All Items 609 Items

Shape of Things to Come is the fifth studio album by the American guitarist George Benson, recorded in 1968 and arranged by Don Sebesky. It was his first album for A&M Records and his first album to be produced by Creed Taylor, who would remain his producer until 1976. After four years and three different labels, Benson signed with the A&M/CTI label in 1968. He was to be the replacement for their star Wes Montgomery, who had died earlier in the year. For his first album with the label, producer Taylor brought in all of the labels heavyweights, arranger Sebesky, engineer Rudy Van Gelder, and guest artists Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. The album is mostly cover songs from artists as diverse as Aretha Franklin, The Monkees and Glenn Miller. It also contains a pair of original compositions and some reworkings of movie soundtracks.

It was 1968 when Fania Records President, Jerry Masucci, received a phone call from conguero George Guzman, inviting Jerry to listen to his band. Jerry turned the project over to Harvey Averne, who later reported to Jerry that the band was “out of sight” and suggested that Masucci sign them up. A short time later, things became complicated for George and his band. First of all, the lead singer was drafted into the military, leaving George high and dry. By the time a replacement was found, George learned that his trumpet player was leaving to join another orchestra, so the search was on for his replacement. One problem led to another and before you knew it several months had gone by before George was finally ready to enter the studio and begin recording. Thanks to George and Harvey’s perseverance, “Introducing George Guzman” was released in time for George to join the fray of Boogaloo bands that had brightened up the night scene in New York City in 1968. - Bobby Marin

Dark Horse Records and Record Store Day are excited to announce a multi-year partnership to release limited Zoetrope picture disc pressings of George Harrison’s entire studio album catalog. The first two titles in the RSD exclusive series — Wonderwall Music and Electronic Sound — will be available on Record Store Day in April 2024. Limited to 8,000 units globally and exclusive to Record Store Day, each unit is individually numbered in silver foil and includes an insert reproducing the original artwork. Released in November 1968, George Harrison’s Wonderwall Music was the first solo album released by a member of The Beatles and the first LP to be released by Apple Records. The soundtrack music for director Joe Massot’s debut feature-length film, Wonderwall, the predominantly instrumental album is an intricate, vibrant tapestry of Western rock music and compositions in an Indian classical style.

Slovenly is proud to present the first ever official reissue of a Turkish holy grail—the 1966 tripped-out surf 45 by Istanbul’s Gökçen Kaynatan. Originals of this record—his first ever release, and from 1966—are so rare that none of our Turkish pals have ever seen a copy, and believe us, they’ve been on the hunt! “Moda / Fırtına” is the platter from his early years as a teenage rock’n’roller, and these two tracks each offer a compelling listen and demand motion. While mostly drenched in the twang of his custom built guitar with relentlessly swinging beats, his budding experimentation with electronics steals the show. Imagine the sought-after Countdown! LP by legendary session man Jimmy Haskell with an Anatolian lean during the peak of modernism and you’re starting to get the point. Gökçen Kaynatan was recently honored by Finders Keepers with an LP reissue of his 70s-era pioneering in electronic realms that reminds of Suicide and Mort Garson, but with the pungent tang of Turkey. This dancefloor ready 7-inch, however, fills a glaring gap for the Wild, and satisfies the raw global itch that is the Slovenly Recordings modus operandi.

Issued with the 75th Anniversary of Blue Note records!

Officially reissued for the first time on vinyl here's a definitive pop psych masterpiece, originally released in 1968 on Dunhill Records. It's not a legend that John Lennon named the band after an art book by Yoko Ono. The Beatles were closely involved in their early career, signing them to Apple Publishing. Lennon and McCartney produced their single "Lullaby". Here's their debut album with extra tracks taken from their 1967-1968 London Session Apple.

Hank Mobley was inspired by 'Birth of the Cool' on his 1966 album 'A Slice of the Top' featuring Duke Pearson’s arrangements for an octet that added euphonium and tuba to a group with James Spaulding on alto sax, Lee Morgan on trumpet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums.

BLUE NOTE TONE POET EDITION: Stereo, produced by Joe Harley, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analogue master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at RTI, and packaged in a gatefold sleeve with deluxe tip-on jacket.

Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley had already led nine dates for Blue Note Records by the time he arrived at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio on February 7, 1960 with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Blakey, but on that day the quartet laid down what would become his masterpiece: Soul Station.

The crystalline six-song set was a showcase for Mobley’s lyrical flow from the breezy opening take on Irving Berlin’s “Remember” through bluesy originals like “Dig Dis” and the title track, and the swinging up-tempo numbers “This I Dig of You” and “Split Feelin’s.” Soul Station endures as a jazz classic for the ages..

This Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition is all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley had already led nine dates for Blue Note Records by the time he arrived at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio on February 7, 1960 with pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Art Blakey, but on that day the quartet laid down what would become his masterpiece: Soul Station.
The crystalline six-song set was a showcase for Mobley’s lyrical flow from the breezy opening take on Irving Berlin’s “Remember” through bluesy originals like “Dig Dis” and the title track, and the swinging up-tempo numbers “This I Dig of You” and “Split Feelin’s.” Soul Station endures as a jazz classic for the ages.

Originally from Chicago, Haymarket Square released in 1968 one of the rarest vinyl artifacts from the US underground psychedelic scene: the “Magic Lantern” album. Originally conceived as the soundtrack to a psychedelic lightshow art installation, the album offers crude, dark, psychedelic rock featuring trippy fuzzed out / wah guitars, male-female vocals and long tracks. Newly remastered sound, insert with liner notes, repro of the ultra-rare Baron & Bailey Lightshow poster.

