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The EVA labels were a group of sisterlabels made for compilations and Best-Of albums released as joint ventures between the national divisions of EMI, Virgin and Ariola. The label became active in 1984 but is now defunct in all countries. Early EVA albums were released with the logos of the three individual labels. Sometimes the label name EVA was not mentioned on those releases.

The Beatles are almost universally cited as the band that launched the British Invasion on the American pop charts, but the truth is, another U.K. band managed to top the Billboard Hot 100 a little more than a year before the Fab Four broke through in the United States. The Tornados were a combo put together by Joe Meek, a British independent record producer with an eccentric streak and an ear for unusual sounds. While the Tornados were the backing group for some of Meek's studio sessions and became the road band for British rock icon Billy Fury, in 1962 Meek had them record an instrumental tune he'd written, with keyboard man Roger LaVern playing the melody on a cheap battery-powered organ called a Clavioline…