TORO Y MOI - Anything In Return

On Anything In Return, Chaz Bundick brushes aside the Stereolab- and Caribou-like qualities of Underneath The Pine, upping the boyish R&B-pop pastiche element that's been audible in his songs (if occasionally previously couched in compression/filtering) ever since his 2010 debut, Causers Of This.

"In the first three tracks alone, you can find hints of trance and house, R&B and funk, pop and rock. Later, "Studies" mixes a rhythm straight out of '90s-era hip-hop with a melodic structure that recalls pre-Hissing Fauna of Montreal. And "Grown Up Calls" is a fractured pop gem that recalls both Kanye West and WHY?. Bundick is an artist of synthesis, and his music operates best when the stitches don’t show, like on the sub-zero groove of "Say That" or sub-frequency flow of the appropriately liquid "Cola." It’s moments like these that are the most enjoyable, because they’re the songs that fully demonstrate Bundick’s complete skill set." - Consequence of Sound

"I promise not to keep bringing up Pharrell, but the way Bundick's built these elaborate tracks around his own decidedly unspectacular voice reminds me of the way Skateboard P interrupted Jay-Z's godly party-flow on "I Just Wanna Love U" so that he could bust out his terrible Curtis Mayfield impression and somehow sound badass doing it. (Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor is also a good comparison point here; there’s a level of suave/dweeby intersection at work that we mere mortals will probably never figure out.) Bundick’s voice shouldn’t work for these expertly-assembled pleasure-machine tracks, but it does, and the ballsiness of putting that voice front and center only makes the entire thing cooler." - Stereogum

DAN PENN - The Fame Recordings

Finally! An entire compilation devoted to the masterful songs of Dan Penn as performed by the man himself. These aren't the definitive versions of these songs, but they're still great and any fan of soul music needs this set in their collection.

"Dan Penn is recognised as one of the great songsmiths of the past 50 years. Music historian Peter Guralnick once described him as the 'secret hero' of 60s R&B. For many, Penn’s material defines the essence of southern soul writing, but his catalogue also retains the ability to transcend musical barriers; classics such as 'I'm Your Puppet' and'‘Do Right Woman' have scaled the pop and country charts in equal measure. With his principal collaborator Spooner Oldham, Penn lent R&B songwriting a class and eloquence that has rarely been bettered.

This much-anticipated collection, however, reveals the flowering of Dan Penn as an artist in his own right. It’s collated from the hard evidence of three amazing and educational years spent at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals as a staff writer – an apprenticeship that was as important in helping him find a voice as it was in forging the songcraft that made his name." - Ace Records

ALFONSO LOVO - La Gigantona

An incredible acetate find from those intrepid archivists at Numero, La Gigantona runs the gamut from frenzied desgargas to Spanish guitar, Afrobeat-ish horn charts, Echoplexed tape-delay dub-outs and stinging Santana-like leads, yet remains a stunningly coherent and cohesive listen.

"The son of a prominent Nicaraguan politician, Lovo was a choice target for the Sandinista rebels who hijacked his homeward flight from Miami in December of 1971, ultimately putting several rounds through the talented musician’s torso and hand. After several years, and as many surgeries, he would break new ground on this psychedelic swirl of Latin jazz and pan-American funk with his musical partner, percussionist Jose 'Chepito' Areas." - Numero Group

KARRIEM RIGGINS - Alone Together

The Detroit-born, multitalented drummer/beatmaker delivers a dense, dusted cratedigging expedition laced with synth squelches and MPC script-flips that sit strongly beside the sketch-sequenced instrumental work of peers/labelmates Madlib and the late J Dilla.

"Much has been written of the spiritual connections between hip-hop and jazz music over the years, and though hardly a household name even in the rap world, few could hope to embody this musical romance more effectively than Karriem Riggins." - Potholes In My Blog

"Incorporating heavy jazz elements, such as swinging bass lines, grooving drum patterns and free-flowing melodies, every song on this album is felt as live as Riggins recorded it. The feeling is strong and the vibe is all-powerful. It is obvious that Riggins really put his all into his long-awaited debut." - Hip Hop Speakeasy

FLYING LOTUS - Until The Quiet Comes

Steven Ellison's last full-length, 2010's Cosmogramma, was an unanticipated favourite of that year—and would go on to be one of my most-played records of the following year as well. (I was uninitiated to his earlier works, although I've since come to revere 2008's Los Angeles with nearly equal fervour.) But despite catching me by surprise, Cosmogramma announced itself to me anything but loudly. It was a good four or five months of owning the record before I truly began to understand the complexity, craft, and sheer joy that lay within it. That's no accident, and, as its title suggests, Until The Quiet Comes is no different.

