V/A Trojan Jamaican R&B Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Though this collection probably won't appeal to everyone, aww, what the heck does anyway? Seriously though... Trojan delves a little deeper still into the archives of Jamaican music history with this newest collection of sides. This is basically where it all starts, the Jamaican music industry as we know it anyhow. Before there was any record industry of course, there were primarily sound men: Duke Reid, Coxsone Dodd, and to a lesser degree Prince Buster and many other highly competitive small operations. The fierce competition amongst them was well known, and success at importing the hottest American R&B singles was a sure way to give one's sound system an edge over the rest. It wasn't long before the most successful of these (Duke Reid firstly) started cutting their own imitations of American R&B using local musicians (the various members of the Skatalites got their start here under various names, depending on who was producing the track.) The tracks here were all recorded between 1960 & 1963 and vary between downright, straight up copies of American R&B and what would eventually become ska: basically a sped up R&B with a heavy accent on the off beat. Among those featured on this collection of classic Jamaican R&B (as well as some rare and even previously unreleased tracks) are some household names: Laurel Aitken, Derrick Herriott, and a 14 year old Jimmy Cliff (his first recording "Dearest Beverly" is included here.)
RealAudio clip: THE JIVING JUNIORS WITH DUKE REID & HIS GROUP "I Wanna Love"
RealAudio clip: DERRICK & PATSY "Oh My Love"
RealAudio clip: RICO & DUKE REID'S ALL STARS "Duke's Cookies"

V/A Trojan Jamaican Superstars Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
"All six artists featured on this set have rightly earned the title 'Superstar', scoring more hits than we have space to mention. As a resuls, we can only hope to provide a limited sampling here. Gregory Isaacs (a.k.a. the 'Cool Ruler'), began his career in 1968, before joining the Concords. Initial success didn't arrive until 1970, when he recorded 'Lonely Man' for Rupie Edwards. Delroy Wilson began singing professionally as a child, cutting his first records for Studio One. Over the next few years he was very successful, helping to usher in the Rock Steady era with 'Dancing Mood'. Alton Ellis has the distinction of being one of Jamaica's pioneer recording artists, cutting his first hit (Murial) in the late fifties. Pat Kelly entered the world of music as a member of The Techniques, who were recording for Treasure Isle at the time. John Holt's career began with a false start, launched with a couple of sides in the early sixties. After a short break from music he joined the Paragons, who became one of Jamaica's most successful vocal harmony groups later in the decade. Child prodigy Dennis Brown is another singer who first tasted fame whilst recording for Studio One. However, he really hit the big time after moving on to record for Derrick Harriott, scoring a number of superb recordings."

V/A Trojan Lovers Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
From the vast archives of Jamaican music reposited in their care, Trojan now culls a collection devoted strictly to love songs. 50 original and cover tracks of crooning and pleading, devotion and dispair spanning from 1966 to 1974. Featuring Delroy Wilson, Marcia Griffiths (singing Jackie DeShannon's "Put A Little Love In Your Heart"), Alton Ellis, Derrick Harriott (performing the Chi-Lites' "Have You Seen Her"), Gregory Isaacs, Phyllis Dillon (The Shirelles' "A Thing Of The Past"), Al Brown (Al Green's "Here I Am Baby"), The Melodians, Toots & the Maytals, Horace Andy, The Paragons and much, much more.

V/A Trojan Mod Reggae Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Trojan records continues its English subculture series of box sets with a collection devoted to the phenomenon known as Mod. The fifty tracks collected here represent the most popularly played tracks in Mod clubs both during the style's heyday in the early sixties and its resurgence in the early eighties. The tracks all date from 1960 to 1970 and are primarily ska, but there are some oddballs here including some great cuts from Lord Kitchener and Lee Perry. Other popular artists amongst the Mods on this collection are John Holt (his 'Ali Baba' is apparently the most requested track at Mod clubs), Tommy McCook, The Skatalites, The Maytals, Duke Reid's All Stars, The Heptones, (a very young) Jimmy Cliff, and a slew of others. One glaring omission, despite even being mentioned several times in the liner notes, is Prince Buster. Seems like, what with his huge influence on the later Mod bands that formed in England, I can't imagine that licensing restrictions would hold Trojan back. Oh well.
RealAudio clip: HOLT, JOHN "Ali Baba"
RealAudio clip: ALPHONSO, ROLAND "El Pussycat"
RealAudio clip: LORD KITCHENER "Kitch You're So Sweet"

V/A Trojan Motor City Reggae Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 19.98

V/A Trojan Nyahbinghi Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Okay, at the risk of sounding like a bunch of Trojan solipsists (which we're not, really), this new Trojan Box is super fucking great! Quite simply, the concept behind this anthology assembles reggae tracks with Nyahbinghi accompaniment. Nyahbinghi is the name of the original Rastafarian sect, and the African based drumming that accompanies virtually all of its ceremonies -- most Nyahbinghi grounations. While today Jamaican commercial music and Rastafarianism are virtually synonymous, the two haven't always been so cozy. In 1962 when Prince Buster brought Count Ossie and his drummers into the recording studio to back up the Folkes Brothers on their version of "Oh Carolina" it was considered a revolutionary concept -- Rastafarians being cultural pariahs at the time. It wasn't until the roots era of Jamaican reggae well into the seventies that everyone was dreading their hair in locks and going rasta. But even then, whether for commercial, aesthetic or logistic reasons, Nyahbinghi drumming didn't permeate the rhythm section of reggae the way rasta conscious lyrics took over the vocals. Nonetheless, there were still miles and miles of examples of Nyahbinghi drumming wed to reggae laid down on tape. With that in mind, Trojan has assembled a very nicely priced introduction to some of the more prolific users of the form -- such as Count Ossie and Ras Michael -- some classic commercial moments -- Jimmy Cliff's "Bongo Man" and plenty of rare tracks. With the exception of 6 tracks from the late sixties, the recordings on this set were made between 1970 and 1975, the golden era for roots reggae. Highly recommended!!
MPEG Stream: U ROY & PETER TOSH "Earth's Rightful Ruler"
MPEG Stream: DADAWAH "Zion Land"

V/A Trojan Producer Series Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
The Trojan producer box set is a sampler introduction to the "producer series" re-issue program that was started in 1988 with popular success. The series focuses on six highly acclaimed Jamaican producers - Harry J, Joe Gibbs, Clancy Eccles, Alvin Ranglin, Niney and the inimitable Lee Perry - each of whom's work comprises half a disk's worth of material produced between 1968 and 1975.

