JERSEY BEAT: FRANKIE VALLI & THE 4 SEASONS     RHINO R2 74852

In 1961, the group known as The Four Lovers evolved into The Four Seasons, with Frankie Valli as the lead singer, Bob Gaudio on keyboards and tenor vocals, Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals and Nick Massi on bass guitar and bass vocals (Massi was replaced in 1965 by Charles Calello, who was in turn replaced in 1965 by Joe Long on bass guitar and bass vocals). Known off and on since 1967 as Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, this pop group was distinct from many similar groups of the early to mid-1960s in keeping its traditional Italian-American sound. By the mid 1960s they had become internationally famous and in 1990 the original members (1961–1965) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 1999 into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Rhino honours Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons here with a comprehensive box set featuring three CDs filled with 76 tracks of the band’s biggest hits along with album tracks, some great B-sides and a DVD featuring rare live performances. The accompanying 84-page booklet includes photos and track-by-track commentary by the likes of Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Barry Manilow, Quincy Jones, Cher, Neil Diamond, Fats Domino, Steven Van Zandt, Barry Gibb, Dion, Johnny Marr, Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman, Regis Philbin, Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban and Joe Pesci. The album title ‘Jersey Beat’ is a play on ‘Jersey Boys’, a highly successful Broadway musical about the Four Seasons, and the ‘Mersey Beat’ of the early Beatles music scene in Liverpool. These superbly remastered tracks sound as fresh as the day they were made and span the career of Frankie Valli & The 4 Seasons from 1962 to 1992. They are the authentic original versions, in stereo or mono as is appropriate, and the DVD shows the group at its peak (in particular the soaring, ethereal harmonies of Saturday’s Father and two 1971 TOTP recordings - Let’s Hang On and I’ve Got You Under My Skin). Essential listening.

GREAT BRITISH SKIFFLE           SMITH & CO SCCD 1147

Skiffle is a type of folk music with a jazz and blues influences, often using homemade or improvised instruments such as the washboard, tea chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, musical saw, and comb and paper, as well as more conventional instruments such as acoustic guitar and banjo. Skiffle first became popular in the early 1900s in the United States, starting in New Orleans, and by the 1920s and 1930s was being played in Louisville and Memphis but had mostly faded from view by the late 1950s, when the music was reborn in Britain. This was the British equivalent of rockabilly, a new form of music, loud and fast, with a direct communication between the band and the audience. Like rockabilly, British skiffle provided new opportunities for the more adventurous professional musicians. Lonnie Donegan, the father of British skiffle, had become a professional musician in 1953, and joined the Trad jazz band of Ken Colyer. Between sets, Donegan would entertain the crowd with folk and blues, backed by bass and washboard. Colyer termed it skiffle, and soon it was more popular than the jazz that was being played. When trombonist Chris Barber left to form his own band in 1954, he took Donegan with him, and featured him on the New Orleans Joys LP, recorded in July 1954. Thanks in large part to Donegan’s raucous cover versions of Rock Island Line and John Henry, the ten-inch LP sold an unprecedented 50,000 copies. Decca put out Rock Island Line as a single in 1956, when it spent an astonishing eight months in the Top 20 and Donegan went on to be one of the biggest stars of the 1950s, with 34 UK hits. While skiffle is often credited only as a simple forerunner to British rock and roll, a lot of the early skiffle was played by skilled trad jazz musicians. The Vipers Skiffle Group and Chas McDevitt & Nancy Whiskey were examples of this, and they feature on this second volume of British skiffle in Smith & Co’s excellent ‘Just about as good as it gets’ series. The double album includes 30 tracks, and as well as such greats as Lonnie Donegan, Johnny Duncan and Chas McDevitt, there are many cherishable rarities from largely forgotten groups of the period from 1952 to 1957. Other new releases from Smith & Co include Great Rockabilly, Vol. 2 (SCCD 1145)., Great British Rock ‘n’ Roll, Vol. 2 (SCCD 1146) and Acker Bilk (SCCD 1144).

