Marty

Four CD set. One of the first generation of British rock 'n' roll stars, Marty Wilde celebrates his 80th birthday with this very personal quartet of discs from across a musical career which spans over six decades. During the late 1950s, Marty was one of the biggest UK pop stars, with a string of Top 10 hits for Philips Records, on which he was often backed by The Wildcats. As the '60s dawned, Marty continued to enjoy chart success while evolving his sound away from American rock 'n' roll. In the mid-'60s, he also recorded as folk-pop trio The Wilde Three with wife Joyce (ex-Vernons Girls) and future Moody Blues star Justin Hayward. During the late 1960s, Marty became a hit songwriter for other artists, penning originals for The Casuals ('Jesamine'), Status Quo ('Ice In The Sun') and Lulu ('I'm A Tiger'). While his own career continued apace throughout the 1970s, Marty was also heavily involved with the launch of daughter Kim's career in the early 1980s. In recent years, Marty has fronted one of Britain's most respected rock 'n' roll bands. Marty is a unique celebration of Marty's long and illustrious career. While Discs One and Two are devoted to all of his early A's and B's, Disc Three unveils a hitherto unissued Radio Luxembourg performance from 1959 while Disc Four boasts a whole CD's worth of previously unheard demo recordings handpicked from Marty's own archive. Beautifully presented with remastered sound, detailed sleeve-notes and a booklet awash with images from across the years, Marty perfectly commemorates the musical legacy of one of Britain's most enduring talents who was awarded an MBE for his achievements.

This is a lovely set of four CD's. The Singing Gunfighter (4cd) Beautiful country music.

Marty Robbins No artist in the history of country music has had a more stylistically diverse career than Marty Robbins. Never content to remain just a country singer, Robbins performed successfully in a dazzling array of styles during more than 30 years in the business. To his credit, Robbins rarely followed trends but often took off in directions that stunned both his peers and fans. Plainly Robbins was not hemmed in by anyone's definition of country music. Although his earliest recordings were unremarkable weepers, by the mid-'50s Robbins was making forays into rock music, adding fiddles to the works of Chuck Berry and Little Richard. By the late '50s, Robbins had pop hits of his own with teen fare like "A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation)."

The double-disc set The Essential Marty Robbins: 1951-1982 effectively presents an overview of Robbins' long, prolific career, taking in nearly every style he tried out during that time. There are honky tonk and hillbilly numbers and cowboy songs, country-pop, rockabilly and Hawaiian tunes – in all, there are 50 songs, including the great majority of his big hit singles. In short, it's the perfect place to begin exploring his long, prolific and varied career, and it's a necessary addition to any country music library.

"El Paso" brought the country music out of Marty Robbins into the pop limelight in 1959 and this, together with all of his resonantly impressive "Gun Ballads" album of the same year and the best of the rest of his 50s recordings are all present here in a budget priced double CD pack.

Spark! is a 2007 live album by Marty Erlich and Myra Melford, recorded at Maggie's Farm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was released on the Palmetto label.