The Mysterians Tokyopop

Abkco's 2005 compilation The Best of ? & the Mysterians: Cameo Parkway 1966-1967 is the first official CD release of the Michigan garage rocker's classic Cameo Parkway recordings, but for hardcore garage rock collectors, it might look a little bit similar to a 1995 unofficial release called Original Recordings. The discs not only share 25 tracks but they're presented in the same sequencing. Then again, that shouldn't be a surprise since both discs contain the entirety of the quintet's two full-length LPs – the 1966 96 Tears and its 1967 follow-up Action – plus the "Do Something to Me"/"Love Me Baby (Cherry July)" single. The '95 release contains five tracks that didn't make it to this release, but this has two previously unreleased versions of "Midnight Hour" and "96 Tears," neither of which were as a good as the released versions (the alternate "96 Tears" is surprisingly limp, actually).

The soundtrack to the book about the year that shaped the rest of the century. Pop was everything in 1966. It was a way of looking at the world, all funnelled into the single: ideas, attitudes, lyrics and experimentation that in the more indulgent years to come would be stretched out into a whole album. Condensed within the 7-inch format, the possibilities of 1966 were expressed with an extraordinary electricity and intensity – whether it be the flourishing of Holland-Dozier-Holland at Motown, the breakthrough of black American dance culture, the start of psychedelia and the beginnings of rock, or just simple mod pop.

Her mountainous stature matching the sheer soulful power of her massive vocal talent, Big Maybelle was one of the premier R&B chanteuses of the 1950s. Her deep, gravelly voice was as singular as her recorded output for Okeh and Savoy, which ranged from down-in-the-alley blues to pop-slanted ballads. In 1967, she even covered ? & the Mysterians' "96 Tears" (it was her final chart appearance). Alleged drug addiction leveled the mighty belter at the premature age of 47, but Maybelle packed a lot of living into her shortened lifespan.