Following in the wake of baroque chart toppers by the Zombies, Beatles, and the Left Banke, a dandier approach to garage rock flowered in the back half of the ’60s. Awash in majestic harpsichords, lilting guitars, melancholic organs, and middle school orchestras, Soft Summer Breezes captures the decade’s last gasps of optimism via 16 gentle moments of soft psychedelia.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Life - Life
2. The Giant Crab - Soft Summer Breezes
3. Attila & The Huns - Here’s Where I Get Off
4. Lenny Roybal - Little Daisy
5. Margo Guryan - Can You Tell
6. J.C. Horton - Why Why Why
7. Richard Holman - Gentle Flying Dove
8. The Sound Control - When Will It End

SIDE B
1. The Goodthings - The Journey
2. Jerry Benicaso - Wounds Heal And Birds Fly Free
3. Bob Belche - Fall On Me Rain
4. Pisces - A Flower For All Seasons
5. Female Species - Baby Buggy
6. The Morning Sun - Someday
7. Larry Sands & The Sound Affair - You’ll Know The Words
8. The New Colony Six - The Time Of The Year Is Sunset

Efficient Space continue with their very highly regarded compilations. And this looks like another classic..

A humanity-reminding suite of miracle moments, Someone Like Me unites a geographically unbound cast of real people in pursuit of a meaningful connection. Taping their lived experience in economic studios in quiet English counties, Pacific Northwest woodland retreats and the big city bustle of Sydney and Los Angeles, these kindred spirits rendered sheer beauty in the process. Custom pressed folk songs of love, loss and the lord saviour.

Illuminating minor works from seasoned players such as former Syndicate Of Sound chart-topper Sharkey and late-era Canned Heat lynchpin James Thornbury, the collection simultaneously honours the fleeting amateurism of hobby musicians. With their one shot at tangible vinyl, freshman Lynne Ann Kingan realised her loose bubblegum rocker on campus time, while U.S. Navy recruit Fred Potts cut his unconditionally serene ballad remotely stationed on a Spanish naval base. Spartan production continues to reign with Jon Betmead’s hair-raising gospel, howling into infinite space, and Goldrust’s stripped back garden hymn.

Throughout the hour-long reflection, faith has an intermittent yet revelatory presence, most overtly with the divine choral soul of Seventh-day Adventist quartet Remnant. More subtly, Gary Ramey and Jim Kennedy both turned to song in their spiritual quests, offering their all to a universal power. An irrefutable compilation cornerstone, the National Office For Black Catholics showcased Charles Murphy’s lionhearted account of the Black experience at a 1971 concert. Five years earlier, high school seniors The Superwomen would use their hauntingly angelic harmonies to address racial inequity with a breathless take on ‘Lowlands’.

Reaching the furthest corners, Someone Like Me secures the inaugural licence of three homespun masterpieces. Discovered by fluke in the digital haystacks of Youtube and Soundcloud, Jim Huxley’s bedroom pop earworm melds peacefully into Charlie Webster’s synthesized reverie. Meanwhile, Hollywood’s John Agostino introduces us to the bizarre world of tax scam records, with the artist only now learning that his tender psych-folk demos were leaked via a 1977 bootleg.

Compiled and lovingly restored by armchair digger Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring/The Green Child), Someone Like Me pays due service to seventeen rarefied journals of truth and devotion. Adorned with visual artist Chris Fallon’s figure and flora dream extractions, the uniting songbook is further detailed by expansive track-by-track liner notes and a forward from San Franciscan poet Rod Roland.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sharkey - Someone Like Me
2. Lynne Ann Kingan - If You Love Me - Hate Me
3. James Thornbury - So Tan
4. Jim Huxley - Only A Song
5. Charlie Webster - Snodland
6. The Bob Hughes Band - You Broke My Heart
7. Goldrust - Going Yesterday
8. Jim Kennedy - You Are The Reason
9. Jon Betmead - Marie Elene
10. Charles Murphy - The Foot That's Holding Me Down
11. Remnant - I Will Set You Free
12. Fred Potts - Following Rainbows
13. The Superwomen - Lowlands
14. Robison Kaplan Ltd. - Don't Say Goodbye
15. Gary Ramey - You Are His
16. John Agostino - Loss Of Love
17. Ritchie Tierney - Please Stop Breaking Me Down

Since 2008 our Spiritual Jazz series has presented unlimited horizons. Each album celebrates the rich tradition of African-American songs based on the belief in a higher force than oneself and has also focused on geographical areas, such as Europe or Japan, thus recognizing that these territories have immense cultural riches. Religions, like Islam, whose musical traditions have vivid Arabic and North African resonances, have also been highlighted. The stylistic range of all the above is wide.

