70s & 80s

Historic recordings from the legendary Stop Making Sense tour catching' the Talking Heads at the top of their game. 

Caught at the beginning of her career in 1985, Sade's cool vocals and exotic looks grabbed everyone's attention. But equally as important to Diamond Life's success was the velvet muscle of the band's accompaniment, a sinewy after-hours groove, laden with minimalist funk. Eight of the nine tracks are self-penned. Straddling R&B and pop, this album lays out the hooks and sultry allure that became Sade's soulful standard - intelligent and sexy at the same time.

The DNA of Purple Rain can be felt throughout pop culture at large. It is a timeless body of work with an immortal resonance exemplified by smashes such as Let’s Go Crazy, When Doves Cry, Darling Nikki, the title track Purple Rain and more.

Given the pace of Michael Jackson's post-Thriller release schedule, it's striking that off the wall appeared between two albums with his brothers, Destiny (1978) and Triumph (1980), on which the twenty something phenomenon was also fully engaged.

Released in 1988, the album has somewhat grown in cult status to frequently appear on a number of greatest albums of all time lists.

The definitive female singer songwriter album of the 70's 1971's Blue is just about as perfect as an album can be.

It seems hard to believe, given the career full of revolutionary and hugely influential stylistic shifts that followed, that this superb record was only David Bowie's fourth.

The 4th Led Zeppelin album, untitled but commonly known as "Led Zeppelin IV" or "Four Symbols". Originally released in 1971 it became their biggest seller and one of the biggest selling albums of all-time.

Until 1978, Blondie was perceived mostly as a '60s-referencing, British-invasion-meets-girl-groups band. 

The album contains the singles The Sweetest Taboo, Never As Good As The First Time and Is It A Crime.

Lou Reed's second solo album Transformer is an album that everyone should own. 

Even without a single, Remain in Light was a hit, indicating that Talking Heads were connecting with an audience ready to follow their musical evolution, and the album was so inventive and influential, it was no wonder.

Originally released on 21st October 1983, the recording of Soul Mining began in the spring of 1982, when the then 20-year old Matt Johnson, financed at this point by London Records, de-camped to New York to record 'Uncertain Smile' with producer Mike Thorne.

David Bowie had dropped hints during the Diamond Dogs tour that he was moving toward R&B, but the full-blown blue-eyed soul of Young Americans came as a shock.

Steely Dan holds the title as one of the most quietly subversive pop bands of the 20th century. 

The Queen Is Dead is the Smiths' great leap forward, taking the band to new musical and lyrical heights.

Closer, the group's second and final album arrived the year after their debut in July 1980 on Factory Records, following Ian Curtis' death two months earlier.

Prince began cementing his reputation as a genre-smashing iconoclast with his self-titled sophomore album, released on Oct. 19, 1979.

The UK’s Official Albums Chart has compiled a list of the 60 top-selling albums. Queen’s 1981 Greatest Hits takes the number-one spot by a landslide, being the only album to break 6 million sales on the chart.

With Graceland, Paul Simon hit on the idea of combining his always perceptive songwriting with the little-heard mbaqanga music of South Africa, creating a fascinating hybrid that re-enchanted his old audience and earned him a new one.

The band’s second album and their first album to reach No. 1 in the UK, it features the band’s first two no. 1 hit singles – Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon (expanding their spacious, dub-reggae sound).

After the success of the dance hits Fame and Young Americans (both off 1975's Young Americans), Bowie seemed to step back, ponder the future of rock, and then turn up the guitars and the art-rock sensibilities and make a completely engaging and evocative album.

1970's unexpectedly acoustic-oriented Led Zeppelin III is the sleeper in the band's catalogue, and remains many a fan's favourite. Includes "Tangerine", "That's the Way", "Immigrant Song", "Since I've Been Loving You", "Gallows Pole" and more

1991's Out of Time was the album that catapulted R.E.M. from an indie favourite to one of the biggest bands in the world.

Elvis Presley’s 1973 Honolulu concert was broadcast by satellite around the world and the resulting live album was called Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite.

Released in 1982, Upstairs at Eric's is the groundbreaking debut album by Yazoo.

Though not the most prolific of album artists, Bush's works make up in impact what they lack in frequency.

At long last: the classic Steely Dan catalog is back on vinyl.