THE RAVEONETTES - LUST LUST LUST         FIERCE PANDA NONG53CD

The Raveonettes are an award-winning Danish pop duo consisting of Sune Rose Wagner (guitar, instruments, vocals) and Sharin Foo (bass and vocals). Their stripped-down two-part vocal harmonies are partly inspired by The Everly Brothers and the songs combine the simplicity of 1950s and 60s rock with intense electric instrumentation, driving beats and often dark lyrical content similar to another of the band’s influences, The Velvet Underground. The Raveonettes have also been inspired by The Ronettes and Buddy Holly’s Rave On (hence the band’s name). ‘Lust Lust Lust’, their third album, finds them in reflective mood as they look both deep inside themselves and far outside their environment for inspiration, though the degree of sonic mischief remains undiminished. Highlights include a hypnotic opener, ‘Aly, Walk With Me’, which resembles a Velvet Underground reworking of the theme for A Fistful Of Dollars, the lovely ‘Hallucinations’, the pop-drenched heartache of ‘Sad Transmission’ and the excellent ‘Blush’. Legend has it that these twelve odes to sex, drugs and rock have been carved from a mountain of over a hundred songs, and the dynamic duo have moved on from the greasy rider sound of their earlier albums into a world of deadpan eulogies and troublegum-laced pop songs. This combination of retropop and lush noise finds its perfect, irresistible synthesis in ‘You Want The Candy’, which revisits 1988 by merging The Primitives’ ‘Crash’ with Jesus & Marychain-style malevolence. The songs on this intriguing album have an easy grace, but disturbing complexities often lurk beneath the surface of these sweet harmonies backed by dark, sleazy guitar work. ‘The Raveonettes are super-cool Scandinavian noise-rockers who’ve created their most engrossing album to date’ - NME.

TUNGG – GOOD ARROWS       FULL TIME HOBBY  FTH 040CD

Good Arrows is the third album from Tunng, the British experimental folk band often associated with the folktronica genre. The CD takes its title from a favourite phrase of co-founder Sam Gender’s brother and is the first album to be recorded with the full six-piece band - founder members Sam Genders and Mike Lindsay with Ashley Bates, Phil Winter, Becky Jacobs and Martin Smith. Taking influences from Icelandic prog rock, choral music and film soundtracks, Good Arrows marks a significant development for Tunng as they move beyond electronica influences to emphasise here organic sounds, melody and harmonies.  In effect, they have become a fully fledged and wonderfully experimental pop band. Recorded in the Play Industries studios in East London between January and May this year, the sessions found the band introducing new instruments – the hammer dulcimer, a steel-strung harp – alongside familiar elements like field recordings from their tape machine - the ‘beats’ in Arms are actually fire crackles recorded in Big Sur, California. But while Good Arrows retains the sense of experimentalism that is Tunng’s calling card, this is their most accessible album to date. Highlights include the inventive Bullets, Bricks, Soup (which begins as a Tubular Bells-style instrumental and morphs into a heavy metal freakout), the bewitching Secrets, the acoustic dreaminess of Hands, the magical Arms and the beautiful losing track, Cans. This is the best album yet by one of the most interesting bands around. ‘Unadulterated genius’ – NME.

THE ESSENTIAL TIM HARDIN, 1963-1980       RAVEN  RVCD-104

Tim Hardin was born in 1941 in Eugene, Oregon, USA, and spent an itinerant childhood moving around the country with his musician parents. He enlisted in the US Marines and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. After leaving the Marines, he moved to New York and started to develop his singing and songwriting, appearing regularly in Greenwich Village cafés and creating his unique blend of poetic folk/blues. His first recordings were made in 1964 but these were considerd a failure and were shelved for several years before being issued This Is Tim Hardin and Tim Hardin 4. Meanwhile, he met actress Susan Yardley Morss (‘Susan Moore’) and signed to the Verve Forecast label, producing his first authorised album, Tim Hardin 1, in 1966. This album saw a transformation from his early traditional blues style to the fragile, introspective, jazz-influenced style that he made his own. This debut album included Hang on to a Dream and Reason To Believe, later covered by Rod Stewart among many others. Tim Hardin 2, released the following year, featured such delicate songs as If I Were A Carpenter (a huge international hit for Bobby Darin and the Four Tops), The Lady Came from Baltimore, the beautiful How Can We Hang On To A Dream? and Tribute to Hank Williams. For a brief period in the mid-1960s, it could be argued that Tim Hardin was the greatest singer/songwriter in the world. Unfortunately his diffidence, together with a long-standing heroin addiction, meant that his career soon declined and Hardin died from an overdose in 1980. This excellent 27-track anthology from Raven features essential recordings from five labels over almost 20 years, making it the only disc to bring together the entire Hardin saga. Highly recommended.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – MAGIC       COLUMBIA 88697170602

