Acid Jazz Classics

Following the massive success of his previous two ‘Collection’ compilation albums, legendary broadcaster, DJ, and musical pioneer Trevor Nelson is back with the release of the third offering in the series: ‘The Trevor Nelson Collection 3’.
The first ‘Collection’ held the No.1 position for 6 weeks (including both Valentine’s and Mother’s Day) in 2013, and the second edition held the No.1 spot for 3 weeks in 2014.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Trevor is back once again with another high quality 3CD collection of carefully and forensically compiled contemporary and retrospective R&B club hits. The new offering brings together iconic artists from the 70s through to the present day and is essential listening for any fan of R&B.
‘The Trevor Nelson Collection 3’ features tracks from a number of undisputed legends including Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Chic, Change (featuring the sublime, timeless vocals of Luther Vandross), Earth Wind & Fire and Michael Jackson. Contemporary classics from Beyonce, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, R.Kelly, Lauryn Hill and Usher then represent some of the finest soulful work of their illustrious careers. Also appearing are world renowned acid jazz/funk group Jamiroquai, reggae stars Dawn Penn and Kevin Lyttle, and hip–hop pioneers OutKast. In addition, the third collection features a number of modern smash hits including Grammy Award-winning artist Frank Ocean’s ‘Thinkin Bout You’, hard hitting 2014 dancefloor anthem ‘Loyal’ from Chris Brown and the retro groove-filled Daft Punk collaboration ‘Gust Of Wind’ by chart topping superstar Pharrell Williams.

So what is funk? It’s sometimes difficult to know. In the 1950s, the piano style of both Ray Charles and Horace Silver were described as funk, and the word itself has long associations with black music, going back even further into history. Clearly the success of James Brown at the tail end of the 1960s—say from “Cold Sweat” onwards—established the funk era, but the Godfather of super-heavy funk had already set out his stall with “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” and “I Got You (I Feel Good)” in 1965. At the same time a series of productions he recorded with Bobby Byrd, James Crawford, and others saw him slowly perfect his groove.

Brass Construction leader Randy Muller took the group in a wider direction on their sophomore effort, Brass Construction 2 issued in December 1976. Their second LP was still funky, horn-punctuated disco; it just wasn't non-stop funky disco as their gold self-titled debut. Adding more Latin/Afro Cuban rhythms,they had a Top 10 R&B hit with the first single "Ha Cha Cha." It also introduced the irving Spice strings, who give the urgent radio-aired "Screwed" a swirling, almost tipsy feel.

The act with the first arena-sized sound in the electronica movement, the Chemical Brothers united such varying influences as Public Enemy, Cabaret Voltaire, and My Bloody Valentine to create a dance-rock-rap fusion which rivaled the best old-school DJs on their own terms – keeping a crowd of people on the floor by working through any number of groove-oriented styles featuring unmissable samples, from familiar guitar riffs to vocal tags to various sound effects. And when the duo (Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons) decided to supplement their DJ careers by turning their bedrooms into recording studios, they pioneered a style of music (later termed big beat) remarkable for its lack of energy loss from the dancefloor to the radio. Chemical Brothers albums were less collections of songs and more hour-long journeys, chock-full of deep bomb-studded beats, percussive breakdowns, and effects borrowed from a host of sources. All in all, the duo proved one of the few exceptions to the rule that intelligent dance music could never be bombastic or truly satisfying to the seasoned rock fan; it's hardly surprising that they were one of the few dance acts to enjoy simultaneous success in the British/American mainstream and in critical quarters.

BGO 2 in 1 remasters of two late 60's blues jazz psych classics. Love their unconventional blues music that mixes latin, jazz, psych with trad blues. Californian Outlaw Blues Band were signed to ABC's Bluesway label by renowned producer Bob Thiele. Thiele had an impressive reputation as a Jazz producer, heading up the Impulse label. Amongst his production credits are B.B. King, John Coltrane and John Lee Hooker. The band recorded these two diverse and musically outstanding albums in 1968 before splitting up. Digitally remastered and slipcased and with new notes. Both classic albums from 1968 & 69. Great electric blues similar to early Paul Butterfield Blues Band