DION - Recorded Live At The Bitter End, August 1971

"When the wave of early rock and roll ebbed, Dion reinvented himself as a singer-songwriter and interpreter of others' songs, and there was nobody hipper. It was at this point, in 1971, that this recording was made live at the famous Bitter End in New York City.

It was only Dion and his acoustic guitar on stage that night as he charmed his way through laid-back versions of his own songs and covers of some of the best songwriters around, like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, and even, surprisingly, Chuck Berry and Lightnin' Hopkins. He included, of course, his last big hit, 'Abraham, Martin and John,' which captured the emotion of many who lived through the lives and deaths of the American icons the song is about." - Blogcritics

VA - Spiritual Jazz 6: Vocals

"Having examined spiritual jazz as it was expressed in the US, and then followed its messengers and influences in Europe and beyond, the sixth instalment of our Spiritual Jazz series showcases jazz vocals: a collection of jazz messages united in voice.

The majority of tracks here are as political as they are theological, but it's the inner sanctity of the music that is the defining factor. These are songs that concern themselves with the universal condition of this world, as well as the next. In fact, as the distinction between the theological and the humanistic is blurred, so is the definition of a song—many of the tracks are atypical in that they do not possess lyrics with a beginning, middle and end.

Likewise, the voices that convey them often can't be said to be 'singing' in the usual sense of the word; we hear solemn chanting, intense wailing, earnest poetry and ardent recitation in between bouts of singing, the quality of which is often nothing short of exquisite.The styles of performance encompass modern jazz, the avant-garde and jazz fusion, and include elements of styles from the long and winding path of the African diaspora, including Cuban, Brazilian, Caribbean and other Pan-American rhythms. Spiritual Jazz 6: Vocals examines some of the rarest and most extraordinary vocal jazz recordings.

We have included some well-known songs, as well as some of the most obscure. There are tracks recorded made for major labels, and some that were issued privately. But all of them speak or sing of a better place or a better world, and the world can only be a better place when they are played." - Jazzman Records

VA - Highlife On The Move: Selected Nigerian & Ghanian Recordings From London & Lagos 1954-66

"In conjunction with compiler and highlife researcher Dr. Markus Coester, Soundway Records presents this very special release on double CD or triple 180g gatefold vinyl (with bonus 7-inch).

The 45 includes the two first-ever recordings by Fela Ransome Kuti with his band The Highlife Rakers. Recorded by Melodisc in London in 1960, both tracks have been unearthed after more than fifty years in hiding.

In many ways, this compilation is a prequel to Soundway's groundbreaking Nigeria & Ghana Special compilations, telling the early story of modern highlife's foundation & formulation. It traces the music from West Africa to London, adding elements of jazz, mambo and calypso along the way and paving the way for the Afro sounds of the 1970s." - Soundway Records

VA - Modernists: A Decade Of Rhythm & Soul Dedication

"Modernists is the soul version of Mod Jazz, comprising records we feel could have been massive in mod clubs in the 1960s and could fill dancefloors today. We hope you will be impressed by the high quality throughout, from Jeb Stuart's boogaloo opener to Paul & Rick's perfect ender. Timmy Wilson's 'Long Ways To Go' would surely have been an R&B club smash had his record label not gone bust, while Mel Williams' 'Jet Set' fulfils all the musical and lyrical requisites of a mod classic. It's difficult to choose highlights, but as we've been championing it in clubs for a couple of years, we're going to mention Little Eva's 'Dynamite,' an amazing answer to James Brown's ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag.'" - Ace Records

ts” is the soul version of “Mod Jazz”, comprising records we feel could have been massive in mod clubs in the 1960s and could fill dancefloors today. I hope you will be impressed by the high quality throughout, from Jeb Stuart’s boogaloo opener to Paul & Rick’s perfect ender. Timmy Wilson’s ‘Long Ways To Go’ would surely have been an R&B club smash had his record label not gone bust, while Mel Williams’ ‘Jet Set’ fulfils all the musical and lyrical requisites of a mod classic. It’s difficult to choose highlights, but as I’ve been championing it in clubs for a couple of years, I’m going to mention Little Eva’s ‘Dynamite’, an answer to James Brown’s ‘Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag’, which is amazing. - See more at: http://acerecords.co.uk/modernists-a-decade-of-rhythm-soul-dedication#sthash.znUndL8Z.dpuf

