A little different this time
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 11/03/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In Britain, double albums of sixties pop music have been a regular feature in recent years, include several in the Best in the world ever series, several others in the Heartbeat series and plenty others besides. The same songs come round all too often but this particular compilation has fewer obvious tracks than usual, allowing some forgotten big hits to be included.There are some obvious songs here, including I only want to be with you (Dusty Springfield), Do wah diddy diddy (Manfred Mann), Oh pretty woman (Roy Orbison), Everlasting love (Love affair), Young girl (Gary Puckett), Daydream believer (Monkees), If paradise is half as nice (Amen corner), Build me up buttercup (Foundations), Locomotion (Little Eva), California dreaming (Mamas and papas) and Hi ho silver lining (Jeff Beck). All of those songs have appeared on any number of sixties compilations (and some of the others are only slightly less frequent inclusions on such compilations) but their sheer quality ensures that nobody minds hearing them yet again.Some imagination has been used in the selection of tracks by the Kinks (Dedicated follower of fashion), the Move (I can hear the grass grow), the Hollies (Stop stop stop), the Supremes (Where did our love go), the Tremeloes (Here comes my baby), Cliff Richard (In the country), Gerry and the pacemakers (I like it), Herman's hermits (Something is happening), Sandie Shaw (Long live love - not to be confused with the completely different Eurovision song of that title sung by Olivia Newton John) and the Beach boys (Wouldn't it be nice). All these songs were huge UK hits for those artists but generally appear on these compilations less often than other famous songs by the same artists.Just to make absolutely sure that people who've already got all the above songs, this set includes some songs that rarely feature on compilations of this time. I cannot remember the last time I saw a Don Partridge track, but Rosie (a huge UK hit) is included. Give peace a chance can be found on John Lennon's albums but rarely turns up on sets like this. Let's hang on, Lily the pink, Melting pop, I'm the urban spaceman, Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde, Lover's concerto, Walking back to happiness, Morningtown ride and Excerpt from a teenage opera are just some of the songs that sometimes turns up on compilations, but not as often as they ought to.So this is a collection that will appeal to those who have lots of sixties pop music already but will also appeal to those looking for their first sixties pop collection."