Like an out-of-control firecracker, Iggy Pop has made his often erratic way through a musical career since the sixties, beginning with The Stooges; then a series of solo albums, and an ever-widening list of interesting collaborations with both major stars and unknowns.

Although The Smiths continued to improve over the course of their career, the songs here are vital and alive, making sure that their debut remains startling and exciting to this day

Originally released in 1986, So marked a bold evolution in Peter Gabriel's sound - blending art rock, soul, and pop sensibility with stunning production by Daniel Lanois.

The band’s breakthrough record It’s My Life saw the arrival of producer and multi-instrumentalist Tim Friese-Greene, who became a significant creative force in the band and an unofficial fourth member for the remainder of its existence.

Led by one of the great guitarists, Peter Green (1946-2020), Fleetwood Mac (initially Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac) formed in 1967 after Green left John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

Apple Corps and USM present the next multi-format Beatles album reissue of Let It Be. January 1969 – The Beatles planned to return to live performance, setting up in Twickenham Film Studios, London, for 21 days of rehearsals.

Reissue of the debut Clash album released in April 1977. One of the most important records ever released, not just in punk rock terms either. 

Songs Of A Lost World is the long-awaited new album from The Cure, their 14th studio release and their first in 16 years.

2012 reissue with updated artwork

New York's 1970s punk was markedly different to that of Britain. Rather than reject the past, American groups deconstructed its forms and rebuilt them with recourse to the music's strengths.

The Dreaming was the breakthrough album for Kate Bush. 

Live On Tour was recorded at the Agora in Cleveland on December 18, 1978 and published as promo LP for radio broadcast in 1979. Recorded on the More Songs About Buildings and Food tour, the promo release was never officially released for the public. This is the first official release of the full show, fully remastered from the original analogue tapes and features one previously unreleased track. 2LP set cut at 45rpm.

Timeless is a brand-new 10-track compilation featuring rare & unreleased studio recordings from Prince’s legendary vault. This unprecedented album encompasses tracks spanning every phase of Prince’s illustrious career, from 1977 to 2016.

Black LP re issue of the stone cold classic album from Glasgows finest! Includes Don't You Forget About Me, Sanctify Yourself and All The Things She Said

A brand new collection that couples the new feature length documentary Music, Money, Madness . . .

Black and Blue from 1976 is the album that inducted Ronnie Wood into the Rolling Stones – featured on 3 tracks and joining the band for the world tour and the next 50 years!

Imagine is John Lennon's second solo album and is considered the most popular of his solo works.

Talking Heads first LP "77" introduced the New York band perfectly. A mish mash of art-punk-funk, with heavy doses of bubblegum and a splash of the Caribbean. 

Recorded in 1970 with legendary producer steve rowland (Pretty Things, the Cure). Back in 1971, Coming from Reality was Rodriguez's last gasp, the follow-up to Cold Fact and the final album he was allowed to record for the Sussex label. 

At long last: the classic Steely Dan catalog is back on vinyl.

Depeche Mode's debut is at once both a conservative, functional pop record and a groundbreaking release. Depeche Mode became the undisputed founder of straight-up synth pop with the album's 11 songs, light, hooky, and danceable numbers about love, life, and clubs.

Naked is the eighth studio album by Talking Heads and was originally released in 1988.

Double live album by the American rock band, originally released in 1982.

The classic debut LP from ’79 containing all the hits you need…..

Originally released in 1989 the album that spawned the hits She Drives Me Crazy, Good Thing and Ever Fallen In Love took the band to No.1 in the charts on both sides of the Atlantic and won the band two Brit Awards.

Easter is the first record Patti Smith recorded after the year-and-a-half break that was caused by her fall from a stage in January 1977.

Released in 1979 Fear of Music is the band's third album

Steely Dan hadn't been a real working band since Pretzel Logic, but with Aja, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen's obsession with sonic detail and fascination with composition reached new heights.

Walter Becker and Donald Fagen were remarkable craftsmen from the start, as Steely Dan's debut, Can't Buy a Thrill, illustrates.

Rhino UK is the re-issue of the five classic Factory-era albums by New Order; 'Movement' (1981), 'Power, Corruption & Lies' (1983), 'Low-Life' (1985), 'Brotherhood' (1986) and 'Technique' (1989).