Yet historic record labels, from Blue Note and Impulse! to Prestige and Steeplechase, have also featured because their catalogues are musical treasure troves that could not be more relevant to Spiritual Jazz, even though they issued vast amounts of music between the late '30s and present day, that have not been confined to any one school.

Spiritual Jazz 16 is a focus on Riverside and its associated sister labels. Riverside itself was founded in 1953 by Orrin Keepnews and Bill Grauer, and became an important purveyor in that decade and beyond of what would be marketed as of modern jazz. That coinage was itself an amorphous, umbrella term that essentially created a demarcation from the vocabulary of pre-war classic jazz and inter-war big band swing, thus recognizing that improvising artists were breaking new creative ground that would subsequently give rise to a flurry of sub-genres, for example bebop, hard bop, cool, modal and Latin jazz. And it's from this multiplicity of sub-genres that we choose the deepest, most vibrant selections that the vast, pan-generational catalogue of Keepnews & Grauer has to offer.

TRACK LISTING

1. James Clay - New Delhi
2. Werner-Rosengren Swedish Jazz Quartet - Bombastica
3. Sal Nistico Quintet - Ariscene
4. Frank Strozier - The Crystal Ball
5. Cannonball Adderley Sextet - Primitivo
6. Blue Mitchell - Turquoise
7. Sonny Red - The Mode
8. Clifford Jordan - Sunrise In Mexico
9. Lee Konitz Quintet - Thumb Under
10. McCoy Tyner - Valley Of Life
11. Joe Henderson - Earth (feat. Alice Coltrane)

"Strum & Thrum: The American Jangle Underground 1983-1987 is the first volume of Captured Tracks’ new venture into compilations – Excavations. Dedicated to compiling forgotten music from the 1970s – 1990s that has a connection to Captured Tracks’ sound and aesthetic, this series will bridge the past to our current roster and showcase the kinds of sounds that inspire us. As an American label, we’ve often wondered why British, Aussie, and Kiwi indie rock from the ‘80s has had the most infuence on modern acts and the collector’s market. Outside of bands like R.E.M., the Rain Parade, the Dream Syndicate, and a few others, most of these bands received little attention from national or international press outlets and markets. The acts on this compilation have a true DiY spirit that lead many of these bands to self-record and self-release within tiny local scenes in small cities and college towns across America.

Strum & Thrum aims to shed light on this forgotten era of jangly, melodic rock music that emerged from the ashes of post punk and helped kick start the indie rock boom of the early ‘90s that continues to this day. Indeed, many artists featured on Strum & Thrum went on to be part of this boom – Archer Prewitt from the Sea & Cake, Jon Ginoli from Pansy Division, Ric Menck from Velvet Crush, Brent Rademaker from Beachwood Sparks, Barbara Manning, and more went on to be in well known bands in the ‘90s. Spread across two LPs, Strum & Thrum includes an 80+ page booklet with an extensive oral history of the ‘80s indie scene, an introduction by Captured Tracks label head Mike Sniper, and tons of archival images and ephemera. Long live the jangle underground!"

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1:
1. The Reverbs - Trusted Woods
2. Start - Where I Want To Be
3. Cyclones - I’m In Heaven
4. Windbreakers - All That Stuff
5. Primitons - All My Friends
6. Bangtails - Patron Of The Arts
7. The Love In - Late As Usual
8. Sex Clark Five - She Collides With Me
9. Three Hits - 5 O’Clock
10. Crippled Pilgrims - Black And White (Alternate)
11. Vandykes - Breakin My Heart
12. Salem 66 - Seven Steps Down
13. The Outnumbered - I Feel So Sorry Now
14. The Darrows - Is It You

