England’s Cherry Red Records and its subsidiary labels always feature lots of terrific American and British post-war pop music, rock, soul and jazz. If you’re looking to buy someone a gift or treat yourself, here are a bunch of well-curated box sets that will take you back in time or turn you on to music you’re hearing for the first time:
All Things Bright and Beautiful: The U.K. Pop Explosion, 1967-1969 (Grapefruit)—As hard rock picked up steam in 1967 with the Doors, the Yardbirds and Cream among other bands, a new, gentler pop emerged in the U.S. and the U.K. for those who found rock a bit much. In the U.S., artists countering the louder form included Herb Albert’s The Guy’s in Love With You, Simon and Garfunkel’s Mrs. Robinson and Gary Pucket and the Union Gap’s Young Girl. In the U.K., neo-pop was a bit more ornamental and rooted in the British Invasion sound. This three-CD box features 82 tracks, and all of them will be new to you. To buy, go here.
Here’s Violet Thimble’s Gentle People Parts 1 and 2…
Middle Earth: The Soundtrack of London’s Legendary Psychedelic Club, 1967-1969 (Strawberry)—Middle Earth was an early rock club in swinging London. It was located originally in the Covent Garden district but later moved to the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm. All of the majors performed at Middle Earth, including Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane and the Doors before they became huge on tour in the U.S. This three-CD, 74-track box features early Brit rock bands that played there. To buy, go here.
Here’s Tales of Justine’s Monday Morning…
Soul 66: From The Vaults Of Atlantic, Atco, Calla, Loma, Reprise, Roulette, Stax, Volt & Warner Bros—(Strawberry). The year 1966 was unreal for soul. Motown hit it big and other American labels followed suit by beefing up soul divisions. I was 10 and distinctly remember the marketplace awash in terrific singles. This three-CD, 91-track set features many obscure gems and some you’ll likely know. A solid compilation. To buy, go here…
Here’s Barbara Lewis’s I Remember the Feeling…
Motor City Is Burning: A Michigan Anthology, 1965-1972—(Grapefruit). American hard rock was born in the Midwest. Why the Midwest? Because that’s where much of the country’s manufacturing took place. Kids who graduated high school and followed their parents into union jobs on factory floors were conditioned by the clatter of machinery. By the late 1960s and early ‘70s, manufacturing began to dry up, putting fathers out of work and sending mothers into the workplace to help make ends meet. The divorce rate climbed and kids sought refuge in rage rock that mirrored the chaos going on in their lives at home and in school. But Michigan was more than Alice Cooper, MC5 and Iggy Pop, as this three-CD, 76-track set shows. To buy, go here.
Here are the Pedestrians in 1967 singing It’s Too Late…
Here’s the Pack’s Next to Your Fire in 1968…
A New Awakening - Adventures In British Jazz, 1966-1971—(Strawberry). Few eras of music were as crowded as the late 1960s and early 1970s. Intersecting were modern jazz, progressive rock, psychedelic rock, funk, boogaloo, avant-garde and soul. As a result, jazz took on various hybrid personalities, and nowhere was the scene more dynamic and fluid than in London. Unlike in the U.S., where music was supposed to stay in its box, the borders around each category were meant to be crossed in the U.K. This three-CD, 48-track box features many prime examples of happy marriages between jazz and the other major styles of the period. To buy, go here.
Here’s the Tubby Hayes Quartet’s Dear Johnny B…
And here’s the Don Rendell/Ian Carr Quintet’s One Green Eye…
George Duke: From Me To You: The Definitive Collection, 1977-2000—(Robinsongs). This five CD, 87-track set features the jazz-funk keyboardist’s music in the years following his initial fusion fame while recording albums such as Feel for MPS in the years prior to this new box’s start. To buy, go here.
Here’s Lemme at It from Reach for It (1977)…
And here’s 500 Miles to Go from Illusions (1995)…
El Coco—(Robinsongs). This two-CD set includes all four disco albums released between 1975 and 1979 by El Coco—W. Michael Lewis and Laurin Rinder, who produced, arranged, wrote and played all the instruments. Their arrangements had a jazz feel thanks to their training, and El Coco had major dance-floor hits with Let’s Get It Together and Cocomotion. To buy, go here.
Here’s Let’s Get It Together, which still sounds fantastic…
And here’s Cocomotion, which also sounds great…
I picked up the British jazz set as soon as it came out. Well worth the price, and great stylistic variety.