The Montanas look like a bunch of groovy 60s cats on the cover – and while they definitely had some great hits during the British Invasion years, they also kept on cutting some very cool material well into the 70s – all of which is included in this overstuffed set! The work begins where you might imagine – tuneful British rock, with great harmonies and catchy hooks – but as the 60s slide into the 70s, the group changes their lineup, and really start taking on some great new material – the tracks here that really make the collection great! Things are still pretty catchy in the 70s, but the pop modes have shifted a lot – bringing influences from psych and other new styles, and opening up a new sort of production style too – maybe a hint at the more compressed modes that UK acts would use in the 7ts generation. If you only ever thought of The Montanas as a group with a few oldies hits, you'll really be surprised here as you make your way through the 42 track selection of cuts that includes "Doctor Nero", "Difference Of Opinion", "Teardrops", "You Got Me Wrong Girl", "Miss Mackenzie", "Sammy", "Mystery", "No Smoke Without Fire", "Henry Ford", "Suzanne", "Love Machine", "Seaport", "Goodbye Little Girl", "Ciao Baby", "You've Got To Be Loved", "I Need To Fly", "Round About", and two versions of "One Thing Or Another" – plus a cover of the Grateful Dead classic "Uncle John's Band". CD

Music from Mark Wynter, Leonard Whiting, Tony Rich, The Searchers, The Montanas, Davy Jones, The Chants, The Chariots, Emile Ford & The Checkmates, The Kestrels, Johnny Wade, David Garrick, Paddy Klaus & Gibson, The Wackers, Mike Felix, Mal Ryder & The Spirits, Michael Aldred, The Bystanders, Chris Andrews, Jacky Lynton, Paul Conway Kenny Roberts, Mark London, and Long John Baldry. CD

A heady serving of work from the UK scene at the end of the 60s – work from the very vibrant scenes around Birmingham at the time – a place that was starting to deliver a heck of a lot more music than previous hotspots like Liverpool! In some ways, the sounds here are a great transition away from earlier UK rock modes – as there's still some elements of the Brit Invasion going on in some of these earlier cuts, but soon blended with the more adventurous styles that the London psych scene were brewing up – but always with a quality that's a lot more down to earth, and which makes these cuts really stand away from the rest of the pack! But you hardly need to know English geography to appreciate the package – as, like other Grapefruit compilations, the whole thing is a wonderfully-done assortment of work – mixing bigger names and lesser-knowns, and offering up a key look at this moment in British rock, complete with very detailed notes! There's a whopping 69 tracks in the package, including a few unreleased tunes – tracks by Craig, Traffic, Fred's Box, Slade, Ironbridge, Bedlam, The Californians, Revolver, The Ghost, Big Bertha, Locomotive, Velvet Fogg, Chicken Shack, Young Blood, Spencer Davis Group, Idle Race, Tea & Sympathy, Denny Laine, The Move, World Of Oz, The Montanas, Salamander, Luv Machine, Roy Wood, Electric Light Orchestra, Fable, Dave Morgan, Bakerloo, Cinnamon Quill, and many others. CD

Includes selections by The Onyx, The Glass Menagerie, The Clique, Montanas, The Floribunda Rose, Velvett Fogg, The Turnstyle, The Kytes, Fresh Air, The Orange Seaweed, 5 AM Event, The Game, New Formula, Writing On The Wall, and Orange Machine. LP, Vinyl record album

What's Bubblerock you say? It's a moment in UK pop at the start of the 70s – work from a time when the Brit pop modes of the 60s were giving ways to new styles of production and presentation – including some of the cool, compressed studio elements that would also show up in glam in a different way – but which here are used to really push the envelope on a whole host of super-catchy songs! There's also a bit of that more soul-inspired sound that UK pop had in the 60s, too – not the mod love of R&B, but more of the soulful styles you'd find in girl singers from the 60s – used here in different ways, sometimes even mixed with a bit of funk – all really showing the diversity that the UK scene had in comparison to the US market. The set's overflowing with groovy cuts – 77 numbers in all, many of which didn't get any play on our side of the Atlantic – work by artists who include Deep Feeling, The Pipkins, Smoky Forbes, Blackwater Junction, 22nd Street, The Montanas, Portrait, PC Kent, Derek Paul, Fluff, Blue Mink, Jonathan King, Main Attraction, Brotherhood Of Man, Summer Wine, Nemo, Tiger Sue, Five Day Rain, Lieutenant Pigeon, Hooters, John Carter, Muff, Velvet Opera, Huddersfield Transit Authority, Iron Cross, and many others! CD