Disc 2:
15. Riff Doctors - Say Goodbye
16. The Ferrets - She Was Unkind
17. 28th Day - Pages Turn (Alternate)
18. Great Plains - When Do You Say Hello?
19. Downy Mildew - Purple Parlor
20. The Strand - You And Me
21. The White Sisters - Misery, Me, & You
22. Absolute Grey - Remorse
23. One Plus Two - Promise
24. The Springfields - Sunflower
25. Holiday - Change
26. Pop Art - The Meeting
27. The Reactions - Tomorrow’s Time Today
28. A New Personality - Essential Things

Ska never stopped you know! From it’s Jamaican music if the piano’s not playing ska or the guitar… any music you have… reggae… even the computer music… the piano’s playing ‘ska, ska, ska…’ it leads the music so ska is still the backbone of Jamaican music. Right?” Bunny Lee

The music of Jamaica has had a profound and lasting influence all around the world and reggae is the name by which it has become universally known. Although the term ska is often used to describe all Jamaican music before dub, deejays and dread in the mid seventies the real Jamaican ska was made in Kingston between 1961/1962 and 1966.

In the early fifties the popularity of driving rhythm & blues from the USA reached fever pitch in Jamaica and mobile sound systems (the forerunners of today’s discos) were assembled and operated by men such as Tom ‘The Great Sebastian’ Wong to play this music to wildly appreciative audiences at levels that were felt physically rather than merely heard. Competition was fierce, both metaphorically and literally, and sound system operators including Arthur Reid, ‘Duke Reid The Trojan’, and Clement Dodd, ‘Sir Coxsone The Downbeat’, would travel to America on record buying expeditions. On their triumphant return to Kingston, laden with exclusive records, they would be met by their enthusiastic supporters. Only the followers of their sound systems could hear these records and the records’ real identity would be a closely guarded secret. The titles were often scratched off and the tunes renamed to confuse the opposition.

As the decade drew to a close America turned to a softer more mellow sound and supplies of the music favoured in Jamaica began to dry up… so the sound system operators began to make their own rhythm & blues recordings. Initially intended for sound system play only on one-off acetates these tunes proved so popular that they were soon made commercially available. Many sound men now became record producers including ‘Sir Coxsone’, Duke Reid ‘The Trojan’ and Prince Buster ‘The Voice Of The People’ although the first ‘local’ recording to make the number one spot in Jamaica was Laurel Aitken’s ‘Boogie In My Bones’/‘Little Sheila’ on Chris Blackwell’s R & B label.

The emphasis was placed firmly on the offbeat and these rhythm & blues shuffle and boogie recordings were unmistakably Jamaican in form and content and far, far more than straightforward copies of American rhythm & blues. A sound was gradually created that was not only completely new and original but that would also go on to outlive a large proportion of its influences. Powered by the musical collective known as The Skatalites together with solo singers including Derrick Morgan, Eric ‘Monty’ Morris, duos Higgs & Wilson, Keith & Enid and Stranger & Patsy and vocal groups The Maytals, The Wailers, Justin Hinds & The Dominoes the producers now began to drive the music one step beyond. Together they created an entirely new genre of music whose inventions and innovations would reach far beyond its parochial beginnings in Kingston sound system rivalry.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ska Boo Da Ba – The Skatalites
2. Confucious – Don Drummond & The Skatalites
3. Storm Warning – Lyn Taitt & The Boys
4. Alley Cat Ska – Tommy McCook & His Ska-Talites
5. Trench Town People – Theophilus Beckford
6. Walking Down King Street – Theophilus Beckford
7. South China Sea – Johnny ‘Dizzy’ Moore
8. Ringo – The Skatalites
9. Nuclear Weapon – Roland Alphonso & His Ska-Talites
10. Magnificent Ska – Lyn Taitt & The Baba Brooks Band
11. Come On My People – Daniel Johnson
12. Hit You Let You Feel It – The Tenor Twins
13. The Re-Burial – Don Drummond & The Skatalites
14. Love Me Or Leave Me – Lloyd Clarke
15. A Shot In The Dark – Roland Alphonso*
16. Distant Drums – Baba Brooks & The Trenton Spence Orchestra*
*CD Bonus Tracks

The ’Rare Mod’ series has been one of the most enduring Acid Jazzcurated comps of recent years. This included the CD Volumes 1-3 and a 3CD Boxset, uncovering a host of lost classics that capture sound of the original Mod scene: Hard R’n’B, Beat & Soul, and archetypal Pop from the 1960s.

