Great work from the second chapter of The Spencer Davis Group – the time immediately after
Steve Winwood left to form Traffic, and the combo stepped forward into some even headier music of their own! This period of the SDG isn't nearly as well known as their early hits – and the box set is a really surprising revelation overall – music that has some of the R&B currents of the earlier group, but which is also infused with a headier, trippier style too – not just in the instrumentation, but in the way the records are put together – with cool elements that space things out slightly, but never get too indulgent! The mix is a bit like that on the earliest work of The Move – or that shift that Small Faces were taking after moving to the Immediate label – and as with previous work from the Spencer Davis Group, there's as much great Hammond on the tunes as there is guitar, thanks to the talents of new member Eddie Hardin. Some of the best cuts almost hit a freakbeat mode – with a very cool mix of mod and psych – and the 3CD set features the full albums Funky and With Their New Face On – plus material from the Round The Mulberry Bush soundtrack, lots more singles, some BBC sessions, and even some alternate and unreleased tracks too. 68 tracks in all – titles that include "Letters From Edith", "Time Seller", "Taking Out Time", "After Tea", "Sanity Inspector", "What A Way To Die", "Firefly", "Magpie", "Groove Extra", "The Girls Song", "Don't Want You No More", "Der Wassermann", and "Picture Of Heaven".