Released by Island Records in November 1977, One World is widely regarded as one of John Martyn's finest achievements and a pivotal album in his evolution from folk-based singer-songwriter to sonic innovator - This 180g vinyl re-issue faithfully replicates the original Island UK pressing including inner sleeve with lyrics, and features the original UK mix of the album

That Japan's breakthrough record Quiet Life was released in both 1979 and 1980 is uniquely fitting for a band who were about to step out of the glam rock, post punk shadows of the late 70s and deliver an as yet genre-less record that would come to define the 80s.

Originally released in 1973 and unavailable for decades, the album has been sourced from the original analog master tapes for its long-awaited return to vinyl

This collection of proto-Talking Heads gold dust is making a desperately needed return to vinyl (after the sold-out Black Friday 2025 pressing)

This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of No Regrets, the fourth studio album by The Walker Brothers.

Celebrate 50 years of Face The Music! Originally released in 1975, this monumental album includes the legendary hits ‘Evil Woman, ’Strange Magic’ and fan-favorite ‘Fire On High’.

The Party's Over was the debut album by Talk Talk. It was released in 1982 and produced by Colin Thurston, who was a former engineer for David Bowie but was better known for producing Duran Duran's first two albums.

45th anniversary expanded edition with 4 unreleased bonus tracks Including never before heard song “Like A B-Film”.

This is the seventh Pink Floyd studio album and was originally released in 1972. It is the soundtrack for the French film 'La Vallée', by Barbet Schroeder.

Relics is Pink Floyd’s first compilation album and includes singles, B-sides and tracks from their first three albums; The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, A Saucerful of Secrets and More.

Arthur Russell's most extraordinary work, originally released in 1986, World Of Echo is a deeply intimate and meditative work of awe-inspiring grace and remains a timeless work of sublime beauty. 

In 1987, Pet Shop Boys released their second album Actually, which became another huge hit album for the duo, debuting at the number 2 spot on the UK Albums Chart upon its release.

Originally released in 1980 in very limited quantities. Issued under the unwieldy Beach Music Records of the Carolinas, the album blends soul, disco, and mid-tempo steppers, all perfectly suited to Beach Music's signature dance, the Shag.

The classic 1975 album, a meticulously crafted jewel in their crown, is Queen’s fourth studio album, first No.1 album, the first to be awarded Platinum status and the one that produced the band's immensely popular worldwide hit and most successful UK single, 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.

Talking Heads' most immediately accessible album.

Asha's debut self-titled album is a wonderful fusion of jazz, soul, blues, and disco. It includes an outstanding cover version of J.J. Cale's 'Right Down Here'; a track which Asha has made very much her own by flipping it into a deep-funk groove with sultry ethereal vocals and a drumbeat almost ready- made for samplers of the future.

Yoko Ono’s seminal album Season of Glass, released on vinyl for the first time in more than forty-five years, was originally released in June 1981, just seven months after the senseless murder of Ono’s husband and creative partner, John Lennon. Full of songs about love, loss, anger and fear, the album reflected Ono’s experience in stark detail, creating almost a companion piece to Ono and Lennon’s 1970 Plastic Ono Band “primal scream” albums.

Truthdare Doubledare’ marked a significant change in the direction of synth-pop trio Bronski Beat as a band, with vocalist Jimmy Somerville leaving and being replaced with John Jøn Foster. Whilst maintaining a clear voice in support of gay rights and political activism, the production gave way to a rougher and rawer style, featuring more real instruments, ever-powerful lyrics and more variety in genre. This never-before reissued album features the Number Three single ‘Hit That Perfect Beat’, a full remaster, new remixes and unreleased live and studio versions.

The Cure refocused and ultimately hit their stride with their sixth album, The Head on the Door, producing an album which not only more effectively depicted gloom, but also showed enough pop smarts to make it memorable (and even danceable).

Rhino UK is the re-issue of the five classic Factory-era albums by New Order; 'Movement' (1981), 'Power, Corruption & Lies' (1983), 'Low-Life' (1985), 'Brotherhood' (1986) and 'Technique' (1989).

Featuring songs written for David Byrne's film of the same name, True Stories from 1986 is even more pop-oriented than Little Creatures, full of simple, catchy melodies and guitar hooks.

By any measure, 1970 was a high-water mark for the Grateful Dead. Hot on the heels of the incredible success of Workingman’s Dead that summer, the band returned in the autumn with the equally stunning American Beauty.