The third Tyrannosaurus Rex album, and their debut U.S. release, Unicorn was also the first to steadfastly state the game plan which Marc Bolan had been patiently formulating for two years - the overnight transformation from underground icon to above ground superstar. Not only does it catch him experimenting with an electric guitar for the first time on record, it also sees Steve Peregrin Took exchange his bongos for a full drum kit, minor deviations to be sure, but significant ones regardless. And listen closely: you can hear the future. The opening "Chariots of Silk" sets the ball rolling, as slight and lovely as any of Bolan's early songs, but driven by a tumultuous drum roll, a pounding percussion which might be the sound of distant gunfire, but could as easily be a petulant four-year-old, stamping around an upstairs apartment…

It’s easy to be sucked into the Seasick Steve legend (his real name is Steve Wold). Raised in California, he left home at 14 and began life as a street kid hobo, hopping trains, traveling, working odd jobs, drifting, playing music on street corners, doing whatever it took to survive, until somehow he ended up in Norway in his sixties where he began his late-in-life recording career as a fire-breathing rustic trance blues musician famous for his searing slide work, gruff voice, and a penchant for cigar box guitars and other odd instruments. All of which is true. But there’s a bit more to the story. Wold, aside from seeming like he stepped right out of a Jack London story, has also been a session musician and recording engineer (he worked with Modest Mouse), appeared on BBC television, and even played with John Lee Hooker, so he is not a hobo savant - he knows exactly what he’s doing…

3 CD COLLECTION OF THE FINEST AVALABLE LIVE STEELY DAN RECORDINGS As extraordinary as the music of Steely Dan remains, the how and why of it all coming about is stranger still. The joining forces of two nerdy students - one an English Lit. major, the other a musical prodigy in the late 1960s could hardly be seen as the most promising recipe for success, nevermind a springboard for the creation of perhaps the most unique, creative, musically adventurous, enormously listenable and downright joyous run of albums in the entire history of pop music. But despite it all that was what the mighty Dan achieved during the 1970s and beyond, and as those records continue to inspire just about everyone who hears them, the mystery remains.

3 CD SET FEATURING LIVE PERFORMANCES FROM 1970, 1973 & 1976 With one of the most extraordinary career trajectories of any musical group across the past 50 years, The Band s recording career proper actually lasted less than a decade, but in that time they released seven studio albums that were jam-packed with classic tracks - nay anthems - which define the era in which they were released better than almost any other music of the time. This superb triple CD set features three excellent live performances from The Band recorded during their prime era in the 1970s, all of which feature simply the finest audio quality, the very best performances and the perfect set-lists. Taken from FM Radio Broadcasts, these shows, previously unreleased, reveal The Band at their live best during a time when they were arguably the finest contemporary music group in the world.

3CD set proviging an excellent showcase of The Byrds live work during the latr 60s/early 70s. Featuring three full length FM Radio Broadcasts of performances by different incarnations of The Byrds, in 1968, 1973 and 1978 (albeit by then billed as McGuinn, Clark and Hillman) this boxed set provides an excellent showcase of this ever-changing groups live work during the decade that immediately followed their pop career in the earlier part of the 1960s.

THREE SUPERB FM BROADCASTS FROM JAPAN 1990, USA 1991 & EUROPE 1995. The most formidable of contemporary rock groups, the Red Hot Chili Peppers don’t just defy categorisation, they appear to invent their own with every new release - and often do likewise within the confines of a live performance. Indeed, the group’s startling eclecticism is only surpassed by their lofty talents and astonishing musical catalogue. This 3 x CD set features a selection of rare FM radio broadcasts recorded between the end of the 1980s and the middle of the 1990s,when for many the band were at their absolute pinnacle of achievement.

As a two-CD overview of the career of Peter Bardens, Write My Name in the Dust: Anthology manages to fit in a lot of material and display his work in different contexts, but also suffers from some problems that might prevent it from being wholly satisfying to some fans of his music. Despite the 40-year time span of the title, it's not a chronologically balanced selection by any means; 23 of the 29 tracks predate 1972, only three postdate the mid-'70s, and those three are all from his 2002 album The Art of Levitation. Too, there are just three cuts from Camel, which to art rock listeners might be the most familiar of the groups in which Bardens played.

3 CD Set Featuring Classic Live Recordings From Miles Davis. Featuring material from live broadcasts from Rotterdam 1967, Boston 1972, Tokyo 1975, and Fukuoka 1981. With enthusiasm for the music of Miles Davis stretching way further than that for any other Jazz musician who ever produced a note, and the new bio-pic movie about Miles' life creating even more interest, the time could not be better for the release of this 3 CD Collection of rare live material from the maestro. Featuring recordings from; Rotterdam 1967, Boston 1972, Tokyo 1975, Fukuoka (Japan) in 1981, and even a bonus cut from Tokyo in 1985, this mixed bag of eras and styles illustrates well the pre and post mid 1970s hiatus Miles Davis, a period highlighted in the aforementioned new film.

