Search - Various Artists :: The British Are Coming, Vol. 2

Another "British Invasion" Winner from Sanctuary Records

Robert Huggins | Suburban Philadelphia, PA United States | 12/21/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Reminiscent of Rhino's excellent "British Invasion" series of the early 1990s (of which some discs are still available at Amazon), Sanctuary Records has done an admirable job in reviving interest in this great music era from the mid to late 1960s. Sanctuary's formula is pretty simple . . . about 50% of the tracks are bonafide hits, another 25% are much lesser known (but usually by artists that you may know), and the remaining 25% are obscurities that you are probably hearing for the first time. This time around, "You Said" by The Primitives is the rarity. Also, as was the case with Volume 1, both The Kinks and The Searchers are each represented by two tracks.Where Sanctuary departs from "the formula," at least this time around, is the inclusion of artists from other record companies, most notably EMI, which is represented here by Gerry & The Pacemakers and The Hollies. I hope Sanctuary will continue this trend as it will provide a more varied and, hopefully, longer series of "The British Are Coming" releases. Now, I don't expect The Beatles to show up on these compilations (outside of the Polydor recordings made with Tony Sheridan), but where in the world is The Dave Clark Five? A search of Amazon (circa December 2002) came up with NO CD releases for this excellent group. Here's a request from this listener to Sanctuary to include The Dave Clark Five on Volume 3.To sum up this second volume of "The British Are Coming," I LIKE IT (with apologies to Gerry & The Pacemakers)!"