As Flying Lotus, Ellison builds his music—a simultaneously limping and striding brand of post-hip hop instrumental psychedelia that's peppered tenderly with guest vocals—with incredible care and subtlety. It's not that it isn't loud, vibrant, or throbbing. It manages its share of trunk-rattling boom and colour-inducing sheets of sound. But FlyLo isn't nearly as interested in direct statements as he is in fragments, half-thoughts, open propositions, and the space between the notes (whether that be notes on a scale or, as is often the case in his rhythms, notes between the meter).

That last phrase, of course, is oft used (both seriously and derisively) about jazz, and its inclusion here isn't accidental. Not only is Ellison the great-nephew of the legendary Alice Coltrane (a jazz artist notable for much more than just her marriage to saxophonist John Coltrane), but he is really a musician who represents one of the best ways forward for jazz in the new millennium. More so than many of his contemporaries, Ellison innately understands how to take the central tenets of jazz—the improvisational building in spontaneous directions upon a musical theme—and to then translate it to, for lack of a better phrase, modern music.

(I realize that this is a statement that would no doubt make purists wince. Perhaps it is better applied to the role of Flying Lotus as a listener/beatmaker/producer than his actual playing...but anyway, do with that suggestion what you will.) 

It's not that there aren't great current jazz players (far too many to name here, but Rob Mazurek, Jason Moran, Arve Henriksen to start, maybe...), or that those artists are not doing progressive contemporary things with their music. Nor am I sure that Ellison would like what he does to be called 'jazz.' But I would suggest that there's no better way to approach his music than how one ideally embraces jazz: open to all possible structures and interpretations. Open to endless growth of a performance, even a permanently recorded and captured one.

True to this idea, as great as Until The Quiet Comes sounded at first listen, that's just a hint of how great it has sounded on the tenth. And so I expect it to continue, almost exponentially so.

As with any year, there have been a number of highly anticipated albums in 2012. Some have fallen short, others have ably met the challenge, still more have done adequately. Unlike two years ago, however, I had Flying Lotus on my radar as one of those albums for which I could not wait. Maybe THE album for which I could not wait. But no matter how high the bar was that I set, this record has easily fulfilled its expected promise.

I can't wait to hear how wonderful it sounds to me come the new year. And if there's anyone left who still doesn't believe in the beauty of what computers can bring to music, sit with this album, please. It's magnificent.

ARIZONA DRANES - He Is My Story: The Sanctified Soul Of Arizona Dranes

Following on from the staggering surveys This May Be My Last Time Singing and Fire In My Bones, Tompkins Square's newest gospel reissue shines a light on pianist Arizona Dranes, a woman whose blending of the Pentecostal and the secular in the mid-'20s on a series of test-pressing 78s would have been fit for inclusion on Harry Smith's Anthology Of American Folk Music alongside any of its hallowed "Social Music" sanctified singing sides, were Smith to have been hipped to it in the '50s.

"The story of Arizona Dranes is that of too many artists in American history—a passionate and skilled performer, driven in her case by her deep and abiding faith, only sporadically recorded and eventually passing in obscurity. He Is My Story is a familiar story of reissue and reappreciation well after the fact, down to the extensive liner notes—in this case, a full book—and expert remastering; there's no question that the sheer joy and power she exhibits is worth the listening. Essentially the question is simply this: why wouldn't anyone want to sound like this, if given the chance or the calling?" - Allmusic

"The Chicago studio where Dranes recorded her music in 1926 no longer exists, but when she played her music at Roberts Temple, she influenced people like 11-year-old Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who sat in the congregation and would go on to become a gospel superstar. "I mean, it was probably like hearing Jimi Hendrix for the first time," says music writer Michael Corcoran, who has uncovered as much of Dranes' lost history as anyone ever has for this CD. "There was nothing like it before. She really was the first person to take secular styles and put words of praise on top of them to make gospel music."- NPR

DONNIE & JOE EMERSON - Dreamin' Wild

Originally self-released in 1979, Dreamin' Wild is about as obscure as records get. After a chance discovery in a rural antique store more than 25 years after its release, a network of excited music bloggers finally helped bring this lost masterpiece to a wider audience. Now Light in the Attic has treated us to a deluxe CD and vinyl reissue, bringing everything full circle. Even without the back-story this is one hot album!

