Elemental

The 16th studio album by Diana Ross & The Supremes, Let the Sunshine In was issued by Motown in 1969. Included is "I'm Livin' In Shame," the sequel to the previous year's #1 hit "Love Child," as well as the Smokey Robinson song "The Composer," which hit #

Released by Motown in 1970, The Four Tops' album, Changing Times, continued the saga of the group, which entered the 1970s still among the main vocal ensembles. Featuring superb performances by Levi Stubbs and the rest on the wonderful title track. They g

Released by the Kapp label in 1970, Parallelograms was the first album by American psychedelic folk singer Linda Perhacs. Disappointed by the meager promotion of the LP by Kapp, she retired from the music world and continued working in her profession as a

Motown boss Berry Gordy sought to position The Supremes as America’s musical ambassadors, capitalizing on ‘Beatlemania’ and some friendly transatlantic competition between Detroit and Liverpool. Recording during a visit to Motown’s second ‘Hitsville’ stud

Following three "psychedelic soul" albums produced by Norman Whitfield, The Temptations' 14th studio album, Sky’s the Limit, marked a return to a more soulful, Motown sound. Released in 1971, tenor Eddie Kendricks would depart the group just before the al

"David Axelrod delivered one of the great psychedelic albums with 1968's Song Of Innocence, based around the poetry of William Blake. It is considered by many his masterpiece. Song Of Innocence is this weird hybrid that no one, not even Axelrod himself, c

Emerald City Nights: Live At The Penthouse (1965-1966), brings forth a collection of previously unreleased recordings of the iconic pianist Ahmad Jamal captured live at the hallowed Seattle jazz club. Featuring trios with bassists Richard Evans and Jamil

Alarm Clock, originally released in 1970, is one of Richie Havens’ most iconic albums and has been unavailable on vinyl for decades. Recorded amidst the Vietnam War and the tragic Kent State shootings, this album was Havens’ urgent wake-up call to a gener

The eighth album by American saxophonist and composer Pharoah Sanders, Village of the Pharoahs was released in 1973 on the Impulse! label. Sanders plays both tenor and soprano sax and takes some spirited vocals. One of the highlights is "Memories of Lee M

Recorded in New York City and Los Angeles in 1972 and released the following year by Impulse!, Pharoah Sanders’ album Wisdom Through Music features the leader with flutist James Branch, pianist Joe Bonner, bassist Cecil McBee, drummer Norman Connors, and

Released on the Impulse label in 1969, Albert Ayler’s album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe was entirely written by Ayler's partner, Mary Maria Parks. Along with The Last Album, which contains outtakes from the same session, this was Ayler's la

Pure Smokey was William “Smokey” Robinson’s second solo album after leaving The Miracles. It was issued on Motown’s Tamla label in 1974 and presents mostly songs composed by Robinson along with Marv Tarplin, another ex-Miracle who joined Robinson in Calif

Debut album by the English rock band The Soft Machine (named after William S. Burroughs' novel), one of the best known exponents, along with Caravan, of the "Canterbury Sound". This masterpiece was released in 1968 and features the trio of Robert Wyatt (d

The fifth solo studio album by the Brazilian genius, Araçá Azul, is considered his most experimental work to date and also the most controversial. In its time it was rejected by part of his audience, which expected a more pop-oriented record (following th