No frills on the final Excello blues sessions of the late 60s and early 70s aimed at the Southern Blues audience, but here for hippies, yuppies and anyone with the ears to hear the heart & soul of the real blues. Although Excello Records is famous for its swamp pop sound, a good part of which was due to Jay Miller's production approach that favored a deadened, muffled drum sound and tons of delay and reverb, by the late '60s and early '70s the label was struggling to grab hold of its share of the Southern soul market, and the sound of the label's singles became much slicker, sharper, and more funk-driven. Excello never really abandoned the blues, but the studio started to give the genre some fancier clothes, as this interesting collection of late-era singles recorded between 1966 and 1974 clearly shows. Slim Harpo's "I'm So Sorry" from 1968 and his cover of John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillun" from 1970 are cases in point. Both singles are far more professional sounding than his earlier output, and decidedly less swampy in feel. Better production and clearer sound didn't translate into more sales, however, and these tracks are some of the last gasps of the famed Excello catalog. Worth noting are two fine 1970 cuts from Otis Spann, the atmospheric and off-kilter "Bloody Murder" and the sharp-edged title track, "Blues for Hippies," where Spann sings about meeting Daniel in the metaphoric (one assumes, anyway) Lion's Den.

A1 for electronic sounds and voices, 1969. A2 music for multi-piano, orchestra and electronic sounds, 1968. B1 for electronic sounds and Japanese traditional instruments, 1968. B2 for electronic sounds, 1968.

Almost every track new to CD. Includes best-selling albums from the mid-70s. Features numerous major Jamaican hits.
Few Jamaican music makers have demonstrated greater versatility or proficiency than Lloyd Charmers, who first made his name on the Jamaican music scene as a youthful singer- songwriter in the early 60s, performing as half of the popular duo, The Charmers. Subsequent solo works along with a spell with The Uniques vocal trio ultimately led on to a move into record production. Over the years that immediately followed, his output as both a performer and producer included multiple major reggae hits, most notably Ken Boothe’s chart-topping version of ‘Everything I Own’, the success of which confirmed Charmer’s position as one of the Jamaica’s finest talents. Soon after this international best-seller, he produced works by a number of other leading Jamaican-based acts, their number including keyboard maestro Harold Butler, popular singer Dobby Dobson and the multi-talented Richard Ace - and it is these three supremely gifted artists whose work primarily comprises this collection.

This 2 CD set looks at the beginnings of country rock in the late 60s and follows it through the heady days of the 70s. Includes tracks both classic and rare from a stunning array of artists, including Gram Parsons, the Byrds, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, David Crosby, Michael Nesmith and many more.

3CD box set spotlighting the pioneering movement that brought the world The Beatles but has been overshadowed by their success. Merseybeat was a brief phenomenon but hugely influential throughout the world. It blew up nationwide in 1963 before Merseybeat groups spearheaded the ‘British Invasion’ of the US charts. This box celebrates the scene on the first two discs, then on disc three presents some of the brilliant mod, freakbeat, psych and Mersey soul music that came from Liverpool when the Merseybeat bubble burst and press and public looked elsewhere. Inspired by US rock ‘n’ roll, R&B and Motown and the D.I.Y. attitude of skiffle, the Liverpool beat groups rocked clubs such as their hometown’s The Cavern and the Star-Club in Hamburg and larger ‘Big Beat’ sessions at The Tower Ballroom in New Brighton. The Searchers and Gerry And The Pacemakers achieved success on the world stage, others never made it out of their local area, made a couple of 45s or even demos and disappeared.

This lavish 111-track, six-CD box set attempts the impossible – to tell the whole story of jazz. Essentially an updated version of 1987’s out of print The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, this expanded anthology is wonderfully diverse in the story it tells, with tracks from jazz artists across the stylistic board, from Stan Kenton to Sun Ra, Bill Evans to Chick Corea, Louis Armstrong to Cecil Taylor, with stops everywhere in between, and any conceivable branch of the genre is represented by at least one selection. That’s the good news. The bad news is that whole phases of jazz’s complicated history are treated like three-minute whistle stops so that the train can stay on schedule and on track. That said, it’s an impressive survey, and wonderfully assembled and annotated.