V/A Trojan Ragga Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Booyakasha! Been a long time since we've had any dancehall, ragga or no, to throw at you, beloved AQ customers. It's also been a while since Trojan has thrown us a box set we could count as more than a recycling gimmick. To their credit they've put out a hefty many top notch anthologies. We still sell tons of the Dub, Rocksteady, Ska, Nyahbinghi, X-Rated and Revival box sets. So when we saw that they had compiled an anthology of crucial raggamuffin tracks we had to check it out. When we put on the first disc we knew we had scored a fucking party smasher. It's fucking relentless. But it's not just the super fast tempo tracks with auctioneer style ribbity vocals that score the points for their aggressiveness. The slow numbers, like Simpleton's heavy "Pretty Little Angel" that have as much power and intensity as the fast tunes. Nearly every track on this first disc could be used as an example of ragga at its best: insane vocals with nutty production. This isn't the minimal dancehall of Wayne Smith's "Under Mi Sleng Teng" with his sole accompaniment a casio keyboard. Dirts Man's "Watch De Girl" is a perfect example with its synth power chords on every phrase ending and echoed vocals which make his already manic sounding toasting sound even more insane. The disc is well sequenced both between fast and slow tracks as well as between uber-digital productions and rootsy reworkings of older rhythms. Fans of Ward 21, like us, should take note on this one as it's filled with the entire bag of production tricks which they put to such good effect on all their recordings. That fucking heavy steamroller rhythm, like Ward 21 used on "Petrol"? All the fuck over this disc. So we're listening to this and just slobbering, and we think we're going to have a fucking aneurism by the time we made it through the third disc. So we put on the second disc... and... We just go flacid. Yep, nearly all 17 songs on the second disc are laden with suuuuper smooov "oooh girl, oooh", "three times one minus one's gonna make it 'aight" kind of stuff. Not really even that "conscious reggae" stuff, but just limp wristed pap. So with one more disc it looks like we're headed toward a split decision. Points for including Buju Banton & Tenor Saw's "Ring The Alarm Quick Quick" (we shit our pants way back in 2000 when we got turned onto this track through Soul Jazz's 400% Dynamite comp.), and FUCK!, Baby Wayne's "We Them A Defend" could well have been a bonus track on The Bug's Pressure and no one would have been the wiser, what with its super hard pile driver like rhythm, dirty production and even dirtier vocals. "Ring The Alarm Quick Quick" is an onion of a song and an essay on the Jamaican music industry in and of itself, what with Buju Banton roughing up Tenor Saw's "original" (an indictment on the state of music in Jamaica) which was recorded right over Ansel Collin's "Stalag 17" vocals and all. Throw in some madness from Capleton and a two fists worth of other hard, hard, hardcore ragga and you've got another disc as strong as the first. So you've got two great discs and one, well, you may get more mileage out of it than we did... Either way, for this price it's still a great fucking deal.
MPEG Stream: SIMPLETON "Pretty Little Angel"
MPEG Stream: DIRTS MAN "Watch De Girl"
MPEG Stream: BUJU BANTON & TENOR SAW "Ring the Alarm Quick Quick"
MPEG Stream: BABY WAYNE "Weh Them A Defend"

V/A Trojan Rare Groove Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Trojan records "Proudly presents 50 extremely hard to find, and expensive singles from the late sixties and early seventies. Intended as a companion to the Trojan Singles Box Set, which presents sides issued on Trojan, this set draws on no less than twenty two of the company's original subsidiary labels (of which there were more than fifty!) However, rarity value alone was not the over riding factor in the track selection. Instead, we have placed emphasis squarely on good music, from some of Jamaica's premier record producers. Whatever your personal taste, from rocksteady to hard reggae, you're sure to enjoy this sampler." [From the liner notes] Featuring rare tracks by Big Youth, The Aggrovators, Roland Alphonso, The Pioneers, Winston Heywood, Horace Andy, I Roy, Augustus Pablo and many others.

V/A Trojan Rastafari Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
"Although there have been several Roots collections on Trojan, there has never been a compilation dedicated solely to Rastafari. In this writer's opinion it was better to reserve the subject for a box set, so that the appropriate care could be taken over the selection of tracks, and due respect given to the presentation. With other releases in this series proving to be so successful, now it would seem the perfect time for such a retrospective... All tracks date from between the late seventies and mid-eighties, with the majority being recorded at Channel One studio on Maxfield Avenue in Kingston... Collectively, the sequence of cuts on Disc One highlight the many trials and tribulations faced by Rastafarians, mostly brought about by society's ignorance, prejudice and injustice... Disc Two concentrates more on the spiritual wealth gained from worshipping Jah (God), and living an upright life... The individual messages contained on [the] third disc may seem varied at first sight. However, they are bound together by a central theme of Armageddon. There is also a rich sub-text, which warns the wicked to prepare for the aformentioned, and repent while they still have an opportunity." --Chris Pete (from the liner notes.)

V/A Trojan Reggae Sisters Box (Trojan) 3cd 26.00

V/A Trojan Revive Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
At first glance this collection looked to be the sign of Trojan having completely run out of box set ideas, but fortunately this is not the case. The term 'Revive', according to the folks over at Trojan, refers to that period of Jamaican music that trails the rocksteady era and precedes reggae's eventual domination on the island (the tracks here were all recorded between 1968 and 1969.) And, unlike our expectations, the 50 cuts in this collection are really quite great. If you're a fan of rocksteady, or even ska and early reggae you should definitely take note of this collection: organ is the lead instrument of choice on at least a third of the set, but there's a heap of horns to be found here as well. Vocals are often taken by two lead vocalists, sometimes backed by a chorus and though firmly Jamaican in style, the soul influence is indelibly marked in these arrangements. There are quite a few excellent early roots tracks to boot, such as Al & the Vibrators "Going Back Home", and Count Ossie's "Blacker Black" (with some heavy nyabhinghi drumming.) What's better is that the tracks Trojan has unearthed here are all rare goodies that collectors of Jamaican 7"s salivate over. This might be the Trojan box to own if you have to choose only one.
RealAudio clip: AL & THE VIBRATORS "Going Back Home"
RealAudio clip: COUNT OSSIE & HIS BAND "Blacker Black (aka Africa)"
RealAudio clip: THE SILVERTONES "Intensified Change"

V/A Trojan Rocksteady Box (Trojan) 3lp 37.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The consistently popular Trojan box sets are now being issued on LP at long last. The sets all appear to be identical to their cd counterparts in design and content, only being slightly more pricey.
A collection of tracks from the relatively brief, but fruitful Rocksteady era (1966 - 1969), a genre sandwiched betwixt the end of ska and the beginning of reggae. Known for its down tempo rhythms, smooth soulful vocals, and the rise of the keyboard (organ) as lead instrument. The artists here speak for themselves: Alton Ellis, Desmond Dekker, The Melodians, The Maytals, Justin Hinds & the Dominos, The Ethiopians, Phyllis Dillon, Lee Perry, Tommy McCook, and much more.

V/A Trojan Rocksteady Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
A collection of tracks from the relatively brief, but fruitful Rocksteady era (1966 - 1969), a genre sandwiched betwixt the end of ska and the beginning of reggae. Known for its down tempo rhythms, smooth soulful vocals, and the rise of the keyboard (organ) as lead instrument. The artists here speak for themselves: Alton Ellis, Desmond Dekker, The Melodians, The Maytals, Justin Hinds & the Dominos, The Ethiopians, Phyllis Dillon, Lee Perry, Tommy McCook, and much more.

V/A Trojan Roots Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
This set features 50 tracks of Roots Rastafarian music from the seventies, the golden era of Roots music. Featuring Sugar Minott, Johnny Osbourne, Horace Andy, Big Youth, Peter Tosh, The Ethiopians, Linval Thompson, The Abyssinians, and more.

