Groovy album that has a number of vocal tracks from the Hair soundtrack, plus other late 60s groovy pop titles – all performed by the obscure California Poppy Pickers (who we seem to remember being someone else, but we're not sure.) Titles include "Good Morning Starshine", "Narrow People", "Hair", "Sunshine Summer Days", "Clean Up Your Own Backyard", and "Oh Happy Day". LP, Vinyl record album

Len Barry's classic "1-2-3" is one of the alltime great pop crossover tracks of the 60s. It's issued here in an album with similar peppy poppy tracks like "Lip Sync", "You Baby", "Bullseye", "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", and "I.O.U." LP, Vinyl record album

Laura Branigan gets some help here on arrangements from Harold Faltermeyer – who makes things a bit funkier than you might expect – although still very much in the kind of poppy style he used famously on some big 80s soundtracks! The mode works well for Laura – whose approach is always on the soulful side of pop, but still filled here with all the sense of drama that made Branigan huge on the charts at the time. Titles include "Heart", "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "The Lucky One", "Self Control", and "Satisfaction". Titles include "The Lucky One (John Robie mix)", "The Lucky One (Jack White mix)", "Self Control (12" version)", and "Satisfaction (special dance mix)". LP, Vinyl record album

There's three Evas on the cover, three Evas in the name, and three Evas in the group – a trio of Italian singers whose voices work together in a playful blend of disco and pop! There's almost an Abba-like appeal to the music – really catchy tunes that are unabashedly poppy – upbeat rhythms that borrow plenty from disco, but aren't afraid to add in some other touches too – with some especially cool hints at the Italian cosmic club approach to come on a few more moogy moments! Titles include "Invasione", "Tennis Club", "Argentina", "Love Me Please Forever", "Do", "Vedrai", and an Italian cover of "Stayin Alive"! (Soul, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

One of the few rock albums on the BYG/Actuel label – and a nice one at that! The group's an early spinoff from the very first lineup of Procol Harum, but by the time this album was recorded the only thing the groups shared was drummer Bobby Harrison. The sound is stripped down blues rock with a touch of mild, poppy psychedelia – replete with plenty of guitar and organ. The sound is just raw enough to rock, but the tunes are more concise than jamming, though there's no shortage of riffery to wag your hair too, should that be your style. Includes "Time Of The Season", "Hoo Doo Man", "Enchanted Wood", "Fly", "Dusty Track", and "My Life". LP, Vinyl record album

An overlooked 60s pop gem from Margo Guryan – probably best known as the writer of the "Sunday Morning" hit for Spanky & Our Gang, but an equally great singer on her own! Margo's got a style that's towards the hipper side of girl pop in the late 60s – but one that's also free from singer/songwriter modes too – an approach that's never too serious, yet which often has a nice undercurrent of darkness in the mix. Production is somewhat poppy, but not in a commercial way – and we might well say that Guryan's work here has that same great balance of elements we love in the Mercury recordings by Spanky & Our Gang. John Hill produced, and also handled most of the arrangements – and many tunes here are Guryan originals, with titles that include "Sunday Morning", "Sun", "Love Songs", "Thoughts", "Take A Picture", "Think Of Rain", "Can You Tell", and "Someone I Know". CD features 3 bonus tracks – "Timothy Gone", "It's Alright Now", and "I Think A Lot About You". CD

Rare English language recordings from the sublime Francoise Hardy – music that's every bit as wonderful as her famous French recordings – and even more compelling to our Anglo-styled ears! The vocals are wonderful – sung with this sense of darkness that's almost got an echo of Nico at points, given the accent – set to backings that balance this darkness with a bit more light, but never in ways that are overly poppy – and which definitely continue that more sophisticated style that Hardy always brought to her music! There's less "yeh yeh" to the tracks than a few years before – and Francoise is definitely digging deeper music at this point in her career – sometimes with a breathy brilliance that's a bit like Jane Birkin too. Titles include "Bown Bown Bown", "Till The Morning Comes", "Loving You", "In The Sky", "Midnight Blues", "Magic Horse", "Song Of Winter", "Strange Shadows", "Ocean", "The Garden Of Jane Delawney", "Sometimes", "Let My Name Be Sorrow", "Times Passing By", "I Just Want To Be Alone", and "Suzanne". (French, Rock) CD

Pure pop magic from the lovely Mina – a very weird little record in which she takes on a host of mid-period tracks by The Beatles! The sound is as offbeat as the cover's take on Revolver – kind of a cross between late 60s Beatles, and early 70s Italian – trippy at points, but kind of sweetly poppy at others. And we can't tell for sure from the notes, but the album appears as if it might collect tunes from a number of different periods – although it comes across with a very unified feel overall. Titles include "Let It Be", "Fool On The Hill", "She's Leaving Home", and "Hey Jude" – plus versions of "My Love" and "Oh Darling". (Vocalists, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

