Hip Hop has come a long way since it exploded onto the globe in the early 1980’s – it’s turned MC’s into global icons, given a voice to a youth movement, helped ethnic groups to cross colour lines and inspired all manner of political change and growth. Sugar Hill Records was there from the start and gave birth to Hip Hop’s first superstars. Original Hip Hop Classics presented by Sugar Hill Records presents the definitive collection of records that defined the first wave of Hip Hop to break through into the mainstream.

Including beats and rhymes from The SugarHill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, The Furious Five, Melle Mel, The Treacherous Three and The Sequence plus ground-breaking releases such as ‘Rapper's Delight’, ‘The Message’ ‘White Lines (Don't Do It)’, ‘The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels of Steel’ and more this is a true document of one of the most exciting and pivotal musical genres of all time. 

For the first time ever in the band’s history, all the correct single versions are collected, newly remastered from recently discovered original mono master tapes.

Over 55 minutes of classic sixties pop: A-sides, rare B-sides, EP tracks, classic hit singles such as ‘Itchycoo Park’, ‘Lazy Sunday’, ‘Here Come the Nice’, ‘Tin Soldier’, ‘The Universal’, ‘Afterglow of Your Love’ and more, all of which are still played on radio throughout the world.

Compiled with the full cooperation of surviving Small Faces members Kenney Jones and Ian ‘Mac’ McLagan, the 24-page booklet by Grammy Award winner and Small Faces reissue series designer Rachel Gutek features an exclusive cover photo by Gered Mankowitz, informative track-by-track analysis, rare memorabilia and photos, original ads and reviews plus introductory notes by Kenney and Mac and series producer Rob Caiger.

“A magnificent 54-minute sequence of hit singles, Hammond organs and high watermarks of 60s pop... We’re transported to a golden age” - Uncut

“The clarity of the remastered (from the actual masters!) version of ‘Itchycoo Park’, ‘Tin Soldier’ and ‘Wham Bam Thank You Mam’ et al transforms the familiar into the fascinating” - Mojo

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP Info: The 180 gram vinyl.

Small Faces debut USA LP released on Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records in 1968 has been newly remastered from the original master tapes for the first time ever!

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2015 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Bert Jansch’s debut not only inspired an entire generation to pick up the guitar, it also captured this taciturn Scot’s character perfectly.

The album was released in 1965 and has been a cornerstone of British music ever since.

It melds the styles of blues pioneer Elizabeth Cotten and the Charles Mingus-influenced jazz inflections of the British acoustic master Davy Graham, adds all kinds of baroque complexities, and hides everything under melodic sophistication.

Jansch’s lyrics are alternately romantic and observant, but they’re never sentimental - more than anything, ‘Bert Jansch’ is a timeless album.

Bert wasn’t setting out to prove too much. He simply did something fantastic. Then he let people discover it in their own time.

The album was an extension of Bert’s life in the mid 1960s, which was chaotic but through dedication and innate sympathy for the instrument he got very good, very quickly.

The next step was to migrate to London. That’s where, in the atmosphere of austerity and excitement characterising bohemian life in the capital in the early 1960s, the adventure began.

Fresh 2015 remaster.

800 copies only.

Classic Kinks catalogue on vinyl. The original albums on their finest format, with the original UK tracklistings.

The seventh studio album, originally released in 1969.

Kinks frontman Ray Davies constructed the concept album as the soundtrack to a Granada Television play and developed the storyline with novelist Julian Mitchell. However, the television programme was cancelled and never produced.

‘Arthur’ was met with almost unanimous acclaim upon release in the US and UK rock press. It garnered back-to-back reviews by Mike Daly and Greil Marcus in Rolling Stone magazine's lead section. Daly rated it as “The Kinks’ finest hour” and Marcus went so far as to call it “the best British album of 1969.” Melody Maker called it “Ray Davies’ finest hour... beautifully British to the core.”

140g vinyl.

Classic Kinks catalogue on vinyl. The original albums on their finest format, with the original UK tracklistings.

‘Face To Face’, released in 1966, is the fourth studio album by The Kinks. A major artistic breakthrough for Kinks songwriter Ray Davies, the album represents the first full flowering of Davies’ use of narrative, observation and wry social commentary in his songs.

Includes their third UK No. 1 ‘Sunny Afternoon’, which went to No. 12 in the UK Album Chart.

140g vinyl.

Classic Kinks catalogue on vinyl. The original albums on their finest format, with the original UK tracklistings.

Consisting largely of covers and revamped traditional songs, the Kinks’ self-titled album was released on 2 October 1964, reaching Number Three on the UK Charts.

It features their massive UK Number One hit ‘You Really Got Me’, which got to No. 7 in the US and was Top 10 in Canada and Australia. Written by Ray Davies and widely acknowledged as the start of heavy rock, the track influenced everyone who followed, from Led Zeppelin to Black Sabbath and even The Beatles.

Also features ‘Stop Your Sobbing’, which was taken into the Top 40 in 1979 by The Pretenders.

From the original sleevenotes: “Ray, the leader of The Kinks is 20 and almost 6 feet tall. He composes, listens to what the others have to say about the compositions and then they record what he originally wrote! Vocalist, rhythm guitar and harmonica player, he has very definite ideas of his own about almost everything and enjoys the occasional sulk.”

140g vinyl.

Morrissey is back again with his 8th solo record, a record of a different complexion than all previous Morrissey records. It seems somehow suffused with a new confidence, openness and maybe even, happiness. Recorded at the Forum Music Village in Rome with long-term hero Tony Visconti (who produced favourite records for T-Rex and David Bowie, during their most creative periods of the late 60s and 70s), the album positively crackles with fire. It is a far more direct and rocking record than "Quarry". Morrissey was even able to enlist the legendary Ennio Morricone on the thrilling frank and open "Dear God, Please Help Me". Other stand-out tracks include "You Have Killed Me", "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" and the epic "Life Is A Pigsty".

