Various Get Ready For The Countdown - Mod, Brit Soul, R&B (3-CD Box)

(Strawberry Records) 86 tracks

- 86-track box set featuring a bespoke, mod-friendly mix of 1960s musical styles, starting with hard-hitting British R&B from The Pretty Things and The Graham Bond Organization, through key tracks from mod heroes such as Small Faces, The Creation and The Action, freakbeat from The Syn, soul from Mike Wade and Jon And Jeannie, to a jazzy Hammond workout from The Spencer Davis Group.
A long-awaited follow-up to the earlier mod-inspired Strawberry label compilations 'Halcyon Days' (2020) and 'I Love To See You Strut' (2022), as well as the RPM collections 'Looking Back' (2011), 'Keep Looking' (2014) and 'Night Comes Down' (2017).
Well-known names such as Laurel Aitken and The Moody Blues are joined by cult favorites such as The Artwoods (with future Deep Purple organist Jon Lord) and John's Children.
Eight tracks are taken from producer Joe Meek's legendary Tea Chest Tapes, including a rarity from The Sorrows led by Don Fardon and previously unreleased recordings from mod groups The Riot Squad and The Birds Of Prey, R&B band The Classics and two groups whose identities are unknown.
Other titles released here for the first time include recordings by The Fingers, Dana Gillespie and the Jimmy Henderson Set as well as rarities by The Kirkbys, The Athenians, My Generation, Kevin 'King' Lear Mike Wade, Magic Lanterns and Karl Stuart & The Profiles, available for the first time on (official) CDs.