Live bootleg from Aston Villa (1994). Features Phil Daniels on Parklife and was recorded straight from the desk, so it sounds great. Can't hang on to the past forever, but sometimes it may not be a bad idea.

Neil Khanna:

A sizzlin' steamin' helpin' of mid-60s American garage-punk rave-up stormers sure to put me in "a mood".

Once I've gotten in that mood, I need to get out of it. I've found this to be a nice relaxing little record.

Do it to me, Irma! Much like the other Queen of Soul, Irma Thomas learned how to sing in church. Thank God she forsake that to sing the devil's music.

Brian Jones was cool. Under my Thumb is cool.

Eric Clapton, Stevie Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Ringo in addition to Wolf's already impressive backing band. You can feel the idol-worship present in the studio.

I like this rekkid. It's good. It's about this guy from England or somewhere that's like getting old or something and his kids are like moving to Austria or Australia or some junk. Neat.

Yeah, it's popular. Yeah, it's got a bunch of electronic noises. Yeah, all the critics love it. Yeah, so do I.

Explosion, indeed! Billy Childish, in one of his infinite incarnations, rocks the lid off the cookin' pot. I'm talkin' 'bout Billy B. Childish!

Mid-60's Greek pop music score to a Greek movie. Not very mod? Well, it's got a Lambretta on the cover!

I've been playing this a lot at work lately, pissing off all my tasteless co-workers in the process. But seriousl, folks. What am I supposed to listen to? Rush?

Greg Langel:

A driving beat, great dynamics, and snotty vocal delivery by French sixties hero Antoine and his amazing Problèmes have made this one of my favorites for about the past year or so. The icing on this delicious piece of cake includes an incredibly effective single piano note at the beginning and down-the-neck guitar effects à la The Smoke throughout the cut (not to mention Antoine's scream one-third of the way through the song and a cool guitar break). Pick up the compilation "Exploiting Plastic Inevitable no. 2" and dig this French delicacy.

From 1966, also recorded by Michigan garagesters The Underdogs (also on the VIP label) - both versions of this tune are superb, but the overall effect created by genius production pushes Chris Clark's version over the top! Good sense of dynamics in the production, great, gutsy and loud bass line, minimalistic horns that blare and fade, tasteful organ & guitar playing and incredible drums and LOUD handclaps - all this hits the listener in a huge and reverb-saturated groovin' wall-of-sound.

The B-side of "I'll Go Crazy", their 1966 USA Records single. This one's a Kinks-style raver in which GUITAR and ORGAN lead the assault. These sharp-dressing Chicago lads' early live repertoire included more than a few numbers like this one, believe it or not! The Bucks also recorded a couple of other tough-sounding ones before their sound and direction were changed by producers and managers (including a hot cover of "I'm A Man"). Unfortunately, they didn't even manage to play good versions of their hits when I saw them a couple of years ago in Las Vegas...not that I expected them to or anything...

This 1966 effort has everything I like in a record - there's powerful yet simple drumming and well-produced layers of fuzz guitar with a manic lead line weaving in and out throughout the last quarter of the tune, the lyrics and singing are bold - there's even a cool tambourine in the mix. There's more dynamic action on this one, as well, in the form of a cool break with just drums, then the fuzz-stun guitar line bursting in. Fabulous song but the single's rare -- it's available in compilation form on Diggin' For Gold Vol. 4.

This one has to be heard to be believed. Another work of genius created by one of the many hip East L.A. mid-sixties teen outfits whose music effectively combined elements of soul, rock and roll, and R&B to form a unique and very danceable sound - the East Side Sound. Bands from this scene (such as the Premiers and Cannibal and the Headhunters) shouldn't be dismissed or neglected, as they are well worth checking out.

This group's NOT the '80's creeps with a similar moniker who did that awful "Belly of the Whale" song (The Burning Sensations). I know nothing about this group, but I suspect this record was the result of a calculated effort of studio musicians to create a soul dance craze of sorts with The Whatchamacallit: "It looks like like the Boogaloo (YEAH!), It looks like the African Twist (YEAH!), It looks like the Shing-A-Ling (YEAH!), It looks like all of thi-is! (YEAH!)". The singer's doing his best Smokey Robinson and there's cool backing vocals and "audience participation" to boot - a bit silly but appealing. If more people find this dancefloor-friendly 7" (ABC Records 11178 - mine's a white label promo copy), then 1998 might be the year the Whatchamacallit finally takes off. The flipside of this single's a cool instrumental with harmonica called "The New World".

Ed Lowe:

I'm not normally one for CDs, but the value for money on this collection (3CDs for 15 pounds) was too good to miss, esp. as it includes tracks from Frank Beverly, Martha Reeves, Edwin Starr and the Flirtations that I hadn't heard before.

It's an oldie, but I finally picked up a copy on vinyl that I can DJ with. So not only have I been giving it a new listen myself but many of our audience of teens to twenties have heard it for the first time.

Because I've been in a Motown mood!

Bill Luther:

An amazing tale of illicit romance inspired by a real life incident/affair between band members Denny Doherty and Michelle Phillips. Cheeky eh? The swirling string section arrangement and harmonies are impeccable. A true pop classic.

Veteran Brit rocker Ronald Wyncherly tackles a David Bowie composition head on in a barrage of horns,strings and full blown production that blows Bowie's original (recorded a year earlier on his untitled 1967 debut lp)out of the water. One a Billy's handful of excellent attempts at the then contemporary 'pop-psych" angle.