For the first time, the Best Of… is available on vinyl, with choice selections from across the series, presented in a hip, evocative sleeve, with printed inner, and on orange transparent vinyl. The track-list contains a couple from the legendary Fleur De Lys, as well as a track from their brief billing as ‘Shyster’. Elsewhere, there are several productions from unsung hero and prolific session man Graham Dee, and even a turn from young David Bowie performing with The Riot Squad!

An absolute must-have collection of the less-heard tracks from one of the most iconic periods of British music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mud In My Eye – The Fleur De Lys
2. It’s A Hard Way – Cathedral
3. She’s Got The Time – The Afex
4. Tick Tock – Shyster
5. Big Bird – Dog Soul
6. I’m A Man – The Top Six
7. I’m Waiting For The Man – The Riot Squad
8. We Can Make It Together – Tony & Tandy
9. A Love I Believe In – Maxine
10. Brick By Brick (Stone By Stone) – Fleur De Lys
11. Soul Ride – Mike Berry
12. Just A Little Misunderstanding – Richard Kent Style
13. Sing A Simple Song – Ossie Lane Show
14. Mr. Super Cool – Graham Dee

It goes without saying that the legendary Lou Reed was a true rock ’n’ roll pioneer. From The Velvet Underground’s debut in 1967 all the way through the end of his days, Reed sang truth from his heart. He lived life to the limit—and then some. The Power of the Heart is a tribute to Reed’s freedom of expression with covers spanning his groundbreaking years with the Velvets into his majestic solo career. Each track is a glorious extension of the Rock ’n’ Roll Animal’s soul, ever adventurous and avant-garde. The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed kicks off with a legend in his own right, Keith Richards, reimagining the Velvets’ classic, “I’m Waiting for the Man.” Richards’ rendition instantly invites you on board this unforgettable ride.

In stark contrast, “Perfect Day” is somehow even more melancholy than the original given the Rufus Wainwright treatment, featuring sparse fingerpicking and gentle harmonies. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts deliver a version of “I’m So Free” that would have even Lou rockin’ in his grave. It’s thrilling to hear these songs reinterpreted and sung by such heavyweights; you can even hear as Lucinda Williams channels the spirit of Lou with her take on “Legendary Hearts.”

Other tracks include a punk-drunk, loved-up duet by real-life lovers Angel Olsen & Maxim Ludwig with “I Can’t Stand It,” and Rickie Lee Jones’ reimagining of “Walk on the Wild Side,” both whimsical and enticing with her whispery vocals, stripped-down percussion, and a piano fit for a late-night lounge. This tribute album truly defies genre, but its throughline, in the end, is its heart: a deeply thoughtful collection of songs that shaped a generation, each paying homage to a man whose body of work still sings.

“To me, Lou stood out. The real deal! Something important to American music and to ALL MUSIC! I miss him and his dog.” – Keith Richards.

“Lou seemed fearless to me, like he’d rather die than be a people-pleaser. I took inspiration from that.” – Rosanne Cash.

“Lou Reed is my earliest influence, my introduction to punk rock, and the soundtrack to the beginning of my romance with Maxim.” – Angel Olsen.

“Lou Reed has been gone now for many years. He’s one of the few people whom I miss as much now as when he left. There are so many instances where I wonder what he would say or what he would think. His general aura would always lend something really unique to the room. Thank God he left his great music and recordings. His personality is sorely missed. Love you, Lou.” – Rufus Wainwright.

TRACK LISTING

I'm Waiting For The Man - Keith Richards
I Can't Stand It - Maxim Ludwig & Angel Olsen
Perfect Day - Rufus Wainwright
I'm So Free - Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
Sally Can't Dance - Bobby Rush
Walk On The Wild Side - Rickie Lee Jones
I Love You, Suzanne - The Afghan Whigs
Coney Island Baby - Mary Gauthier
Legendary Hearts - Lucinda Williams
New Sensations - Automatic
Magician - Rosanne Cash
The Power Of The Heart (bonus Track Cd Only) - Brogan Bentley

This Rough Guide captures a whole menagerie of animals, both large and small, which provided the inspiration for many classic early blues recordings.

