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You are about to embark on a new intergalactic journey into black space, fuelled by funk, powered by computers. Soul Jazz Records" new second collection of twisted hyperspace electro/funk "Space Funk 2: Afro Futurist Electro Funk in Space 1976-84", continues its intergalactic journey. Featuring rare and off-the-wall space funk and electro rarities and obscurities, all released on small independent USA record labels in the late 1970s and 1980s. Artists on this release include Alien Starr, Bobby Demo, Maggatron, Mid-City Crew, Tribe, Junie, Rich Cason and the Galactic Orchestra and many more intergalactic space warriors! This is space age bionic funk, programmed to make you dance!!!

Cover and sleeve are close to NM.

“Hearts For Sale” is the fifth and latest in our series of 12-inch vinyl albums spotlighting the US girl group sound of the 1960s. The collection opens with ‘Street Dance’ by Bonnie Jean, a little-known must-have for collectors of the genre, with Darlene Love and the Blossoms clearly audible on background vocals. Issued on Lew Bedell’s Doré label, this exciting faux-live deck in the style of Shirley Ellis’ ‘The Nitty Gritty’ was written by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner, a hip team known for supplying songs for the soundtracks of B movies such as Muscle Beach Party and Thunder Alley.

The Hollywood-based Doré imprint is also the source of ‘You Really Never Know Till It’s Over’ by the Vel-Vetts (which shares a backing track with the Superbs’ ‘I Was Born When You Kissed Me’), ‘One Way Street’ by the Swans, a soulful update of the Teddy Bears’ ‘To Know Him Is To Love Him’ by the Darlings and – featuring lead vocals by Sheilah Page, a former member of groups such as the Bermudas, Becky & the Lollipops, the Majorettes, Joanne & the Triangles and Beverly & the Motor Scooters – ‘He’s Groovy’ by the Front Page & Her.

Other highlights include the Sweethearts’ Supremes-influenced ‘No More Tears’, the sophisticated slowie ‘Lonely Girl’ by the Lovettes (that’s them on the front sleeve), ‘My Heart Tells Me So’ by the Del-Phis (an early incarnation of Martha & the Vandellas) and the Fran-Cettes’ terrific recording of ‘Heart For Sale’. As with the earlier volumes in the series, the album comes with a fully-illustrated inner bag featuring a 2,500-word track commentary by compiler Mick Patrick.

One of the most influential vocal groups of the 60’s with their original masterpiece, a necessary collection of rare groove and soul ballads. Officially reissued on vinyl after more than 40 years here’s the band fifth album, originally released in 1971 on Little Star Records. Formed in 1958 in Canton, Ohio, and originally consisting of Eddie Levert, Walter Lee Williams, William Powell, Bobby Massey, and Bill Isles. The O'Jays made their first chart appearance with the minor hit "Lonely Drifter" in 1963, but reached their greatest level of success once Gamble & Huff signed them to their Philadelphia International. Super Bad is a raw, deep funk classic. Ranking among their finest work and it is widely regarded as their most complete album.

Lucky Mystery Now Orchestra's newest single is a hypnotic jazz funk that has been built upon the spiritual form of three beats rather than four. Based on the number 6 (divisible by three) if you count the eighth notes, 3, if you count the quarter notes. Of course this isn’t the first 3 beat-based funk tune, but most funk, especially as designed by Black American Funk Architects such as James Brown, Sly and Parliament-Funkadelic is based on the number four, with the “one” being the most important beat - as well it should be. Four is the number of the Square, the Cube, the House, The Earth, and The Body, as well as the four elements, seasons, etc. In fact, There is simultaneously a hidden four inside the tune as the melody is an eight bar (divisible by four) passage that repeats. Plus another 8 bar outro and an additional 8 bar drum/guitar break. Going back to the mention of James Brown et al. it is important to note that early soul and R&B ballads were often built upon the 12/8 time signature (divisible by both 3 and 4) and that one of the most defining aspects of funk (in the opinion of the composer) is the antediluvian and African clave of “3 against 4” or 3 beats being outlined especially by the snare and guitar, while simultaneously the bass instruments and horns follow along the track of the four beat. The 3 is found over and over again inside and against the four of black music throughout history, the 'swing' of jazz, for example. Therefore, Fireball is offered here as a conspicuous rendering of the natural loping and universally established three pulse that will, in Ricci's fresh and refreshing way, beguile and bewitch your listeners and dancers.

In 1979, Spring Records released the first hip-hop style rap record ‘King Tim III (Personality Jock)’ by The Fatback Band. The label, initially relegated it to the B-Side, allowed the Sugarhill Gang the breakthrough rap hit with ‘Rapper’s Delight’. Over the next decade, Spring kept dipping their toes in the water, but without any great conviction or mainstream success but were always there to chart hip-hop’s development.

“Dollar Bill Y’All” focuses on all the key moments and includes personality jocks like Mr. Magic, street tough rapping, live funk bands and the birth of sampling. This compilation is a detailed compilation looking at Spring Records’ – and sub-label Posse - long and sometimes troubled relationship with hip-hop’s first decade. “Dollar Bill Y’All” shows that, despite their reservations, Spring recorded landmark records by not just King Tim III, but Jimmy Spicer, DJ Hollywood and Ice T (as part of Afrika & The Zulu Kings).

Extended sleeve notes, penned by Dean Rudland, tells the story of how the label could have been a force in the next generation of rap, possibly even signing Gang Starr, if only they had been committed: the Bally Boys single, which now sells for hundreds of pounds, was produced by Donald Dee Bowden who produced Gang Starr’s debut single ‘The Lesson’.