Ricky Nelson For You: The Decca Years 1963 1969 (2008)

Although they're only remembered today for their 1964 hit "Hippy Hippy Shake," which charted on both sides of the Atlantic – the Swinging Blue Jeans were actually one of the strongest of the Liverpool bands from the '60s British Invasion; and, indeed, the Blue Jeans' earliest incarnation goes back about as far as the roots of the Beatles as the Quarry Men. "Hippy Hippy Shake" – a cover of an obscure '50s rocker that was actually done much better by the Beatles on tapes of their BBC performances – was their only Top 30 entry in the U.S.. But the band enjoyed some other major and minor hits in the U.K., including a top-notch Merseyization of Betty Everett's (and later Linda Ronstadt's) "You're No Good," which they took into the British Top Five in 1964.

On December 3, 1963, at age 62, when most folks are thinking about retirement, Louis Armstrong recorded the sprightly "Hello, Dolly!," the title song for a Broadway show. Thus began a six year-long series of recordings that brought arguably most important 20th Century musician back into the limelight and, in fact, gave him his greatest recording successes ever.

Featuring 52 tracks, this box set contains the three studio albums Cutting Crew recorded between 1986 and 1992, the Grammy nominated debut, Broadcast (1986), acclaimed follow up, The Scattering (1989), and the ripe for rediscovery, Compus Mentus (1992), plus B sides, remixes and demos. It's been Cutting Crew's fate to be primarily remembered for their enormous, multi- million selling international hit, '(I Just) Died In Your Arms', and that's here in two versions, but this box set shows that there's much more to the band, whose driving pop- rock is defined by strong song writing, Nick Van Eede's soulful vocals and Kevin MacMichael's lead guitar.

Marmalade is one of those groups that just seems to endure. They are best remembered today for one record, their cover of the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," although they charted number one records and even Top Ten American singles into the 1970s. The group, especially as constituted up through the early '70s, had many sides, including white soul, harmony dominated pop/rock, and progressive pop, all very much like the Beatles in their middle years. However, it was their cover of a Beatles song, oddly enough, that weighed down their reputation.
In point of fact, they did somewhat resemble the Beatles musically, having started out as a band of teenagers eager to play hard rock & roll; like the Beatles, they developed a great degree of sophistication in their singing and playing, but they never had the freedom to experiment with the different sides of their music…

Marmalade is one of those groups that just seems to endure. They are best remembered today for one record, their cover of the Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," although they charted number one records and even Top Ten American singles into the 1970s. The group, especially as constituted up through the early '70s, had many sides, including white soul, harmony dominated pop/rock, and progressive pop, all very much like the Beatles in their middle years. However, it was their cover of a Beatles song, oddly enough, that weighed down their reputation.
In point of fact, they did somewhat resemble the Beatles musically, having started out as a band of teenagers eager to play hard rock & roll; like the Beatles, they developed a great degree of sophistication in their singing and playing, but they never had the freedom to experiment with the different sides of their music…