American singer, songwriter and guitarist Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen’s a brand of heartland rock has earned him countless awards, including fifteen Grammies and an Oscar, along with a devoted international fan base. He has sold over 60 million albums in the USA alone, usually alternating between commercially accessible rock albums and more sombre folk-oriented collections. Magic, the new studio recording, is Springsteen’s first with the E Street Band since 2002’s Grammy Award-winning  album The Rising (another E Street Band album is rumoured for 2008). Produced by Brendan O’Brien, Magic features eleven new songs, plus a hidden track, ‘Terry’s Song’, a beautiful harmonica-driven tribute to Springsteen’s long-time assistant Terry Magovern who died in July 2007. Magic has already proved huge a success, debuting at number one. Highlights include the powerful Radio Nowhere, Gypsy Biker, the wistful Girls in Their Summer Clothes, Last to Die, the acoustic title track, Long Walk Home (with Clarence Clemons’s classic saxophone) and the haunting Devil’s Arcade. A new Bruce Springsteen album always raises high expectations and Magic doesn’t disappoint, being perhaps his best since Born in the USA. Fans of the Killers and Arcade Fire will find that The Boss did it first and still does it better.

THE BIG STIFF BOX SET          SALVO MUSIC SALVOBX402

Stiff Records was created in London by Jake Riviera and Dave Robinson in July 1976 and became the blueprint for the independent label of today. Robinson had briefly worked for Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s and also managed Brinsley Schwarz. Riviera, a.k.a. Andrew Jakeman, had been an early manager for Essex pub rock band, Dr. Feelgood. The Stiff Records label was started with a loan of £400 from Lee Brilleaux of Dr. Feelgood and the first release was by Nick Lowe (So It Goes). Stiff soon became known for its provocative, rebellious stance and eccentric though highly effective promotional campaigns. The label signed The Damned and a young singer-songwriter called D.P. Costello, who Riviera renamed Elvis. The first Top 20 single was Costello’s Watching The Detectives and in 1979 Stiff Records achieved its first No. 1 - Ian Dury’s Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick. This fine box set is the ultimate anthology, charting thirty years of one of the most daring and influential labels in UK pop history. The 98 tracks range from number one hits to rare curiosities and a 68 page full colour booklet is included in the package. Nick Lowe, Kirsty MacColl, The Damned, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, Lene Lovich, Madness, Tracey Ullman and The Pogues mingle with the likes of such wonderfully named acts as Wreckless Eric, Jane Aire & The Belvederes, Humphrey Ocean & The Hardy Annuals, Pointed Sticks, Department S and Eskimo Disco. Not to mention legendary music hall veteran Max Wall’s celebratory England’s Glory. Essential listening.

ARCADE FIRE – NEON BIBLE                 MERGE RECORDS MRG285

Arcade Fire’s phenomenally successful debut album, Funeral, was the musical sensation of 2004/5. Time Magazine put Arcade Fire on its cover, beneath the headline: ‘Canada's Most Intriguing Rock Band’ and as their reputation exploded they were extravagantly praised by such luminaries as David Byrne, Lou Reed and David Bowie. Such ecstatic attention might have been all too overwhelming, but Arcade Fire sensibly opted out of the usual hoopla and most members of the band declined to be interviewed. Instead, they spent most of 2006 in a church in a small town near Montreal, taking lots of time to record tracks for their second album (could they overcome that ‘difficult’ tag?). They didn’t know how long it would take, or what it would be called, or what songs would be on it, or what instruments they would use, but they were determined to produce it themselves, with the help of engineers Markus Dravs (Bjork, Brian Eno) and Scott Colburn. Frontman Win Butler is joined as usual by Régine Chassagne, Richard Reed Parry, William Butler (Win’s talismanic brother), Timothy Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld. Martin Wenk and Jacob Valenzuela (the horn players from Calexico) contribute winningly, as do Hadjii Bakara from Wolf Parade and Owen Pallett, who helped to orchestrate (as he did on Funeral). Pietro Amato and his horn playing associates add some brass and the band travelled to Budapest to record an orchestra and a military choir. By Christmas 2006, Neon Bible was ready and the highlights include a stormy opener, Black Mirror, the mantra-like Ocean of Noise, the triumphant Intervention, Black Waves Bad Vibrations (with Régine Chassagne to the for), the Springsteenesque Antichrist Television Blues, the angsty protest of Windowsill and a moody instant classic, My Body is a Cage, as the climax. Featuring  piano, slide guitar, violins and mandolin as well as a huge pipe organ, bass steel drums, various synths and a hurdy-gurdy, this is a darker and more intense album than Funeral. The wonderfully audacious and eclectic music requires close listening before you discover that ‘the best band in history’ have created another masterpiece.