V/A Trojan Rude Boy Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Speaking out on social issues and healthy debates (or downright rhetorical battles) have both been long standing hallmarks of lyrical tradition in Jamaican music. Any number of dialectics in the form of a compilation could be eeked from the material streaming out of Jamaica over the last four decades. For its part, the Rude Boy phenomenon is as good a topic as any. The term applies to neer-do-well youths who began showing up to dances in the mid sixties to pick fights and otherwise spoil the fun of those out to have a good time. Their presence was troublesome in the least and tragic at their worst, as some innocent bystanders even lost their lives when shootouts erupted on the dancefloor. It's even been mythologized that the Rocksteady's formation came about as a direct result from the practice of Rude Boys intentionally dancing slow during the fast paced ska tunes; their aim to cause some unwitting couple to collide with them, giving them a reason to pick a fight. All claims to the myth's validity aside, it underscores the effect the Rude Boys had on Jamaica's musical climate. So it should come as no surprise that Rude Boys were weighed in on by just about everyone in the business: pro and con. On the one hand they were touted as heroes: likened to modern day Robin Hoods. But on the other, they were ruthless trouble makers who's victims were other poor black Jamaicans. Trojan puts together (once again exactly) 50 tracks from as far back as 1965 from just about everyone who was anyone weighing in on the issue: Alton Ellis, The Heptones, Baba Brooks, Desmond Dekker, Justin Hinds, Derrick Morgan, Lee Perry, Peter Tosh, John Holt, Johnny Clarke and more. I say "just about" everyone, because there is one name that is conspicuously absent from the list: Prince Buster. It was Prince Buster after all who started the -- as we would call it now -- flame war that makes up at least one disc full of songs on this three disc set. In 1967 Prince Buster recorded his notorious "Judge Dread", in which Buster holds court to sentence Rude Boys (aptly played by his band) to "400 years". The reason for this crucial song's absence (not to mention Prince Buster's follow ups "The Appeal" and "Barrister Pardon") I suspect is because Trojan records is too cheap to pay the licensing fee to include it on this comp (remember the Trojan Mod Reggae Box? Same deal), so an otherwise definitive collection becomes a bit of a half-assed attempt. Still, there are some great tracks on this set, and if you really want to hear all sides of the story, we've managed to get more copies of the Judge Dread album by Prince Buster on CD.
RealAudio clip: BABA BROOKS & HIS BAND "Guns Fever"
RealAudio clip: ALTON ELLIS & THE FLAMES "Cry Tough"
RealAudio clip: HONEYBOY & THE VOICES "Dreader Than Dread"

V/A Trojan Singles Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
The Trojan label was originally launched in the UK by the B&C/Island partnership, as an outlet for the production work of Duke Reid. Following B&C's descision to split away from Island, and the latter's decision to withdraw from Jamaican music, a new company called Trojan Records was set up. In 1968 the Trojan label was relaunched, with a batch of UK recordings produced by Robert Thompson, who used the name Dandy (and Brother Dan) for his work. Before long, Jamaican produced releases replaced the UK sides, and a string of high quality records hit the shops. Most of the top Jamaican producers saw their work issued here on Trojan... By the end of 1969, a little over a year since the relaunch, Trojan penetrated the UK singles chart for the first time, scoring hits with discs by the Pioneers, Harry J All Stars, and Jimmy Cliff." [from the liner notes.] The fifty rock-steady and reggae tracks in this box range from 1968 to 1978 and include several songs never before released on LP or CD by noted luminaries as: Derrick Morgan, The Melodians, The Maytals, The Pioneers, Derrick Harriot, Donna Hinds and more.

V/A Trojan Ska Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
The genre that saw Jamaican music move from the heavily Rhythm & Blues and Soul influenced Blues Beat into its own unqiue and beutiful form - up tempo, punchy, and loaded with horns. Featuring tracks by: Lord Tanamo, Baba Brooks, Desmond Dekker, The Skatalites, Roland Alphonso, Derrick Morgan, Don Drummond, The Ethiopians, The Techniques, Jimmy Cliff, Clancy Eccles, Lee Perry and much more.

V/A Trojan Ska Box Volume 1 (Trojan) 3lp 37.00
The consistently popular Trojan box sets are now being issued on LP at long last. The sets all appear to be identical to their cd counterparts in design and content, only being slightly more pricey.
The genre that saw Jamaican music move from the heavily Rhythm & Blues and Soul influenced Blues Beat into its own unqiue and beautiful form - up tempo, punchy, and loaded with horns. Featuring tracks by: Lord Tanamo, Baba Brooks, Desmond Dekker, The Skatalites, Roland Alphonso, Derrick Morgan, Don Drummond, The Ethiopians, The Techniques, Jimmy Cliff, Clancy Eccles, Lee Perry and much more.

V/A Trojan Skinhead Reggae Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
For those thinking that maybe there's some sort of contradiction in terms with the words "skinhead" and "reggae" used in the same breath, it is Trojan's job to educate as well as tittilate. Way back in the late sixties, before any of the current breed of skinheads were breeched, the ever restless working class youth of England were in the process of constructing a new counter culture style out of the demise of Mod. Designing themselves in complete antithesis of the hippies, they cut their hair short, donned levi jeans army surplus jackets and steel toed boots. The music they embraced to round out their were the fresh sounds coming out of Jamaica: the newly forged sounds of reggae. The enthusiasm for the music combined with the buying power of the English youth was such that Jamaican singles soon began to appear on the charts and Jamaican artists themselves began to take notice of them, tailoring songs for the new English market. It wasn't until many years later that the clueless throngs of right wing nuts, who are now synonymous with the word "skinhead", co-opted the fashion wholesale, even modelling their music after Jamaican ska. The fifty tracks on this collection were recorded between 1968 and 1970 with tracks produced both in Jamaica and the U.K. by Jamaican ex-patriots (disc three appears to be almost exclusively comprised of the latter) such as Laurel Aitken, Joe Mansano, Lambert Brisco and others.
RealAudio clip: THE CHARMERS "Skinhead Train"
RealAudio clip: THE UPSETTERS "A Taste of Killings"
RealAudio clip: RILEY, DESMOND "Skinhead A Message To You"

V/A Trojan Soulful Reggae Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
This collection from Trojan emphasizes the close ties Jamaican artists have had with Americans through music, presenting 50 tracks of soul, R&B, and funk covers from the island recorded in the late sixties through mid-seventies. There are quite a few excellent tracks here (Motown being well represented) including: "Tears of a Clown", "Let's Get It On", "I'll Be There", "Just My Imagination", "Ooh Child", "People Make the World Go Round" (not the Hortence Ellis version), "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", and much, much more.
RealAudio clip: THE CHOSEN FEW "Do Your Thing"
RealAudio clip: TEDDY BROWN "Midnight Train To Georgia"

V/A Trojan Tribute To Bob Marley (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Three cds featuring an amazing assortment of artists, honoring (and covering) Bob Marley, perhaps the most important figure in the history of reggae. Includes: Prince Far I, Judy Mowatt, Derrick Morgan, Tommy McCook, U Roy, The Upsetters, Augustus Pablo, Big Youth, Phyllis Dillon, Dennis Brown, Tappa Zukie, Jackie Mittoo and much more.

