... CD

... CD

One of the earliest sets issued under the name of the Lighthouse All-Stars – that hip assemblage of west coast players headed by bassist Howard Rumsey – hardly a household name on his own, but well-remembered for all the great work done at this famous club! The lineup is a who's who of key players on the west coast at the time – Shorty Rogers and Maynard Ferguson on trumpet, Jimmy Giuffre and Bob Cooper on tenor, Hampton Hawes on piano, Milt Bernhart on trombone, and Shelly Manne on drums – and some tracks are a bit longer than usual, offering up freer solo space than you're likely to get on other west coast dates – a key contribution of the All-Stars recording mode. Titles include "Creme De Menthe", "Four Others", "La Sonicalli", "Morgan Davis", "Bernie's Tune", "Viva Zapata", and "All The Things You Are". LP, Vinyl record album

One of Lonnie Liston Smith's most spiritual sessions, and the record that most clearly shows his roots with Pharoah Sanders! The vibe here is much more jazz-based than on some of Lonnie's other records for Flying Dutchman – with Smith playing as much acoustic piano as he does electric, using the former in long-spiralling lines that have a beautifully meditative quality, and which give the album a real Strata East-like sound. Mtume and Sonny Morgan play percussion, Cecil McBee plays bass, and the real star of the album may well be George Barron – who turns in some beautiful Sonny Fortune-like work on tenor and soprano sax! Titles include "Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord", "Rejuvenation", "Astral Traveling", "I Mani", "Aspirations", and "In Search Of Truth". LP, Vinyl record album

Easily one of Donovan's most successful albums – but also a brilliant blend of folk and jazz that forged a bold new sound in the 60s! Part of the strength of the set comes from arranger John Cameron – an artist that we love for his jazz and easy work of the late 60s, and who's working here with players that include British jazzmen Phil Seamen, Tony Carr, Ronnie Ross, and Harold McNair! The instrumental component of the album alone is worth the price of admission – as Cameron gently blends together moddish and trippy styles, alongside some folksier vocals and guitar from Donovan. But it's also Donovan's own extrapolation of styles of the time that really makes the album a masterpiece – a strange post-folk mode of expression that's almost a British counterpart to the genius of Simon & Garfunkel, but which is arguably darker and more intellectual. Apart from classic hits like "Museum" and "Mellow Yellow", the album also features some moodier brilliance on tracks that include "The Observation", "Hampstead Incident", "Sunny South Kensington", "Writer In The Sun", "Sand & Foam", and "House Of Jansch". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

Maybe not the wildest record in the genre of 60s monster rock, but a set that's still got plenty of weird and wonderful stuff going on! There's not really any vocals, so the set avoids the "Monster Mash" novelty vibe – but it more than makes up for it with the use of plenty of odd sound effects amidst the echoey production of the rocking instrumentation – almost as if some surf/hot rod combo showed up to play a gig in a spot that turned out to be a haunted house – and they kept on rocking while all the ghouls showed up for the party! Titles include "Fly Me To The Goon", "Chained", "A Taste Of Poison", "Mummy's Little Boy", "Good Noose", "The Wrist Twist", and "Shoot A Nanny". LP, Vinyl record album

With Lou Stein on piano, Jimmy Crawford on drums, and Milt Hinton on bass. LP, Vinyl record album

A great set of groovers from the Cameo/Parkway label – a company that gave the world the biggest twist record of the 60s, but which also was perfectly poised to deliver all sorts of other upbeat tracks as well! The label was in Philly – a huge dance town in the early days of soul and rock – and the set list here is filled with the kind of cuts that were Philadelphia's answer to the rising sound of Motown – the roots of the Northern Soul sound that would be followed by soul collectors for decades! These aren't novelty hits, but upbeat cuts that groove plenty – most by soul artists, a few by pop singers – but all given the kind of tight instrumentation and strong studio handling that made the Philly scene such a standout. 22 tracks in all – including "Shimmy Shimmy" and "The Wah Watusi" by The Orlons, "Bristol Stomp" and "You Can't Sit Down" by the Dovells, "Mashed Potato Time" and "Do The Bird" by Dee Dee Sharp, "The 81" by Candy & The Kisses, "The Mash" by Tony Young & The Hippies, "Mexican Hat Rock" by The Applejacks, "Baby Do The Frog" by The Dardenelles, "The Swim (part 1)" by The Marlins, "Slow Twistin" by Chubby Checker & Dee Dee Sharp, "The Third House" by Bobby Rydell, "When You Dance" by The Turbans, "Everybody South Street" by The Taffys, "The Popeye Waddle" by Don Covay, and yes, "The Twist" by Chubby Checker. LP, Vinyl record album

