A Dozen Years

A characteristically humongous (8-CD) box set from the wonderful obsessive-compulsives at Bear Family, documenting the Killer's '60s tenure at Smash Records. Lewis made consistently good music during this period, but the combination of his personal scandals and the British Invasion made him a pariah to radio programmers until mid-decade, when he returned to his country roots. Highlights of the set include the entirety of a Texas live show, with Lewis and his crack band rendering various early rock standards at dangerously high (i.e., proto punk) speed, some excellent duets with his (then) wife Linda Gail, and gorgeous renditions of standards like Willie Nelson's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Merle Haggard's "Lonesome Fugitive." Lewis fans with deep pockets should grab this one immediately…

A best-of with a twist, featuring one new song, the synthesizer-driven "Early in the Night," cut by Phillips in 1992. He still has his touch for numbers with haunting, eerie textures (the guitars are pretty cool, too) and compelling lyrics, and the voice is still there, too. As for the rest, in the absence of all but his second A&M album, it's a decent cross-section of his work from a half-dozen albums. The new notes by Phillips who complains that his current music isn't of interest to any record companies and Bob Garcia frame his work reasonably well, also, and the 75+ minutes of music is pretty generous.

Spanning 55 years and 45 songs, a 2CD collection to ratify Manchester’s claim to be Britain’s second – if not at times, first – musical city. From primal beat through promiscuous punk, high 80s disco/soul and pure baggy to proud and proper rock, the evidence is all here.