V/A Trojan Upsetter Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Well you've got to hand it to Trojan since they cut the price on these box sets it's hard to go wrong. But with this new Upsetter Box, if you have any of the many Perry / Upsetter collections already (especially any of the trojan anthologies), you'll be getting a whole lot of redundant material. Disc one covers Perry's pre-Black Ark days, with tracks dating back to 1968, recorded Randy's and Dynamic Sounds. This disc is contains not only the best material in the set but, unfortunately, also the most oft released tracks. Disc two contains tracks from Perry's Black Ark period and collaborations with King Tubby dating up to 1978. The third disc would be a great disc, containing several rare extended mixes of some of Perry's late seventies work including the Congo's "Neckodeemus", but it's soured by the addition of some of recently recorded tracks, including one from this year's awful 'Jamaican E.T.' album.
RealAudio clip: THE UPSETTERS "Man From MI5"
RealAudio clip: CADOGAN, SUSAN "Fever"

V/A Trojan X-Rated Box Set (Trojan) 3cd 26.00
Trojan now has a contest on their website in which you can make a suggestion for upcoming box set releases. You can choose just the theme, or even go as far as picking out the tracks. And though I wish I could lay claim to the concept that's been floating around to make the Trojan Overlap Box Set, I can't -- somebody else already brilliantly suggested that Trojan release a box set of tracks everyone already has on at least three other Trojan compilations. And if Trojan's sense of humor is at least half the size of their opportunistic abilities, they might just release it. So now you're probably wondering whether or not you should get this. Well, truth is, this is actually a fucking great copulation... err, I mean compilation. Taken from bewteen 1966 and 1975, the tracks range from the subtle double entendre style reminiscent of early mento and calypso artists to the quite overt x-rated. It's the former that by far are the most entertaining as it demonstrates the lyricist's skills in avoiding the wrath of censors, and yet some of the naughtier x-rated cuts can be equally hilarious. Not to mention the Monty Python-esque tracks where two men sing both the male and female parts... strange. It seems as though the production on much of the tracks here is a bit more loose, for lack of a better word, which lends to stranger arrangements at times. I imagine that many of the tracks were not intended for any wide scale release and as such the artists and producers both had more fun in the recording studio. And these aren't obscure producers and singers featured here either. You've got Lee Perry (he's all over this one). Max Romeo (you've never heard Max until you hear him sing "Play With Your Pussy"), Augustus Pablo, U Roy, Niney the Observer, Phyllis Dillon, Derrick Morgan, Lloyd Charmers to name a few. Trojan insures us that a great deal of these tracks have never before been released on CD. So, as Trojan boxes go, we give this one the thumbs up, but don't go playing this one around the family over the holidays.
RealAudio clip: LLOYDIE & THE LOWBITES "Birth Control"
RealAudio clip: PHYLLIS DILLON "Don't Touch Me Tomato"
RealAudio clip: DERRICK MORGAN "Horse Race (aka My Dickie)"

V/A Trojan: A Jamaican Story Box Set (Trojan) 30cd 150.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The monster box set from Trojan has arrived. 30 cds, totalling in at 500 tracks, available for a reasonable price. This box contains the first 10 boxes in the Trojan Box series: Ska, Dub, Rocksteady, DJ, Lovers, Tribute To Bob Marley, Instrumentals, Roots, Jamaican Superstars and Producers. For those of us who've already spent our dough on these as individual releases this box comes a little too late, but for those of you considering delving into the Trojan catalog who haven't done so yet, this is a super bargain. When you divide it up, each cd is only $5.

V/A Tron Legacy Reconfigured (Disney) cd 15.98
As much as we dug Daft Punk's Tron soundtrack, and we did, this remix collection seems to be directed at all the haters who lamented the lack of Daft Punk style dance music on said soundtrack, so in lieu of the more appropriately cinematic sounds found there, here you'll find just what everyone was hoping for, big pounding block rocking beats, fat fuzzed out synths, wild sci fi squiggles, huge thick swaths of speaker rattling low end, glimmering future disco melded to various strains of modern dance music, DP's original sounds cranked and blown out and turned into the sort of dancefloor bliss that fans of Daft Punk / Justice / Chemical Brothers / Basement Jaxx go nuts for.
And we're right there with you. We were sold a minute into the first track. "Derezzed" was already one of the few Daft Punk songs on the Tron soundtrack that sounded like Daft Punk, but here, Glitch Mob take the original and make it even more, slowing it down, the bass thick and dense, the beat more dubsteppy, the sound crunchy and explosive and loud and funky and in its own way HEAVY. Then there's the M83 track, that sounds exactly like what you might think M83 and Daft Punk would sound like together, the vibe soaring and eighties, falsetto vox over epic buzzing synths and swirling futuristic ambience, it may be on a Daft Punk remix record, but it would sound right at home on a M83 record proper.
And so it goes. From house to trance, dubstep to techno, swirly spaced out ambience to groovy low slung futurefunk, lots of names you know: Crystal Method, Moby, Photek (!), Paul Oakenfold, and plenty more you don't: Pretty Lights, Japanese Popstars, Kaskade, Teddybears, not to mention the awesomely named Com Truise, these jams pretty much all anyone into any of the above mentioned folks could ask for...
MPEG Stream: THE GLITCH MOB "Derezzed (Remix)"
MPEG Stream: M83 VS BIG BLACK DELTA "Fall (Remix)"
MPEG Stream: COM TRUISE "Encom Part 2 (Remix)"

V/A Tropicalia (Lilith) cd 21.00
Lilith is really on top of the Tropicalia reissues and this time we see back in stock the compilation / collaboration that served as the Brazilian movement's defining manifesto while also highlighting the key musical players: Gil Gilberto, Caetano Veloso, Os Mutantes, Gal Costa and producer Rogerio Duprat (with contributions from Nara Leao, Tom Ze, and Vicente Celestino among others). We were surprised to find we didn't review this ten years ago when we first discovered and raved about Os Mutantes and heard about the Tropicalia movement from the late sixties with all this amazing and creative art, poetry and music. Although it's easy to be blinded by Os Mutantes' genius, as they were definitely the most rocking and performative component of the movement, which was made up of mostly singer-songwriters that came from more traditional musical forms of Samba, Fado and Bossa Nova. So perhaps we were less floored musically with that aspect of this compilation at the time, or just didn't appreciate enough the then-radical concept of mashing all these disparate forms of psychedelic rock, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and Brazilian popular styles together in a country that nationalized its traditional music to such a degree that even electric instruments were considered anathema. We are definitely appreciating it much more now. Especially after becoming more familiar with the solo work of each of the contributors, we're more open this time around to the softer nuances of the song writing and performances. Panis et Circencis (Bread and Circuses) is both a celebration and a political critique, a collaboration of unity and vitality and most of all longevity.
MPEG Stream: OS MUTANTES "Panis et Circensis"
MPEG Stream: CAETANO VELOSO "Enquanto Seu Lobo Nao Vem"
MPEG Stream: GAL COSTA "Mamae Coragem"

