottom, which are the more familiar approach of the Private Stock label at the time! Essra's vocals are great throughout – very distinct, in ways that make the album a surprising treasure – on titles that include "Summersong", "I Wanna Feel Ya", "God Help It", "Appointment With A Dream", and "Holy Trinity". CD

Soaring organ work from Brian Auger's Oblivion Express – and arguably the greatest album he ever cut with this post-Trinity group! The sound here is clean and lean – with Brian himself on a mix of organ, piano, and moog – really hitting a nice jazz funk mode that drops some of the bluesier touches of earlier years, and goes for a 70s-styled sound that we really like a lot – and which even makes us like the vocals a bit more than usual! Backings are mostly spare bass, drums, and percussion – and the set's got a great remake of "Inner City Blues", plus the spacey original "Light On The Path", a nice cover of "Compared To What", plus "Whenever You're Ready" and "Voices Of Other Times". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the earliest albums on Motown – and the only one ever cut by Eddie Holland! Eddie's best known as a producer, arranger, and songwriter – part of the holy Holland-Dozier-Holland trinity – but back in his early days, he was a soulful tenor, with a sound and style that was a bit like Jackie Wilson or Sam Cooke – high in range, but full of depth in feeling too – with a quality that makes this rare album a real treasure! The set's got a great early Motown feel all the way through – that perfect bridge between R&B and soul, but nice and tight, too – really moving forward through the strength of Holland's musical vision. Eddie produced along with William Stevenson – and titles include "Take A Chance On Me", "If Cleopatra Took A Chance", "Last Night I Had A Vision", "What About Me", and "Jamie", which was a relatively big single. LP, Vinyl record album

A fantastic CD collection – one that brings together all five volumes of Stereolab's Switched On albums in one set – a huge collection of unusual material and rare singles! On the original Switched On record, moog, fuzz, and farfisa have never sounded so great together – and although these guys drank deep of the well of 60s pop magic before making this modern-day classic – they also come off sounding pretty darn original on their own! When this gem of a record first hit the world, it was as if all of us were hearing music from the cosmos for years, but could never find a way to make it part of our everyday lives. Then along come Tim Gane, Laetitia Sadier, and crew – and completely change the world for the better! An album that no home should be without – with titles that include "Contact", "Super-Electric", "Doubt", "Brittle", "Au Grand Jour", "The Way Will Be Opening", and "Changer". Refried Ectoplasm is the second in the holy trinity of "switched on" albums from Stereolab – a set that collects together all the unusual recordings and other side bits the group were doing in the early years of their career – standing strong as a testament to their non-stop efforts to forever push the boundaries of electric fuzzy pop! The vocals Laetitia Sadier are completely sublime – almost a bridge between the darker modes of the previous pop generation and all the new ideas of the world to come – when the rest of rock music would finally catch up to these guys, and realize that the best path to the future is through the past! Titles include "Farfisa", "John Cage Bubblegum", "Tempter", "Exploding Head Movie", "French Disko", "Harmonium", "Revox", "Mountain", and "Sadistic". By the time of Aluminum Tunes (Switched On Vol 3) – it had only been a few years since the previous Switched On set, but Stereolab had already created so much musical magic, they needed a double-length record to keep the whole thing intact! The sound here is somehow getting even more dreamy and wonderful – definitely showing their work with the mighty Sean O'Hagan, and also really opening up into all the many musical ideas that Tim Gane was picking up from his never-ending search for unusual records! The 60s swirl through time and space, and make the future sound even better than we could have imagined it – while the Channel is drained, and England and France become one in a genius marriage of pure pop modes. Titles include "The Extension Trip", "How To Play Your Internal Organs Overnight", "Space Moment", "Iron Man", "The Long Hair Of Death", "One Note Samba/Surfboard", "Percolations", "1000 Miles An Hour", "Klang Tone", and a great take on the theme to "Get Carter". Switched On 4 is full of fantastic sounds from Stereolab – an assortment of rare singles and other unusual recordings that were mostly issued on their own Duophonic label, and which are far more obscure than their bigger label albums during the same period! Even though Stereolab gave the world some undeniable classics in the late 90s and early 00s, they were also working endlessly, and seemed to record more than they could ever fit on a full length set – which resulted in all the cool singles, limited releases, and other material included here – not dusty tapes pulled from the archives, but beautiful work that often returns the group to all the space age charms of their first few records! The package is huge – 25 tracks in all, of varying length – and titles include "Barok Plastik", "Calimero", "Fried Monkey Eggs (voc)", "Solar Throw Away", "Variation One", "Monkey Jelly", "Explosante Fixe", "Jump Drive Shut Out", "The Super-It", "L'Exotisme Interieur", "Pandora's Box Of Worms", "Retrograde Mirror Form", "Nomus E Phusis", "I Feel The Air Of Another Planet", "Outer Bongolia", and "Intervals". Includes tracks from Duophonic 45s, Underground Is Coming EP, Moog, First Of The Microbe Hunters, and work from compilations, unreleased tracks, and even a collaboration with Brigitte Fontaine! Switched On 5 is maybe the coolest entry so far in this really wonderful series – a set that's overflowing with rare and unusual work from Stereolab – most of it done at a time when the group were riding high on a major label, but still managed to issued a huge amount of music on their own, and work in a variety of collaborative settings too! One of our favorite is their work with Nurse With Wound, and tracks from that partnership begin this set – which then moves into rare singles, work with artists, compilation contributions, and plenty more – all with the usual Stereolab charm, but often with a nicely different vibe too! Titles include "Simple Headphone Mind", "Symbolic Logic Of Now", "Magne Music", "Forensic Itch", "Spool Of Collusion", "Robot Riot", "Trippin With The Birds", "Cybele's Reverie (live)", "Nth Degrees, "Refractions In The Plastic Pulse (Autechre Feebate mix)", and "Plastic Mile (original version)". CD

