Having A Rave-Up! British R&B box set

This looks like a winner: the Having A Rave-Up! British R&B box set, which is coming soon from Cherry Red.

Cherry Red always does a well-compiled and well-researched box set, and perhaps it needs to. Selling CDs these days (yes, this is a CD box set) is more of a tough ask with the drift to either vinyl or streaming. But by and large, these boxes tend to be worth dusting off the CD player. I’m sure we all still have one somewhere – even if it’s in the car.

The full title is Having A Rave-Up! The British R&B Sounds of 1964, with this four-hour, 3CD, described as an ‘anthology of hard-edged British R&B from the genre’s pivotal year’. A mix of hit singles, key album tracks, cult classics and the main selling point – previously unreleased recordings.

According to Cherry Red:

“While 1963 belonged to the Merseyside-led beat boom, the following year saw the emergence of homegrown R&B as market leaders The Rolling Stones were joined on the Thames Delta by a host of equally young, raw and enthusiastic British blues-hounds.

The Pretty Things, The Yardbirds and Manfred Mann would all come to national prominence, but many other putative king bees – The Artwoods, Downliners Sect, early Ronnie Wood outfit The Birds – would have to settle for a more localised audience.

Other hard-up heroes trying to pay the rent included The Who (as The High Numbers), Steve Marriott (as leader of The Moments) and Rod ‘The Mod’ Stewart (with The Hoochie Coochie Men), who all gave early notice of their developing talent to an indifferent world.

As a new wave of acne-scarred teenage degenerates clambered out of the primordial R&B soup, the R&B revolution spread throughout the land: Newcastle likely lads The Animals topped the charts, Birmingham outfit The Spencer Davis Group also made early commercial progress, while The Betterdays were initially banned from Plymouth dancehalls for playing what the local Mecca ballroom manager described as “n***** music”. Although more musically sophisticated Flamingo Club regulars like Georgie Fame and Zoot Money are also represented, the emphasis on ‘Having A Rave-Up! – The British R&B Sounds of 1964’ is on what would subsequently be labelled as garage R&B/punk, with the bigger names joined by such equally artless hopefuls as The Fairies, The Cops ‘n’ Robbers, The Authentics and The Primitives.”

There are plenty of classics from long and short players, tracks from ultra-rare private pressings, and numerous previously unissued tracks, including a ‘pulverising six-minute rave-up’ from The Tridents, featuring Jeff Beck just before he decided to join The Yardbirds.

91 tracks, a 48-page booklet featuring rare photos and memorabilia, and a release date of 21st June 2024. You can see the tracks below, with the box now on pre-order for £24.99.

Find out more at the Amazon website

Tracklisting:

DISC ONE

1 ROSALYN – The Pretty Things
2 BABY WHAT’S WRONG – Downliners Sect
3 SWEET MARY – The Art Woods
4 AW SHUCKS HUSH YOUR MOUTH – The Betterdays
5 CLIMBING THROUGH – The Authentics
6 HELP ME – The Primitives
7 I’M YOUR KINGPIN – Manfred Mann
8 LEAVE MY KITTEN ALONE – The First Gear
9 I GOT LOVE IF YOU WANT IT – The Athenians
10 HONEY IN YOUR HIPS – The Yardbirds
11 BO STREET RUNNER (Oak version) – Bo Street Runners
12 THE UNCLE WILLIE – Zoot Money
13 CASTIN’ MY SPELL – The Pirates
14 DON’T GIMME NO LIP CHILD – Dave Berry
15 OH YEAH! – The Others
16 THAT’S ALRIGHT – Jimmy Powell & The Five Dimensions
17 CRAWLING UP A HILL – John Mayall & The Blues Breakers
18 LONG LEGGED BABY – The Graham Bond Organisation
19 ZULU STOMP – The Brand
20 LOOKING FOR MY BABY – The Second Thoughts
21 I’LL BE GOOD TO YOU – The Talismen
22 A SHOT OF RHYTHM ‘N’ BLUES – The Sundowners
23 CHICAGO CALLING – The Iveys
24 I’M A LOVER NOT A FIGHTER – The Bo-Weevils
25 BETTY JEAN – The Cops ‘n’ Robbers
26 WALKING THE DOG – The Dennisons
27 BABY I GO FOR YOU – The Blue Rondos
28 ONE FINE DAY – Shel Naylor
29 I WANT TO BE LOVED* – The Stylos
30 WHAT’S THAT? – Group 5
31 GOT MY MOJO WORKING – The Sheffields