THE ARCADE FIRE - FUNERAL         ROUGH TRADE RECORDS  RTRADCD219

The Arcade Fire hail from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The members of the band are husband and wife duo Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, with Richard Reed Parry, William Butler (Win’s brother), Timothy Kingsbury, Sarah Neufeld and Howard Bilerman, who played drums on Funeral, has since moved on. Others involved here include violinists Owen Pallett and Sophie Trudeau, cellist Michael Olsen and the harpist Anita Fust. Famous for their exhilarating live performances, The Arcade Fire use of a wide range of musical instruments, augmenting the basic guitar, drums and bass guitar setup with piano, violin, viola, cello, xylophone, keyboard, accordion and harp (band members often switch instruments between songs). Funeral, recorded in 2004, is their first full-length album, its title chosen because of the death of several family members during recording. These events created a sombre feeling on songs such as Une année sans lumière, In the Backseat and Haiti, Régine Chassagne’s reflections on the homeland her family were forced to leave. Four of the ten tracks are titled Neighborhood and tell stories of towns trapped in snowstorms, and the loss of relatives and friends. Every track has intelligence and originality, reflecting the band’s many musical influences. Rebellion (Lies) is irresistible and all the music transcends dark themes to produce sounds of beauty, romance and passion.

THE LONG BLONDES - SOMEONE TO DRIVE YOU HOME ROUGH TRADE RECORDS  RTRADCD364

There must be something in the Sheffield air that generates a musical vibe somewhere between popular tradition and quirky, left-field individuality. From the city that created the all-conquering Arctic Monkeys as well as highly successful art bands such as The Human League, Pulp and Cabaret Voltaire now come The Long Blondes, who have steadily built up a fan base since getting together three years ago. Long touted as ‘Britain’s Best Unsigned Band’, despite having to juggle day jobs with playing gigs, The Long Blondes have now signed with the esteemed Rough Trade label, home of Arcade Fire and the Libertines. Despite all the hype, their first recorded album does not disappoint. The striking Faye Dunaway-inspired cover contains a set of energetically escapist songs - witty, intelligent and sometimes disturbing, driven along by insistent guitar work and rhythmic drum crashes. The sultry voice of the band’s sardonic ‘style icon and protagonist-in-chief’ Kate Jackson blends perfectly with guitarist Dorian Cox (who writes most of the lyrics), bassist Reenie Hollis, keyboard-player Emma Chaplin and drummer Screech, to produce an idiosyncratic sound in which you can pick out such disparate influences as Jarvis Cocker, Nico, Blondie and Franz Ferdinand. ‘Someone To Drive You Home’ was produced by Pulp’s Steve Mackey and captures much of the band’s exhilarating live sound. Exhilarating and sexy, The Long Blondes represent all that is fresh and exciting about indie-pop, and this debut album could easily take them from underground favourites into the mainstream. ‘An unexpected delight’ - The Guardian.

JOHNNY BOY     JOHNNY BOY RECORDINGS  JB001

Formed in 2002, Johnny Boy take their name from the eponymous character in Martin Scorsese’s film Mean Streets. The duo’s single, ‘Johnny Boy Theme’, featured Harvey Keitel’s opening dialogue from the film and the acclaimed ‘You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve’ was produced by James Dean Bradfield (frontman of the Manic Street Preachers), who has also co-produced this debut album. Johnny Boy - a.k.a. Davo (guitars, loops, vocals) and Lolly (more guitars, loops, vocals) - describe their sound as ‘Church bells, boy-girl vocals, loops, twists, warps, walls of sound and edgy guitars combined to rekindle the idea of Sandista-era Clash having an, erm, shootout with Phil Spector’. It’s a joyous, heady mix of anti-materialism, well-written, catchy pop songs with strong melodies that are built up, twisted and contorted and pulled back straight, before another few rounds of morphing can begin - avant-garde and pop at the same time. The album includes ‘You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve’ with its glorious spiralling melody, drums stolen from the Ronettes’ ‘Be My Baby’, psychedelic backwards guitar, brass that recalls the theme tune to Rocky, massed vocal harmonies and firework sound effects. Other highlights include the pounding ‘Living In the City’, ‘War on Want’ and ‘Bonnie Parker's 115th Dream’ with its rapping and rousing chorus.  The album is a glorious celebration of popular music from the past 50 years, referencing everything from Motown and Spector to Northern Soul and the Kinks.