From the mighty alligator to the lowly bedbug, these songs provide an intriguing insight into this weird, wonderful and often hilarious association.

180-gram Limited Edition Vinyl

Lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques The early recorded annals of the blues allude to a real Noah's Ark of beasts, both large and small

Guitar wizardry abounds from the likes of Josh White, Ramblin' Thomas and Curley Weaver

Featuring legendary blues divas including Memphis Minnie, Ma Rainey and Victoria Spivey

Early blues music refers to animals in ways both metaphoric and in the literal sense to help convey its underlying message

Includes a track by the original Howling Wolf himself "Funny Papa" Smith from 1930

Following on from the success of other blues titles in the Rough Guide range

An album which offers a more light-hearted take on the blues

Featuring seminal recordings by arguably the two greatest early blues pioneers, Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson

TRACK LISTING

The Alligator Pond Went Dry
Howling Wolf Blues (part 1)
Lazy Black Snake Blues
Ground Hog Blues
Black Cat Hoot Owl Blues
Mean Old Bedbug Blues
Frankie Jean (That Trottin' Fool)
Wild Cat Kitten
Mosquito Moan
Alligator Blues
Black Skunk Blues
Mississippi Boweavil Blues
The Wild Cat Squawl

From the classic sounds of the jug band heyday to the earthy blues straight from the Mississippi Delta, Memphis was at the very epicentre of the 1920s country blues explosion

This Rough Guide charts the city's huge influence with classic tracks by blues legends Memphis Minnie, Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes and many more.

180-gram Limited Edition Vinyl

Lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques

An album which traces the development of the Memphis blues during its 1920s/30s heyday

Featuring seminal recordings by many blues legends including Sleepy John Estes, Furry Lewis and Robert Wilkins

Memphis is one of the quintessential musical melting pots of the US, which helped spawn the blues

Featuring classic tracks by blues divas Memphis Minnie and Minnie Wallace

Nowhere provided a concentration and diversity of early blues forms to rival Memphis

Featuring classic tracks by the great jug bands, including Will Shade's Memphis Jug Band and Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers

Memphis is often dubbed as the "Home of the Blues"

Following on from the success of other blues titles in the Rough Guide range

TRACK LISTING

Save Me Some
The Girl I Love She Got Long Curly Hair
North Memphis Blues
The Old Folks Started It
Falling Down Blues
On The Road Again
I Let My Daddy Do That
Kassie Jones - Part 1
Viola Lee Blues
I Couldn't Help It
Cold Iron Bed
Happy Blues
How Long Blues

This is the 2nd volume in the new Voodoo Mambosis And Other Tropical Diseases series on Stag-O-Lee. What does a friend of the obscure 7"s do when he already has everything in the field of Rhythm & Blues etc.? He is looking for other fields of activity.

He made a little trip around the world here, let his new love of cumbia flow in, mixed in a pinch of voodoo, reactivated some old blues heroes, plus some exotica - it never hurts.

The cover, also designed by Jens-O-Matic, is a homage to the groundbreaking "84 compilation Rockabilly Psychosis and the Garage Disease!

Set sail with the third installment of Numero’s ode to regional radio surveys. Broadcasting 44 minutes of uninterrupted yacht, easy-glide, AOR, and blue-eyed disco that’ll rock your boat. These 13 selections are anchored in the deep blue waters of the American private press—a life preserver for any BBQ, birthday party, or bris. Let W3NG be the sonic wind at your back.

TRACK LISTING

1. Slippery When Wet - Get Me Hot
2. Percy Mays - Changes
3. Liberation - Too Close For Comfort
4. The Steel City Band - Reality
5. Dave Plaehn - Not Bound To Lose
6. Steve Fortgang - Hey, Let Me Be
7. Craig Dove - Ocean Of Love
8. Rob Galbraith - Damn It All (Alt Version)
9. Female Species - Coast To Coast
10. Max Leake - Tell Me The Reasons Why
11. Richard Bowen - Sorcery (7” Version)
12. The Jerry Busch Group - Fair Warning
13. Mike Hounshell - Not Just Another