VA Fantastic

It doesn't take much rhetorical muscle to argue that science fiction was one of the dominant genre artforms of the 20th century, from the Lumiere brothers to Spielberg, from Wells and Conan Doyle to Asimov, Bradbury, and Clarke. This nearly exhaustive, lavishly packaged collection documents the genre's musical legacy across virtually every major genre on its five discs and 113 tracks. Each volume is divided by sub-genre–Movie Themes, TV Themes, Pop, Incidental/Lounge, Novelty–with each containing both the obvious contenders and some delightful surprises. The film disc alone contains a wealth of rarities, including music from Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, The Andromeda Strain, Fantastic Voyage, and other notables. The packaging is brilliant kitsch: a 6.5-inch square, metal-lidded cube emblazoned on three sides with suitably tacky 3-D images of–you guessed it!–a floating brain. But the profusely illustrated, hard-bound, 200-page book (designed to emulate the Big Little Books of the 1940s and '50s) that's included gives the subject its serious due, with an introduction by Ray Bradbury and contributions from an array of other notables, including Forrest J. Ackerman, Billy Mumy, Joe Dante, Dr. Demento, and Matt Groening. Perhaps the best half-cubic-foot of sci-fi brain food every assembled. –Jerry McCulley

NOW Music are excited to present the next instalment of the ‘NOW 12” 80s’ series – NOW 12” 80s: 1982 – Part One – Out January 19th!Across 4 CDs, 48 extended, full-length or remixed versions reflecting the shift from Disco being the dominant genre in the Chart, to it being enriched with the developing Synth-Pop and New-Wave sounds of the New Romantics. Despite this sonic shift, the 12” single played an even more vital role than it had done with Funk and Disco, providing fans with more time on club dancefloors and more room for artist and producer experimentation. This edition of 12” 80s presents part one of 1982 – such massive year for Pop that we had to split this year into two parts to present all of the essential tracks.

This is the soundtrack album to the 2016 drama starring Viggo Mortensen as a man giving his many children an unconventional education while living a hippie life on the road.

♫ Meet Westbound’s irrepressible owner Armen Boladian today and you can still sense the deal-making businessman who had made his way in the difficult world of independent record distribution before going on to open his own label. It was that streak of independence that created such a distinctive label – one that could score a string of hits, yet also provide a home for the resolutely un-commercial ravings of George Clinton’s Funkadelic project ♫

Café del Mar was opened on Ibiza on the 20th of June 1980. The concept was quite simple: Music for the fantastic sunset view. In its early days Café del Mar has been a well-known meeting point for the locals and an inspiration for artists and writers. In the 90s it has developed into one of the most famous spots on Ibiza, which often was chosen for big media-events of MTV, BBC Radio 1 or Channel 4. But most of all Café del Mar is well-known worldwide for their annual chillout compilations. The first official Café del Mar CD was released in 1994, based on the big amount of requests by the fans of the Café. It was a worldwide success and became the starting point to a range, which has gained a great reputation and millions of sales. Café del Mar 35th Anniversary now delivers a wide musical overview on the previous 35 years of this great location. Here you'll find contributions from fantastic acts like Art Of Noise, John Williams, Nightmares On Wax, Moby and M83.

Alright!: Black American Dance Music from the Disco Era Review by Amy Hanson
Most people shunt disco into a category either well-stuffed with white suits, mirror balls and Tony Manero wannabes from the movement's American heyday, or packed with the Euro stylings of Giorgio Moroder and synthesized grooves. As a result, the era has been distilled into a standardized set list of mixes, club staples and ho-hum rip offs. However, what disco actually set out to be, and its shape and nature before it was corrupted by the mainstream dreamers, proves a fascinating, stunning and forgotten history. Alright! Black American Dance Music from the Disco Era is the history by which our modern text is written. In the very beginning, disco wasn't about the flashing lights and hip tripping clothes at all, it was solely about capturing the best groove, hitting the vibe and letting it all spool out from that one perfect beat. People crowded onto club floors to dance, to move with songs that were politicized rather than plastic, songs that made and were made famous by the early labels Westbound and Century.

The latest release on Soul Jazz Records is a fantastic new album of disco, modern soul and boogie from 1978-82. This album is released to coincide with the massive new 360-page deluxe hardback book Disco – An Encyclopedic Guide To The Cover Art of Disco, featuring over 2,000 album cover designs as well as over 700 12” sleeves, including sections on roller disco, disco instruction albums and more. There are also interviews and introductions by Tom Moulton, Nicky Siano, Mel Cheren (West End Records), Ken Cayre (Salsoul), Marvin Schlachter (Prelude) and more.

South Central is the 1992 soundtrack to the American film of the same name. It is a blend of old school 1970's/1980's R&B with then-modern hip-hop. It was released on the HollywoodBASIC label.

Not every record that s released can be a hit, but - hit or not - every record released is still a memory for someone. In The Forgotten 45s 1957-1959 we are remembering the records that deserved to be a UK hit but, for whatever reason, were not. Packed with singles by hit-makers of the calibre of Gene Vincent, Alma Cogan, Frankie Lymon, Lonnie Donegan, Brenda Lee and Dion, as well as US acts hoping to extend their success beyond the domestic market, this 3CD set devotes one disc to each year from 1957 to 1959, and will be followed by a companion set covering the years 1960-1962. Reflecting the musical preferences of the era, the featured styles run the gamut of R&B, doo wop, rock & roll, country, skiffle and mainstream pop. Considered alongside hits-of-the-year compilations, like Fantastic Voyage s exhaustive British Hit Parade series, The Forgotten 45s offers a fascinating parallel narrative. Artists, labels and other pundits could reasonably have expected these recording to be UK hit singles, but they were denied that success. The reason may be apparent with hindsight: the timely release of a rival version, or the listening public starting to fall out of love with the artist, or their style of music. But other misses are harder to fathom, and of course it is this unpredictability that goes a long way to explain our fascination with hit records. If you were one of the few that bought one or more of these tracks back in the day, then you already know the enjoyment you derived from them, and you can sit back and let the memories come flooding back. If you are only now discovering the music of a bygone age, then The Forgotten 45s offers an intriguing, different dimension to your journey.