Are.you.the.one.for.me

This 20-track compilation contains everything from their 1964 self-titled LP, as well as both sides of their three 1964 singles and a cover of Ray Davies' "I Go to Sleep" (found on a 1965 single). Its quaintness and lack of strong tunes (only one of which was a group original) limit its worth to British Invasion obsessives for the most part, with some value for Beatles completists due to the hit cover of "Like Dreamers Do." "No Time," one of several songs co-written by future Honeybus main man Pete Dello, is about the best song, with its moody melody; at their most energetic (as on "See If She Cares") they sound a bit like Gerry & the Pacemakers. The covers of '50s rock classics are dire, but the reading of Davies' "I Go to Sleep," with its eerie organ and high yelping backup vocals, has some curiosity value as the first cover of this song, which the Kinks did not release in the 1960s.

Play One For Me, the label debut from New Orleans based blues guitarist/singer Bryan Lee, features Bryan’s powerfully soulful vocals and stinging guitar backed by the label’s studio house band of Kevin Anker (keyboards), Steve Gomes (bass), and Robb Stupka (drums), augmented by special guests Kim Wilson (harmonica) and Johnny Moeller (rhythm guitar) of The Fabulous Thunderbirds. The 10 tracks featured are a solid mix of five Bryan Lee originals and covers of such songs as Bobby Womack’s “When Love Begins (Friendship Ends),” Howlin’ Wolf’s “Evil Is Going On” (featuring Wilson), Freddie King’s “It’s Too Bad (Things Are Going So Tough),” Dennis Geyer’s “Straight to Your Heart,” and a beautiful rendition of the George Jackson classic, “Aretha (Sing One for Me).”