The Normal

Mark E Smith and The Fall are currently having their back catalogue reassessed by Cherry Red Records. The latest in what looks like a long line of forthcoming releases is ‘1982’. Featuring 2 acclaimed albums, a clutch of session tracks and 2 live albums plus a fresh 4,000 word essay by Daryl Easlea, this collection is a majestically compiled dive into the vaults of this much lauded band…

Talk about playing from strength: Chip, Dave, Alan and Rick (and its slightly later U.S. counterpart, Suddenly You Love Me) was the second full LP of 1967 by the re-organized Tremeloes, and it doesn't have a weak moment on it. To the band, it must've seemed like nothing less than a miracle twice over, coming as it did the same year that they roared to the top of the U.K. charts (as well as scaling the American Top 20). For the rest of us, however, it was more like a triple miracle, musically speaking. Anyone who missed the optimism, lyricism, and soul stylings of albums like the Beatles' Rubber Soul (and the more accessible parts of Revolver), need look no further than the 13 songs on this long-player to recapture those vibrations…

Would You Believe? is an album by the Hollies, released in 1966. It features a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock," which displayed progression for the band at the time – the rising folk-rock nascent was on the horizon. However, Would You Believe also features covers of Buddy Holly's "Take Your Time" and Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen" — by 1966, R&B and blues covers were becoming passé. Another sign of growth for the band on Would You Believe includes the Evie Sands cover, "I Can't Let Go", a major hit for the band.

For many Hollies enthusiasts, Evolution (1967) is considered the band's most accessible blend of pop and psychedelia. The quintet were headed into musical territories beyond simply "moon-June-bloom" and boy-meets-girl lyrics coupled with the tightly constructed vocal harmonies that had become their calling card. Nowhere is this more evident than in the tripped-out cover art from Dutch multimedia artists Seemon Kooer, Marijke Kooer, Josje Leeger, and Barry Finch – known collectively as Fool. Although "Carrie-Anne" could be considered an extension of the trite, somewhat predictable Brit pop, there are clear indications of new horizons on cuts such as the modish "You Need Love," the arguably passé distorted electric guitar on "Have You Ever Loved Somebody," and the wailing fretwork on the driving freakbeat rocker "Then the Heartaches Begin."