PURE GOLD ON EMI/20 HITS BY THE ORIGINAL ARTISTS EMK 251 (-73) UK

 Compilation containing twenty UK 45 cuts originally released 1968-73. It's a mixed bag, blending melodic rock by acts like T.Rex, Deep Purple, Wizzard and ELO with soul from Temptations, Jackson Five and Stevie Wonder. I also get perky pop from Cliff Richard, Cilla Black, New World and much more. Some of the best from the British list back then. All cuts have later showed up on numerous of other vinyl and CD collections, so why is this worth noticing? For me it's the variation, considering the time and place over the genres and therefore becoming a kind of time capsule that can put me back then whenever I'm listening through. I didn't fancy all of those songs back in the days, but can appreciate the full monty now as part of the context. So in a way it helps me to broaden my taste. Mostly when twenty cuts are crammed into a single LP the audio suffers, but this sounds surprisingly good, allowing me to fully enjoy. Two of the tracks - Bruce Ruffin "Mad About You" and Kenny "Heart Of Stone" - are fake stereo, the rest true. So much going on here I can't pick any absolute favourites, but adding a few below. Checking the net I can see it was also released on vinyl in Greece (same number). UK also issued on cassette and 8-track. Vinyl had label as shown here in a fully laminated "golden" sleeve with cut corners giving the impression of a box. (SÄM*)