Last year, Cherry Red's RPM imprint closed up shop after almost 30 years and some 600+ releases. But a new imprint was announced to pick up where RPM left off: Strawberry. Its inaugural collection, Halcyon Days: '60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul, and Freakbeat Nuggets has proved an auspicious debut for the imprint with big shoes to fill. The 3-CD collection traces the development of '60s British soul and R&B from the mod period to the first flowering of psychedelia featuring a blend of names
Once thought of as Britain's answer to Booker T and the MG's, the oddly-named band Wynder K. Frog released three albums of smoking soul-jazz for the Island and United Artists labels between 1966 and 1970, led by Mick Weaver's mod organ with distinguished support from musicians on both sides of the Atlantic. Now, Cherry Red's RPM imprint has rounded up those original LPs plus bonus singles and previously unreleased tracks for the 3-CD box Shook, Shimmy and Shake: The Complete Recordings