Lazy Days - The British Progressive Pop Sounds of 1975, Various Artists 3CD Box Set

• Latest instalment of Grapefruit's acclaimed year-by-year overview of the British rock and pop scenes of the 70s.

• A compendium of hit singles, intriguing misses, cult classics and key album tracks from 1975.

While received wisdom among pop pundits is that 1975 was merely the calm before the following year's punk-instigated storm, there was plenty of vibrant, vital music being made in Britain and Ireland during that largely overlooked 12-month period.

Roxy Music, 10cc and ELO were still firing on all cylinders, Thin Lizzy and post-Free act Bad Company were emerging as prime contenders for stardom, Hawkwind remained linchpins of the still-thriving free festival circuit, and cult live performers The Sensational Alex Harvey Band unexpectedly achieved Top Ten singles success after covering a melodramatic Tom Jones’ ballad.

The London-based pub rock scene housed the likes of Ace, Brinsley Schwartz, The Kursaal Flyers and the game-changing Dr. Feelgood, successful glam-era bands like Slade and Sweet were still producing the goods, while a handful of 60s stalwarts – Manfred Mann, The Pretty Things, The Kinks – were updating their sound to appeal to a new generation of record-buyers.

All these and more are documented in ‘Lazy Days’, a four-hour, 3CD boxed set that, like every other release in the series, includes a 48-page booklet with photos, cuttings and the story behind each song.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

1  GOOD LOVIN' GONE BAD – Bad Company

2  IMAGINE ME, IMAGINE YOU - Fox

3  RIGHT OR WRONG – Stealers Wheel

4  IN FOR A PENNY - Slade

5  WILD ONE – Thin Lizzy

6  MY WHITE BICYCLE - Nazareth

7  RIDING FOR A FALL - Moonrider

8  EVERYBODY'S A STAR (STARMAKER) – The Kinks

9  PRECIOUS LOVE - Stray

10  JEAN COCTEAU – Be Bop Deluxe

11 BOTH ENDS BURNING – Roxy Music

12  BLUE GUITAR – Justin Hayward & John Lodge

13  GOOD NEWS - 10cc

14  EVIL WOMAN – Electric Light Orchestra

15  DAN THE PLAN – Alan Hull

16  BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME? - Ronnie Lane

17  I'LL REGRET IT ALL IN THE MORNING – Richard & Linda Thompson

18  CAROL – Al Stewart

19 AIN'T GONNA STAND FOR THIS NO MORE (single version) - Ace

20 A WHOLE POT OF JELLY (FOR A LITTLE SLICE OF TOAST) – Pete Wingfield

21 PRIVATE NUMBER – Babe Ruth

DISC TWO

1  FOX ON THE RUN (single version) - Sweet

2  WON'T GET BURNED AGAIN – David Essex

3  IN THE FUTURE - Sparks

4  NOTHING TO DO WITH US - Jet

5  YOU GO TO MY HEAD – Bryan Ferry

6  FRONTERA – Phil Manzanera

7  SHARE IT – Hatfield And The North

8  STUCK IN A HOLE - Caravan

9  GO AND SIT UPON THE GRASS – Ivor Cutler

10  SAD SING – Tom Newman

11  RUN BILLY RUN – The Shadows

12  HEARD IT ALL BEFORE - Pilot

13  HIGHBURY INCIDENT (RAINY JULY MORNING) - Stackridge

14  TITLES – Barclay James Harvest

15  SOMEONE TO LOVE – Speedy Keen

16  HIT RECORDS – Kursaal Flyers

17  LONELY EYES - Method

18  SUMMER SONG – Clive John

19  BLUE EYED BOY – Heavy Metal Kids

20  DELILAH (live) – The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

21  RAINGAME - Streetwalkers

22  ARMS OF MARY – Sutherland Brothers & Quiver

23 THERE'S A CLOUD IN MY HEART – The Brinsleys

DISC THREE

1  ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY (single edit) – Ian Hunter

2  PLAY DON'T WORRY – Mick Ronson

3  BY TONIGHT - Mott

4  RUNNING THROUGH THE CITY – Brian Protheroe

5 SPIRITS IN THE NIGHT (single edit) – Manfred Mann's Earth Band

6  MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY (single edit) – Jethro Tull

7  HIGHFLY – John Miles

8  TAKE IT AWAY - Kestrel

9  SAD EYE – Pretty Things

10  TRUST IN DICK – The Winkies

11  HARD TIMES – Peter Skellern

12  L'HIPPIE NATIONALE – The Neutrons

13  MR. RAFFLES (MAN IT WAS MEAN) – Steve Harley/ Cockney Rebel

14  LA MAISON DE L'AMOUR - Son-Of-A-Gun

15  MAD DOG (single mix) – John Entwistle's Ox

16  KINGS OF SPEED - Hawkwind

17  ODD MAN OUT – Agnes Strange

18  SHOOT SHOOT - UFO

19  LAZY DAY - Oddsocks

20  BACK IN THE NIGHT - Dr. Feelgood

21  BIRTHDAY SPECIAL – Peter Hammill