UK three CD set. One Way Glass is a very different kind of RPM compilation. Instead of the usual cross-section of '60s collectables, this unique release takes a fresh look at British music from the late '60s through to the mid-'70s, with an eye on overlooked dancefloor-friendly finds. The rhythmic backbone of One Way Glass lies in progressive rock outfits who - every so often - would emulate their jazz heroes and record funky sides tucked away on albums or B-sides. Many of these tracks (Jonesy, Hardin & York) have been known to collectors of Funky Breaks for years. In addition, One Way Glass boasts some excellent funky Folk tracks which lighten the load for the listener - tracks by Alan James Eastwood, Bridget St. John, Dana Gillespie, Joan Armatrading and Melanie, for example. More typical funk rock selections come from Hanson (featuring future Bob Marley & The Wailers mainstay Junior Marvin on guitar) and Curtis Knight Zeus (fronted by Jimi Hendrix's old bandmate and featuring future Motorhead guitarist Fast Eddie Clarke). Maybe it all started - in terms of breaks and hip hop culture, at least - with DJ Kool Herc, who would spin key segments from old rock records to create the funky break.

Soul Jazz Records’ new collection, ‘Electro Throwdown - Sci-Fi Inter-Planetary Electro Attack on Planet Earth 1982-89’, is a journey into the outer reaches of electro, a galactic roller-coaster ride of turbo-charged sci-fi grooveology. // The album is comprised of mainly private-press and independent label electro jams of the highest calibre (with some as rare as space ships landing on Mars) all created in the 1980s, at a time when a vocoder, a Roland TR-808 drum machine and a groove was all that was needed to get the party started. // With a few notable exceptions (Michael Jonzun’s Jonzun Crew and The Packman) the album features mainly under-the-radar killer tracks from a host of one-off artists and back-room electronic pioneers – including Pretty Tony, Planet Detroit (James McCauley, aka Maggotron) and Rich Cason – who together helped shape the sound of electro across the USA from Miami to New York, Los Angeles and beyond during the 1980s.

Pop, rock hits are given a 60s makeover on this collection.

Pop, Latin, and R&B hits are given a 60s makeover on this collection.

The Johann Sebastian Bach - Relaxing Piano album by Warner Classics presents serene and calming renditions of Bach's famous compositions.

DJ Andy Smith returns to BBE Music with a second stunning installment of his compilation series ‘Reach Up – Disco Wonderland’, released on triple vinyl, double CD and digital formats.

Official soundtrack to accompany Joker: Folie ? Deux, one of the most anticipated films of a generation. Produced by Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Jason Ruder and executive produced by Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Randall Poster and George Drakoulias.

You are about to embark on a new intergalactic journey into black space, fuelled by funk, powered by computers. Soul Jazz Records’ new second collection of twisted hyperspace electro/funk ‘Space Funk 2: Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-84’, continues its intergalactic journey. Featuring rare and off-the-wall space funk and electro rarities and obscurities, all released on small independent USA record labels in the late 1970s and 1980s. Artists on this release include Alien Starr, Bobby Demo, Maggatron, Mid-City Crew, Tribe, Junie, Rich Cason and the Galactic Orchestra and many more intergalactic space warriors! The 2xLP and CD album comes in striking deluxe artwork featuring the radical African-American model Pat Evans who graced numerous album covers for The Ohio Players in the 1970s. The space shuttle program has been altered, there are no star-wars – only electro jam joyriders in space! Reactors are reacting, boosters are boosting, the countdown has started. This is space age bionic funk, programmed to make you dance!!!

Silva Screen Records present earlier composers who were masters of music on Hitchcock films, and later films with Bernard Herrmann on the second CD. The "CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA" is Miklos Rozsa's haunting theme which lasts over nine minutes is something from heaven. "STRANGERS ON THE TRAIN" the Dimitri Tiomkin contribution is also an outstanding track which can move the unmoveable with the heart-racing pounding sounds that the two composers generate. Both composers Rozsa and Tiomkin have a list of accomplishments a mile long, but to hear their music on a Hitchcock film is pure geneious in film making and scoring.