1. Billy Fury Death

Much has been written about Fury being perhaps the closest the UK ever got to producing a moody and sexually menacing star in the Elvis Presley mould, but it should also be noted that he was one of the few homegrown rock’n’roll stars who didn’t buckle under the threat of Beatlemania. Among the tragic teen balladry, orchestral grandeur and Tin Pan Alley crooning on this 62- track set is a savvy appreciation of freshly-minted beat group shapes.Nothing Shaking But The Leaves On The Trees would have been a chart-topper in the hands of most Merseybeat merchants, but would they have been able to deliver Fury’s wit and surly attitude? Equally, live cuts such as Wedding Bells brought a parochially British sympathy to traditional country, something no other Limey had ever managed.There’s nothing to moan about on this compendium of big hits and sometime overlooked album tracks from Fury’s lengthy tenure at Decca, though most true fans will have the bulk of it on their shelves already.

Billy Fury Death

Hopefully it will persuade EMI to open their own vaults and dust off the really hard-to-find tracks the man cut after moving to Parlophone in 1966.