|
| 
 enlarge | Artist: Various Artists
Label: Commercial Marketing
Category: Music
List Price: £18.99
Buy New: £12.06
You Save: £6.93 (36%)
New (21) Used (2) from £12.05
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 983
Format: Box Set
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 3
Running Time: 251 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 5.3 x 5 x 0.7
UPC: 600753079928
EAN: 0600753079928
ASIN: B001BG2X70
Release Date: August 25, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Go on you know you want one gZoop it NOW!! All gZoop products are dispatched from the Channel Islands & take approx 3-5 working days (excluding weekends) from order to delivery.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-2 of 2 1 Next »
Underground???? August 30, 2008
Alick Jeffery was king (Derbyshire Dales, UK)
12 out of 12 found this review helpful
Hot on the heels of "Strange Pleasures" (the second 3 CD Decca/Deram box set of late 60's/early 70's underground sounds) Universal Music has again let Esoteric Records boss Mark Powell loose in its vaults. After issuing similar box sets of Vertigo material and the aforementioned Decca/Derams, Mark (teamed again with maestro Paschal Byrne at the mixing desk and the highly creative Phil Smee in the design room) has produced another excellent offering. As with the aforementioned releases,the packaging is first rate. The 3 cds come in their own mini fake aged LP sleeves accompanied by an informative 48 page booklet with a section per artiste and plenty of rare photos/original album covers. In his introduction, Powell also gives a history of the label and how it came to acquire the MGM Verve catalogue, Giorgio Gomelsky's Marmalade label and its links with Track and Reaction which allow this box set a far wider selection of material than would have applied to the main Polydor imprint alone.
Polydor was not however a label I associated with the "underground". After all it was, at heart, a major German classical label and its pop/rock roster included mega selling bands such as Cream (on Robert Stigwood's Reaction imprint)and the Who (on the Who management's Track label) both of which feature strongly here. This set also boasts top 10 singles by Thunderclap Newman, Julie Driscoll and Arthur Brown - so hardly qualification as an underground label. However the inclusion of material by Ladbroke Grove's Pink Fairies, unknowns like the Web and Second Hand plus obscure singles by Van Der Graaf Generator (slightly manic) and Jethro Tull go a long way to establishing real underground credentials. As a German Label Polydor also had a fair sprinkling of European bands: Golden Earring, Focus, Tangerine Dream, Faust, Supersister and Aphrodite's Child. Although euro bands tended to enjoy limited credibility here in the UK back in the day, the selections here are all worthy inclusions showing highly skilled musicianship and being very light on dodgy english vocals.
All in all, fewer unearthed obscure gems than its predecessors and whilst the selections will inevitably not please everybody (eg I could ask why no Blossom Toes or other Marmalade label bands which would have boosted the underground feel) this is another highly enjoyable, well conceived and executed package. Keep them coming Mark Powell!
A Real Joy August 30, 2008
endlessharmony (bristol)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
In recent years Universal has been releasing a series of progressive and/or psychedlic collections and this one is up there with the best. It has a great balance of hit songs such as Thunderclap Newman's 'Something In The Air', Focus 'Hocus Pocus', Julie Driscoll's 'This Wheel's On Fire' and Arthur Brown's 'Fire' and rarities which are either difficult to track down or you've ever heard of.
It features a roster of great Polydor artists from 1967-1974 such as Cream, The Who, Taste, Jack Bruce and Fairport Convention and there is high quality of material throughout the 50 tracks, which starts of with The Crazy World of Arthur Brown's 'Fire' suite and closes Focus 'Hocus Pocus'.
If you have the likes of Decca's 'Strange Pleasures - Further Sounds Of The Decca Underground', Harvest's 'Breath of Fresh Air' or 'Time Machine - A Vertigo Retrospective' then you will have an idea of what to expect from this collection of well known songs and obscurities from the late 60's/early 1970's. It really is a worthwhile investment if you are into the Prog/Psych music from the era.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