From its booze-soaked title cut, to its haunting selection of lonely ballads like "Midnight Sun" and "Stranger Called The Blues", this is one of the most fantastic vocal jazz albums of all time – and a record that we'd recommend instantly to anyone! June Christy has an incredibly icy tone on the record, filled with sorrow, regret, and loneliness – all of which are amplified even more deeply by Pete Rugolo's eerie, off-kilter arrangements. Titles include "Something Cool", "It Could Happen To You", "Lonely House", "I'm Thrilled", and "The Night We Called It A Day". Fantastic stuff! Stereo re-recording of the full LP – from the late 50s. LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe one of our favorite Doors records of all time – if only for the long Fender Rhodes solo by Ray Manzarek on the album's final track, "Riders On The Storm"! Yet the whole album is pretty darn great, too – the last to feature Jim Morrison, who would leave the planet shortly after the album was released! There's a looser, more mature feel to the whole record – still lots of the territory the group had explored on previous albums, but also maybe more relaxed in the studio – knowing when to go for a hook when needed, but also letting some of the tunes really find themselves too. Titles include the hits "Riders On The Storm", "LA Woman", and "Love Her Madly" – plus "The Changeling", "Been Down So Long", "Cars Hiss By My Window", "The WASP", "L'America", and "Hyacinth House". LP, Vinyl record album

One of our favorite Mo Wax singles, from the label's heyday, or at least our favorite period, when they still had the Swifty graphics with the band down one side of the cover. Funky French club cuts, from the days just before Bob Sinclair and the Yellow Productions folks took it to the big time, with a heavy house influence showing, but a lot more going on here too, Latin beats and jazzy sensibilities as well as tough hip hop and break influenced funk showing up! 6 tracks: "La Doctoresse", "Motor Bass Get Phunked Up", "Suspense", "Ravers Suck Our Sound And Get F*ck", "357 Magnum Force" and "Blunt Konnection". LP, Vinyl record album

Maybe one of our favorite Doors records of all time – if only for the long Fender Rhodes solo by Ray Manzarek on the album's final track, "Riders On The Storm"! Yet the whole album is pretty darn great, too – the last to feature Jim Morrison, who would leave the planet shortly after the album was released! There's a looser, more mature feel to the whole record – still lots of the territory the group had explored on previous albums, but also maybe more relaxed in the studio – knowing when to go for a hook when needed, but also letting some of the tunes really find themselves too. Titles include the hits "Riders On The Storm", "LA Woman", and "Love Her Madly" – plus "The Changeling", "Been Down So Long", "Cars Hiss By My Window", "The WASP", "L'America", and "Hyacinth House". LP, Vinyl record album

The classic from Afrika Bamaaataa & The Soul Sonic Force – one of the most revolutionary pieces of formative hip hop history! "Planet Rock" is straight up legendary for a number of reasons. It's one of those early hip hop hits to bring the genre to greater popularity, the deft use of Kraftwerk and Yellow Magic Orchestra inspiration with a NYC party rocking vibe is pure genius, and the overall effect on hip hop, house, electro and pop music to come is seriously huge. Vital! 12-inch, Vinyl record

Guitarist Jan Akkerman bridges many worlds here – deftly stepping between spare acoustic guitar modes and some much more dynamic electric ones – but all with a sense of care and vision that really makes the record come together! The set begins with a few themes from John Dowland, updated by Akkerman, but still played with an ancient sort of vibe – one that leads into some very cool fusion moments that mix centuries-old aesthetics with the modern – creating a sense of anachronism that really keeps things interesting. Gene Orloff handled some of the larger arrangements, but the focus is always on Akkerman's deft work on the guitar – and titles include "Britannia", "House Of The King", "Javeh", "Lammy", and "A Fantasy". LP, Vinyl record album

The classic Scott La Rock tribute album – with BDP classics and remixes – originally issued as a 2LP set that was put together following the South Bronx-repping hip hop pioneer's shooting death. Alternate versions, remixes and BDP medley's from their most classic late 80s period. 15 tracks in all: "Advance", "D Nice Rocks The House", "Red Alert (Criminal Minded)", 'Doc Mix (Criminal Minded)", "Super Hoe #4", "Word From Our Sponsor #8", "BDP Medley #5", "Poetry" (#s 1, 2 & 3)" and lots more! LP, Vinyl record album

