Kinks Anthology

Four-CD, 80-song box set of Clark's '60s material contains all of her big U.S. and U.K. hits, numerous singles that were only hits in other countries (usually France), and a bunch of interesting covers, B-sides, and LP tracks, some quite rare. If you're enough of a fan to want more than what you'll find on the usual thorough hits anthology, but not enough of a fan to want everything she ever did, this is perfect. It's got all of the classics, serviceable (although not terribly extensive) liner notes, and a host of interesting items that aren't well-known.

Although volume four of RPM's Dream Babes series of 1960s British girl group sides gets further into obscure flops than its predecessors, there's barely any drop in the quality, which remains good, though hardly great. And as with most of the rest of the songs on this series, the production's better than the singers or the material. That's not to say there aren't some pretty good cuts on this 22-song anthology, some of them explicitly derivative of the American girl group sound (like the Chantelles' cracking "I Want That Boy," a cover of an obscure U.S. single by Sadina), others taking a pop-soul approach, others mixing in some British beat music.

Definitive album anthology, including all of their hit singles and many other tracks. "The One for You," "Crazy 'Bout My Baby, " "The Man You'll Be Looking For, " and "Miss McBaren, " especially, are accomplished mod rockers on par with some of the best material of the sort being produced in Britain in the mid-'60s.
The Tages were without a doubt, the best Swedish band of the '60s and one of the best '60s rock acts of any sort from a non-English speaking country. Although the group's first recordings were pretty weak Merseybeat derivations, in the mid-'60s they developed a tough, mod-influenced sound that echoed the Who and the Kinks and recorded quite a few originals, making the Swedish Top Ten over a dozen times in all…

After the premature breakup of the Marbles, larynx acrobat Graham Bonnet took a stab at movie stardom (landing a role in Three for All), and then returned to mount a solo career with this eponymous outing, an Australian hit distributed by Ringo Starr's label. As with his previous duo, Bonnet exclusively interprets other folks' tunes. One can't really fault any of the songwriting, as most of these numbers are dependable standards; and nothing's ever wrong with Bonnet's sterling voice. But the record definitely betrays its time. The disco-string coda on "Goodnight and Goodmorning" (from Hall & Oates' debut) screams 1970s, which doesn't diminish the entertainment value one iota.