Customer Reviews

The British Invasion: The History of British Rock: Vol. 5

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There's little point in telling you if "The British Invasion (The History of British Rock)" is "good" or "bad." That would be pretty silly: you're quite capable of reading the track list for yourself, and making that determination. What you will find with each of these discs is exceptional audio quality, superb packaging and documentation, and an historical musical surprise.

Similar compilations are available in grocery and drug stores, and also from TV ads for five or six bucks each. As usual, one gets what one pays for, and these "budget" discs are usually unrecognizable "B" sides: the sound quality is atrocious. On the other hand, the audio quality of the Rhino compilations is stunning. Remastered by Bill Inglot and Ken Perry, it is difficult to believe that these recordings are more than thirty-years old. Rhino does a remarkable job of combing recording libraries for first-rate master tapes, then engineering these recordings to CD. I have yet to be disappointed with a Rhino "oldies but goodies" release. The sonics are immaculate - like hearing some of your favorites for the first time.

Also, each disc is packaged in a jewel case with a complete and interesting history of the songs presented: information included is the artist, composer and release date.

The surprise of "The British Invasion" is that several tracks from each disc did not, repeat did not "invade" America. Some songs "charted" in the UK, but failed to make the Top-100 in America. For collectors of British popular music, it is fascinating to note the difference between British and American tastes. The "odd" tracks may not have entered Billboard's Top-100, but there not "throwaway" either. Dazzling sound quality, insightful documentation, and a few "rarities." In my book, that ain't too shabby.

Actually this whole series is awesome. Looking at Vol. 5 in particular, though, I'm seeing 4 U.S. #1 hits, by the Tornados, Pet Clark, the Mindbenders, and Donovan. Pretty diverse. Rhino circumvents Capitol's oppressive licensing restrictions to bring us 2 hard-to-find, early Beatles singles recorded for other labels. (The other reviewers are right, however. Using Ringo's pic is misleading since he wasn't in the group then.) There are goodies by the three grand dames of British rock--Pet, Dusty Springfield (get her solo albums too), and Lulu. For pure rock classicism, if there is such a thing, there are 2 (count 'em) by Them. That's Van Morrison to most of us (but the drummer on "Gloria," likely Patrick McAuley, deserves equal credit). And the Moody Blues, before they went all symphonic, with "Go Now!", which they left off their first twelve greatest hits albums. You know you need "It's Not Unusual", kitsch of the highest order and I think the only Tom Jones hit on this whole series. One of the long-term pleasures of this series is the one- and two-hit wonders like Georgie Fame, the Bachelors, and the Big Three. In all seriousness, these make the series invaluable. True pop music fans should be buying the Beatles, Stones, and Who albums separately anyway; those groups' absences leave room for the lost classics that Rhino specializes in preserving on discs like this one. This mix of melodic rock and pop and, umm, Chad and Jeremy needs to be owned by everyone.

In 1988, Rhino released four volumes of the British Invasion. These were great (even w.o. the Beatles, Stones, DC5 and early Animals), and probably led to this expansion to 9 volumes. Actually, Volume 5 is the weakest of the lot, and IS all over the map. But it does compile some great sides, and there ARE unfamiliar/undiscovered jems: "Shout" by Lulu, "Before and After" by Chad & Jeremy, "I Think Of You" by the Merseybeats, "Everything's Allright" by the Mojosm and "Yeh,Yeh" by Georgie Fame. If you're really interesteed in 60s British pop, you'll want to hear these, and I guarantee you'll have a hard time finding these elsewhere.

I highly reccomend the first four volumes of this series; I would give each of them 5 stars. Get those first. But if you're really into British pop, you'll want this, despite the inclusion of a dud like My Bonnie by Tony Sheridan (with "those guys"). Have to believe that this was a sin committed to have the Beatles included in the series. Greedy Capital wasn't going to let Rhino lease any of THEIR material. Also, the next four volumes improve on this one.

This is the fifth volume in Rhino Records series of CDs devoted to the British Invasion. They finally manage to include the Beatles, although Capitol Records doesn't license Beatles tracks for compilation albums, by including two early pre-Capitol recordings. Most of the other songs are from the height of the British Invasion (1964-65), although they do include "Telstar" by the Tornados from way back in 1962, which was the first #1 US hit by a British rock band. The rest of the album is a nice mix of hits and obscurities. A very well put together compilation, althought I personally didn't care for the songs by the Bachelors or the Merseybeats.

As indicated in my reviews of Volumes 1 and 2, the Rhino/Capitol/EMI collaboration was an ambitious one in those early days of CDs, and if you can get your hands on all nine volumes you will have most of the major impact selections by artists in those heady days of the British Invasion.

However, in this fifth installation they continue their habit of including selections by artists who were certainly NOT among the prominent ones to take part in the so-called invasion. Only displaced Brits will have heard of The Big Three [track 4], The Mojos [track 7], The Pretty Things [track 11], and The Merseybeats [track 16]. Also, while it's nice to hear Van Morrison in his Them incarnation on Gloria, why include the B-side [track 10] instead of, say, Here Comes The Night?

On the other hand, it's great to get two early Beatles' cuts like Ain't She Sweet [recorded in 1961 and released in 1964 in North America by Atco - # 19] and My Bonnie which, with Tony Sheridan, was recorded in 1962 and released here by MGM in 1964 [# 26], along with hard-to-find selections such as Shout by Lulu & The Luvers [# 94 in 1964 before she embarked upon a solo career], You've Got Your Troubles by The Fortunes [# 7 in 1965], and Georgie Fame's Yeh Yeh [# 21 in 1965].

Ten pages of liner notes by John Mendelssohn are interspersed with small b&w photos of The Beatles, Fame, Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, Petula Clark, The Bachelors, The Moody Blues, The Merseybeats [at least we get to know what they LOOKED like], and Donovan.

As with the other volumes the AAD sound reproduction ranges from adequate to excellent.

The British Invasion/ The History of British Rock/ Volume 5 : Rhino did a superb job in the creation of this series of CDs. Sure, the Beatles and the Stones are who you think of when the British Invasion is mentioned, but this series concentrates on the OTHER great groups of the time. Yet volume Five even has two very early recordings by (or with) The Beatles! Here you get a Ton of hits (and a few forgotten artists) in an extremely entertaining collection. Volume Five covers 20 more songs from 1964 and 1965. When is the last time you heard "Baby please don't go" by Them, or "I only want to be with you" by Dusty Springfield? Highly Recommended.

I bought all five of these cds' at one go (VOL.5-9) and liked them overall but was still a little disappointed. There are some absolutely great songs on every cd but they don't hang well together if you try to listen to a cd straight through. A lot of this music has nothing more in common than country of origin and era; they've mixed up too many styles and would have done better if they had made each cd reflect a different style of British rock/pop. Putting Dusty Springfield after Them for example is really jarring on the ears. Also, be aware that this is definitely a history of British rock/pop and not a history of British invasion music in the States. Chances are if you don't recognise a song on these cds it's because it was never a hit or even released in the U.S. and there was a good reason for that...they are really crap songs! Most of the good stuff was a hit in the U.S. There are enough good songs on most of these cds to make them worth buying but only if you know and recognise them...don't expect to come across any unfamiliar gems because they just ain't there.

This compilation features a five star Beatle track called A'int She Sweet, with Pete Best on drums. What in the heck Ringo Starr is doing on the album cover is anybody's guess. I thought that the people at Rhino records were supposed to be acurate rock historians. The rest of the album is filler. I recommend The Beatles Anthology One instead.