Unreleased live material from the legendary Paul Butterfield Blues Band – heard here at a time when the mighty Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield were in the group on guitar! The set was recorded in a coffee house in Boston in 1966, but the recording vibe makes the whole thing feel a lot more like it was set in the kind of southside club that first inspired Paul on the Chicago scene – with a surprisingly faithful representation of the group's sound, complete with a wonderful amount of grit – both in the grooves, and on the guitar, and even in the fuzzy sound of the vocals! Butterfield sings lead, and plays harmonica – and the combo also features organ, bass, and drums. Titles include a sweet funky take on "Get Out Of My Life Woman" – plus "Look Over Yonders Wall", "Born In Chicago", "Walking By Myself", "Memory Pain", "One More Heartache", and "Never Say No". LP, Vinyl record album

Sharply sinister work from Siouxsie Sioux and The Banshees – nicely hanging on the cusp of the punk edges of their earlier work, but also unfurling lots of the darkness to come! These guys do a heck of a lot with just a little space – that same economy of motion that's always made early Cure material so much better than all their overbloated copycats from later years. Titles include the classics "Christine" and "Happy House" – plus "Skin", "Tenant", "Trophy", "Hybrid", "Clockface", "Lunar Camel", "Desert Kisses", and "Red Face". LP, Vinyl record album

A weird and wonderful collection of tracks – funk, soul, and plenty more – all put together without any sort of boundaries or focus – which makes the whole thing one hell of a groovy record! The set's one of the flagship titles for the Seth Rogan-owned Houseplant label – one of their few vinyl releases, designed to fit in with the lifestyle of their other products – but even without that pedigree, there's plenty of great and well-chosen cuts here – and the assortment makes the whole thing way different than any standard funky compilation! Titles include "Good News" by Eamon, "Together (down dumbing rmx)" by Quel Maker, "Night Dancer" by Split Decision Band, "Leave My Beat Alone" by Raw Soul & Dorsey Brockington, "Cars That Go Boom" by L'Trimm, "Green & Money (good woman rmx)" by Maker Bishop Lamont, "Ombele" by Karl Hector & The Malcouns, "Blister In The Sun" by Violent Femmes, "Beat 100" by Benny Sings and Cola Boyy, "Pimp" by Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band, "Oxtanding" by Roc C, "Summer Madness SA" by Karriem Riggins, "Come & Get Your Love" by Family Tree, "Love Dub" by World Quake Band, and "Drop" by The Pharcyde. LP, Vinyl record album

A lost bit of Sunshine pop – and one of our favorite indie sides from the late 60s! The Yellow Balloon may not have been a household name, but they've got a heck of a talent for harmonizing in the best sunny style of the time – matching The Association or The Beach Boys for sheer sweet vocal approach, and working with some nice Left Banke-ish touches that bring a baroque edge to the set. The tunes are all pretty darn catchy – sitting nicely between Pet Sounds and Pretty Ballerina for sheer charm – and although the set's an indie effort at heart, it comes across like the best from the bigger labels of the time! Titles include "Yellow Balloon", "Junk Maker Shoppe", "Springtime Girl", "Stained Glass Window", "How Can I Be Down", and "I've Got A Feeling For Love". LP, Vinyl record album

A lost bit of Sunshine pop – and one of our favorite indie sides from the late 60s! The Yellow Balloon may not have been a household name, but they've got a heck of a talent for harmonizing in the best sunny style of the time – matching The Association or The Beach Boys for sheer sweet vocal approach, and working with some nice Left Banke-ish touches that bring a baroque edge to the set. The tunes are all pretty darn catchy – sitting nicely between Pet Sounds and Pretty Ballerina for sheer charm – and although the set's an indie effort at heart, it comes across like the best from the bigger labels of the time! Titles include "Yellow Balloon", "Junk Maker Shoppe", "Springtime Girl", "Stained Glass Window", "How Can I Be Down", and "I've Got A Feeling For Love". CD

From the back cover – "Hard-hitting winning music for sports and the world of technology", recorded on the Synclavier II Digital Music System! LP, Vinyl record album

A key early record for the Edwin Hawkins Singers – issued right after the group had changed their name from the less-catchy Northern California State Youth Choir! The record contains Hawkins' huge hit "Oh Happy Day" – done with soloist Dorothy Morrison, a voice that was strong enough to push this one from the gospel market right onto the pop charts! Other tunes follow in a similar style, really hitting hard for the soul generation – and tracks include "I'm Going Through", "Early In The Morning", "Joy Joy", and "To My Father's House". LP, Vinyl record album