Discomix versions of stellar late 70s and early 80s selections from Joe Gibbs & Errol Thompson – giving the extended mix treatment to some stellar singles by a number of great vocalists and augmented by the top notch players! The approach essentially pairs up jams for an extended mix – running 6 to 8 minutes each – and the musician ship is incredible! Players including Sly Dunbar, Lloyd Parks, Ossie Hibbert, Tommy McCook and others. Volume 1 includes "Feeling Soul" from Ruddy Thomas & Trinity, "My Man/Blouse & Skirt" by Marcia Aitken & Trinity, "How Can I Leave You/Bubbling Love" by Dennis Brown & Prince Mohammed, "A Win Them/News Carrier" by Leo Graham & I Roy, "Natty Contractor/Drunken Master" by Michael Black & Ranking Joe and more. CD

A definite breakout from Louisa Mark – a set of smooth-stepping rhythms with plenty of Jamaican elements in the mix – yet served up in a warm London vibe that's plenty soulful too! The mix of modes is great – and makes the record a lovers' rock classic right from the get-go – and a great evolution of 70s reggae into some soulful styles for the 80s! Producer Clem Bushay does a great job with the music – keeping things tight, yet never in a way that's commercial at all – just compressed enough to let Louisa's vocals really sparkle in the lead. There's a heartbreaking quality to most tunes – an element that really furthers the soul music aspect of the record – and titles include "Reunited", "People In Love", "6 Six Street", "Even Though You're Gone", "Baby Simone", and "He Used To Be My Man". Also features bonus tracks – "Gone Out" by Louisa Mark with Bushranger, "Step It Brother Clem" by Trinity, and "Natty Go Dey Voluntarily" by Jah Son. CD

Heavy dubs by the Mad Professor of Massive Attack's great Protection LP. The Professor takes the trip hop pioneer's album into uncharted territory with some great atmospheric dub renderings of the tracks. 8 tracks in all, including "Radiation Ruling The Nation (Protection)", "Bumper Ball Dub (Karmacoma)", "Trinity Dub (Three)", "Cool Monsoon (Weather Storm)", "Eternal Feedback (Sly)", "Moving Dub (Better Things)", "I Spy (Spying Glass)" and "Backward Sucking (Heat Miser)". CD

Compelling compositions from the great Henry Threadgill – recorded here with a really like-minded batch of players who perfectly help him realize his musical vision! There's a nicely snakey feel to some of the tunes here – almost a journey in jazz expression from the left side of the spectrum – lead with a bit more strength than some of Threadgill's other contemporaries, but still allowing plenty of room for solo expression! Two percussionists drive the ensemble – Pheeroan Aklaff and John Betsch – and other players include Ray Anderson on trombone, Rasul Siddik on trumpet, Fred Hopkins on bass, and Deidre Murray on cello – as well as Threadgill himself on flute, alto, tenor, and clarinet. Amina Claudine Myers contributes vocals on one number – "A Piece Of Software", which features lyrics by Cassandra Wilson – and other titles include "Just Trinity The Man", "Homeostasis", "Higher Places", "Subject To Change", and "This". LP, Vinyl record album

Long John Baldry is best remembered for one massive hit in the early 70s – but at the start of his career, he was one of the key artists on the UK scene mixing together blues, soul, R&B, and even a touch of jazz – as you'll hear here in a series of rare BBC material that captures Baldry with two very hip groups! The first half of the record features John on vocals as part of Steampacket – a group that also features a very young Rod Stewart, plus the great Julie Driscoll on vocals too – backed by the Trinity combo of organist Brian Auger – who would soon go on to make some great records with Julie. The second half features Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men – a group with John as the sole singer, plus Al Gay and Stan Robinson on saxes, and Geoff Bradford on guitar. Most of the tracks on the record are mod remakes of American tunes – including "How Long Will It Last", "It's All Right", "Five Long Years", "Speak Your Piece", "Lord Remember Me", "Going To A Go Go", "Jump For Joy", "Didn't Want To Do It", and "The Drifter". LP, Vinyl record album