From a basement in New Jersey, Tommy Falcone remade himself into a DIY Phil Spector. From 1962 to 1970, he founded and ran Cleopatra Records, discovered and mentored young Garden State talent, wrote songs and produced wild studio effects, and quit his day job to promote it all himself. Trained as an accordionist, Falcone had a whirlwind imagination and an omnivorous approach to genre, expressed through acts like the Centuries, the Tabbys, Johnny Silvio, the Inmates, Bernadette Carroll, the Hallmarks, Vickie & the Van Dykes, the Shandillons, Eugene Viscione, the Shoestring, and more. Cleopatra became a time-capsule of every 1960s pop style imaginable—garage rock, psychedelia, surf, girl groups, soul, novelties, exotica, even a crooner—a kaleidoscope of sound in search of the ever-elusive hit record.

The Fireballs moved on from the successes of "Torquay" and "Vaquero" for Top Rank and cut this gem of an album for Warwick in 1961. The leadoff single was "Rik-A-Tik," which they had already cut for Top Rank, followed by "Quite a Party," another Top 30 hit for the band. The resulting album was another collection of crisply played instrumentals, most with a Spanish theme, all expertly produced by Norman Petty. Another one to add to your Fireballs collection, and superior to many of their later Dot albums.

The Shadows (originally known as The Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, and were Cliff Richard's backing band from 1958 to 1968, having also collaborated again on numerous reunion tours. The Shadows have placed 69 UK charted singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 credited to the Shadows and 34 to Cliff Richard and the Shadows. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars…

Born in Texas, Orbison began singing in a rockabilly and country-and-western band in high school. He was signed by Sam Phillips, of Sun Records, in 1956, but his greatest success came with Monument Records. Soon afterward, Orbison was struck by a number of personal tragedies while his record sales declined. In the 1980s, he experienced a resurgence in popularity through the success of several cover versions of his songs, and in 1988, co-founded the Traveling Wilburys, a rock supergroup with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. He died of a heart attack later that year, at the age of 52. One month later, his song "You Got It" (1989), co-written with Lynne and Petty, was released as a solo single and became his first to break the U.S. Top 10 in twenty-five years.

Nineteen eighty-seven's Good Morning, Vietnam was a turning point for Robin Williams, garnering the comic his first Academy Award nomination and leveraging him into the first rank of American film stars. As directed by Barry Levinson, Williams imbues the "true life" story of Armed Forces Radio rebel Adrian Cronauer with his patented machine-gun comic banter, undercut by dollops of now equally familiar tragi-comic bathos. But contrary to the tired hit parade we've come to expect from period soundtracks, the '60s music Williams's character spins here is often a refreshing surprise, drawing from trashy garage-band chic ("Liar Liar" by the Castaways), underexposed British Invasion hits (the Searchers' "Sugar and Spice," "Game of Love" by Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders), and relatively obscure American chart hits ("Five O'Clock World" by the Vogues, the Rivieras' "Warm California Sun"), all of it gratuitously punctuated by Williams's manic DJ rantings. The inspired revival of Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" also became one of the 1980s' most unlikely hits.

This 100 Hits-Best Rock ' n 'Roll 5CD release contains the best Rock' n ' Roll Songs from the 1950s and 60s with artists like Buddy Holly, Bill Haley And His Comets, Bobby Vee, Chuck Berry, Brenda Lee, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps, the Marvelettes, Dion & the Belmonts and many others.

Although marketed as a surf band, Minnesota's Trashmen were decidedly landlocked by geography, but not by spirit. The group's odd mix of surf, R&B, sneering garage pop, and psychotic instrumentals made them one of the most eccentric and interesting of the groups that sprang up around the surf craze of the early '60s. This delightful collection of rare live tracks shows the kind of offhand, humorous dementia that they channeled into their shows, climaxing in a near six-minute version of their wacky masterpiece, the manic "Surfin' Bird."

Compilation drawing principally from their Aertaun 45s and Josie LP, with the addition of three previously unissued cuts (including two Link Wray covers), a number ("Charge of the Tornadoes") previously available only on a Sundazed release, and a 25-minute interview with the group, conducted in the 1990s. The Tornadoes were an above-average, though not upper-echelon, Californian surf band, notable for writing much of their material and possessing one of the better early surf guitarists in Roly Sanders. The vocals are kept to a minimum, which is a good thing. The interview is pretty interesting, including a couple unexpected stories about how a young Frank Zappa helped out on some of their vintage recordings.

This album combines the brilliant original vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys’ classics with brand new symphonic arrangements performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, creating a unique and special experience of these 17 iconic songs.

32 Tracks. The Ventures, The Shadows, John Barry Seven, The Fentones, The Dakotas, Sandy Nelson, The Cannons, The Cougars, Norrie Paramor, The Packabeats, The Piltdown Men, B. Bumble & The Stingers, The Nu-Notes, Johnny Dankworth & His Orchestra, The Federals and many more.

Quirky in the extreme, 'Make Mine Mondo!' does what it says on the tin and then some. Culled from the vaults of the eccentric Dor label, fuzzed-out garage bands, wayward rockabillies and mental instrumentalists cook up a mele of mondo mayhem in long-ago Los Angeles. Comprising 11 extremely rare and sought after garage band singles (nine previously uncompiled and new to CD); eight previously uncompiled instrumentals (also new to CD) and several unreleased rock'n'roll/R&B numbers, all remastered for legitimate first-time release, 'Make Mine Mondo!' screams for attention in the busy collectors' market.

Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited have returned with their sixth Dionysus album, "Spooky Sound Sessions," a collection of 14 brand new songs recorded entirely at the legendary Spooky Sound Record Store in Zurich, Switzerland. The elusive duo consisting of Ernest Maeschi and Karen Simpson have once more worked their magic and created a series of instrumentals which will take you onto a journey into The Great Unknown. Guitars, organs, sitars, Indian banjos, Moogs, bongos, and sounds of obscure electronic equipment exclusively available to the Spooky Sound Lab have been woven into the unique Sound experience that is Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited.

Why Do Fools Fall in Love features 3CDs of Teenage Classics of the Fifties & Sixties. Timeless tracks including: The Diamonds – Why Do Fools Fall In Love / Bobby Vee – Take Good Care Of My Baby / Fats Domino – Ain’t That A Shame / Frankie Vaughan – Tower Of Strength / The Four Aces – Mr Sandman / Dinah Washington – What A Difference A Day Makes / Peggy Lee – Fever + many more..

This 32 track CD album explores the more up-tempo recordings of Hollywood based label Crest Records, which was owned by Sylvester Cross. The label issued an incredible array of music from an equally amazing variety of artists, and this CD focuses mainly on the white artists which left their musical legacy on the Crest label. As was often the case of small independent labels very few national hits emerged, however some artists became famous worldwide; Glen Campbell, and Eddie Cochran, instantly come to mind, and we include Eddies first solo release Skinny Jim. Premature mortality was high among the early rockers and Tommy Dee gained recognition through his tribute recording of Three Stars (not included).

Seattle is where La Luz call home and Floating Features is the album they call theirs. This was released by Hardly Art on 11 May, 2018.