Various Artists

Of course, the Beat boom was powered by bands in Liverpool, Manchester and London but what of Britain’s second city – Birmingham?

Well, post ’65 Birmingham really came to life and this 3CD set really paints the picture of what was happening between 1966 and 1974.

There is plenty here from bands who touched on the national charts – The Move, The Moody Blues, Judas Priest, Trapeze, Medicine Head, Chicken Shack, Wizzard, even the Electric light Orchestra (ELO) – but the really intriguing stuff is from the lesser-known bands and some of the material is absolutely brilliant, ranging from straight pop to some seriously ‘out there’ psychedelic and hard rock.

I was particularly excited by Jardine whose ‘Masochists Of Strangulation’ is deeply dark and disturbed as well as the bright pop of ‘Candy’ by Cinnamon Quill. The treats abound with numbers such as an extended version of ‘Security ‘ by The ‘N’ Betweens – very Stax meets The Who sounding – and ‘Deep Feeling’, early pop-psych by Chicken George who featured Jim Capaldi (Traffic) & Luther Grosvenor (Mott The Hoople). One of the real gems is by Slade – just out of their Ambrose Slade period but still post-skinhead boot boys – ‘One Way Hotel’, Noddy not yet in full scream mode but the band cooking.

It is surprising to find an album that contains 69 tracks by different bands and not a real duffer among them. It really is fascinating to listen through and then spend some time tracking down the various band featured here.

Intriguing and real fun, strongly recommended.