"In between logging, fence-post digging, and other farm chores, the boys practiced nonstop and put Dreamin' Wild to tape with little idea of what was happening in popular music (they barely even knew how to load a reel of tape in their studio) other than what emanated from the radio. Listening through, you catch glints of Smokey Robinson, Hall and Oates, the Commodores, Bread, Pablo Cruise, Boz Scaggs and Chuck Mangione amid the AM bullion. Blue-eyed soul, meandering funk (see "Feels Like the Sun" which encourages you to "sing or play a musical instrument along with the boys"), and landlocked yacht rock are evident. Yet the wide-eyed and utterly sincere vision of a 17-year old Donnie stuns." - Pitchfork

"Opening with a luscious groove of "Good Time," before the inexplicably good slow-funk-fuelled of "Give Me The Chance" – replete with psychedelic-space effects. "Feels Like The Sun" is what it says on the packet; gloriously so. While the sparseness of "Love Is" is wonderfully haunting. "Don’t Go Lovin’ Nobody Else" stands up next to "Baby" as another album highlight – guitar lines snake like psychedelic smoke around a grooving bassline." - Cheese on Toast

FRANK OCEAN - channel ORANGE

There's a lot of heavy, heavy talk about this record (with many going so far as to already deem it a 'classic'), and it's quite understandable why. Certainly, channel ORANGE is the kind of debut (Er, second record? Do mixtapes count? I'm so old...) whose oozing confidence and broad vision demands attention and respect. And not only is its creator, Frank Ocean, a member of one of the most acclaimed and notorious hip hop crews out there (L.A.'s Odd Future), but he's also just coming off the heels of releasing 'the Text Edit document heard round the world'—the document, also included in the notes to channel ORANGE, is about as eloquent a coming out of a gay public figure as you're likely to see these days. Anyway, cynical or not, when you add up the factors involved, there's a lot of precedent for this type of blogger and press salivation. We are all possessed of an innate need for performers like Ocean to not only be good, but great. And not just great, but a revelation.

It should come as no surprise that channel ORANGE isn't perfect. Even the most ardent backer is going to come down from cloud nine eventually and realize that tracks like "Pilot Jones," "Crack Rock," and "Monks"—while full of sonic variation—add little more than running time to an hour-long record. Or that, while impressive in scope, "Pyramids" isn't nearly as riveting as its lengthy ambition sets it up to be. But in the end, that's all just fine. Because what the album is is something far more interesting than perfect: it's flawed, but flawed in a way that reveals true daring. It is the work of an artist with talent to burn and the guts to make choices that would bury lesser singers and songwriters.

And make no mistake, Ocean is great at both. His falsetto performance on "Thinkin Bout You" is a stunner; a devastating opening salvo of romantic ache that threatens to leave the rest of the album in its shadow. And how does the writer in him follow it up? Not with a barrage of hits, but by instead offering a teasing 40-second ice cream taster-spoon of vintage Stevie Wonder called "Fertilizer" and the understated introspection of "Sierra Leone." Neither track seems in any way eager to back up the promise of "Thinkin Bout You," rather keeping the listener at a savvy distance. Even when he does break out the big guns again on "Sweet Life," it takes until well over a minute of that song's casually strutting verse before you run into one of the bigger choruses of the summer. After such a cool setup, you never see Ocean's brilliance coming.

Of course, by the time he drops massively fun "Super Rich Kids" on you two tracks later, the effect becomes love at first sight. This, I think, is the moment when many reviewers' "It's a classic!" alarm bells begin to ring. Fair enough: Ocean's sharply assured observations of the rich and shameless are both hilariously voyeuristic and emotionally compelling. Rarely does an artist walk that line as well as he does in the first third of this record. That he can't quite sustain this standard throughout, then, isn't all that shocking—but neither is the fact that so many want to convince themselves that he does.

To be sure, there are some incredible moments yet to come. "Bad Religion" puts more beauty, grief, and power into under three minutes than you'd think possible. "Pink Matter" manages to be a quite resonant meditation on genders despite its occasionally awkward metaphors, and features a gloriously messed-up funk/psych breakdown at its conclusion. But above all, it's the ways that moments of such genius mingle with the not-quite-there-yet on channel ORANGE that make it special. Like the rather tired channel-surfing trope that loosely connects the transitions between songs, there's bound to be some filler in there. But Ocean's mental receiver is locked into some inspired transmissions nonetheless. He's restless, gifted, and brave. He aspires. And if he continues to make records with this sort of an eye for variety and risk-taking, one day he WILL indeed make us a classic.

