"Strange fruit hanging/from the poplar tree"...one of the most haunting songs ever written. Holiday recorded this song about a lynching several times throughout her career, but this original version features a performance so intense that it is impossible to beat.

Take a Motown classic, a French conductor, a harpsichord, a sitar and something that could be either a melodica or a kazoo, and what do you get? I'm not sure either, but it'd sound a lot like this. A truly odd version that sounds vaguely off-key the entire time (although it seems intentional). A great example of the "Now Sound".

Many people have recorded versions of "Listen Here" over the years, which had been a huge hit for Eddie Harris in 1965. This one features lyrics, though, and great ones at that, which Ms. Keys (whoever she was) apparently penned herself. "Listen here/I don't know what to tell you/there's gonna be some changes/in the comin' year now". A great cut, and if you see it, snatch it up. It's been steadily rising in price the past few months since Gilles Peterson has been known to spin it on his radio show.

Awesome reworking of the milqetoast Tommy James hit, using Sweet Inspirations-ish background singers, infectious bubbling percussion, rousing horns and some of the fuzziest guitar ever to appear on any Scottish person's record. An impeccable Miki Dallon production and a great example of British blue-eyed soul.