KEY RELEASES - 04.04.09: CATALOGUE REVIEWS.

VARIOUS

101 Pirate Radio Hits (Virgin/EMI VTDCDX 952)

All 16 releases in Virgin/EMI's 101... Hits series to date have made the Top 40 of the compilation chart, amassing total sales of well over 1m, so this collection - released to tie-in with the theatrical release of The Boat That Rocked - is likely to do well. A strong but slightly predictable selection of songs certainly recalls the period in the Sixties when pirate radio stations ruled the airwaves, with smashes such as Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Manfred Mann's Pretty Flamingo and less successful favourites including The Days Of Pearly Spencer (David McWilliams) and You Can't Sit Down (Phil Upchurch). The lower-profile three-CD, 75-song set Rockin' With The Pirates (EMI 6971912) is better, with obscure, offshore favourites by the likes of The Marionettes, Barry Benson and The Boston Crabs providing an exercise in discovery as well as nostalgia.

LUTHER INGRAM

I've Been Here All The Time/If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don't Want To Be Right (Kent CDKEND 315)

Boosting Kent's extensive library of Southern soul, this terrific two- CD set concentrates on Luther Ingram's first two albums for the KoKo label. Originally issued in 1972 and rendered here as high-quality remasters, they are superbly sung and immaculately produced examples of Muscle Shoals Studio's output. Ingram's honeyed vocals sound equally adept on the pleading Dying And Crying, the ...