V/A Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound (Soul Jazz) cd 21.00
You can always count on Soul Jazz for a beautifully packaged and well thought out compilation. This time out it's a trip to late '60s early '70s Brazil for the suave sounds of the founders of tropicalia. Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze, Gal Costa, Jorgen Ben, Gilberto Gil, and of course ultimate AQ faves Os Mutantes. With a sound that mixes elements of psychedelic rock, samba, funk, soul and avant-garde aesthetics like tape loops and delays. Crazy to think that during the dictatorial political atmosphere in Brazil at the time many of these artists were seen as dangerous because of the revolutionary sounds they were creating. Veloso and Gil were even arrested and deported. What they began was a sound and style that's been picked up by new generations across the globe. Just listen to records by Beck, Olivia Tremor Control (listen to the Veloso sound sample, an OTC dead ringer!), Sam Prekop, David Byrne and many others and you can hear how these sounds have shaped some of the smartest pop music of the last quarter-century.
MPEG Stream: "Lost In The Paradise"
MPEG Stream: "Domingo No Parque"
MPEG Stream: "Tuareg"
MPEG Stream: "A Minha Menina"

V/A Tropicalia: A Brazilian Revolution In Sound (Soul Jazz) 2lp 24.00
You can always count on Soul Jazz for a beautifully packaged and well thought out compilation. This time out it's a trip to late '60s early '70s Brazil for the suave sounds of the founders of tropicalia. Caetano Veloso, Tom Ze, Gal Costa, Jorgen Ben, Gilberto Gil, and of course ultimate AQ faves Os Mutantes. With a sound that mixes elements of psychedelic rock, samba, funk, soul and avant-garde aesthetics like tape loops and delays. Crazy to think that during the dictatorial political atmosphere in Brazil at the time many of these artists were seen as dangerous because of the revolutionary sounds they were creating. Veloso and Gil were even arrested and deported. What they began was a sound and style that's been picked up by new generations across the globe. Just listen to records by Beck, Olivia Tremor Control (listen to the Veloso sound sample, an OTC dead ringer!), Sam Prekop, David Byrne and many others and you can hear how these sounds have shaped some of the smartest pop music of the last quarter-century.
MPEG Stream: "Lost In The Paradise"
MPEG Stream: "Domingo No Parque"
MPEG Stream: "Tuareg"
MPEG Stream: "A Minha Menina"

V/A Troubadours of Folk: The 60's Acoustic Explosion (Castle) 2cd 19.98

V/A Troubled Troubadours (The Omni Recording Corporation) cd 17.98
There's no shortage of incredible reissue labels, and depending on our mood, or what record just came out, we could go any way if forced to pick, but honestly, we find ourselves always coming back to Omni, not only are their reissues incredibly and meticulously researched and curated, with extensive liner notes, rare photos, all that jazz, but the sounds are bizarre and beautiful, balancing precariously between unsung country classics, and the demented dark underbelly of country music, we love both, but definitely lean toward the latter, and thankfully, so does Omni it seems. As if to prove that point, along comes Troubled Troubadours, another collection of sick twisted country sounds, which on the surface, aren't so obviously twisted, but dig a little deeper and these songs blossom into far out tales of misery and woe, murder and mayhem, even one about shooting God! Weird indeed.
There are some musical moments of madness, the bizarre looped vocal / Theremin sounding main melody on Homer And Jethro's "Monster Mash" sounding "A Crept Into The Crypt And Cried" for example, but then there's intense dark musical gems like Waylon Jennings' "Delia's Gone", a brooding dark creep complete with haunting sitar buzz. Dolly Parton contributes two tracks, one a haunting tale of an abandoned mother, the other, a harrowing tale of a women committed, and longing for her Daddy to come set her free. And then there's the aforementioned "Are They Gonna Shoot God", a weepy melodramatic soft focus hippy country ballad, where a little boy asks his daddy if they're gonna shoot God, while an angelic chorus echoes the question. Weird. Porter Wagoner is present of course, Omni has already done two Wagoner collections, and here Wagoner tells the tale of "Waldo The Weirdo". Cargill Henson makes an appearance too, after two of his own Omni collections, with the reverbed jangle of "Daddy, What's A Tree?". There's Bobby Bare's "Your Credit Card Won't Get You Into Heaven", a cautionary tale, all gospel organ and baritone croon, and Lester Flatt's "I Can't Tell The Boys From The Girls", another cautionary tale of sorts, about dating in the big city, and so it goes. Every song, no matter how traditional sounding on the surface, hiding something sick or sinister, hilarious or goofy underneath.
If you dug any of the other Omni records, Porter Wagoner, Dee Mullins, Johnny Paycheck, Lorne Greene or the Plantation Gold collection, which was a former Record Of The Week, then odds are you're gonna dig this too. And most definitely recommended to any fans of incredibly strange music. Country or otherwise...
MPEG Stream: WAYLON JENNINGS "Delia's Gone"
MPEG Stream: MARK SLADE "Are They Gonna Shoot God?"
MPEG Stream: PORTER WAGONER "Waldo The Weirdo"
MPEG Stream: STONEWALL JACKSON "Push The Panic Button"
MPEG Stream: HOMER AND JETHRO "I Crept Into The Crypt And Cried"

V/A Troubleman Mixtape (Troubleman Unlimited) 2cd 14.98
In an attempt to come up with the perfect compilation (in the spirit of collections like No New York, Flex Your Head, Not So Quiet on the Western Front and the like), Mike Troubleman took four years to compile this appropriately titled "Mix Tape" of bands he's currently into. Features exclusive tracks by Burmese, Pink & Brown, Erase Errata, Lightning Bolt, The Locust, The Fucking Champs, XBXRX, Melt Banana, Subtonix, Unwound, Men's Recovery Project, Pixeltan, The Monorchid, Outhud, Blonde Redhead, Red Monkey, Total Shutdown, Bride of No No, Glass Candy and the Shattered Theatre, Flying Luttenbachers, Black Dice, Rah Bras, and many more, including contributions by now-defunct bands such as The Cranium and Crom-Tech. Unfortunately, many of the tracks (like on most compilations nowadays) are throwaways, either poorly recorded or not indicative of "normal" output. Anyway, if you're at all interested in what's "happening" in the current indie underground scene, this is definitely a good introduction to many lesser-known bands.

V/A Troubleman Sampler (Troubleman Unlimited) cd 5.98
Punky noisy label Troubleman records has put out many awesome records; this comp is a low-priced way to check out tracks from a bunch of their current, recent and here-very-soon releases. Features a ton of AQ and customer fave bands! Dig it: Erase Errata, Wolf Eyes, Glass Candy, Orthrelm, The Walkmen, Subtonix, Pixeltan, The Roger Sisters, Songs Of Zarathustra, Meta*Matics, The Flying Luttenbachers, The Panthers, ABC's, Numbers, Kepler, Red Monkey, The Lack, Touchdown, Milky Wimpshake and Pussycat Trash, plus an Erase Errata remix by Adult (from the upcoming Erase Errata remix album).
MPEG Stream: ERASE ERATTA "Marathon (Adult. Remix)"
MPEG Stream: META*MATICS "KKKlown"

