Various – Miles Out To Sea: The Roots Of British Power Pop 1969-1975 – 3CD Encore Records Ltd

3 CDs – UK Import

While the early 70s musical landscape in Britain was largely dominated by introspective singer/songwriters, Bubblegum Pop and underground Rock bands, a handful of acts bravely continued to pursue the classic mid-60s group sound.

With the aid of increasingly sophisticated recording studios, they majored in crisp, muscular, hook-laden three-minute pop songs, bursting with chiming Rickenbacker guitars, irresistible choruses and Beatles/Beach Boys-inspired close harmonies.

A few (Slade, Pilot, the ill-starred Badfinger) found commercial success, but the likes of Starry Eyed And Laughing, Shape Of The Rain and Octopus proved to be the right bands at the wrong time – too late for the British Invasion that had swept America in the mid-60s, too early to hitch a ride on the late 70s Power Pop bandwagon.

‘Miles Out To Sea’ assembles the pick of these recordings, with household names and hit singles (including The First Class’s classic Beach Boys cop ‘Beach Baby’) joined by cult Power Pop names (Rockin’ Horse, Liverpool Echo, Pagliaro) obscure one-off 45s (Atlantis, Fresh Air, Big Star-soundalikes Rotten To The Core), cuts from privately-pressed or non-UK albums (Rusty, Shakane, Majority One, Ironbridge) and many unreleased-at-the-time tracks (including pre-Records band The Fabulous Ratbites From Hell and a previously- unissued demo by pre-Rusty act Sheephouse, who cut a collectable Decca single).

Featuring a clamshell box design that houses a lavishly-annotated and illustrated 48-page booklet, ‘Miles Out To Sea’ is a fascinating document of a musical genre that would only really be identified and cherished after the fact. File under Pure-Pop-For-Then-People.

Track Listing:

DISC ONE

1 MILES OUT TO SEA – Slade
2 JUST A SMILE (original single version) – Pilot
3 BIGGEST GOSSIP IN TOWN (single version) – Rockin’ Horse
4 SOME SING, SOME DANCE – Pagliaro
5 RAINCHILD – Octopus
6 I’LL BE THERE – Shape Of The Rain
7 GOING DOWN – Starry Eyed And Laughing
8 PLEASE, ELIZA – Shakanea
9 DON’T LET ME WAIT TOO LONG – Rotten To The Core
10 BLACK MOURNING BAND – Honeybus
11 YOU LIED ABOUT YOUR AGE – Bachdenkel
12 (WHAT’S SO FUNNY ‘BOUT) PEACE LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING – Brinsley Schwarz
13 WHEN WILL I BE LOVED – Dave Edmunds
14 NIGHTINGALE CRESCENT – Unicorn
15 BRIGHTON ROCK – Rusty
16 YOU MADE ME STAND UP STRAIGHTER – Byzantium
17 BICYCLE DRIVER – Neil Harrison
18 TRY ME – The Tremeloes
19 PEPPERMINT TWIST – Sweet
20 SHE WROTE ME A LETTER – Marmalade
21 LOVE’S MADE A FOOL OF YOU – Raw Holly
22 STRANGE AFFAIR – Help Yourself
23 LET YOUR LOVE GO – Paintbox
24 WHERE I BELONG – Gerry Rafferty
25 FRESH AS A DAISY – Ragamuffin

DISC TWO

1 KNOW ONE KNOWS – Badfinger
2 CHINATOWN – The Move
3 GIRL ON THE TRAIN – Liverpool Echo
4 LONELY NORMAN – Jimmy Campbell
5 FORGET HER – Nimbo
6 GET BACK HOME – Majority One
7 DANGEROUS BACON – Stackridge
8 GO AS YOU PLEASE – Stealers Wheel
9 SECOND TIME AROUND – Keith Riley
10 CHAMPION THE UNDERDOG – Sutherland Brothers and Quiver 11 ALRIGHT MA! – Stray
12 I AIN’T GOT TIME – Atlantis
13 SOMETIMES I WONDER – Sheridan and Rick Price
14 SO YOUNG AND IN LOVE – Bo’ Flyers
15 SOMETHING’S GOING ON – Ducks Deluxe
16 ORDINARY BOY – Small Wonder
17 LEAVIN’ ‘OME – The Hammersmith Gorillas
18 ZURICH 17 (BE MY BABY)- Hollywood Brats
19 GIRLFRIEND – Octopus
20 HOLE IN THE SKY* – Sheephouse
21 MONEY MAKES THE WORLD – Billy Bates
22 SPARKLE – The Fabulous Ratbites From Hell
23 THE RING OF TRUTH – Bachdenkel
24 IN A HAND OR FACE – The Who
25 ROLLING HOME AGAIN – Budgie

DISC THREE

1 THIS MAN HE WEEPS TONIGHT – The Kinks
2 DON’T YOU EVER THINK I CRY? – Rockin’ Horse
3 WE’RE NOT THEIR BOYS – Shape Of The Rain
4 LET ME TELL YOU – Fickle Pickle
5 BABY (I GOTTA GO) – Simon Turner
6 SMILE (MY SMILER’S SMILE) – Liverpool Express
7 I DON’T NEED YOU ANY MORE – Penny Arcade
8 IT TAKES TOO LONG – Fresh Air
9 WHEN YOU DANCE I CAN REALLY LOVE – Shakane
10 ANNABELLA – Billy Kinsley
11 SALLY WORKS NIGHTS – Liverpool Echo
12 STAY AT HOME – Rusty
13 CHIMES OF FREEDOM – Starry Eyed And Laughing
14 BACK ROOM – Ironbridge
15 NO MATTER WHAT – Black Label
16 GOOD LOVE CHILD – Barclay James Harvest
17 LITTLE BABY WON’T YOU PLEASE COME HOME, HONEY-CHILD WON’T YOU JUST ALLOW ME ONE MORE CHANCE, PLEASE – P. C. Kent
18 SO SAD (NO LOVE OF HIS OWN) – Iain Matthews
19 JEWEL – Wolfe
20 WALKING THE SILVER HAY -Airbus
21 MAYBE TOMORROW – Angel Pavement
22 BEACH BABY – The First Class
23 FROM ME AND FROM YOU – Keith Riley
24 I DON’T WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND – Rupert Holmes
*previously unreleased