Herbert Eimert was a German music renaissance man, with his expertise ranging from theory to composition, editing, radio production, and criticism. He wrote numerous books on music theory, worked for years at the British occupational forces run Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk. It was there in 1951 that he established a studio for electronic music that he ran until 1961, which hosted recordings from Stockhausen, Xenakis, and Cardew, among others. This brilliant work begins on side A with 'Epitaph Für Aikichi Kuboyama', a brilliant piece of voice and electronics dedicated to a Japanese fishing boat radioman, who lost his life from complications related to radiation poisoning in 1954, after the ship he worked on was contaminated from fallout after the USA's nuclear testing at Bikini atoll. In addition to being a brilliant piece of electronic musique concrete, it is a damning indictment of nuclear warfare, as prescient now as it was during The Cold War. Side B is made up of six studies in electronic music, showcasing Eimert's talents which are as impressive as his more famous contemporaries. Essential early electronic music.

Blow-Up is a soundtrack album by Herbie Hancock featuring music composed for Michelangelo Antonioni's cult film Blow-Up, released in 1966. Musically the songs evoke the ambience of swinging Sixties' London with grooves that create effective bluesy Jazz moods on the slow pieces, and funky ones on the up-tempo tracks.

"Comin’ Home Baby" – that’s how the LP begins and that’s what catapulted it right into the charts. Not to one of the top places, but from this time on Herbie Mann was one of the superstars in Atlantic’s collection of jazz musicians. He was known as 'our man with the flute', and the critics in the early Sixties were full of praise for him. He became even more famous, and probably richer, through soundtracks and later on sometimes rather commercialised productions. Well, good for him. 'The Man' serves up jazz pure on this recording, made live at the legendary Village Gate club, which is no wonder considering the rhythm group that includes Ahmad Abdul-Malik and Rudy Collins. The composer of "Comin’ Home Baby", Ben Tucker, also makes an appearance as a guest soloist before the two Gershwin numbers from "Porgy And Bess" offer a wealth of rhythm pure. On the cover text of the LP, Willis Conover, who hosted the Newport Jazz Festival as a sideline (older jazz fans will know his baritone voice from AFN broadcasts), describes in detail the ethnic background of the musicians who come from all over the world – from Romania to Puerto Rico. The three numbers are by no means commonplace. Perhaps a tasty flute cocktail would be a good description. This true rarity from Atlantic’s treasure trove in the early Sixties has long been marked down on the wish list of many fans and at long last it’s available again.

Best known for his work with Charles Mingus, pianist Horace Parlan began recording for Blue Note in 1960 with an excellent run of hard bop classics including Speakin’ My Piece, a quintet date featuring a frontline of Stanley Turrentine on saxophone and Tommy Turrentine on trumpet with the rhythm team of George Tucker on bass and Al Harewood on drums.



Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition: stereo, all-analog, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal, padded inner sleeve.

Howlin' Wolf was a true bluesman who stuck to his own style. This LP reissue of an album compiled from his recordings in 1951-1952 for RPM label, sub-label of Modern Records and released in1962 on Crown Records, also a substance of Modern.

The album features Willie Johnston on guitar, a rule-breaking mix of primitive delta blues and fancy jazz chords; Willie Steele on drums and unidentified musicians providing unparalleled backing; and Ike Turner on vibrant piano, Wolf barked out wild and tough blues in West Memphis.

Although the piano, the guitar and the harmonica were clearly out of tune, the sounds were outstandingly thumping and beautiful - there was no greater shock. This is a classic in blues history that captured the rampaging blues wolf of the blues at the beginning of his career, when he made his recording debut after the age of 40. The reissue LP will be available with iconic OBI strip.

Yet another killer double sider with the first repress of the very rare and terrific "Good Time Rock". Extremely in demand, this rocking track has never been repressed on 7inch vinyl until now. The B side features another rare and wicked tune from Hugh Malcolm. Absolutely essential.

“South Africa’s lost jazz history contains many an overlooked classic. But even within that hidden tradition, there are few albums that suffered such an unlucky fate as Spring, the monumental 1968 debut album by pianist Ibrahim Khalil Shihab, formerly Chris Schilder.

Though Shihab was only twenty-two when Spring was recorded, he was already a lynchpin of the Cape Town scene, and the album was to be his first major statement as leader and composer. It is a magnum opus gilded by the presence of the upcoming saxophonist Winston ‘Mankunku’ Ngozi, who was soon to find huge acclaim with the hit album Yakhal’ Inkomo.

Three months of touring southern Africa in 1968 honed the band to the point that this entire album was recorded within the just two hours of allocated studio time. This album was repressed just once before the master tapes were destroyed by an ignorant record company executive. While it has remained out of print since then, the album was ‘kept alive’ as an ‘add-on’ to a 1996 CD of Mankunku’s Yakhal’ Inkomo. As a result, many modern jazz lovers still incorrectly believe these five compositions come from Yakhal’ Inkomo.

With this edition of Spring, Matsuli Music corrects an historic wrong. This edition of Shihab’s stunning debut, produced with the blessing of the man himself, is the first time it has been properly available in over forty years, and the first time it has ever been available outside South Africa. Restored and presented with new liner notes by Valmont Layne, Spring can now be seen for what it is: a peerless masterwork of Cape Jazz, blessed by the presence of the great Mankunku, but truly animated by the subtle vision and original musical spirit of its creator, Ibrahim Khalil Shihab.”

• The monumental 1968 debut album by pianist Ibrahim Khalil Shihab, formerly Chris Schilder.

• Almost lost recording is back on vinyl after more than 50 years.

• Heavyweight 180g vinyl with remastered audio, inner sleeve with photographs and new notes by Valmont Layne