ANNETTE PEACOCK - I'm The One

Annette Peacock's 1972 solo debut was only previously reissued in 2010 as a limited edition self-released CD, so hats off to Future Days for following up their release of Bo Diddley's The Black Gladiator with this funk-rock oddity, one that's often akin to Betty Davis belting through an array of Moog filters!

"The album’s wide range of vocal emotions and diverse sonic palette (featuring Robert Moog’s early modular synthesizers, which the singer actually transmitted her voice through to wild effect) places it firmly at the forefront of the pop avant-garde. Originally released by RCA Victor in 1972 to widespread critical acclaim, I'm The One found itself amongst good company. Both Lou Reed and David Bowie had recently signed to the label—Bowie in particular was enamored with Annette—and artists ranging from ex-husband and jazz great Paul Bley, along with notable Brazilian percussionists Airto Moreira and Dom Um Romao, guested on the album itself. Writing and arranging I'm The One’s nine passionate tracks—bar a unique cover of Elvis Presley’s 'Love Me Tender'—the disc grooves easily from free jazz freak-outs and rough and rugged blues-funk to gently pulsing synthesized bliss." - Light In The Attic

CLARENCE CARTER - The Fame Singles Volume 1 1966-70

Worth the price of admission for one song alone: Clarence's version of "The Dark End Of The Street," which he re-titles "Making Love (At The Dark End Of The Street)." Carter reinvents the track using an introductory monologue that sheds new light on the "best cheatin' song ever." Although this material has been previously available, it's never sounded this good and is complemented by the usual top-notch liner notes from the Kent Soul crew. One of the best soul reissues of the year!

"Before he was "Strokin'," Carter was writing and performing tunes with one of the best group of musicians in the world including those cats from Detroit, Memphis, and The Wrecking Crew in Calfornia. Who says small towns can’t produce great things? That Fame is relatively unheralded today is a shame, but this ongoing series is sure to revive interest for those willing to listen." - Record Racks

The audio quality on something as common as the sexy "Looking For A Fox" and the sly slink of "Slip Away" is suddenly new and fresh—a top job done. The punch of the drums and guitar on the salacious "Back Door Santa" is unbelievable, as it is on the "Tell Mama" soundalike "Tell Daddy." The vocal line prompted to him by a staffer as he sings "I Smell A Rat" is still audible, as is the guitar work on the fabulously bluesy and criminally forgotten B-side "The Road Of Love." - Mark at the Flicks

VA - Personal Space: Electronic Soul 1974-1984

Mandatory listening for anyone with a soft spot for the rhythm-box workouts of Sly Stone, Timmy Thomas and Shuggie Otis, Personal Space is a private-press soul/funk excavation of the highest order, and a solid front-to-back listen that has graced our store's P.A. on many a sunny afternoon so far.

"At the spine of this astounding collection is the ostensibly unburdening effect of affordable studio technology—synthesizers, drum machines, high-quality recording—as manifested in private soul music from the mid-seventies to the mid-eighties. As the liner notes lament, so little of this deeply affecting and forward-looking music ever saw release, and so little of what they did ever found any kind of audience. In the canopic jars of these recordings, however, they are preserved and sealed—as they once were in small studios, home studios, basement studios, bedroom studios—and their misshapen forms are allowed to move into the future by themselves, of themselves." - Soul Sides

CAROLE KING - The Legendary Demos

Hot on the heels of Something Good From The Goffin & King Songbook (as well as her new autobiography A Natural Woman), The Legendary Demos collects King's personal recordings spanning from 1962 to 1971.

