The Best Of Spencer Davis Group

The Spencer Davis Group were one of several excellent British R+B bands of the sixties. Best remembered in Britain for Keep on running (one of the best songs of the sixties, regardless of genre), by the time they started to make an impression in America, they were on the verge of losing their key man, Steve Winwood…

This two-CD, 51-song set covers virtually everything the group recorded with Steve Winwood in the lineup from 1964-1967. The gap between the band's best and worst material was considerable; quite a few of their R&B covers are surprisingly routine, and the occasional cuts that don't have Winwood on lead vocals are downright pedestrian…

The Spencer Davis Group is fondly remembered for their late-1960s singles that featured the deep soul vocals of Steve Winwood, then only a teenager. Singles like "Somebody Help Me," "Keep on Running," "Gimme Some Lovin'," and "I'm a Man" were solid R&B rockers, making The Spencer Davis Group one of the most explosive bands in the so-called British Invasion era…

There's something about sixties music, a simplicity that appeals and makes for easy listening. This is a great collection for relaxing to, dancing to, or just having on in the background. It's an equitable selection with a lot of very well known songs. So get out your gogo boots and mini skirt, and go for it!

This is an amazing CD reissue, three times over - for psychedelic music buffs, British R&B and soul enthusiasts, and fans of the progressive rock band Gentle Giant (which evolved out of Simon Dupree & the Big Sound). And it's also incredibly long overdue. Best-known for their Oriental ersatz pop-psychedelic classic "Kites," Simon Dupree & the Big Sound actually started out as a blues and R&B-based outfit, not too different from the Spencer Davis Group. This double-CD set covers their complete EMI output, most of which has never been reissued, and almost all of which is very impressive (and even manages to intersect obliquely with Apple Records' orbit)…