Le Edits - Dimitri From Paris' home of luxurious and beautifully crafted Disco reworkings has returned! This time a very special and thoughtful project is in the works, an extra-special collection looking back over the first offerings of this very unique contemporary Disco label. The first 5 releases, all now long gone and sold out across the globe and fetching high collectors prices in the used marketplace, will now be compiled into a very limited collected boxset for those who missed them the first time around. With such a high demand, the call for represses on all of the Le Edits titles has been loud and clear from record collectors and Disco aficionados worldwide, so it seemed only right to make something special and out of the ordinary! Dimitri, as a life-long record fiend himself, has made sure the original 12's were not repressed while presenting this extremely in-demand music in a desirable, distinctive, individually numbered package complete with a high quality Le Edits screen-printed tote bag.

Here are 3CDs from the legendary Sun Records, the label that launched the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis to name a few. Featuring 60 classic tracks from the arguably the most influential record label in the history of modern music

People have begun to discover just how good a blueswoman the late Jo-Ann Kelly was. That's led to a trawling through the vaults, which have turned up albums like this, of obscure compilation and unreleased cuts. Key to the Highway covers what's arguably her most prolific period, as her star was ascending and was at its critical height (although it should be noted that the 1974 end date in the title is very elastic – there are six cuts from 1975, and two conversation pieces from 1988). While all too often material has remained unreleased for a good reason, everything here is prime. Kelly's definition of blues is definitely loose, including Hank Williams' "You Win Again," with some strong piano from Bob Hall, and even Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness" and Rufus Thomas' "Walking the Dog." However, in her hands, blues is exactly what they are. While generally accompanied, the stunning a cappella "Levee Camp Holler" shows the power she had, enough to put her up there with the top rank, and where her fretwork shows through, as on "I Can't Be Satisfied," she was a superb guitar player, with a slide technique to make Bonnie Raitt envious. The audio here might not be the best, somewhat crackly and aged, but in many ways that simply adds to the authentic patina of blues. She shows that you don't have to be male and African-American to have the blues. And a record like this simply increases her legacy.

By 1968, the jig was up for Peter & Gordon. Their final Top 40 hit had been the previous year, trends had passed them by, and in all it was time for them to split. Their final LP, Hot Cold & Custard, did find them plugging into the fey orchestrated psychedelic-tinged British pop of the Sgt. Pepper's era to some degree, somewhat along the lines of what Chad & Jeremy were doing with more ambition on albums like Of Cabbages and Kings. That's evident from the backwards effects on the very first seconds of the very first track, "I Feel Like Going Out." It's also present on several song with a distinctly period British songwriting take that looks at British social life with a wry amusement, like "The Magic Story of the Park Keeper," "Uncle Hartington," and "The Quest for the Holy Grail." But the songs really aren't anything special, though Peter & Gordon bring their customary uplifting harmonies to the occasion; none of them demand a place on a Peter & Gordon best-of, aside perhaps from the nice bittersweet pop-folk-rock of "Greener Days." A few of the tracks don't fit into the somewhat artier-than-usual approach, instead sounding more like late-'60s pop as usual, and these "She Needs Love," "You've Had Better Times," and the aforementioned "Greener Days" are the better songs.

The 60s was the decade of peace and love, and while Bob Dylan, John Lennon and many others would fly the flag for peace, artists like PP Arnold, The Searchers, Petula Clark, The Foundataions, The Overlanders (all featured here) sang about love. In the 60s, the accent was on the younger generation having fun. It was time to let your hair down and have a good time, and this superb 2CD collection brings you the love-seeking ladies and the romantic guys who sang from their heart.

An anthology of darkly comic twisted tales, each one taking place behind a door marked 'number 9'.

Veronica Vasquez, mononymously known to listeners as Veronica, was born on July 24th 1974 in Queens, New York to two Cuban parents. Debuting in 1995 with the single “Without Love”, a slow-mo R&B number released via Mercury Records, the young singer went on to release her first album, V… As In Veronica, just two months later. The LP drew clear influences from hip-hop and included productions from R&B heavyweights Darkchild and Dallas Austin. While it failed to enter the Billboard 200, Veronica would enjoy a greater commercial performance with her 1997 follow-up, Rise. The album’s lead single, “No One But You”, featured guest vocals from Bad Boy Records affiliate Craig Mack, and its title track saw her team up with Terror Squad members Big Pun and Cuban Link. However, despite her grounding in hip-hop, it would be house music which propelled her into the spotlight. A self-titled remix album, consisting of eight dance reinterpretations of tracks from Rise, landed in 2000 as one of the first releases on producer Jellybean Benitez’ label, Jellybean Recordings.

Like other entries in Blue Note's excellent Ballads series, this collection features Sarah Vaughan on a number of mellow standards. The songs originate from a number of sessions Vaughan completed for Roulette between 1960-1963, and they are uniformly lovely. The settings range from the guitar/bass backing on "All or Nothing at All" to the orchestra backing on "Dreamy." Vaughan sings the tastefully arranged "You Go to My Head" with the help of the Count Basie Orchestra and the intimately quiet "In a Sentimental Mood" with guitarist Mundell Lowe and bassist George Duvivier. She slowly caresses each syllable of "'Round Midnight," "Solitude," and "Lover Man," delivering fresh takes on these commonly sung classics. A certain warmth also permeates "In a Sentimental Mood" and "If I Had You," filling each note with an air of regret. The reflective material seems tailor-made for that late hour when one's guests have departed and the cocktail glasses have been cleared. Ballads gathers 13 exquisite recordings in one place and captures Vaughan in exceptional voice. It's also enlightening to listen to how she approaches similar material when the arrangements are so divergent. To those unfamiliar with her Roulette work, Ballads offers a fine introduction.~Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.