MUSIC UPFRONT - 01.12.07: Catalogue reviews.

Neil Sedaka: Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen - The Very Best Of (Music Club Deluxe MCDLX058)

This is an excellent double-disc set which includes Sedaka's early Brill Building originals like Oh Carol, Calendar Girl, I Go Ape and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do and his superior 1972/3 recordings made at Stockport's Strawberry Studios with 10CC as sidemen. From the latter sessions come the sorrowful Solitaire, the assertive I'm A Song, Sing Me and Superbird, a powerful, beautifully-written classically-styled song about a boy's flights of fancy.

Various: La France Et Les Beatles Vol. 5 (Magic 3930362)

France took to The Beatles in a big way and, to prove it, Magic has released five volumes of Beatles songs rendered in French over the last 18 months. Gallic stars of the day such as Johnny Hallyday, Richard Anthony, Nancy Holloway and Sheila (of Spacer fame) - put a French spin on familiar tunes. Most songs are rendered in a similar style to the originals, although the chanson stylings of Gerard St. Paul and Eddy Mitchell are very enjoyable.

Johnny Tillitson: It Keeps Right On A-Hurtin'/You Can Never Stop Me Loving You (Ace CDCHD1177)

Clean-cut Floridian Tillotson topped the UK and US charts in 1961 with Poetry In Motion. Two years later and his chart career here was over, but he still has a fanbase, as this seventh CD of Tillotson recordings to be issued by Ace suggests. His easy, cultivated country/pop style works very well on this two-on-one release, which features a pair of albums he cut for the Cadence label in 1962 and 1963.

Various: The Changing Of The Guard: The Sixties London Pop Explosion (El ...