Amazing package – fold-over cardboard sleeve and binder! CD

Sheesh, Howard Rumsey sure knew how to stick his name on a lot of records! (He must have been trying to give Norman Granz and Leonard Feather a run for their money!) Fortunately, most of them were also great – like this one, which features flute duets between Bob Cooper and either Bud Shank or Buddy Collette, over rhythms by Sonny Clark or Claude Williamson on piano, Max Roach or Stan Levy on drums, and Howard Rumsey on bass (actually making a rare appearance on wax here!) Titles include "Aquarium", "Still Life", "Bag's Groove", "Hermosa Summer", "Albatross", "Night In Tunisia", "Warm WInds", and "Happy Town". LP, Vinyl record album

... 12-inch, Vinyl record

A double-length collection of remixes from the first two albums by Amy Winehouse – a set of tracks that take all the funk of the originals, and add in some elements of hip hop and club as well! A few tracks here get multiple mixes, but with a nice sense of variety – and titles include "F*ck Me Pumps (MJ Cole rmx)", "In My Bed (CJ mix)", "Rehab (Hot Chip rmx)", "Stronger Than Me (Harmonic 33 rmx)", "You Know I'm No Good (Ghostface UK version – with Ghostface Killah)", "Tears Dry On Their Own (Al Usher rmx)", "Love Is A Losing Game (Kardinal Beats rmx)", "F*ck Me Pumps (Mylo rmx)", "Back To Black (Rumble Strips rmx)", "Love Is A Losing Game (Truth & Soul rmx)", "You Know I'm No Good (Skeewiff mix)", and "Rehab (rmx with Jay Z)". LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal set from the Sunset Strip scene of the 60s – and just the kind of record that shows why the changes taking place in Cali were so important to the growth of so much other music at the time! A few years before, and The Grass Roots would have been a pop folk combo re-tuning traditional tracks for the coffeehouse scene – but here they're taking off with some post-folk modes that are partly sunshine pop, partly the headier currents that were the darker side of the west coast – all put together with superb production by PF Sloan and Steve Barri – who also penned some of the best tunes on the record. Titles include the great "Where Were You When I Needed You" – plus "Only When You're Lonely", "Look Out Girl", "Ain't That Loving You Baby", "I've Got No More To Say", "I Am A Rock", "Tell Me", and "Mr Jones". LP, Vinyl record album

The jury is sometimes out on the Mick Jagger on-screen performance in the Nicolas Roeg film Performance – but the soundtrack is something pretty separate entirely, and really says a lot more about the spirit of late 60s Warner Brothers Records in LA than it does the arthouse cinema scene in England! The great Jack Nitzsche composed a number of instrumental tracks for the score – maybe his first time in this mode, and prefacing some later 70s successes to come – with titles that include "Rolls Royce & Acid", "Harry Flowers", and "Natural Magic". Other Warner talents get a hand in the music too – as Randy Newman conducted all of Nitzsche's charts, and also sings "Gone Dead Train" – while Ry Cooder delivers bottleneck solos on "Get Away" and "Powis Square". There's also some nice soul-based moments – the cut "Wake Up N*ggers" by The Last Poets, and "Poor White Hound Dog" and "Performance" by Merry Clayton. And yes, Mick does get to sing on one tune – the album's "Memo From Turner" – and the set is completed by Buffy St Marie work on "The Hashishin" and "Dead Dead Red". LP, Vinyl record album

Wonderful work from Charlie Ventura – just the kind of record to make you appreciate what an amazing player he was back in the day! The session's a nice spare one, without some of the pyrotechnics or showmanship of other Ventura albums – especially the live dates – and the intimacy really lets Charlie open up in a personal, creative sort of way on his tenor – almost rivaling Lester Young or Ben Webster for tone and imagination. Great Verve-like work throughout – with rhythm by Gene Kutch, Louis Cicchini, and Ace Tesone – and tracks that include "Blues For Two", "Somebody Loves Me", "Limehouse Blues", "Blue Prelude", and "Girl Of My Dreams". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal sounds from the Kansas City scene of the late 70s – a wealth of power pop work from the tiny Titan label – all brought together in one of the most brilliant packages we've ever seen from the Numero Group! Like most Numero releases, there's a great story behind this set – a tale of bounced checks, interstate culture, and a cadre of great groups who would have been huge – had they recorded this music out on the coast! Titan's way more than just a tiny label that managed to put out some killer singles back in the day – it's a pop powerhouse that shows just how much under-discovered genius the American scene can hold – music that really helps break down simple understandings of late 70s rock, especially when presented this well. The 2CD set features 42 tracks and a 40 page booklet – a great counterpart to Numero's Yellow Pills set – filled with notes on Titan, a complete discography, and a wealth of wonderful photos that really make this unique scene come alive. Titles include "Shark" and "Real Life Saver" by Gary Charlson, "No Way Baby" and "I Wanna Be" by Arlis, "It's Your Heart Tonight" and "Radio Heart" by Secrets, "Please Change Your Mind" and "Baby It's You" by Boys, "Rock N Roll Song" and "Radio City" by Bobby Sky, "The Last Song" by JP McClain & The Intruders, "Cry" and "Didn't Like It Anyway" by Gems, "Coit Tower" and "Drink A Toast" by Millionaire At Midnight, and "I Think About You" by Scott McCarl. CD