BILLY BURNETTE - MEMPHIS IN MANHATTAN       CHESKY JD299

Rockabilly is the earliest form of rock and roll - a fusion of blues, hillbilly boogie, bluegrass music and country music. The style has its origins lie in the American South and Bill Flagg was the first to name the music when he recorded for Tetra Records in the mid-1950s and recorded ‘Go Cat Go’. Elvis Presley’s 1954 Memphis sessions for Sam Phillips’ Sun Records were perhaps the first rockabilly recordings. The early records of such legends as Buddy Holly, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eddie Cochran, Ricky Nelson, Johnny Cash, Gene Vincent and Roy Orbison were also heavily indebted to rockabilly. Billy Burnette was born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1953. His father was Dorsey Burnette, part of the famous Rock'n Roll Trio which included himself, his brother Johnny Burnette, and Paul Burlison. Billy started in the music business at the age of 7, making his record debut as Billy Beau, and went on to master both the acoustic and rhythm guitars. He has also made a name for himself as a singer/songwriter, with songs recorded by, among others, The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison and Ray Charles. In 1986, he was nominated for Best New Male Vocalist by the Academy of Country Music but put his solo career on hold the following year to join Fleetwood Mac. He toured and recorded with the band for eight years and later played on an Australian tour with Bob Dylan (an admirer of Dorsey Burnette). Billy Burnette’s reputation continues to grow as he tours with Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty and makes wonderfully fresh albums such as Memphis in Manhattan. The songs here are some of the best around, including Bob Dylan's Everything Is Broken, a terrific version of Peter Green’s Oh Well, two Dorsey Burnette classics (It’s Late and Tear It Up) and three self-penned numbers, most notably the brilliant My Love Will Not Change. This wonderfully infectious music is immaculately performed and benefits hugely from Chesky's commendably sparkling ‘live’ recorded sound. Highly recommended.

SURF CITY - SURF SOUNDS SINCE 1960         DISKY CB 902531

Surfing, the sport of Hawaiian kings, arrived California at the turn of the 20th century. In 1959, the sport became popular after the movie Gidget and innovations in surfboard design, replacing heavy wooden boards with a lightweight polyurethane models that could be handled more easily. Surfing became a craze in Southern California and inspired two kinds of music, vocal and instrumental (the latter featuring throbbing compulsive tom-tom tattoos and twanging guitar riffs). Both strands of surf music are fully represented among the 60 tracks on this thoroughly enjoyable three-CD set. As well as well-known music by the likes of the Ventures, Jan & Dean, the Beach Boys, the Everly Brothers, Del Shannon and Eddie Cochran, there are obscure tracks by artists such as Ace Cannon, Preston Epps and the Honeys. Best of all are the wonderfully atmospheric instrumentals by Sandy Nelson (Teenbeat, Let There be Drums), Link Wray (Rumble) and the Ventures (Walk Don't Run). These irresistible sounds are perfect for in the car when driving to the beach, or just dreaming about it.

IT CAME FROM MEMPHIS       UNION SQUARE MUSIC MANTECA  MANTCD235

So far as recorded music is concerned, Memphis, Tennessee, can claim one of the most influential cities in the USA. Not only has it been home to Sun records, where Elvis Presley and rock 'n' roll first exploded into a wider world, but other great labels were based here too. These have included Hi (Al Green and Ann Peebles), Muscle Shoals in nearby Alabama (Percy Sledge and Etta James) and the magnificent Stax (Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Isaac hayes, Booker T). These two CDs, issued to coincide with a major celebration of Mephis music at the Barbican in London, features a wide range of recordings from the mid 1950s to the present. Elvis appears as part of the Million Dollar Quartet (with Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash) and there are outstanding tracks by, among many others, Booker T. and the MGs., Howlin’ Wolf (whose earliest Chess hits were recorded in Memphis), The Mar-Keys, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Isaac Hayes (a wonderful 18-minute version of By The Time I Get to Phoenix) and Al Green. Memphis has been a crucible in which blues, soul, gospel and country were shaped into unique and often revolutionary sounds. This diverse collection has clearly been lovingly assembled and the music sounds is fresh as ever. Essential listening for anyone interested in delving into some of the best popular music there has ever been. ‘Perfect in-car entertainment’ - Independent On Sunday.