DISC TWO

1 BEAUTIFUL DELILAH – The Kinks
2 PRETTY THING – David John & The Mood
3 REELIN’ AND A ROCKIN’ – Mickey Finn & The Blue Men
4 I WISH YOU WOULD – The Yardbirds
5 YOU’RE ON MY MIND – The Birds
6 ANYTIME AT ALL – The Fairies
7 TIGER IN YOUR TANK* – The Tridents
8 DRAGGIN’ AROUND – The Saxons
9 LET’S MAKE IT PRETTY BABY – The Soul Agents
10 DON’T START ME TALKIN’ – The Sorrows
11 SHAME SHAME SHAME – The Merseybeats
12 BOOM BOOM – Blues By Five
13 I’M THE FACE – The High Numbers
14 DIMPLES – Spencer Davis Group
15 GONNA SEND YOU BACK TO GEORGIA – The Searchers
16 COME BACK BABY – Screaming Lord Sutch
17 BABE I’M GONNA LEAVE YOU – The Plebs
18 YOU’LL BE MINE – Long John Baldry & The Hoochie Coochie Men
19 PARCHMAN FARM – Georgie Fame
20 A CERTAIN GIRL – The Paramounts
21 I’M GONNA JUMP – The Toggery Five
22 MEMPHIS – The Hollies
23 FORGET IT – Mal Ryder & The Spirits
24 PETER GUNN – The Remo Four
25 VOODOO BLUES* (DEMO VERSION) – Shades Of Blue
26 HOOCHIE COOCHIE MAN – The Art Wood Combo
27 24 MANHATTAN PLACE – The Excerts
28 YOU’RE GONNA RUIN ME BABY* – The Original For-Tunes
29 DO THE DOG – Lester Square & The G. T.’s
30 DOWN THE ROAD APIECE – The Cops ‘n’ Robbers

DISC THREE

1 SECT APPEAL – Downliners Sect
2 I AIN’T GOT YOU – The Yardbirds
3 BALD HEADED WOMAN – The Sneekers
4 DON’T BRING ME DOWN – The Pretty Things
5 CRACKING UP – The Betterdays
6 HIDE ‘N’ SEEK (Oak version) – The Thyrds
7 SHE SAID YEAH – The Animals
8 WOMAN – The Zombies
9 BABY WHAT YOU WANT ME TO DO* – The Stylos
10 I DON’T CARE – Duffy Power
11 SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN – The Clique
12 MONEY MONEY – The Moments
13 HOW MANY MORE TIMES – The T- Bones
14 T.N.T. – The Nashville Teens
15 THAT’S WHAT I’LL DO – The Bad Boys
16 YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER – The Wild Oats 17 HONEY HUSH – Christian’s Crusaders
18 RIGHT THROUGHLY – The Saxons
19 DON’T YOU MIX IT WITH MONEY – The Talismen
20 MY LUCK NEVER SHOWED* – Shades Of Blue
21 PRETTY THING – The Mike Cotton Sound
22 TO CATCH THAT MAN – David John & The Mood
23 BILLIE JEAN* – The Fuzz
24 BRIGHT LIGHTS BIG CITY – The Hoochie Coochie Men featuring Rod Stewart
25 MIDNIGHT SPECIAL – The Iveys
26 BO DIDDLEY – The SW4
27 EVERY NIGHT – The Excerts
28 EVIL* – The Original For-Tunes
29 STICKS AND STONES – Four Just Men
30 LONG TALL SHORTY* – The End
*previously unreleased