Has there ever been a pop tune as sublime as "Wichita Lineman"? We don't think so – and Glen's original version is still the best that's ever been recorded! That track kicks off a great set that includes some other wonderful pop covers – like "If You Go Away", "Words", "You Better Sit Down", and Tim Hardin's always-great "Reason To Believe" – plus Glen's beautiful ode to daytime melancholia, "Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife". LP, Vinyl record album

Excellent! One of the more underrated producers, perhaps because he wasn't as prolific as some of the others in Jamaica, Harry Mudie produced a body of fine rhythms nonetheless, laced with sweet strings and beautiful melodies over heavy drum & bass workouts. He turns them over to King Tubby here, for this spacious dub set, with fat, round bass, crisp drums and just enough echoey fun to keep things interesting. This mighty set includes an awesome dub take on Mudie's version of Idris Muhammed's sought after sample track "Loran's Dance", done here as "Heavy Duty Dub". Also includes "Full Dose Of Dub", "Madhouse Dub", "Dub For The Dread", "Dub With A Difference", "Caught You Dubbing", "Roman Dubbing", "Dub Conference", "Strip Tease Dub" and "String Dub In Rema", 10 tracks in all. LP, Vinyl record album

A massively beautiful piece of work by "the new Rotary Connection" – a version of this groundbreaking Chicago soul ensemble which featured Phil Upchurch, Henry Gibson, and Charles Stepney – the cream of the Chicago production scene! Minnie Riperton's still in the band on vocals, and her work on the LP is similar to that on the legendary Come To My Garden LP. The album features the incredible track "I Am the Blackgold of the Sun" – a haunting soul anthem that has been a favorite of groovers for years, and which was later made into a house track by NuYorican Soul. A great album all the way through, and filled with loads of excellent cuts! LP, Vinyl record album

Roxy Music's third album, and a record that really shows that the group have found a tremendous voice of their own – quite a thing to do, given the heady brew of records that were coming out in the year of 1973! There's a style here that's familiar enough to draw the listener in – maybe some echoes of territory you might hear in work from David Bowie, Lou Reed, John Cale, or the now-solo Brian Eno – but once inside, you find yourself in a completely different world – a mad blend of guitars and strings, saxophones and electronics, all used in these ways that are tuneful enough to be catchy, but also deeply unsettling too – as are the lead vocals of Bryan Ferry, who comes across like some older European singer who's been let out of the madhouse for the sessions. This isn't a singles-heavy record, but instead an album-length journey that never gets old, even as the years move on – and which is as powerful to new ears discovering the record for the first time as to longtime fans. Titles include "Street Life", "Just Like You", "Amazona", "Psalm", "Serenade", "A Song For Europe", "Mother Of Pearl", and "Sunset". LP, Vinyl record album

The second album from Spirit – and a standout powerhouse of late 60s rock! The combo have a great way of hitting a groove without losing their cool – as heard on the classic "I Got A Line On You", which leads off the set – and unlike most of their contemporaries, who could be too bluesy for their own good, or too indulgent to keep a good hook going, Spirit here really know how to dip around all the best bits of the late 60s underground, and bring them into tighter focus for deeper penetration into the mainstream. The sound is driven strongly by drums from Ed Cassidy and guitar from Randy California – but the record's also got some nicely sweeter moments too, bits of jazz that slide into a few of the best tracks to complicate the vibe. Titles include "I Got A Line On You", "It Shall Be", "Poor Richard", "Drunkard", "Silky Sam", "Jewish", "Dream Within A Dream", and "She Smiles". LP, Vinyl record album

A set of really wonderful tracks from the best years of Creation Records – including "Murders The Hope Of Women" by Momus, "Shine On" by House Of Love, "In A Mourning Town" by Biff Bang Pow, "Cut Me Deep" by The Jasmine Minks, and "Kiss At Dawn" by Nikki Sudden & The Jacobites. LP, Vinyl record album