VA - Ultra-High Frequencies: The Chicago Party

"For 23 straight Saturday nights of 1982, The Chicago Party dance show assaulted Chicagoland UHF eyeballs with Spandex, Southside fly guys, tender tenderonies, magicians, contortionists, prismatic video gimmickry, and lip-synched singles by a rising regime of local post-disco casualties. Unfettered nightlife and outlandish humor poured out of oddball outpost The CopHerBox II and onto TV screens, presented here as a 100-minute video mixtape on DVD. Its companion compilation features five previously unreleased tracks, joined by music culled from a trove of self-released 45s and small-time 12”s. Die-cut cathode-ray jacket and six in-package stills put the Party at your fingertips." - Numero Group

VA - Los Angeles Soul: Kent-Modern's Black Music Legacy

"The Bihari brothers, owners of Los Angeles' Kent and Modern labels, knew their black music, signing artists of the calibre of Etta James, Jesse Belvin and Jimmy Witherspoon in the '50s. Their travels to New Orleans, Memphis and elsewhere saw them expand their horizons, recording acts in those locales or licensing in material for release. In the soul era, The Other Brothers from Texas, Jeanette Jones and Wally Cox from the Bay Area, and the Memphis-recorded Earl Wright fit that pattern." - Ace Records

ihari brothers, owners of Los Angeles’ Kent and Modern labels, knew their black music, signing artists of the calibre of Etta James, Jesse Belvin and Jimmy Witherspoon in the 50s. Their travels to New Orleans, Memphis and elsewhere saw them expand their horizons, recording acts in those locales or licensing in material for release. In the soul era the Other Brothers fromTexas, Jeanette Jones and Wally Cox from the Bay Area, and the Memphis-recorded Earl Wright fit that pattern. - See more at: http://acerecords.co.uk/los-angeles-soul-kent-moderns-black-music-legacy#sthash.mkamkvj0.dpuf

VA - Hung On You: More From The Gerry Goffin & Carole King Songbook

"This bumper collection of numbers penned by Gerry Goffin and his wife Carole King includes familiar hits (The Shirelles' 'What A Sweet Thing That Was,' Bobby Vee's 'Sharing You,' The Cookies' 'Will Power,' The Drifters' 'When My Little Girls Is Smiling,' et cetera), overlooked gems (The Hondells' 'Show Me Girl,' The Hearts & Flowers' 'Road To Nowhere,' Walter Jackson's 'Anything Can Happen') and some new-to-CD rarities ('You Turn Me On Boy' by The Honey Bees, The Orlons' 'Keep Your Hands Off My Baby,' The Clovers' 'The Sheik' and Theola Kilgore's 'It's Gonna Be Alright')." - Ace Records

ANNIE PHILIPPE - Sensationnel! Yé-Yé Bonbons 1965-1968

"This release on our occasional Ace International imprint comprises an hour of pure pop highlights from the career of Annie Philippe, one of France's leading yé-yé girls. The collection is available as a 24-track CD and 12-track 180g red vinyl album, both featuring notes by Jean-Emmanuel Deluxe, author of the recent book Yé-Yé Girls Of 60s French Pop, who interviewed the lovely Annie specifically for this project.

Annie was launched into a yé-yé world dominated by Sheila, Sylvie Vartan, Françoise Hardy and France Gall. Her debut, a Lulu cover, didn't fly for the 17-year-old Parisienne, but sales were excellent for her follow-up, a version of the Supremes' 'Baby Love.' A year passed before Annie achieved fame at a parallel level to those others girls; her smash hit 'Ticket De Quai' paved the way for many others and remains her biggest seller.

Annie's final chart record came at the end of 1967, following which superstar Claude François signed her to his newly formed label, where she saw out the decade. There were sporadic releases in the ensuing decades but, after a protracted silence, she re-emerged looking as glamorous as ever." - Ace Records

JOHNNY ADAMS - I Won't Cry: The Complete Ric & Ron Singles 1959-1964

"It was a lucky day for music lovers when Johnny Adams' songwriter neighbour Dorothy La Bostrie knocked on the young gospel singer's door and asked if he would consider singing the demos for two R&B songs she was hoping to pitch to record man Joe Ruffino of Ric and Ron Records. One of the songs was 'I Won't Cry,' which started the Tan Canary on a career that spanned five decades, gave so much pleasure to fans of New Orleans soul and R&B, and which now features as the title track of a must-have Ace CD.

It was only a local hit, but 'I Won't Cry' set standards for the great music collected in this first-ever compilation to include the A- and B-sides of all 11 of Adams' Ric and Ron singles, along with two otherwise unrecorded demos that made their first appearance on a vinyl single in a boxed set of Ric and Ron 45s issued for Record Store Day a couple of years back. It beggars belief that of these 11, only 'A Losing Battle' became a national R&B hit, so high is their overall quality." - Ace Records

CURTIS KNIGHT & THE SQUIRES - You Can't Use My Name: The RSVP/PPX Sessions

"In the mid 1960s, before launching a solo career that profoundly influenced and altered the course of popular music, Jimi Hendrix was a little known sideman, working for short periods with a variety of artists including the Isley Brothers, Don Covay, Little Richard, and the Harlem-based R&B combo Curtis Knight & The Squires.