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xCD/DVD Info: Special edition double CD / DVD digipack package, with a free poster. The bonus DVD disc features the video for "You Have Killed Me" along with two exclusive 'behind the scenes' videos.

"Punk may have been the initial spark for the Fall, but by 1983 they had made it clear that whatever trend was next was not for them. Brix Smith made her debut with the band on Perverted by Language, helping to introduce the slightly more pop-friendly era of the group with another fine album. She takes lead vocals at various points throughout, notably "Hotel Bloedel," while her husband plays violin and adds extra spoken word thoughts along the way. The hints of strange beauty that the Fall can sometimes let into its world appear here more than once -- whether it's Brix's influence or not isn't clear, and why not? "Garden" still hits hard while using a softer chime at its heart, while "Hexen Definitive" is almost a country (and western) stroll. Even for all the slightly more accessible touches for a wider audience, the Fall remain the Fall. "Smile" shows the band's abilities at tense audio drama excellently, a relentless, steady build with the Steve and Paul Hanley and Karl Burns rhythm section leading the way, winding up to a total explosion that never comes. Smith's increasingly frenetic vocals match the looming dread of the track to a T. "Neighbourhood of Infinity," notable for its appearance on Palace of Swords Reversed, crops up here in a studio take, again a sequel of sorts to "The Man Whose Head Expanded." Musically it hits its own stride, another of the many motorik-tinged tunes that helped give the Fall its own particular edge ("I Feel Voxish" also fills that bill, and quite well at that). "Eat Y'Self Fitter," touching on everything from meeting heroes (maybe) to returning late rental videos, makes for a great start to things, an endlessly cycling rockabilly chug with extra keyboard oddities and sudden music-less exchanges for the chorus." - AllMusic.

Remastered and expanded edition of the cult post-punks 83 classic release. This double CD features the original album, plus six bonus tracks: "The Man Who's Head Expanded", "Ludd Gang", "Kicker Conspiracy", "Wings" and "Pilsner Trail", plus a Peel session from March 83, a remix of "Garden" and six tracks recorded live in Brighton in October 83.

The Undertones return minus Fergal Sharkey but with all the energy and passion that made them Ireland's finest punk band. 25 years after their debut the Undertones have kept their rock legend fully intact.

Difficult to believe that Ocean Colour Scene have been around for almost 15 years, they have grown into one of the UK's most respected and consistently successful 'proper' bands. Guitar, bass, drums, voice – the key ingredients that make up their classic sound – backed up by unfailingly high quality songwriting. "I Just Need Myself" is the first single to be taken from the new album "North Atlantic Drift".

FORMAT INFORMATION

CDS2 Info: CDS2 features "I Just Need Myself", "Questions" and "I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight".

CDS Info: CDS1 features "I Just Need Myself", "Will You Take Her Love" and "Me, I’m Left Unsure".

Twenty-four new 'in concert' performances and lots of interviews and documentary footage of Beach Boy legend Brian Wilson. A ten piece band gives him able support and the live sound is captured in Dolby 5.1.

As you can probably guess from the title, this album compiles 20 tracks from their early releases.

Recorded live at the Manchester Arena on their final tour.

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xCD Info: The double CD contains 22 tracks, ranging from early songs "Hymn From A Village" and "Johnny Yen" to more recent hits.

DVD Info: The DVD is a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound live recording. Also includes previously unseen backstage footage, interviews and other live clips from various venues around Manchester plus promo videos of "Laid", "Say Something" and "She's A Star".

‘Rosemary Lane’, released in June 1971, was Bert Jansch’s seventh and final album for Transatlantic.

Very highly rated by many fans, ‘Rosemary Lane’ is as striking as his best albums of the 1960s, delivering all the attributes listeners had come to expect of him by 1971 - excellent acoustic guitar work, imaginative interpretations of traditional material and well-constructed originals in the same vein and committed vocal performances.

With its sparse arrangements and subdued tone it’s a low key affair but arguably his finest album of the 1970s.

Continuing the series of Bert Jansch’s Transatlantic recordings, this album was remastered using the original master tape recorded in the village of Ticehurst, East Sussex between the summer of 1970 and early 1971. This is the first time this tape has been used since the album was released. The vinyl was mastered from the same tape and is the best possible representation of the wonderful music that Bert Jansch recorded during these sessions.

These 1996 / 99 versions show that Caravan have kept their skills finely honed and this will be a real joy for their many fans, two CDs charting their live and reworked classics.

One of the most significant bands of the late 1960's Pentangle along with Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention defined the whole of the folk rock movement and helped to influence a whole generation of musicians and guitarists. Bert Jansch, John Renbourne and Danny Thompson had few equals and Jaquie McShee's achingly pure vocals were the perfect counterpoint to their sensational ensemble playing. "Basket of Light" was by far their most commercially successful release and still sounds as fresh and bold as it did three decades ago.

The whole of the second side of Pentangle's 1970 album "Cruel Sister" was taken up by the band's magical reworking of "Jack Orion", a song Bert Jansch had made famous a few years earlier but now the five members of this brilliant band could give a virtuoso performance second to none. It showed an ease, maturity and artistry that crossed between folk, blues and jazz with equal aplomb. This remastered edition is tremendous and demonstrates that freed from commercial considerations the musical spirit of the band was indeed liberated.

15 new tracks from ex-Cream bassist, Glasgow's finest Jack Bruce. He has Eric Clapton helping him out on "White Room" and "Sunshine Of Your Love" and Gary Moore plays some great guitar on another stand out track "Heart Quake"