Charly
Album: 40 Years Volume 1 - Classic hits
Label: Charly
Tracks: 15
Website: http://www.charlyrecords.com

For forty years Charly been one of the world's top independent record companies, specialising in high quality re-issues across all genres of music.

In 2014 the company celebrates this milestone with a series of great releases. This Greatest Hits compilation gives a glimpse of Charly are all about.

There are fifteen fantastic tracks on this CD - each one a class cut and covering everything from soul to blues, from jazz to funk.

We have Chris Farlowe's number one UK hit Out of Time from 1966, then there's Curtis Mayfield's Superfly and Bobby Womack& Peace with Across 110th Street, which featured in Quentin Taratino's film Jackie Brown.

How about the psychedelic pop classic from the Summer of Love? Itchycoo Park was the first record to feature the use of phasing.

Then there's the English pop of The Yardbirds. For Your Love proved to be the final straw for a certain Eric Clapton and he moved onto pastures new.

There's a great slice of pure rock and roll with Carl Perkin's 1955 hit Blues Suede Shoes and Jerry Lee Lewis with Great Ball of Fire - one of the biggest selling singles in history.

I Walk The Line was Johnny Cash's first US pop hit. John Lee Hooker's uber cool Boom, Boom, went on to become a staple of many UK blues bands.

There's quality sweet bass-thumping reggae from Bob Marley with Sun is Shining and even a song banned by the BBC, Leader of The Pack by The Shangri-Las.

There's also the rock n roll classic Jungle Rock by Hank Mizell, You're Gonna Miss Me from The 13th Floor Elevators (which featured in the film High Fidelity. Funkadelic wrap up this superb collection with One Nation Under a Groove, a dance classic.

A wonderful collection of classic songs.

John Knighton