Smooth Girl From Issue 36, Spring 2016

A second edition on 2CD for a long-running, popular series that was for many years available only digitally. A stunning line-up of instrumentalists and vocalists with a seamless soundtrack of 30 tracks guaranteed to enhance - or bring to mind - the relaxing pleasure of a scenic drive. Among the highlights are Jonathan Butler's "10 Degrees South", "A Universal Vibe" by Down To The Bone, "Winelight" by Jason Miles featuring Gerald Albright, and "Retro Boy" by Richard Elliot. The vocalists featured include Brenda Russell, India Arie, Hil St Soul and Natalie Williams.

Australia is not the first place you think of as a crate-digger's paradise. But these 20 slices from the country's early-Seventies season in commercial R&B and pop-jazz fusion are a lively lesson in the ingenious adaption of imported trends over an extreme distance. This is overwhelmingly white funk: "Back on the Street Again," an Etta James cover by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, and the ID's "Feel Awlright" are examples of hot shots from Australia's Sixties-beat and heavy-rock scenes finding their dance-floor feet; a track by the progressive-rock band Tamam Shud comes from the soundtrack to a 1971 surfing documentary. But it is all robust fun with intriguing sampling prospects.