60`s

Jim Golden's USA and Destination labels put out so many killer garage-rock sides (both legendary and obscure) that it takes two packed CDs to hold just the cream of the crop! I'm a Man Buckinghams; Ben Franklin's Almanac Cryan' Shames; Are You the Kind Flock; Echoes Lord and the Flies; I Know Park Avenue Playground; Come with Me Boyz; What'cha Gonna Do Jokers, and more including unreleased tracks.

Before the Beatles ushered in the beat revolution, the British pop scene reverberated to a tidal wave of home-grown instrumental music. However the golden age of the instrumental was destined to wither as quickly as it had bloomed, yet British rock owed much to its wordless past. This excellent 3 disc compilation includes tracks such as "Telstar", "F.B.I." and "Sleepwalk" and aptly plays out with At The Sign Of The Swingin Cymbal by Brian Fahey & his Orchestra, the original 1960 version of the chart rundown tune for BBC Radio s Pick Of The Pops. If you ve got that far, we guarantee you ve enjoyed 60 of the greatest instrumentals British popular music has to offer.

A good compilation of music featuring R&B, popcorn and northern soul. The highlights for me: A couple of great tracks from Robert Parker - "Barefootin'" & "Let's go baby". A brilliant version of Stevie Wonder's "Uptight" by Jackie Wilson. Little Hank's fantastic track "Mr. Bang Bang man". One or two strong tracks that were new to me - "That other place" by Wade Flemons and "Just ain't no love" by Barbara Acklin. Oh and of course "Every beat of my heart" by The Du-ettes. The less good bits: A few too many instrumental tracks for my liking. 2 or 3 tracks that always seem to feature on this type of compilation. I've probably got multiple copies of "I spy (for the FBI)" - Jamo Thomas and "It's getting mighty crowded" - Betty Everett!

Funky Music Machine: 12 Super Rare Original Funk Killers From The Late 60's To The Early 70's is a compilation album released in 1999 by Soul Patrol Records, a label who regularly released things of indeterminate origin (i.e. legalities have been questionable). This is part of the label's The Undisputed Black Mind Power series of disc and this is Volume 14 but it can stand out individually.

Best Pop Music Now is a 2019 exploration of some of the best modern pop music out today, focusing on today's pop. This was released by Countdown Media/The Loop Music, labels that may not exist in two minutes.