Smash Boom Bang

The Boots were a German outfit formed on the model of such British Invasion blues-based outfits as the Yardbirds, the Pretty Things, and Them. Lead singer Werner Krabbe had most definitely heard at least a couple of Van Morrison singles, while lead guitarist Jurg "Jockel" Schulte-Eckel utilized fuzz-tone effects for all they were worth, and also may have had a passing awareness of the Who; at least, he was known – before Jimi Hendrix ever started showing up with lighter fluid on stage – for playing his instrument with screwdrivers and other metal tools as well as the occasional beer bottle. The rest – Uli Grun on rhythm guitar, organ, and harmonica; Bob Bresser on bass; and Heinz Hoff on drums. This single-disc anthology has 28 tracks the Boots recorded between 1965 and 1968, most of them from the singles and debut LP the band released in 1965-1966 with original lead singer Werner Krabbe.

Four-part double CD series - comprehensive and first cross-label documentation of the only relevant German contribution to the international phenomenon of rock music.

Four-part double CD series - comprehensive and first cross-label documentation of the only relevant German contribution to the international phenomenon of rock music.

Four-part double CD series - comprehensive and first cross-label documentation of the only relevant German contribution to the international phenomenon of rock music.

A British dance-pop group which found fame thanks to the antics of androgynous frontman Pete Burns, Dead or Alive formed in Liverpool in 1980. Burns first surfaced three years prior in the Mystery Girls, later heading the proto-goth rockers Nightmares in Wax; he founded Dead or Alive with keyboardist Marty Healey, guitarist Mitch, bassist Sue James, and drummer Joe Musker, debuting in 1980 with the Ian Broudie-produced Doors soundalike "I'm Falling." "Number Eleven" followed, but just as the group was gaining momentum, they were swept aside by the emergence of the New Romantic movement, with Burns subsequently charging that fellow androgyne Boy George of Culture Club had merely stolen his outrageous image.