Mike Cotton Sound

Eagerly awaited sequel to 2020’s successful ‘Halcyon Days’, that was itself inspired by the RPM Records bespoke compilations ‘Looking Back’, ‘Keep Lookin’ and ‘Night Comes Down’.Celebrating Mod-friendly 1960’s beat music with disc one focussing on club-based sounds, disc two on Mod legends and disc three’s groovier, more heavy and psychedelic acts. With previously unissued Mod RnB tracks from The Fingers, The SW4 and The Trendbender Band plus first legal time on CD Mod RnB, Soul and Freakbeat rarities from The Profile, The Athenians, Laris McLennon and The Scots of St James and a rare version of The Moody Blues’ ‘I’ll Go Crazy’ that was not issued in the UK.

Eagerly awaited sequel to 2020’s successful ‘Halcyon Days’, that was itself inspired by the RPM Records bespoke compilations ‘Looking Back’, ‘Keep Lookin’ and ‘Night Comes Down’.Celebrating Mod-friendly 1960’s beat music with disc one focussing on club-based sounds, disc two on Mod legends and disc three’s groovier, more heavy and psychedelic acts. With previously unissued Mod RnB tracks from The Fingers, The SW4 and The Trendbender Band plus first legal time on CD Mod RnB, Soul and Freakbeat rarities from The Profile, The Athenians, Laris McLennon and The Scots of St James and a rare version of The Moody Blues’ ‘I’ll Go Crazy’ that was not issued in the UK.

Northern Soul was the peoples soul, the beat that kept the faith. This collection brings you mighty mod dancers, rare gems and the sounds that kept dancefloors filled in Wigan, Blackpool and Stoke throughout the 70s. Featuring classics from The Showstoppers, Brother To Brother, Timebox, Donnie Elbert and many more, your feet will be flying from start to finish.

Four-hour, 3CD anthology of hard-edged British R&B from the genre's pivotal year. Featuring hit singles, key album tracks, cult classics and some fabulous previously unreleased recordings. While 1963 belonged to the Merseyside-led beat boom, the following year saw the emergence of homegrown R&B as market leaders The Rolling Stones were joined on the Thames Delta by a host of equally young, raw and enthusiastic British blues-hounds. The Pretty Things, The Yardbirds and Manfred Mann would all come to national prominence, but many other putative king bees - The Artwoods, Downliners Sect, early Ronnie Wood outfit The Birds - would have to settle for a more localised audience. Other hard-up heroes trying to pay the rent included The Who (as The High Numbers), Steve Marriott (as leader of The Moments) and Rod 'The Mod' Stewart (with The Hoochie Coochie Men), who all gave early notice of their developing talent to an indifferent world.

British R&B/Mod band The Tomcats were formed in Ealing in 1965 but spent their career wowing audiences in Spain as an imported answer to The Rolling Stones. Between 1965 and 1966, they issued four EPs for Philips, which have never been reissued on CD. This compilation boasts all their EP tracks plus rarities, unissued material and pre-Tomcats tracks by The Second Thoughts. On their return to the UK, The Tomcats evolved into cult Psychedelic favourites July. Running At Shadows boasts authoritative sleeve-notes, featuring quotes from original band members (including Tom Newman, who would later engineer Tubular Bells!). Follows other popular titles on RPM by similar, Mod-friendly bands such as the Bo Street Runners, the Mike Cotton Sound, The Truth, the Stormsville Shakers and the Mickey Finn.

While many of the decade’s most successful UK bands (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones et al) were originally inspired and influenced by Black American soul and R&B, it could be argued that Black artists recording in Britain at the time weren’t given the exposure they deserved.

Argent was formed in 1969 by Rod Argent and Chris White, who had been the keyboard player and the bassist, and principal songwriters, in 60s hitmakers The Zombies. Chris White now assumed a writing and producing role, so Jim Rodford (Argent's cousin and formerly with the Mike Cotton Sound) was recruited on bass. The line-up was completed by drummer Bob Henrit and guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Russ Ballard (both previously with The Roulettes and Unit 4 + 2). The first two albums – “Argent” (1970) and “Ring Of Hands” (1971) – performed well but it was the third album “All Together Now” (1972) that catapulted the band to stardom. Written by Argent and White, first single “Hold Your Head Up” reached number 5 in both the UK and the US, where it sold over a million copies, and second single “Tragedy”also sold well.

In 1980 Dexy’s Midnight Runners talked of a “new soul vision”. They were referring to their own music but they and other groups including The Jam through covers of soul songs such as ‘Seven Days Too Long’ (Dexy’s), ‘One Way Love’ (Dexy’s), ‘Big Bird’ (The Jam) and ‘Move On Up’ (The Jam) inspired a new generation of teenagers to seek out the originals then go deeper. ‘Ain’t Nothing But A House Party’ provides a soundtrack to those exciting times, a celebration of 60s and early 70s soul that filled dance floors again in the 80s.