British Pop

UK three CD set. While the likes of Rubber Soul, 'See My Friends' and 'Still I'm Sad' had served notice in 1965 of British pop's heightened level of ambition, 1966 would prove to be an even more tumultuous twelve-month period as experimentation and innovation grew to new levels. The release that August of Revolver brought the concept of psychedelic music out of the margins and into the mainstream. However, psychedelia had been percolating throughout the year. The word was already in subterranean use in America, adapted by the likes of The 13th Floor Elevators and Hollywood hustler Kim Fowley, who in late 1965 had become the first person to promote a record with the term "psychedelic". Featuring 84 tracks, A Slight Disturbance In My Mind: The British Proto-Psychedelic Sounds Of 1966 examines the experimental pop element of the British music scene during that epochal twelve-month period with a dizzying, dazzling mix of nascent psychedelia, introspective pop and what's been retrospectively labelled freakbeat. We feature vital contributions from some of the era's biggest names (The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Animals etc), a bunch of highly collectable cult classics, a huge stash of unissued-at-the-time nuggets and early outings for such future legends as Bowie, Bolan, Slade and The Bee Gees. Housed in a clamshell box containing a 52-page booklet crammed with biographical information and priceless period photos and memorabilia, A Slight Disturbance In My Mind is a glorious snapshot of British pop storming the gates of a new, strange and wonderful dawn.

Before the Beatles ushered in the beat revolution, the British pop scene reverberated to a tidal wave of home-grown instrumental music. However the golden age of the instrumental was destined to wither as quickly as it had bloomed, yet British rock owed much to its wordless past. This excellent 3 disc compilation includes tracks such as "Telstar", "F.B.I." and "Sleepwalk" and aptly plays out with At The Sign Of The Swingin Cymbal by Brian Fahey & his Orchestra, the original 1960 version of the chart rundown tune for BBC Radio s Pick Of The Pops. If you ve got that far, we guarantee you ve enjoyed 60 of the greatest instrumentals British popular music has to offer.

Three CD anthology featuring some of the best music to come out of the British new wave/ power pop scene of the late 70s/early 80s. Featuring hit singles and deep cuts from some of the era's biggest names are joined by rare tracks, cult classics and fascinating obscurities. Kids On The Street is a four-hour smorgasbord of top pop tunes from the British power pop and new wave scenes of the late Seventies/early Eighties as the punk revolution evolved into a more radio-friendly sound. Hit singles from some of the era's most vital acts (The Stranglers, Pretenders, The Ruts, The Teardrop Explodes, Elvis Costello) are joined by key cuts from seminal albums by the likes of The Jam, Squeeze and XTC.

Boasting 92 tracks, ‘Box Of Pin-Ups’ takes in the market leaders as well as the year’s hard-up heroes and nowhere men. Established Top Ten acts like Manfred Mann, The Hollies and The Yardbirds are joined by cult names and such glorious one-shot unknowns as Glenn Athens & The Trojans and Irish band The Spectres, both now legally included on CD for the first time.

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) extends the British-oriented themes of Village Green Preservation Society, telling the story of a London man's decision to move to Australia during the aftermath of World War II. It's a detailed and loving song cycle, capturing the minutiae of suburban life, the numbing effect of bureaucracy, and the horrors of war.

Spending the greater part of the last decade assembling this masterpiece while tracking down most of the musicians in the process, Stuart Ellis of Radiodiffusion Internasionaal has compiled a mind-blowing set of Pakistani instrumentals spanning the period between 1966 and 1976. It’s all here: rock and roll beat, surf, folk traditional mixed with pop, film tunes, electric guitars, sitar and organ solos, brilliant percussion and arrangements crafted by the grooviest bands of the period: The Panthers, The Mods, The Bugs, The Blue Birds, The Abstracts, The Aay Jays, The Fore Thoughts, Nisar Bazmi, and Sohail Rana.

Psych', a newly compiled 64 song 3CD set celebrating an extraordinary era in British Pop and Rock music that saw an expansion of musical styles that heralded Psychedelia and the arrival of Prog (or Progressive) Rock. It coincided with the launch of the eclectic, occasionally esoteric but always interesting Deram label - the music press of the day described it as a 'hip label for groovy people'. Includes esteemed artists such as Genesis, The Moody Blues and Caravan alongside hidden gems within the catalogue.