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Review: This intriguing little 10" LP charts some of the so-called king of rock n' roll's most romantic tunes to ever hit the shelves. On pink and green vinyl comes 'Blue Suede Shoes', 'Blue Moon' and 'Tutti Frutti', reminiscing on a thoroughly missed era of the skiffle monarchist Presley's heyday. Watch out, as it comes with a 16-page booklet full of exclusive track breakdowns and extra notes. Thank you very much.

Review: 'Blues & Rhythm, Exotica & Tittyshakers' - if ever there was ever an album sub-title we could buy into, it's probably that. The fifth instalment of the celebrated Gibble Gobble blues compilation series lands and brings with it some of the farthest reaching tracks from the heyday of a sound which, let's face it, seems incapable of ageing, even if it often sounds like the era it was produced in.


Bringing together a stack of iconic names onto one expansive album, everyone will recognise artists like Earl Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Bob Callaway, while only the die-hard will be drawn to this collection by the inclusion of The Voodoos and Touissaint McCall, talent that goes someway towards explaining why we're recommending this one 'til we're blue in the face. A record that will introduce new generations to forgotten greats.

Review: These days the Fury name is most often associated with traveling families and world championship boxing. But in the 60s, Billy Fury was the heavyweight champion of proto-indie pop. This reissue of his Three Saturdays with Billy album pulls together a collection of live recordings he did on TV with the BBC. Most such things used to get deleted as soon as they were aired and only eight tracks from 1967 to 1970 have since appeared, while nothing from 1968 and '69 was known to have survived, until now! The sound quality is good and tunes include his own special versions of David Bowie's 'Silly Boy Blue' and the Bee Gees' 'One Minute Woman' amongst others.

Review: Destination mid 70s Nairobi where Madagascan guitarist Jimmy Mawi was laying down some serious vibes... Signed to EMI's Pathe imprint, he released three singles during his career which have all since faded to obscurity. Until now. Dusty, garagey and steaming with raw blues fusion, it's hard to deny any parallels to Hendrix as Mawi expresses himself with a rough heartfelt frenzy. Highlights include the Zep-level smoked out soul of "Blue Star Blues" and the insistent drive and reverbed out faraway vocals on "Black Dialogue". Another exemplary Afro-funk find from Soundway.

Review: Brought up on the radio shows of the legendary rock'n'roll DJs, the moondogging Alan Freed, Mad Daddy and, later, the ghostly Ghoulardi, it was hardly surprising that The Cramps' Lux Interior and Poison Ivy began trawling the thrift stores for juvenile delinquent tunes, lip-curling bad boy rock 'n' roll, strange exotica, bizarre novelty 45s, dysfunctional doo-wop, psychedelic weirdness and instrumentals made by madmen. In America in the 1950s and 1960s, there seemed to be small town versions of such vinyl madness everywhere that, by the 1970s, were remaindered and to the majority of people, unwanted. To the fledgling Cramps, this was nothing short of heaven. The duo filled their house with novelty memorabilia, schlock horror furniture and a record collection to die for. Lux eventually gravitated to his own Purple Knif Radio Show and the Cramps delivered their versions of some of the stuff they'd found. The duo name-checked many a 45 along the way and seeking them out and sampling their eccentricities is nothing short of mind-blowing. This 24-track collection positively effervesces with eccentricity.

Again, the vinyl only double-10" is divided into four themes: "Life's A Scream," "Crazy Guys, Food, Prison And A Guide To The Female Persuasion," "Welcome to the Jungle," and "Wild And Wilder Boppin' Girls." Every track pirouettes dangerously, and at times, haphazardly, around the expected. These are songs for strange
times by what can definitely be considered strange people. Gems and nuggets that sparkle even more bright in today's manufactured music maelstrom. The population of Badsville welcomes you aboard.

Review: First in a series of three 10" records. Back in the late 1950s and into the early '60s, everyone seemed to become obsessed with the possibility that science fiction might become science fact. Movie houses and drive-ins across America were fascinated by the idea of a Martian invasion, with a suitably Theremin-powered eerie soundtrack, not to mention the prospect of the rise of unruly robots. Never one to miss jumping on a trend, the prolific Jimmy Haskell produced a whole album of space-based tomfoolery called "Countdown" for the Imperial label. Similarly, in the UK, Joe Meek produced the concept album "I Hear A New World" to quench his intrigue in the stars, having already peaked the public's imagination with his "Telstar" hit with The Tornados. Meanwhile, in Belgium, in the process of developing new possibilities for sound recording, Tom Dissevelt and Kid Baltan produced the electronic pulse at the heart of "Song To The Second Moon."

Aspiring rockabilly performers and early rock 'n' rollers in the southern states picked up on the phenomena while craning their necks upwards. Billy Lee Riley And The Little Green Men, The Wildetones, Buck Trail and Joe Tate all took the idea to new levels of incredulity, while Lynn Vernon's instrumental chops for the Tennessee-based Cover label just needed a suitable title to put it in the frame. But if those southern performers were looking to the skies for inspiration, legend has it that Sun Ra And His Arkestra were looking down on them from their own planet. Limited edition, comes with a sticker. Each copy also comes with 24x24 cm
screenprint of the front cover, signed by artist Marcel Bontempi.