Producers Archives Vol. 2 1965-1983

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ith the critical success of the first volume of rounded-up rarities overseen by British producer Mike Hurst, Angel Air has followed up with Producers Archives, Vol. 2 and another 16 sought-after songs. Musically the set is all over the map, jumping genres and decades in a single bound, but the song by song sleeve notes, penned by Hurst himself, help bring some coherency to an otherwise almost terminally eclectic set. For fans of guitar heroes, there's Hurst's own "Anytime That You Want Me," which proudly boasts Jimmy Page's first-ever solo, while Jonas (Hurst's particularly precocious son) takes on "Splish Splash" and "Little Queenie," backed by some fabulous guitar work from Alvin Lee. Lena Zavaroni is by far the best of the vocalists to be found within, a child star who put two singles into the U.K. charts in 1974, and in 1977, when Hurst linked with her, was now showing signs of maturing into an impressive adult artist, even though she was only in her mid-teens. The same could not be said of Truly Smith, while Sam Fox's best attributes lay, eh-hem, elsewhere. Then there was might-have-been Bruce Woolley, who recorded the original version of "Video Killed the Radio Star" with Hurst, then promptly recut it with Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes as the Buggles, and, well, the rest is history. Shakin' Stevens, in contrast, had yet to make history when he recorded a sumptuous, jazz-lite cover of "Spooky" in 1979. It didn't hit, but the singer would the next year with the first of a flood of early rock & roll-flavored covers that made him the most successful chart performer of the decade. Thus, it's particularly fascinating to hear him performing here in another genre entirely. And that's the beauty of this set, even the mediocre artists and so-so songs have a great story behind them, as well as Hurst's distinctive imprimatur. Fashions changed, stars came and went, but the producer was always up for something fresh and new, shifting with the times, and lavishing attention on even the least deserving. ~ Jo-Ann Greene