Larry Starr

The Ultimate Collection: Northern Soul brings together 5CDs containing 100 tracks that encapsulate the very best from the music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England in the late 1960s from the British mod scene.

Okay, the way the story goes is that in 1965 John Lennon bought a Swiss KB Discomatic portable jukebox. What’s that you ask? It’s the 1965 equivalent of an MP3 player or an i-pod. It was a suitcase-sized thing and you could fill it with 40 of your own 45s. So John bought one, I’m sure at the time only the very rich could afford a Swiss KB Discomatic, and he filled the thing with 40 of his favorite 45s and took it with him on tour. One of the 45s Daydream/ Night Owl Blues by the Lovin’ Spoonful didn’t come out until 1966 so we know he didn’t put at least that 45 in the jukebox until then.

Universal Music are to release a five-CD super deluxe edition of the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe’s film Almost Famous (released in 2000). The semi autobiographical comedy drama follows the exploits of a young Rolling Stone journalist as he tours with the (fictional) band Stillwater. It was well-received at the time and won plenty of awards including a Best Original Screenplay Ocscar for Crowe.