Teenagers from Mitcham,Surrey who all but defined the phrase "freakbeat" with their feedback driven power chords, crashing drums and high falsetto vocals. The lyrics are pure tongue and cheek ("I don't tell lies too often yeah I don't drink gin with tea,I'm always home by half past two so baby don't pity me").

The Manfred's first stab at social commentary tackling issues like racism ("the fascists horrify you it's a sin and a shame, discrimination,integration what's in a name?"), social ills ("you cry about the teenagers for breaking your rules but it don't occur to you you never built enough schools") and subculture violence ("You talk of mods and rockers and of street corner fights") served up with some tasty fuzz tone guitar and boogie woogie ivory tinkling.

Amazing crisp production by Ron Richards with phlange on the opening piano chords and Alan Clarke's crisp as a winter's day vocals (not to mention Bobby Elliot's tasteful jazz drumming). The lyrics are neat too...

The theme from one of the coolest movies of alltime. A truly magnificently moody score with Doors-like electric piano noodling, atmospheric tabla and plodding bass/bass piano keys building it up as it goes along.

An unreleased number from an Immediate records session in '67 where Rod The Mod shares a duet with the lovely and talented P.P Arnold. I can't figure out why Immediate chose to issue the mundane "Little Misunderstood" as a single and left this soulful stormer in the bucket!

This was the B-side of The Eyes of Blue's second and last Deram 45 ("Supermarket Full Of Cans") before they traded blue eyed soul pop perfection for progressive rock lethargy. Nice touches with vibes, organ and slightly jazzy guitar, not to mention a strong vocal delivery!

An impressive note for note cover of the Prince Buster classic from Georgie's innovative "Blue Beat" E.P from 1964 where he tackles four ska numbers with authenticity.

A classic soulful stirring by a young lady from Australia who's brief note of notoriety/fame was touring with ill fated The Monkees/Jimi Hendrix American tour. The strings and arrangement make it a purely satisfying dancefloor classic with a distinctly Northern soul appeal.

Richard K:

His debut single, recorded at the age of 14.

Top Northern sound!

Cool version, slower than Jay & the Techniques.

The Malpaso mix by Fatboy Slim is the one to look for. 7 and a half minute of coolness.

Groovy d'n'b-ish track with a Small Faces sample.

A gritty soul 45. Uptempo.

Mellow sounds from a very interesting band. There's a remix 12" out there, with mixes by Photek and Alex Reece... The sound of now!

A modern "Green onions" one might say. Miss this at your own risk

The title reminds me of what many mods seem to want to do... Sad, innit?

Competes with Beach Boys "God only knows" for the title "most beautiful song ever recorded".

Additional comments: These are my picks, some you might like, some not. I don't really care, but you might be glad you checked these out.... There's nothing wrong with knowing what's going on. And Tyrone Davis beats Merton Parkas anytime!

Susie:

Brian Poust:

The rest of the soundtrack is definitely meant to be incindental music, but the theme is quite strong on it's own. The orchestration is rather haunting with the Eastern European themes, which scream of the bitter Cold War. And the movie's great, too, especially if you're a Michael Caine fan.

One of this Dutch band's "hits", and those of you who are fans of the Loons may already recognize this song as the one that came in the picture sleeve Mike Stax & Co. took artistic liscence with for their "16 Story Reflections" 45. Anyway, this is a great example of Dutch beat at it's best. I hear the Q 65 are in the midst of a reunion tour....

I decided to include this on my list this month despite the fact that Grandpa Weller name dropped it on his "Having It Large!" tape in Mojo magazine. The reason is that it really is an absolutely brilliant pop song with shimmering vocals and a crystal clear guitar sound. It also doesn't hurt that I was able to replace a somewhat mashed copy of the 45 for a much much better sounding one.

DynoVoice was known for mostly dull pop music, along with the shining exceptions like The Toys and otherwise forgoten "here today gone tomorrow" talents like the Chicago Loop and Distant Cousins (see below). Here, the unknown band The Chicago Loop deliver the goods in the form of a crazy, near gospel styled floor shaker with enough fuzz and pop hooks to get any Go Go dancer dizzy! I wish I knew more about this group. A Bob Crewe Production.

From the Production mastermind of Bob Crewe (see: Barbarella soundtrack) comes this lushly textured upbeat pop song. The reverb false ending is completely unexpected and can stop you dead in your tracks from whatever you are doing when you first hear it. A nice little dancer, too. The flip side is a decent little Beatle-esque ballad circa "Rubber Soul" in sound.

I've found absolutely nothing out about this group, but this is a great upbeat bluesy number complete with mouth harp and whistling. To the best of my memory, this is the only blues/garage 45 I have with whistling. If anyone knows any more about this group, feel free to email me!

By far, this is the best version of an otherwise dull standard I've ever heard. Billy Stewart makes "Summertime" well suitable for the dance floor, as only a great soul vocalist could.

Astute readers will remember the Loved Ones faithful version of this blues classic from their first CD "The Price For Love". This memory jog brought to you only to make you smile when you re-discover the original.

This is the flipside to her "First Cut Is the Deepest" 45, and of my 3 PP Arnold 45's, my fave track by her yet. Her voice is truly amazing. My one complaint is that the string break in the middle of the song nearly drowns out her voice. I'm very excited to hear her new album when/if she completes it.

You guessed it, from the mighty pens of Marriott/Lane. Farlowe's husky voice actually works well with this song, unlike certain Rolling Stones covers that will remain un-named. I'm sure the fact that he recorded for Immediate certainly didn't hurt his pursuit of a Small Faces cover, but then again, Jagger/Richards produced the LP.... Go figure. Anyway, not a bad cover at all.