"The set consists of thirteen works recorded from 1962, when she was working as a writer in New York’s songwriting epicenter the Brill Building, through 1971, after she’d divorced [Gerry] Goffin and moved to Laurel Canyon. The tracks on The Legendary Demos have been long coveted by collectors and King fans, and it’s easy to hear why. Though created as demo records and not intended for release, the documents contain some of King’s most casually elegant performances." - L.A. Times

"King’s grasp of composition and arrangement is astounding, with or without a band backing her. She knows exactly how her songs are supposed to sound for herself and other artists. The proof is in her solo Aldon demos, from 1961′s "Take Good Care Of My Baby," (which is far more soulful and introspective than Bobby Vee’s hit version) to sketches of songs that would later appear on Tapestry such as "Beautiful," "It’s Too Late," and the pure gospel of “Way Over Yonder.” It’s these recordings that are the highlights of this collection." - The International Review Of Music

DR. JOHN - Locked Down

With The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach in the producer's seat, Mac Rebennack's newest finds an adventurous yet accessible middle ground between what each of these frontmen is known for, resulting in a record that exceeds expectations and succeeds at satisfying fans of both camps.    

"There are moments when Locked Down conjures up some old ghosts, such as on "Revolution," which brings together Dr. John’s pop, political, and garage sides; and "Ice Age" and "Eleggua," both of which work in some of the African funk elements that were a major part of Dr. John’s Night Tripper era. None of this is frozen in amber, though. If Locked Down has a mission statement, it’s embedded in the intro to “Big Shot,” which transitions from what sounds like a sample of an old Cab Calloway record to a spirited new rendition of that same style. The implication? This ain’t retro; it’s now." - A.V. Club

"If the album's components are retro, the pastiche has a 21st-century sensibility. Ghostly backing vocals waft through "Big Shot," which sounds like a Tom Waits-meets-Gnarls Barkley jam. The album is flush with dub-reggae effects and the grooves of Nigerian Afrobeat and Ethiopian funk, styles that have become memes for a new generation. Lyrically, the Doctor brings the confusementalism, diagnosing the present through the past in a more weathered version of his trademark nasal growl." - Rolling Stone

VA - LateNightTales by Belle and Sebastian (Volume 2)

B&S's first contribution has now sadly fallen out of print; what better time, then, for these Scots to submit a whole new set of cross-genre finds? Another solid entry in this mix series.

"Their scene-straggling 2006 LateNightTales included pure pop, '60s psych, '70s rock, West Coast harmonies, beat groups, folk balladeering, punk, indie, girl groups, and bossanova; this new selection only delves deeper into their shared influences and inspirations, along with a subtle nod to digging for rare sampled beats, not perhaps a trait usually associated with B&S. Worldwise psychedelic breaks thread the mix together, with two tracks from Broadcast bookending a first half that includes late-'60s dreamers The Wonder Who? and Joe Pass, father of Ethio-jazz Mulatu Astatke, harpist Dorothy Ashby and the 21st-century beats of Gold Panda." - LateNightTales

VA - Ike Turner Studio Productions: New Orleans and Los Angeles 1963-1965

Besides recording with Tina Turner and The Ikettes, big bad Ike was constantly busy in the early to mid-Sixties, producing and writing scorching soul for an impressive cross-section of acts.

"During 1963 to 1965 (the timeframe of this collection), Ike's wheeling and dealing went into overdrive. He signed the Ike & Tina Revue to his old cohorts the Bihari Brothers at Modern, where he immediately hit paydirt with the Ikettes. But hit sides for the main act were unforthcoming, and Ike hedged his bets by recording sides with a gamut of raw R&B talent. Some sides were issued on Modern, some on a plethora of indie imprints started by Ike himself, and then leased out if not released...Altogether one of Ike Turner’s lesser-known but most prolific time periods." - Ace Records

MICHAEL KIWANUKA - Home Again

OK, so I've had a pretty crazy week. Lots to do. Plenty of things to get stressed about. So much on the plate. It's times like this that people tend to turn to some time-honoured ritual to provide some measure of sanity as their world goes bonkers all around them.

For me, this ritual is (wait for it...) listening to some favourite records. Dylan. The Walkmen. Stevie Wonder. Dirty Three. That sort of thing. But before I could reach for any one of my usual suspects, I found myself unexpectedly overwhelmed by someone of whom I'd never heard and had zero expectations—this man and his masterful debut album, Home Again.

Like its title suggests, it's an album that is humble and grounded. But while this comforting, genial exterior is a fair representation of the album's manner, it is deeply misleading in terms of its rarer qualities. This is an album that reaches for the same heights of spiritually resonant folk R&B that greats like Bill Withers and Van Morrison (and few others) have scaled—and it very nearly pulls it off.

