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Lemmy was one of the last of the original generation of true rock’n’rollers.

Making a rare and very special appearance at the Blues Kitchen in Camden Town next Thursday (23 July) are vintage California mod-freakbeat specialists Powder, performing songs from the recent Big Beat release Ka-Pow! An Explosive Collection 1967-1968. The 2015 line-up includes founder member Rich Martin, alongside his brother Mickey on drums, singer Paul Kopf and Ace's very own Alec Palao on bass guitar. Don't miss this unique chance to hear classics like 'Gladly,' 'Magical Jack' and 'Kick Me' in person.

Louisiana uptown, downtown and down in the Swamps – it’s all here and these nine records represent the finest artists of one of the most musically literate and distinctive States in the whole of the US of A. Be it the wheezing squeezeboxes of the Cajuns, the thundering piano and mellifluous voice of Fats Domino or the spooky blues of Slim Harpo, there is plenty of boppin’ and strollin’ to be had on a Saturday night – or any night for that matter – in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette and Anytown, Louisiana. The music knows no colour boundaries in the racial stew that is Louisiana and maybe this goes some way to explaining why so many came, from all over the USA, to record here. Even those who emigrated to Los Angeles, as Joe Lutcher did, took that rumba to the hi falutin’ folks of Hollywood and knocked it to them. So allons maintainent and be prepared to waltz fast, two-step with elegance and have a conspicuous good time with a lot of style.

Vintage southern soul is more popular now than at any time since its mid-60s heyday. Timeless songs and genre-defining singing enjoy an appreciation that extends way beyond hardcore devotees, and the southern soul fan club just gets bigger and bigger. The music produced by Fame Records’ founder Rick Hall and the incredible musicians, performers and songwriters who plied their trade in his studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama have contributed greatly to this growing popularity.

Although others would emerge in its wake, it was FAME Studios that put the “Muscle Shoals Sound” on the map. Artists such as Wilson Pickett, James & Bobby Purify, Arthur Conley, Clarence Carter, Candi Staton and Aretha Franklin cut some of their most important hits there in the 60s. As well as performers, Fame also cultivated the writing talents of – among others – Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham, and published many of southern soul’s most revered songs.

Muscle Shoals eventually became a recording Mecca for artists from all genres of popular music, and FAME’s remit expanded to embrace Bobbie Gentry, Tom Jones, Mac Davis, Paul Anka, Liza Minnelli and – perhaps most famously – the Osmonds. These and others all made a different kind of memorable music under Rick Hall’s supervision, but it’s the incredible southern soul recordings which poured out of FAME in the 1960s upon which the studio’s reputation stands.

We’re very proud of the CDs in our Fame reissue programme. A listen to any one of the nine featured here will show why. 

A book about music lacks the medium it describes. With that in mind, over the last few years Ace have collaborated with a number of authors in the creation of CDs to complement their endeavours.

Julian Cope has some revered monographs on underground music to his credit, including Krautrocksampler, Japrocksampler and, most recently, the hefty Copendium. The tome’s attendant 3CD set makes for as challenging a listen as one might expect. If it doesn’t make you want to go out, get drunk, listen to Charlie Feathers and get into a fight, then you have no soul, wrote one reviewer of Max Décharné’s A Rocket In Your Pocket. Forego the fight and get our rockabilly-loaded CD instead, say we. Based on interviews with the bluesman’s relatives, friends, producers, accompanists, managers and fans, folklorist Alan Govenar’s His Life And Blues is the definitive biography of Lightnin’ Hopkins. Our double-disc is its ideal soundtrack. Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex, Solomon Burke, Bobby Womack, Elvis Presley and many others made wonderful records at Chips Moman’s American Studios, the subject of Memphis Boys, Roben Jones’ brilliant first book. Find all these and more on the CD that goes with it. Armed only with a Greyhound ticket and enough money for his next beer, Garth Cartwright set out to discover if the American roots music he loved was still alive. His book More Miles Than Money and our 2CD set confirm the answer was yes. Leo Fender’s guitars have had a greater influence on modern music than any other maker’s. Find over 250 of them detailed and photographed in Martin Kelly’s glossy Fender: The Golden Age and a few dozen more on our shiny CD.