Funny Birds

A household name since the early '70s, John McLaughlin was an innovative fusion guitarist when he led the Mahavishnu Orchestra and continued living up to his reputation as a phenomenal and consistently inquisitive player through the years. He started on guitar when he was 11 and was initially inspired by blues and swing players. John McLaughlin worked with David Bowie, Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, Ginger Baker, and others in the 1960s and played free jazz with Gunter Hampel for six months. His first album was a classic (1969's Extrapolation) and was followed by an obscurity for the Dawns label with John Surman, a quintet set with Larry Young (Devotion), and My Goals Beyond in 1970 which was half acoustic solos and half jams involving Indian musicians.

Three CD set. First-ever complete anthology by the 'Beach Baby' harmony pop hitmakers. Featuring both First Class LPs, all singles, pseudonymous releases and numerous previously unreleased tracks including advertising jingles and songs from an aborted 1974 musical. Arguably the ultimate Beach Boys tribute, 'Beach Baby' introduced a new name, The First Class - actually veteran pop hitmaker and songwriter John Carter with the aid of Chas Mills and lead singer Tony Burrows. While other singers and musicians adopted the name to front their music in public, the Carter/Burrows/Mills combination continued to record new First Class material, including a self-titled LP that is quite possibly the finest, most ambitious British harmony pop album of the 70s.

For Eels fans, and especially those obsessed with Mark Oliver Everett, the man who created and fronts the ever-changing lineup as well as writing its songs, 2008 kicked off anything but quietly. Despite a mere six studio and one live record in the band's catalog, E and Universal/Geffen have issued what amounts to a truckload of backlog material on two separate – some would say excessive – releases: Meet the Eels: Essential Eels 1996-2006, Vol. 1, a CD/DVD package, and Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities, and Unreleased 1996-2006. The latter includes two discs of music and a live DVD documenting the band's 2006 Lollapalooza performance.

From a musical perspective, the Seventies didn’t really begin until 1972, when the sudden appearance of pioneering art-rock adventurers Roxy Music saw them spearhead a new generation of bands making the first genuinely post-Sixties music.

A cd well worth having just to help document the Bee Gees early sound. 20 good & varied songs from probably the most talented set of brothers in the world…