Halcyon days : 60s mod, R&B, brit soul & freakbeat nuggets

"Jon Harrington, an obsessive follower of all things mod, offers an in-depth study of this Golden Triangle of British Beat music of the early to mid-'60s with Halcyon Days: 60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets, a consistently entertaining three-volume set that devotes one disc each to jazzy and often horn-laden R&B, edgy rock with an R&B undercurrent, and freakbeat where acid consciousness begins making itself known. While there are clear areas of overlap throughout the set, the sequence makes sense of how mod-centric music evolved and shape-shifted through the decade, and along with being a good historical document, this set is strong, satisfying listening throughout".

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"The '60s generation's coming of age, across 87 mystical tracks: Tracing the UK's response to American jazz, blues and soul, Halcyon Days opens with some finely tuned, though somewhat copycatted efforts: Duffy Power, Zoot Money, Mickey Finn, among others, unlock the dancefloors, Hammond organs aflutter; future superstars - notably, Rod Stewart and David Bowie - take their first steps. By 1967, however, countless underground titans, such as the Creation, John's Children, The Action, had emerged to melt mod into psych with R&B wings. this extensive comp digs far deeper still, unearthing oft-hidden cuts by the virtually unknown".