Melissa were a band from Australia and Midnight Trampoline from 1971 was their only studio album…

It's easy to write off There's a Riot Goin' On as one of two things – Sly Stone's disgusted social commentary or the beginning of his slow descent into addiction. It's both of these things, of course, but pigeonholing it as either winds up dismissing the album as a whole, since it is so bloody hard to categorize…

B.B. King has cut a lot of albums since the success of Live at the Regal. And, like the live shows they document, none of them are any less than solid and professional, hallmarks of King's work aesthetic. But every so often B.B. truly catches fire; his playing and singing comes up an extra notch or two, and the result is a live album with some real sparks to it. Live in Cook County Jail is one of those great concerts that the record company was smart enough to be there to capture, documenting B.B. firing on all cylinders in front of an audience that's just damn happy for him to be there. Possibly the best live version of "The Thrill Is Gone" of all its many incarnations, and rock solid renditions of classics like "Everyday I Have the Blues," "How Blue Can You Get?," "Sweet Sixteen" and a great medley of "3 O'Clock Blues" and "Darlin' You Know I Love You"…

This Grand Funk Railroad concert recording from Detroit, Chicago, and Shea Stadium on the band's enormously successful 1971 tour captures them in all their mega-stadium excess…

Easily the weirdest record the Tony Williams Lifetime ever released, 1971's Ego is an experimental blend of post-hard bop jazz and the spacier end of psychedelic rock. Larry Young's wafting organ parts and Ted Dunbar's rockist guitar (as opposed to the more traditional jazz bent of the guy he replaced, John McLaughin) combine to make parts of the album sound like Atom Heart Mother-era Pink Floyd, particularly on "There Comes a Time" and "Lonesome Wells (Gwendy Trio)." Unfortunately, both of those tracks are bogged down by Williams' own earnest and not terribly inspired verses. The best tracks are those that dispense with the lyrical claptrap - the liner notes are also a terribly dated hoot - and get down to the creation of some roiling atmospheres and powerful group improvisation…

The third Steeleye Span album, Ten Man Mop opens with possibly the most beautifully sung number of their entire history, "Gower Wassail," which also makes a very strong case for the use of electric guitars in a traditional folk setting. "Paddy Clancy's Jig/Four Nights Drunk" was the group's first great electric adaptation of traditional dance, None of the rest is quite that good, highlighted by Maddy Prior's haunting performance on "When I Was on Horseback" (although the song drones on a little too long at six-and-a-half minutes), the delightful "Marrowbones," the riveting "Stewball," and the rousing reels "Dowd's Favourite," "£10 Float," and "The Morning Dew."

Starting as a five-piece folk-band, Dando Shaft initiated a completely unique mixture of acoustic folk with driving rhythms and impeccable inventive musicianship. The lyrics are largely concerned with the relationship between man and nature. They marvel in complicated structures and textures and are able to weave very intricate patterns, especially between mandolin (played in a highly original manner), guitar and violin. Very characteristic is also the combination of hand-beaten percussion and double-bass. After a change of label they acquired the services of a female singer, Polly Bolton, who had a pure and very expressive voice.

A magical discovery from the down under '70s psychedelic scene. Phil Sawyer's 1971 album "Childhood's End", originally released in Australia on the Sweet Peach label, remains pretty unknown yet to most of collectors around. No justice. This is a wonderful album that will please anyone into psychedelia, rock and folk. Totally electric, great production, great songwriting, warm uneducated voice by Phil himself that gives a slight looser feel to it at times… the album contains some fantastic mid-tempo psychedelic folk-rock ballads, and the song that gives name to the album is an incredible slice of pure psychedelia with lots of tasty psychedelic sound effects. This first ever reissue is licensed from the original label and the sound is taken from the mastertapes.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer's 1970 eponymous LP was only a rehearsal. It hit hard because of the novelty of the act (allegedly the first supergroup in rock history), but felt more like a collection of individual efforts and ideas than a collective work. All doubts were dissipated by the release of Tarkus in 1971…