V/A TRR50 Thank You (Temporary Residence Ltd.) cd 11.98
TRR50 Thank You marks the fiftieth release on Temporary Residence, and the thanks really should go both ways. Thanks Jeremy and T.R. for bringing such great music to the ears of many! This comp reveals the vast scope of this label -- from jazzy propulsive and glistening post-rock (Rumah Sakit, Sonna, Kilowatthours, Explosions In The Sky, Parlour) to gentle acoustic folkiness (Howard Hello) to atmospheric soundscapes (Tarentel, Kammerflimmer Kollektief) to glitchy electronic dreaminess (Fridge, Sybarite). Whether heavy and angular or delicate and vaporous, each Temporary Residence release maintains a common thread of beauty. Each of the eleven tracks is new and exclusive to this release!
MPEG Stream: FRIDGE "Five Combs"
MPEG Stream: RUMAH SAKIT "I Can't See Anything When I Close My Eyes (Live)"

V/A Truck Driver's Boogie: Big Rig Hits Vol. 1 (Diesel Only / Koch / Audium) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Presented by the Country Music Hall Of Fame, here's a great collection from what's one of Allan's favorite country western genres, the truck driving song! Songs about truckstop waitresses, black coffee, night runs, little white pills, and dangerous curves (of both the asphalt and female kind). Of course, these 20 tracks are far from a complete collection (what? no Red Sovine?) but this disc does cover many of the most seminal truckin' tunes over the 30 year span of 1939 to 1969, from the very first big rig hit "Truck Driver's Blues" (Cliff Brown & His Boys, 1939) to one of the first truck drivin' hillbilly boogie songs "Truck Driver's Boogie" (The Milo Twins, 1948) to the more somber "A Tombstone Every Mile" (Dick Curless, 1964) to Windy's best-loved trucking song, Red Simpson's "Roll, Truck, Roll" (1966), with its classic spoken word breakdown about his little boy drawing pictures of trucks all day at school... Over half the disc is drawn from the the truck driving song's commercial heyday in the Sixties. Hopefully though, a Volume 2 is in the works, covering the '70s and beyond.
RealAudio clip: DOYE O'DELL "Diesel Smoke (Dangerous Curves)"
RealAudio clip: DAVE DUDLEY "Six Days On The Road"
RealAudio clip: BOBBY BRADDOCK "Gear Bustin' Sort of a Feller"

V/A True Kings Of Norway (Spikefarm) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
From the darkest past we summon thee: early 7" vinyl releases from several of Norway's elite black metal tyrants, now collected on one handy cd. So if in 1992 you missed picking up Immortal's 7" debut, or failed to get Emperor's "As The Shadows Rise" 7" ep in '94, now's your chance to add those tracks to your collection. Rare 7" tracks by Dimmu Borgir, Arcturus, and the somewhat out-of-their-league Ancient are also found here. Far from most of those bands' current highly-polished, produced sounds, these early singles are nothing if not steeped in a raw, primitve black metal urgency and atmosphere that still makes the blood run cold. And, if these classic cuts weren't enough, this digipak also includes an amazing fold-out "map" of the Norwegian blackmetal community, a kind of convoluted family tree demonstrating the unholy links among these bands and many many others. Very cool, almost essential for true black metal fiends.

V/A True Soul: Volume 1 (Now Again) cd + dvd 22.00
Watch your back Numero Group, as Now Again has also been releasing some amazing soul reissues over the last few years. With this compilation they put their soul discovery focus on the True Soul label from Arkansas during the 1960s and 1970s. Much like the US punk/hardcore scene that would arise in the early '80s, the underground soul scene embodied a similarly DIY spirit, and thus shared many parallels, regional labels, record stores being magnets for the scene, sharing practice spaces and recording time, playing in unusual venues, and doing it all for the love of the music, even if fame and fortune never came, no matter how much these fellas sound like James Brown! Billed as 'Deep Sounds From The Left Of Stax', this really is deep hitting, nitty gritty soul and funk that isn't about flash and appearance as much as it is really getting to the heart of things. We blast this in the store, imagining being in some musty, smoke filled lounge in Arkansas as folks like Thomas East, Albert Smith, Ren Smith, and The Leaders play sweat dripping sets. Don't worry if none of the above mentioned names don't ring a bell for you, they didn't for us either. But this collection further proves how much amazing soul was created during this special era that never got the wide attention it so totally deserved. Super swank packaging, in a thick hardback book with tons of text, color photos, and record graphics, definitely giving these musicians their due! Plus there's a whole dvd disc featuring local TV performances by a bunch of these artists, 1973's True Soul Review, wow, amazing they dug this up too, way cool to see.
MPEG Stream: THOMAS EAST "Slipping Around"
MPEG Stream: THE RIGHT TRACK "I Gotta Move With The Groove"
MPEG Stream: ALBERT SMITH "Come Together"

V/A Tumbele! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds From The French Caribbean, 1963-74 (Soundway) cd 16.98

V/A Tumbele! Biguine, Afro & Latin Sounds From The French Caribbean, 1963-74 (Soundway) 2lp 23.00

V/A Turbo's Tunes (Kill Rock Stars) cd 4.98
Kill Rock Stars was so eloquent with the subtitle "A Kill Rock Stars Retrospective Sampler" that we needn't mention anything beyond the track listing: Sleater Kinney, Unwound, The Bangs, The Gossip, Holly Golightly, Cadallaca, Har Mar Superstar, Two Ton Boa, Jim Carroll, Kleenex, and many more!

V/A Turkey: Music From the Yayla (Ocora) cd 14.98

V/A Turkish Delights (Grey Past) cd 23.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We are all quite excited about the cd release of Turkish Delights comp (though Byram's a bit irked 'cause he bought the original vinyl and now is faced with a cd version that adds 11 extra tracks!). In total, there's 26 tracks here, dating from 1965 to 1971, of some of the best garage psych that we've ever heard -- from Turkey or anywhere else for that matter. The Turkish rock scene appears to have begun in earnest in 1956 when the English instrumental group The Shadows made their impression on Turkish teens. Given that many people in Turkey didn't even speak English, it's pretty impressive how well they assimilated a completely foreign music and excelled in it better than most of their American and British counterparts. Some of the tracks like Mavi Isiklar's "Great Airplane Strike of 1967" (a Paul Revere & the Raiders cover) are spitting images of garage-psych from the occident, but others like Cem Karaca & Apaslar's "Suya Giden Alli Gelin" are unmistakably Eastern. It's these tracks, that combine the rock n' roll structure and instrumentation augmented with Turkish instruments, scales and singing that really kick ass. Those of you that have already picked up the excellent "Hava Narghile" compilation know what we mean, but what was great about that collection is exponentially better on this one! Get it.
Along with the new cd version, we now have more copies of the "Turkish Delights" LP (which was so hard to get when it first came out that we only ever had a handful and were never able to list it). 15 tracks on this baby instead of the 26 on the cd, but what you lose in bonus cuts you gain in, uh, vinyl. And the art looks better, we think.
RealAudio clip: CEM KARACA & APASLAR "Suya Giden Alli Gelin"
RealAudio clip: SELCUK ALAGOZ "Saklan Saklanabilirsen"
RealAudio clip: CAHIT OBEN "Halimem"