3 X CD SET FEATURING LIVE BROADCAST RECORDINGS FROM 1972, 1973 & 1976 The three live FM radio broadcasts encompassed in this delightful package come from 1972, 1974 and 1976 respectively - for many, if not most fans, Browne s golden era. Disc one features an in-studio session recorded at and broadcast from the RCA Studios in New York. It took place just eight months after the release of his debut and as is evident that, even at this early stage in his career, Jackson had already matured into a strong live performer and superlative composer. Disc two boasts a show performed at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, in early spring 1974, and during which label-mate Linda Ronstadt, who was touring with Browne at the time, joins Jackson for a version of One More Song, a number by Jack Tempchin - the man who composed the lovely Eagles number Peaceful Easy Feeling. Disc three includes the full Soundstage performance Jackson Browne gave for the regular PBS TV series of concert broadcasts in 1976. Recorded at the WTTW studios in Chicago, this concert is augmented by two bonus cuts taken from Browne s appearance on Saturday Night Live the same year.

Other than four piano solos from April 4, 1962, this set was pianist Bill Evans' first recordings after a hiatus caused by bassist Scott LaFaro's tragic death in a car accident. The first of two meetings on record in a duo format with guitarist Jim Hall, the collaborations are often exquisite. Both Evans and Hall had introspective and harmonically advanced styles along with roots in hard-swinging bebop. There is more variety than expected on the fine set with some cookers, ballads, waltzes, and even some hints at classical music.

This two-disc archival set includes live performances from the short-lived incipient 1969 incarnation of King Crimson. After months of arduous sonic restoration - or what Robert Fripp (guitar) refers to as "necromancy" - the results are well worth the painstaking processes involved. The first volume contains material from three different sources - BBC Radio Sessions, the Fillmore East in New York City, and its Bay Area counterpart, the Fillmore West. The second volume consists of nearly another hour-long set from the latter venerable San Francisco venue. Joining Fripp are Ian McDonald (flute/sax/mellotron/vocals), Greg Lake (bass/vocals), Michael Giles (drums/percussion/vocals), and the only non-performing member, Peter Sinfield (words/illuminations). They single-handedly fused electric rock music with jazz in a way that no one else has done before or, arguably, since…

Wendy Carlos released this on the Telarc label in 1992 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of her classic recording, Switched-On Bach. That recording, remarkably futuristic in 1967, is still a major milestone in the history of e-music. (It is also, alas, long since unavailable.) Carlos' mastery of the synthesizer in the '60s and her transcriptions of classical music were extremely instrumental in moving electronic music from its strict avant-garde classification to an acceptable and accessible form of musical expression. These are beautiful recordings, too. Given the composing and the performing talent, it is difficult to imagine anything else. This CD comes with a 28-page booklet full of wonderful technical, historical, and biographical data. It all comes back, however, to the music. This performance is damn near perfect. Carlos' meticulous attention to detail and her production skills serve this project well.

The evolution of Congolese popular music in the 1960s and 70s is generally classified into two major schools: African Jazz & OK Jazz. The main representatives of those schools are Joseph Kabasele alias Grand Kallé, founder of African Jazz, and Franco Luambo, co-founder of O.K. Jazz. Two temperaments and ambiances, one commonly referred to as ‘fiesta’, the other as ‘odemba’, both seeking their own sublimity or ideal. For the very first time, a compilation brings together explicitly the main protagonists of the two bands on the same album, with a collection of their songs recorded in the early sixties for the Surboum African Jazz label, in addition to three tracks made by Kallé’s bands in the late sixties.- The heirs of Joseph Kabasele and Franco Luambo kindly gave permission in Kinshasa to release this original selection on Planet Ilunga about these virtuosi of Congolese Rumba on Planet Ilunga.

SoulMusic Records in association with The Second Disc presents this definitive, first-time-ever 5CD box set by this Grammy-nominated artist believed to be the most- sampled female singer in popular music. A total of 58 tracks which includes expanded editions of the four full-length albums recorded during her association with Salsoul's Gold Mind Records and a specially curated fifth disc that includes remixes, instrumentals, acapellas and reinventions from her Gold Mind/Salsoul catalog. All audio has been newly remastered by Nick Robbins. Key tracks include her #1 Dance smash, 'Love Sensation', written and produced by Grammy-nominated multi-hyphenate Dan Hartman, her first Top Three dance hit, 'Hit and Run', and her cover of Debby Boone's 'You Light Up My Life', which earned Ms. Holloway her singular Grammy nomination. Includes productions by Norman Harris, Ron Kersey, Bunny Sigler, Ron Tyson and Vincent Montana Jr., all synonymous with the Philly Sound, as well as Floyd Smith, Bobby Womack, Tom Moulton and Patrick Adams, with mixes and re-edits by Larry Levan, Walter Gibbons, Shep Pettibone, Danny Krivit, and others. Every album features legendary musicians including The Trammps' Earl Young, Bobby Eli, Ron Baker, Steve Gadd, Cornell Dupree, Richard Tee, George Bussey, Larry Washington and Gordon Edwards of Stuff with The Waters and The Sweethearts of Sigma (Barbara Ingram, Carla Benson and Evette Benton), among others, providing background vocals.

Following on from the release of the unprecedented and acclaimed 9LP vinyl set in 2018, Steve Miller Band’s ‘Complete Albums Volume 1 (1968-1976)’, comes the collection’s second volume, presenting nine more Steve Miller Band studio albums in a new vinyl box. ‘Complete Albums Volume 2 (1977-2011) spans the band’s multi-platinum 10th studio release, 1977’s ‘Book of Dreams,’ through 2011’s ‘Let Your Hair Down,’ with all the albums remastered and pressed on 180g vinyl.