There are almost more Petula Clark collections than there were actual songs (that's saying something), and Sanctuary's three-disc Songs of My Life: The Essential Petula Clark is one of the better ones. Split into three themes, "Swinging Times," "Mellow Moods," and "Beautiful Sounds," Songs of My Life relies heavily on the English pop sensation's peak '60s and '70s output. All of the key radio hits are here ("Downtown," "I Know a Place," "My Love," "This Is My Song"), as well as countless ballads, uptempo pop gems, and choice covers. Fans looking for a decent career overview (sadly, none of Clark's vast arsenal of French hits are here) may find the 78 tracks that populate Songs of My Life a bit overwhelming, but they're well worth spending some quality time alone with.

"Barry Manilow" is the debut album by Barry Manilow, released initially in 1973 by Bell Records. The original release was unsuccessful, with only around 35,000 copies sold by 1975. After the success of Manilow's second album Barry Manilow II, the album was re-released as "Barry Manilow I" in 1975 by Arista that had taken over Bell Records. Four songs of the original album were reworked for this version, including "Could It Be Magic" which served as the single for the re-release. The re-released album was certified Gold by the RIAA in 1976 for over half a million copies sold.

Hip-O's Ultimate Collection: The Complete Hits will likely be too much music for most audiences, simply because most listeners don't remember much more than "Love Will Keep Us Together," "Muskrat Love," and "Do That to Me One More Time" from Captain & Tennille. They actually had many more hits than that – 11 more, four of which hit the Top Ten, actually (for the record, they are "The Way I Want to Touch You," "Lonely Night (Angel Face)," "Shop Around," and "You Never Done It Like That"). All of them are here, along with several other singles and album tracks on this generous 22-track collection. To be frank, Captain & Tennille weren't quite varied or deep enough to make this collection not lose steam toward the middle, but the highlights – the three Neil Sedaka-penned tunes ("Love Will Keep Us Together," "Lonely Night (Angel Face)," "You Never Done It Like That,") plus "Do That to Me One More Time" – are all very good, standing proudly amongst soft rock hits of the time.

This has 20 tracks from her 1964-68 stint with United Artists, concentrating on the ten or so singles she made during that era, with a few LP cuts, a previously unreleased 1964 version of "As Long As You're Happy" (more famous as done by Sandie Shaw), and a rare Ford Cars promotional single. Jones was an okay but not great singer. These sides, some of them anyway, are most noteworthy for the inventive pop/rock-soul-orchestral production, particularly those by Charles Blackwell, who also handled Francoise Hardy and P.J. Proby during the era. Her 1964 debut single, "It's All Because of You," is stunning and strange for the time with its ghostly echoing percussive rattles, ominous melody, and brilliant orchestration; it's like Cilla Black's "You're My World" with more ambition. Francoise Hardy fans should note that the 1965 cuts "Don't Come Any Closer" and "Just Call and I'll Be There" are the English originals of tunes subsequently covered by Hardy in French (as "Non Ce N'est Pas Un Reve," and "Le Temps Des Souvenirs" respectively).

Drawn together on one action-packed single CD, Raven presents the very best of Ray Brown and The Whispers. Hits & More 1965-1968 contains all the group's hit singles (As & Bs) plus key album tracks and a rare EP cut, everything that the Whispers fan – indeed every aficionado of Australia's rich heritage of 1960s rock and pop recordings – would want. There was a time circa 1965-1966 that Brown and the Whispers were one of the hottest groups at the forefront of the local music scene. Alongside Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, the Easybeats and Normie Rowe, the group performed regularly in front of thousands of excitable teenagers who danced wildly to the sounds and energy pro-vided by these new pop heroes. It was inevitable that the clean-cut and personable Brown would stand as the equal of Normie and Stevie Wright as a pin-up sensation.

Rhino repackaged and re-released the first five Monkees LPs on Colgems – The Monkees, More of the Monkees, Headquarters, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd., and The Birds, the Bees & the Monkees – as a slipcased box set.

Cardboard sleeve (mini LP) reissue from Diana Ross & The Supremes featuring the high-fidelity SHM-CD format. Part of a ten-album Diana Ross & The Supremes SHM-CD cardboard sleeve reissue series featuring albums "Where Did Our Love Go", "More Hits By The Supremes", "I Hear A Symphony", "The Supremes A Go Go", "Sing Holland Dozier Holland", "Reflections", "Join The Temptaions", "Love Child", "Let The Sunshine In", and "Cream Of The Crop".

