Various Artists, "Let's Stomp!-Merseybeat and Beyond 1962-1969" (Strawberry / Cherry Red)- Anthologies of sixties pop from the Liverpool area rarely feature contributions from The Beatles, and this fine 3 CD set from the good people at Cherry Red is sadly no exception to the rule, although it remains highly listenable nonetheless. The contents are a fascinating blend of the familiar and the undeservedly obscure, with sizeable hits from the likes of The Searchers, Swinging Blue Jeans and Cilla Black sitting snugly alongside the long forgotten musical exploits of outfits such as The Pathfinders, The Perishers and The Seftons to name but a few. Splendid stuff.

Georgie Fame,” Yeh Yeh / Get Away / Hall of Fame etc.” (BGO)- This interesting historical document focusses attention on the collected early works of the artist formerly known as Clive Powell. The Lancashire born singer and musician grudgingly accepted the change of name to Georgie Fame at the behest of astute pop impresario Larry Parnes and the rest,as the old cliche goes, is history. A string of hits followed as record buyers proved highly receptive to Fame’s distinctive blend of soul, jazz and r&b, including memorable chart toppers such as “Get Away” and “Yeh Yeh.” This 2 CD set brings together some fine examples of the Hammond organ ace’s sixties output culled from three U.S. and U.K. compilations, alongside a generous helping of bonus tracks from the same period, led by covers of Booker T.’s “Green Onions” and Smokey Robinson’s “Shop Around.”

Duffy Power,”Dusty Road” (Talking Elephant)- The late lamented Duffy Power was another member of the impressive stable of aspiring young rock and pop vocalists assembled by Larry Parnes during the late fifties, but unlike his contemporaries Billy Fury and Marty Wilde commercial success never really came his way. Power continued to write and record during the subsequent decade but remained unable to translate the glowing critical plaudits that he received into solid record sales, effectively giving up the ghost a year or so after the release of his only genuine solo album,”Duffy Power,” in 1973. The release of this splendid CD should help to introduce Duffy’s emotive brand of music making to a whole new generation of record buyers, with “Song About Jesus” and “River” emerging as two of the stand-out tracks.