This is a fascinating and delightful CD, but it takes a little listening time and patience to get at why. For 14 years, from 1956 through 1970, England's Decca Records was one of the big two British record labels, in competition with giant conglomerate EMI (and smaller rival Pye Records bringing up the rear). This 25-song compilation celebrates the early years of the label's involvement in rock & roll from the May 1956 recording of "Downbound Train" by
Ken Colyer's Skiffle Group through such uniquely British phenomenons as
Screaming Lord Sutch (the best thing here) and
Wee Willie Harris to genuine stars like
Billy Fury and early-'60s also-rans like Russ Saintly and Danny Rivers to such lost figures as
Freddie Starr from the spring of 1963. There are about a dozen tracks that are going to surprise any American (and even a lot of Brits) who buy this disc, in terms of how hard they rock and how well the singers and the bands understand what they're doing. On the other hand, about half of what's here wouldn't rate alongside the American article, and the majority of U.S. listeners will find most of this material rather tame and predictable -- but the exceptions are worth the price of admission, once one gets to them. The compilers decided to make this disc representative of the label's output, rather than uniformly good, so there's some adenoidal teen pop next to the good stuff. The CD is entertaining and informative, and contains a revelation or two, but it's also funny to realize that within a few weeks of the latest recordings featured here, Decca Records signed
the Rolling Stones, followed in short order by the original (that is, R&B-era)
Moody Blues and
the Small Faces, all making sounds that would sweep this relatively innocent, freewheeling early era aside.