V/A Turkish Delights (Grey Past) lp 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We are all quite excited about the cd release of Turkish Delights comp (though Byram's a bit irked 'cause he bought the original vinyl and now is faced with a cd version that adds 11 extra tracks!). In total, there's 26 tracks here, dating from 1965 to 1971, of some of the best garage psych that we've ever heard -- from Turkey or anywhere else for that matter. The Turkish rock scene appears to have begun in earnest in 1956 when the English instrumental group The Shadows made their impression on Turkish teens. Given that many people in Turkey didn't even speak English, it's pretty impressive how well they assimilated a completely foreign music and excelled in it better than most of their American and British counterparts. Some of the tracks like Mavi Isiklar's "Great Airplane Strike of 1967" (a Paul Revere & the Raiders cover) are spitting images of garage-psych from the occident, but others like Cem Karaca & Apaslar's "Suya Giden Alli Gelin" are unmistakably Eastern. It's these tracks, that combine the rock n' roll structure and instrumentation augmented with Turkish instruments, scales and singing that really kick ass. Those of you that have already picked up the excellent "Hava Narghile" compilation know what we mean, but what was great about that collection is exponentially better on this one! Get it.
Along with the new cd version, we now have more copies of the "Turkish Delights" LP (which was so hard to get when it first came out that we only ever had a handful and were never able to list it). 15 tracks on this baby instead of the 26 on the cd, but what you lose in bonus cuts you gain in, uh, vinyl. And the art looks better, we think.

V/A Turkish Freakout (Bouzouki Joe) cd 17.98
Three little words guaranteed to get us all excited: Turkish psych comp. That's all it takes. (A fourth word, used in the title here, "Freakout", doesn't hurt either.) Compilations like Turkish Delights, Hava Narghile, and the Turkish installment of Love Peace & Poetry have all been staples here at AQ, and have turned us on to so many amazing bands like Mogollar, Ersen, and 3 Hur-el. Our only worry with a new Turkish psych comp is that it will redundantly duplicate tracks we've already got, but fortunately that's not the case with this one, only a few of the 18 tracks here had we heard before, with some of the artists being completely new to us. And, also, awesome!
Focusing solely on selected rare 45 rpm 7" singles releases, dating from the late '60s to 1980, this comp is evidence that it was a groovy decade in Istanbul for sure. Funky -and- folky (yes, often at the same time), these tracks incorporate all the fuzz guitar, ethnic instrumentation, percolating percussion, exciting rhythms, and soulful vocals we've come to expect from the Turkish psych scene. It's a mesmerizing mix, there's a lot of highlights here, we can't really mention 'em all, but just to give you an idea, the first track, by Okay Temiz, sounds almost like it could come from that soundtrack by Rockford Kabine we made Record Of The Week recently, a sultry and "exotic" instrumental groove with some wild whoopin' elements that remind us of a Jean-Claude Vannier production. Then there's the cinematic strings and quasi doomy-riffing of Erkin Koray's dramatic "Sev Digim". And Alpay's "Seni Dilenyorum" is one we'd play for a friend wondering what all the vintage Turkish psych fuss is about. If they didn't dig that, we'd feel real sorry for them.
In addition to those, the line-up of artists here includes Kardaslar, Cem Karaka, Apaslar, Beyaz Kelebekler, Ajda Pekkan, Sevil & Ayla, Baris Manco, Rifat Oncel, Ersen, Onder Bali, and Arif Sag. And fortunately, the deluxe digipack includes a thick 40 page booklet, full of liner notes about 'em all, along with original 45 sleeve art. Nicely done, as comps/reissues go. And on top of that, most of the other Turkish psych collections we mentioned at the top of this review are now out of print, so this will become a go-to comp for us in one of our favorite genres.
MPEG Stream: BEYAZ KELEBEKLER "Esmerim"
MPEG Stream: ALPAY "Ah Berelim"
MPEG Stream: ERKIN KORAY "Estarabim"
MPEG Stream: AJDA PEKKAN "Kaderimin Oyunu"

V/A Turkish Freakout (Bouzouki Joe) 2lp 27.00
Now available on vinyl, gatefold sleeve, with bonus Arif Sag 7" included in the first 1000 copies, while they last.
Three little words guaranteed to get us all excited: Turkish psych comp. That's all it takes. (A fourth word, used in the title here, "Freakout", doesn't hurt either.) Compilations like Turkish Delights, Hava Narghile, and the Turkish installment of Love Peace & Poetry have all been staples here at AQ, and have turned us on to so many amazing bands like Mogollar, Ersen, and 3 Hur-el. Our only worry with a new Turkish psych comp is that it will redundantly duplicate tracks we've already got, but fortunately that's not the case with this one, only a few of the 18 tracks here had we heard before, with some of the artists being completely new to us. And, also, awesome!
Focusing solely on selected rare 45 rpm 7" singles releases, dating from the late '60s to 1980, this comp is evidence that it was a groovy decade in Istanbul for sure. Funky -and- folky (yes, often at the same time), these tracks incorporate all the fuzz guitar, ethnic instrumentation, percolating percussion, exciting rhythms, and soulful vocals we've come to expect from the Turkish psych scene. It's a mesmerizing mix, there's a lot of highlights here, we can't really mention 'em all, but just to give you an idea, the first track, by Okay Temiz, sounds almost like it could come from that soundtrack by Rockford Kabine we made Record Of The Week recently, a sultry and "exotic" instrumental groove with some wild whoopin' elements that remind us of a Jean-Claude Vannier production. Then there's the cinematic strings and quasi doomy-riffing of Erkin Koray's dramatic "Sev Digim". And Alpay's "Seni Dilenyorum" is one we'd play for a friend wondering what all the vintage Turkish psych fuss is about. If they didn't dig that, we'd feel real sorry for them.
In addition to those, the line-up of artists here includes Kardaslar, Cem Karaka, Apaslar, Beyaz Kelebekler, Ajda Pekkan, Sevil & Ayla, Baris Manco, Rifat Oncel, Ersen, Onder Bali, and Arif Sag. And fortunately, the deluxe digipack includes a thick 40 page booklet, full of liner notes about 'em all, along with original 45 sleeve art. Nicely done, as comps/reissues go. And on top of that, most of the other Turkish psych collections we mentioned at the top of this review are now out of print, so this will become a go-to comp for us in one of our favorite genres.
MPEG Stream: BEYAZ KELEBEKLER "Esmerim"
MPEG Stream: ALPAY "Ah Berelim"
MPEG Stream: ERKIN KORAY "Estarabim"
MPEG Stream: AJDA PEKKAN "Kaderimin Oyunu"

