Bull Moose Jackson

The forgotten superheroes of 20th-century black music, the leather-lunged blues shouters, dominated the US nightclub stages and R&B charts for half-a-dozen years or so following World War II, before being side-lined by the bourgeoning rock n roll storm in the early 1950s. Still considered a force with which to be reckoned in the US music industry of the mid-fifties, and still at the height of their vocal prowess, many of the biggest stars were granted one or two final shots to save their flagging recording careers during rock n roll s heyday - their Last Shout.

Fantastic Voyage follows 2011 s hugely-successful Jazz Noire collection by letting the same team return to those sleazy dives and bars, this time homing in on the dope, drink and dubious characters to provide a vivid picture of high-seeking low life between the 1930s and 1950s. The music on Drink Up Light Up! evokes that time when orchestras swelled, brass sections exploded like fireworks and blues dripped off piano keys onto booze- and tear-stained barroom floors, staggering cast including names like the Reefer Man and Snuff Dippin Mama, but the themes are just as relevant to today s recession-hit climate: the desire to escape by getting high (and the often unfavourable repercussions on relationships).

There's so much here to titillate and entertain. On the surface, it's all salacious stuff, porn pop if you like. But at the heart of it all, there's an abundance of exciting, fun-filled, brilliantly-performed music provided by some of the greatest entertainers ever to grace the world of blues.

200 unusual songs on the then taboo subjects of sex, drugs and alcohol in a 10 CD box. This box deals with the "dirty and ambiguous" side of Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll. But the music is unambiguously great. Featuring songs by The Dominoes, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Big Joe Turner, Hank Ballard & The Midnighters, Etta James, Sarah Vaughan, Cab Calloway, Barney Bigard, Stick McGhee & The Buddies, Dave Bartholomew and His Orchestra, Sam Theard, Annisteen Allen, The Ink Spots and others.

There's so much here to titillate and entertain. On the surface, it's all salacious stuff, porn pop if you like. But at the heart of it all, there's an abundance of exciting, fun-filled, brilliantly-performed music provided by some of the greatest entertainers ever to grace the world of blues.

He Got Out His Big Ten Inch: A Cornucopia of Risque R&B, Rude Blues and Double-Entendre Doo-Wop is a 3CD box set released by Indigo/Sanctuary in 2004. These songs were dirty long before the term rock'n'roll was originated for a music genre, with various songs about rock hard penises and moist vaginas, all spoken in metaphor. Some of these songs were made famous through other means, used in motion pictures or including Aerosmith's 1975 cover of "Big Ten Inch Record".

"Ride Daddy Ride: Vintage Songs About Sex 1927-1953" is a compilation album that features a selection of early 20th-century songs with suggestive and risqué themes, dating from 1927 to 1953. The tracks on this album capture the humor, innuendo, and open references to sexuality that were part of the blues, jazz, and swing scenes of the time.

It's time for another Merry Xmas round the jukebox, love songs to Santa and even one Christmas hymn. It's all in the name of rhythm and blues, doo wop and even a touch of rock and roll. In this new collection of 24 tracks there are no less than five tracks by the great Charles Brown. This popular blues balladeer was the undisputed king of Christmas blues from the 1940s until his death. The most recent recording comes from the late, great, queen of soul, Aretha Franklin who was having a "Blue Holiday" in 1962. We end this excursion into Christmas R&B, until perhaps next year, with the great blues guitarist Freddie King claiming "I Hear Jingle Bells" and we naturally hope you do too.

Unlike other artists in Ace's ongoing, excellent Heard Them Here First series, the New York Dolls do not have an extensive catalog. They released only two albums while they were active, and this paltry discography forces compilers Ian Johnston and Mick Patrick to widen their overview to include early demos and live recordings from when the band started to fray but even that expanded overview accounts for nine tracks, hardly enough for a sizeable compilation. So, Johnston and Patrick do the smart thing: they add in cuts that were in the repertoire of Johnny Thunders, David Johansen and his swinging alter ego Buster Poindexter, plus songs the reunited Dolls performed in the new millennium. This isn't everything these post-Dolls offshoots covered, of course – notably, nothing from Johansen's hit Animals medley is here – but the compilers sharply sculpt Lipstick, Powder & Paint! to reflect the aesthetic of the New York Dolls, trading heavily on the trashiest, funniest R&B, pop, blues, rock & roll, and soul from the days before the Beatles. Unsurprisingly, the songs here are usually big and bawdy, flirting with vaudeville – in this context, the boasts of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Don't Start Me Talking" don’t seem threatening, they seem almost camp – and that's the pleasure of the whole thing. The New York Dolls had a very specific aesthetic, one that worshipped the past while simultaneously satirizing it, and Lipstick, Powder & Paint! captures that delicate balance not through performance but through selection, which is something of a wondrous thing to behold.