One of Terry Riley's most enduring works, and a haunting record that contains two extended modal minimal jams – "Rainbow In Curved Air" and "Poppy Nogood & The Phantom Band". "Rainbow" features Terry interweaving cool keyboard lines on organ, electric harpsichord, and the amazingly cool "rocksichord" – which is almost a guitar-like keyboard! "Poppy Nogood" has a similar groove on organ and soprano saxophone. Both tracks are prime material by Riley, and they have a sound that's influenced countless artists in the current electronica generation – but which never sounded better than here, on the original recordings! (Out Sound, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

The first album by this funky fusion quartet – done in a mix of vocal styles that has a nice crossover appeal! The group features work by Hiram Bullock on guitars, Clifford Carter on keyboards, Steve Jordan on drums, and Will Lee on bass – and vocals are handled mostly by Bullock and Carter, in a compressed studio mode that fits in nicely with the electric grooves of the set. Tunes are catchy and somewhat poppy – but the record also features a decent amount of jazz playing as well – and the group's more of a "fusion with vocals" outfit than the other way around. Titles include "Quack", "Turn Your Heart To Stone", "Pleasure Before Business", "Shoppin Round Again", "Full Time Love", and "Down To The Waterfall". (Jazz, Rock) LP, Vinyl record album

A great one from X-Ray Spex – one of the strongest of the first generation punks of the 70s – a group fronted by the amazing Poly Styrene, and blessed with some incredibly catchy tunes! There's a poppy playfulness to most of these tracks, underneath the fierce, full-on energy of the group – a rhythmic approach to punk rock that's almost a precursor to the Bow Wow Wow sound, but more decidedly punk at its heart. Tracks include "Oh Bondage Up Yours", "I Am A Cliche", "Highly Inflammable", "Let's Submerge", "I Am A Poseur", "Genetic Engineering", "Warrior In Woolworths", "Obsessed With You", "Artificial", and "The Day The World Turned Dayglo". LP, Vinyl record album

A great one from X-Ray Spex – one of the strongest of the first generation punks of the 70s – a group fronted by the amazing Poly Styrene, and blessed with some incredibly catchy tunes! There's a poppy playfulness to most of these tracks, underneath the fierce, full-on energy of the group – a rhythmic approach to punk rock that's almost a precursor to the Bow Wow Wow sound, but more decidedly punk at its heart. Tracks include "Oh Bondage Up Yours", "I Am A Cliche", "Highly Inflammable", "Let's Submerge", "I Am A Poseur", "Genetic Engineering", "Warrior In Woolworths", "Obsessed With You", "Artificial", and "The Day The World Turned Dayglo". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most dramatically poppy albums from Yello – a set that takes their older electric groove and infuses it with a bit more theatrics and dancefloor-styled rhythms! Flag's really the record that probably sums up the mainstream vision of Yello the best – that image of mustachioed Europeans acting goofy in cleverly cartoony music videos, while referencing an imagined nostalgia in definite 80s trappings, and avoiding any real direct attempt at songwriting. Yet amidst the showiness and oddball characters, the core Yello sound is still at the bottom of the mix – lost a bit, to be sure, but still more compelling and longer-lasting than much other electric pop spawned by their generation. Titles include "Tied Up In Red", "Blazing Saddles", "The Race", "Otto Di Cantania", "Tied Up", and "3rd Of June". LP, Vinyl record album

Includes 12 tracks by Edison Lighthouse, The Tee Set, Norman Greenbaum, Marmalade, Bobbi Martin, George Baker Selection, The Poppy Family and more! CD

Dig 80s electro pop? You'll find plenty to love here – as the set's a killer collection of tracks from a time when the UK scene was really exploding with new ideas and fresh music! The "radio" in the title is a reference to the fact that once-underground electronic acts were starting to get wider fame – tightening up their sound a bit, yet still sounding pretty darn great – never too poppy or overproduced, and with a quality that's pretty wonderful all these many years later! Most groups here are from the UK, but there's a few other European acts too – and the set moves between warmer coldwave to catchy electro tunes – in a selection of 56 titles, by artists who include Fad Gadget, Colourbox, Japan, Heaven 17, Thomas Leer, Communication, The Passage, Talk Talk, Thomas Dolby, Fiat Lux, New Order, Yello, Soft Cell', 'Blancmange, Poeme Electronique, OMD, Ultravox, Section 25, Endgames, Moebius, Zoo Boutique, Human League, Thick Pigeon, and many others! CD

More of a sound collage than a regular compilation – with is an excellent testament to the creativity of Trevor Horn's ZTT label at this early stage! Features material from Andrew Poppy, Art Of Noise, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Propaganda, Anne Pigalle, and Instinct. LP, Vinyl record album