Jive Time Records

The 1970 debut LP by Denver rock group Sugarloaf teems in bargain bins. You've flipped by it hundreds of times. But Sugarloaf has much more to offer than just its epic jazz-rock hit, "Green-Eyed Lady." Read a review of this cheap heater on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2024/03/sugarl…

Timmy Thomas' 1972 LP Why Can’t We Live Together has much more to offer than just its stirring, racial-harmony-desiring hit title track: it's a minimalist, drum-machine-fueled, soul-funk classic. Read critic Buckley Mayfield's review of it on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2024/02/timmy-…

In the wake of incomparable vocalist/lyricist Damo Suzuki's passing, we review Can's 1972 classic LP, Ege Bamyasi, which put one of the strangest and most compelling spins ever on funk. Read it on our blog at the link below. jivetimerecords.com/2024/02/can-eg…

Best known for its fiery, spiritual jazz releases, Impulse! Records also dabbled in funky blues (and bluesy funk), with superb session guitarist Mel Brown's 1967 debut Chicken Fat being a delicious example. Read a review of this raunchy gem on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2024/02/mel-br…

Following the death of influential guitarist Wayne Kramer, we review on our blog MC5's Back In The USA, a relatively accessible response to the bomb-like debut, Kick Out The Jams. Despite some corny tunes, USA possesses some of MC5's most potent songs. jivetimerecords.com/2024/02/mc5-ba…

New review on our blog of The Spice Of Life, the best LP by late, great American jazz & soul singer-songwriter Marlena Shaw. Come for “Woman Of The Ghetto” and “California Soul,” stay for a grip of other funky and gospel-inflected gems. jivetimerecords.com/2024/01/marlen…

Lou Reed's final LP, Hudson River Wind Meditations, is getting reissued on 1/12. It's as much an outlier in the revolutionary rocker’s career as Metal Machine Music—essentially a 180º counterpoint to that 1975 noise opus. Read a review of HRWM on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2024/01/lou-re…

New review on our blog of Seattle trio Hovercraft's Experiment Below, one of the greatest and most unjustly overlooked rock albums of the '90s. It was the next evolutionary leap from Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive." jivetimerecords.com/2024/01/hoverc…

There are very few xmas albums worth a damn. Rotary Connection's 1968 LP Peace is one of them. Read a review of this Charles Stepney-helmed, orchestral-psych-soul wonder on our blog. You will never hear "Silent Night" the same again. jivetimerecords.com/2023/12/rotary…

New on our blog: a review of Detroit-born harpist Dorothy Ashby's funky soul-jazz-pop masterpiece Afro-Harping. The 1968 album—featuring Rotary Connection's Richard Evans as conductor—is a sample gold mine and a damn fine headphone listen, too. jivetimerecords.com/2023/12/doroth…

Belgium’s answer to Yellow Magic Orchestra & Yello, Telex were one of Europe's most influential synthwave groups. Their absurdist, poker-faced covers of old hits are as amazing as Flying Lizards'. Read a review of the 2021 Telex best-of LP on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/12/telex-…

After serving as soul-jazz saxophonist Eddie Harris' bassist throughout the '60s, Melvin Jackson released his only album in 1969, Funky Skull, a wild and quirky gem full of funk, spy jazz, and compellingly strange timbres. Read a review of it on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/11/melvin…

Quincy Jones was a soundtracking beast in the '60s and '70s. One of his most exciting, eclectic scores was for $ (1972). It includes 2 scorching songs w/ Little Richard on the mic, Goblinesque horror, funky blues, and more. Read a review of $ on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/11/quincy…

New review on our blog of the lone LP by Detroit quartet Honey Ltd, released in 1968 on Lee Hazlewood’s label. They wove magical 4-part vocal harmonies through exquisitely crafted soul & psych-pop songs and did a few beguiling, unconventional covers. Fab! jivetimerecords.com/2023/11/honey-…

The latest volume of Doug McKechnie's pioneering Moog improvisations, San Francsico Moog 1968-72: Vol. 2, adds to the legend of this important yet overlooked American musician. Read a review of this 2023 archival release on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/11/doug-m…

Dirty Mind is the album that alerted the world to Prince’s polymorphous perversity and sexual ambiguity. Prince's 3rd LP presented the wiz kid in his rawest and bawdiest form, initiating his superstar phase. Read a review of this 1980 classic on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/10/prince…

In the early ’90s, Mercury Rev reigned as America’s greatest rock band, grand sorcerers of whirlwind psychedelic beauty and chaos. Their 1991 debut LP, Yerself Is Steam, is the Rev's masterpiece, yet often overlooked. Read a new review of it on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/10/mercur…

Though often classified as “krautrock,” Cluster are actually pioneers of industrial-ambient music, & II is their masterpiece.A bleakness pervades the entire LP; gotta respect such relentless journeying to the heart of darkness. Read the review on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/10/cluste…

Guitarist Mike Deasy's loopy psychsploitation LP Friar Tuck &His Psychedelic Guitar is divided into covers of novelty hits & Mike's own freaky tunes.Deasy's queasy vision will have you LOLing & gasping in awe. Read a review of this 1967 oddity on our blog. jivetimerecords.com/2023/10/friar-…

Rarely do you hear Lee Moses’ name discussed among the world's elite soul singers. But Moses ranks as one of the best excavators of deep emotions in music history. Read a review of his incredibly moving 1971 LP Time And Place on our blog. @lightintheattic jivetimerecords.com/2023/10/lee-mo…