va 2021

Boasting four hours of music and a lavishly annotated and illustrated 40-page booklet housed in a stylish clamshell box, Beyond The Pale Horizon features the usual array of cult bands and obscure studio creations.
We include a significant number of Top Ten singles, some glorious misses, a few turntable hits (including much-loved 45s by Pagliaro and Mike Hugg), superior B-sides and several key album tracks, together with a handful of cuts that didn’t appear at the time or were only issued as limited edition private pressings.

One of the greatest American film directors of all time taking on one of the greatest American musicals of all time seems like a sure-fire recipe for success - and so naturally, anticipation is high for Steven Spielberg's upcoming remake of 'West Side Story'. The release has been given added poignancy by the death of legendary musical theatre pioneer Stephen Sondheim - who wrote the lyrics for West Side Story. The album features music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, with vocals from the film's ensemble cast including Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist and Rita Moreno.

This 3 CD Box collects all the different genres that emerged from reggae (the most popular music type on the island of Jamaica) that once made it into the Top 40. From the early 1960s, ska artists such as DESMOND DEKKER and THE PIONEERS, roots reggae by PETER TOSH and MAX ROMEO, dancehall by YELLOWMAN and SEAN KINGSTON but above all the commercial successes of JIMMY CLIFF, UB40, SHAGGY, JUNE LODGE AND PRINCE MOHAMMED, 10CC, THIRD WORLD, SNOW, DIANA KING and ZIGGY MARLEY, they are there all up. Supplemented with homegrown reggae hits such as DAMARU & JAN SMIT, POSTMEN and DO MAAR.

NOW Decades of Soul transports you through the years of one of the most beloved musical genres. These five discs showcase the rich history of soul music, featuring the best each decade has to offer as soulful sounds continue to change over time. Starting with the 60s, featuring era-defining classics including Aretha Franklin’s Respect, Ben E. King’s Stand By Me, Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman as well as the legendary James Brown hit - It's A Man's Man's Man's World, and the stunning lineup of Motown’s A-list superstars.Moving into the 70s we saw a wave of these Motown legends creating further iconic hits including Diana Ross’ Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and Commodores’ Easy, along with distinctive hits of the decade such as Bill Withers’ Lovely Day and The Crusaders’ Street Life.

From the opening She Said, She Said rocked up by The Black Keys to the closing Let It Be reimagined in jazz, Joshua Redman’s saxophone giving that beautiful familiar tune soaring gospel and a good deal of improvisation too, we get new ways to see these songs.
Don’t Let Me Down gets dub treatment, She & Him go near calypso with I Should Have Known Better, Damon and Naomi give us an airy almost religiously meditative While My Guitar Gently Weeps, Jim James doing the same to another Harrison Long Long Long and The Melvins go grunge on I Want To Hold Your Hand.

Loudspeakers convey an important dimension of life: music. Between the extremes of the quiet contemplativeness of some classic pieces and the powerful volume of a home cinema backdrop, the desire for authentic reproduction is united. Reproduction of highs and lows far beyond the limits of human hearing makes sound tangible. ELAC stands for the promise to produce the best possible sound from devices of all kinds. ELAC is driven by advanced technologies, uncompromising quality and its unique sound.

A 4-CD + 7" collection showcasing Fania's era-defining output of Latin soul and boogaloo spanning 1965-1975. The set compiles single versions of 89 tracks from such best-selling artists as Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan, Bobby Valent¡n, Ralfi Pagan and Larry Harlow, plus rarities and B-sides, housed in a 60-page hardcover book with liner notes by producer Dean Rudland. The bonus 7" includes rare 1967 promo cuts for WEVD NYC's Symphony Sid radio show. Mastered by GRAMMY-winning engineer Paul B.

Esoteric Recordings’ next release in their series of compilations celebrating the so-called “underground” rock music. 1971 was a momentous year in rock and one which would continue to see Progressive music in all its forms become a dominating force with the album buying public. Much of this music appeared on the “progressive” imprints of major record labels such as EMI’s Harvest, Decca’s Deram and Philips Records’ Vertigo and emerging independent labels such as Charisma, United Artists and Island and led to an increasing presence of underground album music on BBC Radio 1 on its Sounds Of The Seventies and Top Gear programmes.

This 3 CD, 69 track compilation provides the most comprehensive release to date to cover the UK Ska Revival 1979-1989. From the ‘Big 5’ of The Specials, Madness, The Beat, Selecter and Bad Manners, through to ‘one off’ highly collectable rarities from the likes of The RB’s, The Thrillers and The Gangsters and loads in between. Hit singles from the likes of The Lambrettas (‘Poison Ivy’) and The Piranhas (‘Tom Hark’), ‘comeback’ recordings from original Ska pioneers Laurel Aitken, Rico and Desmond Dekker, ‘novelty’ 45’s from the likes of The Burtons, The Charlie Parkas and Max Headroom and ‘New Ska’ sounds from late 80’s outfits such as The Deltones , The Hotknives and Maroon Town – this release has it all.

Polished soul, pop gems and more from the female roster of 1960s Warner Bros and Loma.
“She’s A Doll!” could very easily have been the next volume in our long-running “Where The Girls Are” series, but the tracks for that are already cast in stone and due for release in the near future. Instead the decision was made to make it a stand-alone release, and who knows, possibly the first in a whole new series of label-centric girl-pop compilations. Packaged with a 24-page booklet featuring a 4,000-word track commentary and rare full-page photos of many of the artists, the collection opens with ‘Contact’ by the Three Degrees, a slice of cool Philly soul, with a little space age psychedelia on the side, issued as the glamorous trio’s one-off single for Warner Bros in 1968, and closes with Lorraine Ellison’s ‘In My Tomorrow’ from the same year, one of the many fine records she made under the auspices of producer Jerry Ragovoy.