These recordings made for PPX and RSVP are part of Jimi Hendrix's extraordinary legacy. They neatly align with those other sessions Hendrix participated in during this same era as a sideman for other acts. 'I was a backing musician playing guitar,' Hendrix explained in a 1967 interview. 'I was always kept in the background, but I was thinking all the time about what I wanted to do.' Enjoyed in this context, these Curtis Knight sessions showcase his evolving technique and emerging brilliance." - Experience Hendrix

THE NOTATIONS - Still Here 1967-1973

"From the dawn of doo-wop to the death of disco, the Notations saw—and sang—it all. Persisting through changing trends and technologies, on major labels and minor ones, produced by both Syl Johnson and Curtis Mayfield, nothing could stop the Notations from representing Chicago's Southside for decades. The first overview of their indie label golden age, Still Here 1967–1973 finds the Notations at a musical crossroads, turning from simmering R&B ballads to socially-conscious soul." - Numero Group

THE STAPLE SINGERS - Freedom Highway Complete: Recorded Live at Chicago's New Nazareth Church

"By April 9, 1965, as the Staple Singers set up at the New Nazareth Church in Chicago to record the album that would become Freedom Highway, the group had moved far afield of its original gospel roots. Galvanized by the emerging Civil Rights movement, Roebuck 'Pops' Staples and family had offered a series of stirring protest songs like 'March Up Freedom's Highway,' 'Why? (Am I Treated So Bad),' and 'Washington Is A Long Walk To D.C.'—moments that helped frame the era.

But, as Sony Legacy's Freedom Highway Complete makes viscerally clear, the Staple Singers could still rattle the back pews.

Formerly constrained by the physical limitations of a 12-inch vinyl LP, the Staple Singers' performance—recorded in glorious mono by Billy Sherrill—is now available in its entirety. A highlight of this reissue's never-before-heard material is 'Jesus Is All,' which begins like a field holler before gaining steady, hand-clapping momentum, finally emerging as a jubilant paean to the sturdy faith needed to persevere through the toughest of times." - Something Else Reviews

VA - Studio One Jump-Up - The Birth Of A Sound: Jump-Up Jamaican R&B

"Here you will find the roots of Studio One's unique sound, from the first jump-up, boogie-woogie and shuffle recordings made in Jamaica in the late 1950s, as the artists emulated their American rhythm and blues idols—Louis Jordan, Roscoe Gordon, Fats Domino—through to the early Rastafari rhythms of Count Ossie, the righteous Baptist beat of Toots and the Maytals up to the joyous excitement of Ska with tracks by Studio One's young protégés Bob Marley and The Wailers and the all-mighty Skatalites." - Soul Jazz Records

ATA KAK - Obaa Sima

"Ata Kak Yaw Atta-Owusu was born in 1960 in Kumasi. He moved to Toronto in 1989, where he played in a band called Marijata (not to be confused with the '70s band of the same name). They released three albums, which allowed Yaw the opportunity to refine his skills in music, and eventually encouraged him to strike out on his own. By 1991, he began to record his own songs using the software Notator Atari, a synthesizer, and a secondhand 12-track recorder. In 1994, he released fifty copies of his work on tape (manufactured in Ghana to reduce costs). He sold three.

In 2002, during a trip to Cape Coast, [Awesome Tapes From Africa's] Brian Shimkovitz came upon one of those very cassettes in a city market. Fascinated by this condensed chunk of African hip-house, the discovery led him to dig this rich, hitherto unexplored scene unexplored, which led to the blog and then his label. And it was that tape, one of the only existing copies of the album, which is the basis for the new remastered edition of Obaa Sima." - Noisey/VICE

MICHAEL CHAPMAN - Window

"Every artist has a piece of work that niggles them—something that they wish they could redo, given the chance. It’s why Paul McCartney once reproduced Let It Be and why Kate Bush re-recorded Wuthering Heights for her best-of album. For the prolific Michael Chapman, that album is Window, the missing link in the series of Chapman’s early albums being reissued by Light In The Attic. Window sits just after the previously released Fully Qualified Survivor and Rainmaker, and right before Wrecked Again.

