Down Beat

NIGHT COMES DOWN continues RPM’s ongoing pedigree in creating bespoke Sixties compilations of rare British music aimed at discerning collectors. This 3-CD box set follows previous collections Looking Back (2011) and Keep Lookin’ (2014), which ran the gamut of musical styles which emanated from the UK, diverse and yet united in their dancefloor appeal, from the discotheques of the day to nouveau Mod clubs in the 21st century.

Though they ultimately skated far away from the "Two Tone" pigeon-hole that yawned for other bands of their ilk and age, the English Beat were certainly pursuing similar demons as they rose out of hometown Birmingham in 1979, with a ska-punk collision that matched social politics with sociological awareness, then turned the whole thing into a non-stop dance party.

Pour Down Like Silver was the last album Richard & Linda Thompson would release before beginning a self-imposed three-year retirement in order to join a communal Sufi Muslim sect. The cover photographs show the Thompsons dressed in traditional Muslim garb, and while lyrically the album offers few clear signs of the Thompsons' new spiritual direction, the stark asceticism of the music marked a real change from the alcohol-fueled mood swings of I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight and Hokey Pokey…

British Beat was the term adopted to describe the exciting new sounds out of Liverpool and other cities in the wake of The Beatles' explosion onto the world stage in 1963/64. Named after the slang term forever associated with The Beatles, this mammoth 6-CD box set offers around 180 tracks in chronological order from the mid-1960s, many of which are new to CD and some of which are previously unissued. Fab Gear includes many of the era's biggest names such as The Kinks, The Moody Blues, The Searchers and The Tremeloes and other hit acts such as The Marmalade, The Alan Price Set, The Rockin' Berries, David & Jonathan, The Ivy League, Twinkle, Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers, Chad & Jeremy, The Tornados, Arthur Brown, Tony Jackson & The Vibrations, The Undertakers, Billie Davis, The Migil 5, The Truth, The Quiet Five and The Sorrows.

This two-CD, 56-song anthology is an excellent value even at an import price. It contains all their Australian hits, lots of album tracks, and some rarities that don't show up very often, like the 1965 B-side "The Old Oak Tree."…