Tag Archives: box set

THE DONNAS – The Atlantic Years 2002-2005

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Very few people who heard The Donnas’ third album, ‘Get Skintight’, in the late 90s would’ve believed the band would have been snapped up by a major label, but that’s where Allison Robertson, Brett Anderson, Maya Ford and Torry Castellano (formerly Donnas R, A, F, and C) found themselves just three years and two albums later. Every Donnas album up to that point had showcased a stronger band with a bigger sound, but their ‘Spend The Night’ album (Atlantic Records, 2002) was streets ahead of anything they’d recorded before. Not just in terms of all round punch, but also songwriting chops, and it sort of goes without saying that a much bigger budget worked wonders for the girls’ trashy rock sound.

From there, it was onward and upward for a relatively short time, and The Donnas were praised by fans and critics alike, finally earning their place as the true successors to the pioneering Runaways.

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STATUS QUO – Quo…Live!

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Issued in 1977, Status Quo’s first official live album, ‘Quo…Live!’ has long been a favourite among fans. Completely without any overdubs – a rarity for a live album from the era – its raw and dirty sound captured The Frantic Four line up in the most natural way possible, and for years held its place as the definitive record of the ‘Blue For You’ tour. The much-missed Rick Parfitt shared the fans’ enthusiasm for this rough and ready recording, but Francis Rossi disagreed. Rossi has also thrown a spanner in the works regarding the official word that the original 2LP set was sourced from the best performances captured during a three night stint at the Glasgow Apollo in October ’76, claiming that when the time came for the track selection, they “just picked the first ones”. This statement has led to a little confusion over the years, as to whether he meant “first” as in “chose the performance from the 27th October in its entirety”, or “chose the first versions of each of the thirteen tracks [he and Rick] were played”.

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VARIOUS ARTISTS – Get Ready For The Countdown: Mod, Brit Soul, R&B & Freakbeat Nuggets

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When Cherry Red Records launched their Strawberry Records subsidiary in 2020, they knew they’d need something impressive to kick start what would technically be a successor to the excellent RPM label. Their inaugural release ‘Halcyon Days’ tapped into an accessible selection of mod and soul cuts, very much in the spirit of RPM’s ‘Looking Back’ series. Needless to say, fans of the style – and of that series of RPM box sets – were thrilled with the result. A second box of mod and soul cuts from Strawberry – 2021’s ‘I Love To See You Strut’ – was pretty much as solid, and at other times, the label’s well curated products – box sets celebrating “the music of Black Britain”, 60s and 70s club soul classics, and even dipping their toes into the world of psychedelic folk (normally the remit of sister label, Grapefruit) – have also been considered very welcome fare.

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THE QUIREBOYS – Hey You!: The Parlophone Years 1989-1993

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Somewhere near the beginning of 1990, Tommy Vance broadcast a live show by The Quireboys as part of his Friday Night Rock Show on Radio 1. The live set – recorded at Wembley Arena when the still relatively new band opened for the legendary Aerosmith on their ‘Pump’ tour in 1989 – presented the boys in great shape. Numbers like ‘Misled’ and ‘Man On The Loose’ captured a Faces-obsessed swagger in a way that few bands had managed since 1975; ‘Seven O’Clock’ – already known and loved by Vance’s devoted listeners – and the soon to be released as a single ‘Hey You’ showed the crowd pleasing power Spike and the boys already had from the off, whilst the country strains of ‘Sweet Mary Ann’ suggested the Quireboys had the potential to stretch out if required. Although short, this live show was, and remains, a great document of the band firing on all six.

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VARIOUS ARTISTS – Middle Earth: The Soundtrack of London’s Legendary Psychedelic Club 1967-1969

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Whenever psychedelic and swinging London appears in documentary footage, there’s always a tendency to suggest, to those of later generations, that Joe Boyd’s short-lived UFO club was where everybody hung out. This is largely to do with an easily available and well circulated clip of Syd Barrett and The Pink Floyd hammering through ‘Astronomy Domine’ against a home made light show. The late 60s saw lots of other underground activity, not least of all at UFO’s successor, Middle Earth.

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