I only really say "nearly" to avoid having this sound like too much empty critic hyperbole. I suppose I could see how someone could put on Home Again and say, "Meh...just another laidback, retro-y R&B platter..." But for me, this is definitely the first great record I've heard this year. I've spent several entire days listening to nothing else, and I'm not approaching being tired of it.

So thanks, Mr. Kiwanuka. You've definitely helped stave off another mental breakdown for this writer. The least I can do in return is spread the word.

VA - Memphis Boys: The Story Of American Studios

As usual, an ace compilation from Ace. This one accompanies the recently published book Memphis Boys (which we also stock) taking a look at the history of American Studios. An illuminating set that throws some curves by combining definitive versions of songs (Dusty Springfield's masterful Son Of A Preacher Man) alongside versions out of left field (the Glories interpreting Dark End Of The Street).

"There can be few with an interest in the music of the American South who didn’t welcome the recent publication of Memphis Boys, Roben Jones' essential history of American Studios. Although this collection doesn’t contain every major hit that came out of the funky little studio on Thomas Street, Memphis (we’re saving some for a possible second volume), as a listening experience it’s hard to beat—particularly when enjoyed in conjunction with Roben’s brilliant book." - Ace Records

"The first-ever tribute to the legendary American Studios—the late-'60s Memphis powerhouse that was as important to the sound of the south as Fame, Stax, and Hi Records! American did work for a number of different labels, and had their own brief imprint as well—and like their better-known contemporaries, they had a core house band who could provide killer backup to just about anyone." - Dusty Groove

BO DIDDLEY - The Black Gladiator

With Get On Down having recently reissued both The Howlin' Wolf Album and Muddy Waters' After The Rain, now is the perfect time for Light In The Attic affiliate Future Days to bring The Black Gladiator back into the psych-tinged funky-blues arena. All comeback competition best beware, because Bo is ready to battle! 

"When he entered Chicago's Ter-Mar Studios in January 1970, the mighty Bo was faced with a daunting task—recording a follow-up to his last solo album, 1965's 500% More Man. Much as had been done with Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf in attempting to re-mold the old-school bluesmen as psychedelic-blues artists, The Black Gladiator saw Bo Diddley staking his claim as a funkateer in the new decade." - About.com

"This 1970 LP isn't easy to find, but it's the record where Bo lets it all hang out, leading a blazing distorto-soul band and indulging all his most eccentric qualities. Released on Chess Records subsidiary Checker, The Black Gladiator remakes Diddley as a funk artist, and to these ears, it works like crazy." - The Stranger

VA - Listen, Whitey! The Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975

Soundtracking the short-lived yet historically-important Black Power movement, Listen, Whitey! is a superb accompaniment to the recently-published book of the same name. An inspiring and moving testimony to a time when demands for social change rocked America.

"Pop's fading power to shock is thrown into stark relief by this compilation, conceived as the soundtrack to a new book of the same title that charts the black power struggles of the late '60s and early '70s...The premise of Pat Thomas's handsome book is that this was an era in which revolutionaries such as Bobby Seale and Angela Davis were treated as pop cultural icons, while musicians became revolutionaries." - The Guardian

"Compiler Pat Thomas breaks with convention, avoiding a predictably narrow focus of soul and funk cuts and opting instead for a more expansive purview that encompasses spoken word, folk, rock, and other genres in the mix...Thomas is careful to distinguish his selections from contemporaneous Blaxploitation staples, as detailed annotations on each track go deep into explaining historical and cultural context." - Dusted

VA - Mod Jazz Forever

This latest installment of the Mod Jazz series offers the same irresistible mixture of sounds which made the previous volumes so delightful. Hammond organ stompers, bluesy vocal numbers and soulful grooves abound on this compilation that works as well in the living room as on the dance floor.

"The Ace/Kent label's ongoing, if sporadic, Mod Jazz series is a fine example of how to construct an intelligent and highly enjoyable batch of anthologies spotlighting rather obscure tracks in a genre that doesn't get a great deal of attention from history books. Showcasing jazz from the 1960s with a good measure of soul (and sometimes some rock, pop, and funk influence), this is the kind of jazz that's usually more accessible than most to non-jazz specialists, though it doesn't mean jazzheads of a certain taste can't find it to their liking too." - Allmusic

"The Mod Jazz crew are back in town, and we have scoured the world to provide you with the perfect blend of jazz, with a touch of the blues, a shake of soul and a pinch of latin. As usual, we pay only lip service to genre divides, and bring you lots of great jazz vocals, often with an R&B twist." - Ace Records