At the start of the 1980s, it dawned on somebody in charge of Jimi Hendrix's musical legacy that a whole generation of new listeners had come of age since the guitarist's demise. That meant it was time for a fresh raid on the vaults and a fresh, authorized album release to fly the flag of the Hendrix estate, amid the steady stream of bootleg, gray market, and other unauthorized collections of his early work starting to fill up record store bins and browsers. Kiss the Sky did not just resurrect and recycle old familiar recordings, but included a pair of tracks that were new to most listeners and had a lot of meaning for serious fans. The album walked a fine line, emphasizing the more challenging side of Hendrix's work without ignoring some key elements of his mass appeal…

The ten 1963-1964 sides that make up the majority of this set have sort of fallen through the historical cracks over the years. They didn't deserve such shoddy treatment - Sam didn't record "Back Door Friend" or "Hi-Heel Sneakers" anywhere else, and he's in top shape throughout The Late Great Magic Sam. Two live tracks at the set's close from 1969 don't add much to the overall package.

Waiting for the Sun is the third studio album by the American rock band the Doors, recorded from February to May 1968 and released in July 1968. It became the band's first and only No. 1 album, spawning their second US number one single, "Hello, I Love You". It also became the band's first hit album in the UK, where it peaked at No. 16 on the chart.

A legend of Brazilian guitar, emerging on the cusp of the bossa nova boom of the 1960s. Baden Powell is a Brazilian musician with a solid international reputation. A gifted instrumentalist and composer, he bridges the gap between classical artistry and popular warmth and was a key figure in the bossa nova movement.

At the 1964 Sanremo Festival, a fifteen-year-old girl appeared who broke all the odds to win with "Non ho l'eta" (I'm not old enough… to love you) which not only took first place but also was designated as the Italian representative at the Eurovision Song Contest that was held in Copenhagen. She arrived, sang and won. It was the first time that Italy had won the contest and Gigliola emerged from it an international figure. In those first years of her career, she got into the habit of recording all her songs in Spanish.

From Rutebeuf to Aragon and Prévert, and including Villon, Baudelaire, Verlaine and Desnos, this anthology confirms the musical potential of French verse. Many composers, not the least of them being Fauré, Duparc, Debussy, Poulenc, Kosma, Ferré, Brassens or Gainsbourg, added their own images in music by weaving melody and harmony into the poems that spoke to their sensibilities. In so doing, as Aragon himself wrote, it was in this way that poetry, doubled with the magic of music, made it possible for us all to read by ear. Philippe LESAGE

"RSD First" release. The US Record Store Day page for this release states that it was released in a quantity of 2,000 copies.

The Beat Goes On is the second album by the American psychedelic rock band Vanilla Fudge, released in early 1968. The album doesn't contain any real "songs", but rather a sound collage featuring many different elements: the voices of world leaders past and present, the band reciting pre-written mantras and reflections, and excerpts of songs (done "Vanilla Fudge style") by The Beatles and Sonny Bono. While not as successful as their debut album, The Beat Goes On was a moderate hit despite the band's reservations, peaking at #17 on the Billboard album charts in March 1968.

Crawling Up A Hill is a fascinating document of a genre that, though relatively short-lived, would have a seismic influence on the subsequent development of rock music.

Wow - they don't make 'em like this anymore. A semi-legitimate compilation at best and mastered from vinyl, Hippie Goddesses is a collection of psych-pop tunes from the late '60s and early '70s, all fronted by women. The women's liberation movement and the sexual revolution were in full swing, and this collection is sort of a distillation of those newfound attitudes. Of course, attitudes toward women have undergone many changes since that time, and most of these tunes are dated to the point that they would probably horrify any self-respecting riot grrrl at the end of the 20th century. That's a big part of the reason why this is such a great collection.

Originally surfacing on Duncan Brooker’s indie Kona label in early 2001, the album single-handedly kick-started the thirst among jazz, funk and soul fans and ‘diggers’ to rediscover lost music from Africa made during the ‘60s and ‘70s from a time when many countries were gaining independence and celebrating a Pan-African identity within their music. This compilation paved the way for Strut's brilliant Nigeria 70 compilation as well as labels like Soundway and Analog Africa! Out of print for over 8 years, the album has been reissued on Strut in its original form with an extra bonus track, a dynamite unreleased psychedelic cut by Kenya’s Ishmael Jingo.

From his 1966 recording of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” through his 1972 double-sided hit single “That’s What Friends Are For”/Happier Than the Morning Sun,” B.J. Thomas enjoyed a string of hits rivaled by few artists of the era, and the fact that he did it for an independent label, Scepter, makes his achievement even more impressive. Various compilations of B.J.’s Scepter sides have come and gone, but never one quite like this: this double-CD set includes the A and B-side of EVERY SINGLE B.J. cut for the label (minus two duplicate B-sides), 46 tracks in all including all 19 hits he scored for the label. And don’t forget, with all those B-sides, you’re getting a bunch of rare, non-LP single sides (11 of ‘em, to be exact). Add notes by Mike Ragogna featuring fresh quotes from the artist and photos and you’ve got the most comprehensive B.J. Thomas compilation ever released!

In the first half of the 1960s, Colpix and Dimension were record-label offshoots of Columbia Pictures; Colpix tended toward teen idols, while Dimension was mainly an outlet for the compositions of the Gerry Goffin/Carole King songwriting team. This 40-song double CD includes all the major hits on the labels by the Marcels, James Darren, Shelley Fabares, Paul Petersen, Little Eva, the Cookies, and Carole King herself, as well as quite a few rarities. Although the compilers have done a thorough job, the jumble of disparate styles – sappy teen-idol pop, rhythm and blues, girl groups, soul, even a garage band – makes for tough end-to-end listening. Several of the sides by Darren and Petersen are unbearably cloying; the ones by Fabares, Teddy Randazzo, and Sandy Stewart are barely any better. The hits by Little Eva and the Cookies, on the other hand, are great dynamic girl-group performances. And some of the rarities are pretty cool – Carole King's odd, almost folk-rockish flop single "He's a Bad Boy," Earl-Jean's original version of "I'm Into Something Good" (covered for a hit by Herman's Hermits), the Girlfriends' "My One and Only, Jimmy Boy" (the best Wall of Sound girl-group record not produced by Phil Spector), the little-anthologized Top Ten soul hit "Hey Girl" by Freddie Scott, rare sides by Lou Christie and Duane Eddy, a silly Beatle parody by Sonny Curtis, and extremely rare (if not terribly good) singles by David Jones and Michael Nesmith before they joined the Monkees.

Catherine Spaak (3 April 1945 – 17 April 2022) was a French-Italian actress, singer, model, and media personality. A member of the Spaak family, she was known as an iconic "It girl" in Italy during the 1960s, becoming a star of commedia all'italiana films, before later becoming prominent as a talk show host and media personality. In the 1960s and 70s, Spaak also developed a parallel singing career, recording a number of albums. As a singer, she was regarded by some as the Italian equivalent of French chanteuse Françoise Hardy. Spaak recorded some of Hardy's songs in 1963 for the DET label under the direction of Ezio Leoni, who had previously worked with Hardy.

Gordon Lightfoot in one of his early US appearances, on 10/5/1968 at the Fillmore West in San Francisco. Lightfoot opened for Cold Blood & Canned Heat in this Bill Graham production, he was not well known outside of Canada at this time. Gordon Lightfoot had released his 4th studio album, Did She Mention My Name, earlier that year, and would release Back Here On Earth, a month later. Recorded and broadcast by KSAN 95 FM at a later date.