V/A Turkish Freakout 2: Psych-Folk 1970-1978 (Bouzouki Joe Records) cd 21.00
We're always saying we just can't get enough of that vintage Middle Eastern psych music, hence a sequel to last year's great Turkish Freakout comp is quite freaking welcome! Here 'tis, 17 more tracks from rare Turkish records (mostly 7" singles) of the seventies, by some artists we'd heard of, and plenty of others we hadn't. As with volume one, there's definitely lots of great tunes here we hadn't come across before! The lineup includes: Baris Manco, Edip Akbayram, Cem Karaca + Mogollar, Afet Serenay, Kerem Guney, Gokben, Gulcan Opel, Sevil and Ayla, Kamuran Akkor, Ozel Turkbas, Perihan, Sakir Oner Gunham, Sirin, and Kenan. Lush and lively stuff all of it, like belly dancing music taken to psychedelic extremes.
Amongst these tracks, you'll hear lots of lovely female singers, moody men too, and the rhythms of stately folk dances infused with FUZZ, with orchestral strings, electric saz, synth, indeed wild Moog madness, flutes and whistling, wah wah guitar and funky drum breaks, stuff that's groovy and spacey and exotically poppy. The usual in other words.
There's a thick 36 page booklet stuffed inside this digipack, one reason it's so thick is they devote a whole page to a full color reproduction of the single sleeve or lp jacket from which each of these tracks is taken. On the facing page, some commentary from the anonymous compiler.
If you look through the booklet, you'll no doubt notice Afet Serenay. She has two cuts on here, both from her 1978 full-length lp Bir Of Ceksem. So that album cover is reproduced twice, and that's cool 'cause she's worth a second look for her fashion sense alone, posing on the cover of her record wearing a colorful rainbow striped wool sweater/dress and matching legwarmers. Wow. Also, one of Serenay's tracks, "Maden Dagi", you might recognize from the beloved Selda's somewhat different version of the same tune (they're folk songs after all) on her album Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi (aka Vol. 2). Likewise, the Edip Akbayram track here, "Mehmet Emmi" was also done by Selda.
Just like the first installment, worth freaking out over if you love Turkish psych - or any such international sounds - like we do. FYI, the gatefold double lp vinyl version we have now comes with a limited, bonus 7".
MPEG Stream: KEREM GUNEY "Aglayi Aglayi"
MPEG Stream: PERIHAN "Nerden Nereye"
MPEG Stream: KENAN "Viens Dans Ma Vie"

V/A Turkish Freakout 2: Psych-Folk 1970-1978 (Bouzouki Joe Records) 2lp + 7" 27.00
We're always saying we just can't get enough of that vintage Middle Eastern psych music, hence a sequel to last year's great Turkish Freakout comp is quite freaking welcome! Here 'tis, 17 more tracks from rare Turkish records (mostly 7" singles) of the seventies, by some artists we'd heard of, and plenty of others we hadn't. As with volume one, there's definitely lots of great tunes here we hadn't come across before! The lineup includes: Baris Manco, Edip Akbayram, Cem Karaca + Mogollar, Afet Serenay, Kerem Guney, Gokben, Gulcan Opel, Sevil and Ayla, Kamuran Akkor, Ozel Turkbas, Perihan, Sakir Oner Gunham, Sirin, and Kenan. Lush and lively stuff all of it, like belly dancing music taken to psychedelic extremes.
Amongst these tracks, you'll hear lots of lovely female singers, moody men too, and the rhythms of stately folk dances infused with FUZZ, with orchestral strings, electric saz, synth, indeed wild Moog madness, flutes and whistling, wah wah guitar and funky drum breaks, stuff that's groovy and spacey and exotically poppy. The usual in other words.
There's a thick 36 page booklet stuffed inside this digipack, one reason it's so thick is they devote a whole page to a full color reproduction of the single sleeve or lp jacket from which each of these tracks is taken. On the facing page, some commentary from the anonymous compiler.
If you look through the booklet, you'll no doubt notice Afet Serenay. She has two cuts on here, both from her 1978 full-length lp Bir Of Ceksem. So that album cover is reproduced twice, and that's cool 'cause she's worth a second look for her fashion sense alone, posing on the cover of her record wearing a colorful rainbow striped wool sweater/dress and matching legwarmers. Wow. Also, one of Serenay's tracks, "Maden Dagi", you might recognize from the beloved Selda's somewhat different version of the same tune (they're folk songs after all) on her album Vurulduk Ey Halkim Unutma Bizi (aka Vol. 2). Likewise, the Edip Akbayram track here, "Mehmet Emmi" was also done by Selda.
Just like the first installment, worth freaking out over if you love Turkish psych - or any such international sounds - like we do. FYI, the gatefold double lp vinyl version we have now comes with a limited, bonus 7".
MPEG Stream: KEREM GUNEY "Aglayi Aglayi"
MPEG Stream: PERIHAN "Nerden Nereye"
MPEG Stream: KENAN "Viens Dans Ma Vie"

V/A Turntable Solos (Amoebic) cd 18.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A solid introduction for all those who have only seen the hip-hop approach to wax tricks. This covers almost every other conceivable area of turntablist sound-art from Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Merzbow, Crawling With Tarts, Erik M, Extasis, Frank Schulte, George Budd, L?K?O, Martin Tetreault, Massimo Simonini, Mood Man, PFN, Rik Rue, Takeshi Fumimoto, and Tsunoda Tsuguto.

V/A Turntables By the Bay (Hip Hop Slam) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A really nice cd version of the four vinyl Turntables by the Bay comps. This contains most but not all of the tracks from that series, along with really detailed liner notes, contact info for the DJs, etc. With tracks from star turntablists Q-Bert and other Skratch Piklz, the Groove Robbers featuring DJ Shadow, Eddie Def, Live Human, Peanut Butter Wolf... and my personal favorite DJ Quest. Wow. A strong collection of work by our Bay Area DJs -- no duds, worth the money.
RealAudio clip: DJ QUEST "Quest Represent"
RealAudio clip: Q-BERT FEAT. FLARE, D-STYLES, & YOGAFROG "Invasion of the Octobots"

V/A Twenty Years Of Dischord (Dischord) 3cd 23.00
This box set commemorates Dischord's first 20 years as a label and is an amazing and lovingly put together artefact. Three cds, with one track from each band on the label (including one track from each band on the seminal "Flex Your Head" compilation). The third disc is all unreleased material and contains some very early video footage of The Untouchables, The Teen Idles, SOA, Faith, Void and Deadline. 73 songs in all (21 unreleased) and a 134 page book with full page bio for each band written by Ian MacKaye, Jeff Nelson and Henry Rollins. This label has been such an inspiration to so many labels, bands, stores, activists, individuals, whatever. Hard working and obviously still in love with music even after all these years. The box set is sequenced in chronological order which is kind of cool because you get a feel for the way the bands and the label progressed, and because it's such a family affair, being that all the bands were from D.C., there are people showing up in a several different bands, so it illustrates the individual changes and transformations as well. So nice.
The 50 bands are as follows:
Teen Idles, The Untouchables, State of Alert, Minor Threat , Void, Youth Brigade, Government Issue, Scream, Iron Cross, Red C, Deadline, Artificial Peace, Faith, Skewbald, Marginal Man, Gray Matter, Rites of Spring, Beefeater, The Snakes, Dag Nasty, Embrace, Soulside, Egg Hunt, One Last Wish, Fire Party, Ignition, Three, Shudder to Think, Happy Go Licky, Fugazi, Lungfish, Fidelity Jones, The Nation of Ulysses, Holy Rollers, Jawbox, Severin, The High-Back Chairs, Autoclave, Circus Lupus, Branch Manager, Slant 6, Hoover, Trusty, Smart Went Crazy, The Crownhate Ruin, The Warmers, The Make-Up, Bluetip, Faraquet, Q and Not U.
RealAudio clip: TEEN IDLES "Get Up And Go"
RealAudio clip: MINOR THREAT "Screaming At A Wall"
RealAudio clip: BEEFEATER "Just Things"
RealAudio clip: HAPPY GO LICKY "Twist and Shout"