The Beatles The Best Of

Released just after George left Apple for his own Dark Horse label (and appearing in stores just in time for the Christmas season of 1976), The Best of George Harrison neatly splits into a side of Harrison solo hits and a side of his Beatles tunes…

The Beatles: The Collection was a vinyl box set of UK released Beatles LPs, remastered at half speed from the original stereo master recordings. Each album was pressed on virgin vinyl by the Victor Company of Japan (JVC) ensuring the best sound quality possible…

As unfathomable as it seems from the distance of over 40 years, for a few months, Gerry & the Pacemakers were the Beatles' nearest competitors in Britain. Managed (like the Beatles) by Brian Epstein, Gerry Marsden and his band burst out of the gate with three consecutive number one U.K. hits in 1963, "How Do You Do It," "I Like It," and "You'll Never Walk Alone." If the Beatles defined Merseybeat at its best in early 1963, Gerry & the Pacemakers defined the form at its most innocuous, performing bouncy, catchy, and utterly lightweight tunes driven by rhythm guitar and Marsden's chipper vocals.

The Shadows (originally known as The Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, and were Cliff Richard's backing band from 1958 to 1968, having also collaborated again on numerous reunion tours. The Shadows have placed 69 UK charted singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars…

No one is likely ever to sort out the true "best" of Ian & the Zodiacs, never mind their overall history: they were on too many labels, and never sold enough records to justify the effort as anything other than a labor of love. But based on the evidence of this 26-song CD, there was a good deal to love there. All of what's here is very solid American pop/soul done Merseybeat-style, complete with the occasional blowing sax (sharing the spotlight with fuzztone guitar) and horns. To be sure, they were never a cutting-edge outfit like the Beatles or the Hollies, or even an ambitious pop/rock outfit like the Merseybeats the nature of the material here speaks to that, American soul and Brit-beat pop/rock that was already a bit retro when it was done in 1966 (at around the same time that the Beatles were having fun at the expense of the British soul boom - and also expanding the meaning of the word "soul" - with the title of the Rubber Soul album)…