The singer-songwriter and prodigious guitarist was in transition from his folkier origins to his heavier future and heading for a whole mess of trouble with the same year's Wrecked Again. Given the touring bust-ups and tortured recording sessions to come, Michael's wife Andru Chapman remembers the recording of Window was noted for a 'lack of hiccups. No one threw their toys out of the pram, unlike Wrecked Again.' Recorded with U.S. guitar player Phil Greenberg, violin player Johnny Van Derek, and pianist Alex Atterson, the album has a blend of electric and acoustic instruments, both traditional and experimental at once, synthetic sounds melding with finger-picked guitars." - Light In The Attic

VA - Punk 45: Burn Rubber City Burn! Akron, Ohio: Punk and the Decline of the Mid-West 1975-80 / Extermination Nights In The Sixth City - Cleveland, Ohio: Punk and the Decline of the Mid-West 1975-82

"Burn, Rubber City Burn! charts the rise of the music scene in Akron, Ohio at a time when the city and the rubber industry it was associated with was in deep decline, featuring a fantastic collection of Akron groups including Devo, The Bizarros, Rubber City Rebels, Jane Aire, Chi-Pig, The Waitresses and more.

Extermination Nights In The Sixth City charts the rise of underground punk in Cleveland, Ohio, which for many people is the true birthplace of punk music in the mid-1970s, featuring a fantastic collection of punk 45 singles from Cleveland groups including Pere Ubu, electric eels, The Pagans, Rockets From The Tomb, Mirrors, X–X and more." - Soul Jazz Records

UNIVERSAL TOGETHERNESS BAND - S/T

"Between 1979 and 1982, The Universal Togetherness Band tracked unearthly portions of their sprawling songbook for bewildered students in Columbia College’s audio engineering program. Storming the gates of Chicago’s premier recording studios, the erudite party band explored permutations of soul, jazz-fusion, new wave, and disco with little regard for studio rates or the availability of magnetic tape.

Universal Togetherness Band captures the brightest, never-before-heard moments from this visionary group’s 5-semester recording bender." - Numero Group

VA - Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Mad Dogs, Sweet Daddies & Pretty Babies

"On this tenth volume in the By The Bayou series, the third to focus on R&B, we have 28 tracks from the vaults of J.D. Miller's Crowley studio, Eddie Shuler's Goldband facility, Floyd Soileau's Rod label, Sam Montel's Montel label and Golen Richard's Richland imprint, all from South Louisiana.

The majority of the material comes from that goldmine on North Parkerson Ave in Crowley, where the music store founded by J.D. Miller is now operated by his youngest son Mark. The ceilings and walls are hung with guitars and the floor space is taken up with amplifiers and speakers. The counters and stands are festooned with guitar strings, picks, cords, cables, plugs and all manner of paraphernalia for the professional musician. In one corner is a dwindling number of CDs, which are difficult for a small-town store to sell in competition with outlets such as Amazon, even if much of the material was recorded right here. Behind the store area, hidden from view, is a large working studio where Mark, a bass player, sound engineer and producer record local talent. Most important to us is another part of the building – the tape store, where Alec Palao and I have sifted through the reels, and Alec has transferred close on 3,000 tracks, including 22 of the titles on this CD, eight of which are previously unissued." - Ace Records

OS BRAZOES - S/T (1969)

"Rare and highly sought after in its original format, Os Brazoes' self-titled album was originally released on RGE Discos in 1969, a psychedelic masterpiece that fuses samba, R&B and rock'n'roll influences using fuzz guitars, synths, percussion, lush vocals and effects." - Mr. Bongo

"The group first made a name for itself as Gal Costa’s backing band, yet allegedly never recorded alongside her. After seeing the electrifying shows put on by the group, the RGE label soon signed the group to record a single album. Though the influences of Os Mutantes and other tropicália artists of the time are present, what is laid to tape sounds nothing like the group’s contemporaries. The gloss of lush horns and complex arrangements found on Veloso and Gil records from the same era is missing. Found in its place is a wall of fuzz spread across the majority of the songs provided by, simply, Roberto. Layered within is wah-wah-drenched rhythm guitar by Miguel, who later adopted the moniker Miguel de Deus, recording one solo album titled Black Soul Brothers and another as a member of Assim Assado." - Wax Poetics

BUNNY LION - Red

"Recently unearthed and available for the first time in decades, Bunny Lion's Red is the perfect gateway record for anyone curious about dub, roots reggae, or dancehall. A mysterious deejay LP, Red was originally released on London’s Starlight records in 1979. Little was written about the album at the time; however, we have uncovered that Bunny Lion is in fact the legendary Puddy Roots of Killamanjaro Soundsystem fame. The album is pressed on red vinyl and both versions include liners with unreleased photos and interviews with Puddy Lion and Linval Thompson." - Captured Tracks