ABKCO Records Vinyl, CDs & Cassettes

ABKCO is one of those labels that doesn't make much noise about itself but holds some of the most important recordings in rock and soul history. Run by Allen Klein, who managed both the Rolling Stones and the Beatles at various points in his career, ABKCO accumulated the rights to a catalog that reads like a short syllabus for anyone serious about Sixties music.

The Rolling Stones catalog here covers the early years, the records that established the band as the world's greatest rock and roll group, Satisfaction, Paint It Black, Honky Tonk Women, Let It Bleed, the complete run through 1971. These are the recordings that mattered most, made when the band was finding its sound and then mastering it, and ABKCO has been meticulous about maintaining and presenting them properly, including high-resolution audio releases and Dolby Atmos remixes in recent years.

The Sam Cooke catalog is equally significant. Cooke is widely credited as the inventor of soul music, a figure who bridged gospel and popular music with a voice and a sensibility that changed everything that came after. ABKCO also holds recordings by the Animals, the Kinks, Marianne Faithfull, and Bobby Womack, as well as the Cameo Parkway catalog, which covers Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell, and a generation of early rock and roll artists.

For collectors focused on the foundational recordings of rock, soul, and the British Invasion, this is a collection worth knowing well.