For most intents and purposes, Sugarloaf was finished after their 1973 album I Got a Song failed to generate any attention, but the band continued to push ahead, channeling their frustrations into the bubblegum sarcasm of “Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You.” The song became a fluke hit in 1975, prompting a re-release of I Got a Song under a new title borrowed from the hit, which also was prominently featured on the new release. Of course, the fizzy pop of “Don’t Call Us” sounded very little like the rest of the earlier record, which itself wasn’t all that reminiscent of their percolating 1970 hit “Green Eyed Lady,” either. It was a curious mix of pompous neo-prog – best heard on the charging instrumental “Myra, Myra” – light hippie funk, and coolly trippy soft rock, all sounds redolent of the early ‘70s, but certainly not the epitome of it. Which isn’t to say that lead singer/songwriter Jerry Corbetta couldn’t write – in addition to the hits, he knocked off Billy Joel/Elton John’s Western fantasia quite well on “Colorado Jones” – but this album tends to drift in and out of focus, making it a period piece but not much more. [Fuel 2000’s 2010 reissue added a host of worthwhile bonus tracks, including a live version of “Green Eyed Lady.”]

Five CD box set containing every studio recording that this American trio released during their '60s heyday and their short-lived '70s reunion plus alternatve versions, etc. Although Scott Engel, Gary Leeds and John Maus were not actually brothers, they achieved enormous success in England and Europe and are now considered to be one of the most influential musical forces of their time. The 115 songs include 'The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore', 'Make It Easy On Yourself', 'There Goes My Baby', 'Doin' The Jerk', 'Everything's Gonna Be Alright' and many many more.

The Cowsills' volume of 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Cowsills contains nearly all of the group's biggest hits and best songs, including "The Rain, The Park, & Other Things," "Hair," and "Love American Style." Over the course of 12 songs, almost all of their hits are presented, along with Bill Cowsill's "When Everybody's Here," which means this will satisfy nearly all of their casual fans. Some diehards could use a longer collection, but the rest will find this to be a fine, entertaining collection.

Helen Shapiro is remembered today by younger pop culture buffs as the slightly awkward actress/singer in Richard Lester's 1962 debut feature film, It's Trad, Dad. From 1961 until 1963, however, Shapiro was England's teenage pop music queen, at one point selling 40,000 copies daily of her biggest single, "Walking Back to Happiness," during a 19-week chart run. A deceptively young 14 when she was discovered, Shapiro had a rich, expressive voice properly sounding like the property of someone twice as old, and she matured into a seasoned professional very quickly.

Crispian St. Peters was one mid-'60s act, like We Five (from whom he appropriated a song), who seemed to capture a moment with his best songs, but never moved past that moment. In his particular case, a mix of psychological problems, bad timing, and an inconsistent style seemed to make it impossible to get past his two big hits.

British singer Sandie Shaw had a string of girl group-styled singles in the mid-'60s before she retired in the early '70s. Shaw was discovered by pop singer Adam Faith in 1963, who led her to his manager, Eve Taylor; she released her debut single, "As Long as You're Happy," the following year. It didn't hit the charts, yet her next record, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me," hit number one in the U.K.; the single hit number 52 in the U.S., yet Shaw was never as big a star in the States as she was in the U.K. For the next three years, she had a string of hits – most of them written by her producer Chris Andrews – that kept her at the top of the charts. In 1967, Taylor began to move Shaw into cabaret territory; the approach proved a success when the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter song "Puppet on a String" hit number one. She recorded one more Coulter song, "Tonight in Tokyo," before returning to Chris Andrews. However, none of her further work with Andrews resulted in hit singles. Released in early 1969, her English version of the French "Monsieur Dupont" managed to crack the Top 20; it would turn out to be her last hit.

"Touch Me In The Morning" is the 4th studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on June 22, 1973, by Motown Records. It reached #5 in the USA (#1 R&B) and sold around 650,000 copies. The arrangements were by Gene Page, Tom Baird, Michael Randall, James Anthony Carmichael, Deke Richards, Gil Askey and Ross. The album contained the hit title track, which became Diana Ross' second #1 single on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and helped the album peak at #5 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart. In the UK the title track and "All of My Life" were both Top Ten singles, and the album reached #7 and was certified Gold for sales in excess of 100,000 copies.

Number Ones is a compilation album of recordings by Swedish pop group ABBA, released by Polar Music in 2006. Where as ABBA Gold pulls together 19 of the group's biggest hits and most familiar songs, Number Ones is a variation on this concept, collecting 18 tracks that were #1 hits in many of the countries where ABBA were successful. In the end, only three tracks from ABBA Gold do not make the cut: "Does Your Mother Know", "Lay All Your Love on Me", and "Thank You for the Music". A limited edition, also released in the UK, includes a bonus disc with 12 tracks from ABBA's #1 albums. Number Ones is a collection of all the international #1 hits on one DVD. Includes an interactive scrapbook with details of all the Abba #1's. Also includes footage from Live From Top Of The Pops, BBC 1974; from Hei Sveis!, Norway 1975 and from The Late Late Breakfast Show, BBC 1982.