WHERE THE ACTION IS! LOS ANGELES NUGGETS: 1956-1968, Rhino's 2009 sequel to their 2007 Nuggets box LOVE IS THE SONG WE SING, shifts the spotlight down the California coast, moving from the epicenter of the hippie universe in San Francisco to hipsville central in Los Angeles, the land where fringe-wearing folk-rockers strolled down the Sunset Strip alongside studio cats on the make. Both groups of hipsters are equally well-represented on WHERE THE ACTION IS!, along with the teens raising a ruckus out in the suburbs and the stars who stretched out, all based on the sounds they heard coming from the Strip, the section of Sunset that serves as the fulcrum for this entire set. The compilers focus on a brief time, the four-year stretch from 1965 to 1968, where Los Angeles was overrun with dance clubs and nightspots, all giving bands as wonderful and distinct as the Byrds, Love, the Doors, the Seeds, Buffalo Springfield, and the Leaves places to explore, opening up avenues that others followed, either in music or spirit. Some of this filtered through the prism of the studio, where there were plenty of musicians infatuated with the sounds of Brian Wilson, who pops up toward the end on an alternate take of "Heroes and Villains," but there's also no denying the impact of hustlers and hucksters like Kim Fowley, or how Hollywood could package and polish all of it up in the form of the Monkees.

And all of it is here in bright, flashing neon on WHERE THE ACTION IS!, which helps make it one of the liveliest of the Nuggets boxes, but also the one that seems to stray furthest from the series' mission to excavate unheard garage rock and psychedelia; after all, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and the Doors are hardly unknown quantities or one-hit wonders. Yet, in its own way, WHERE THE ACTION IS! is as crucial as any of the boxes that followed the first Nuggets set, for it documents a brief, shining moment in time where everything and anything seemed possible. It's not archeology but pop culture anthropology that does an excellent job of charting the rise of the L.A. underground, illustrating its first surfacing in the mainstream, connecting the dots in a fashion that may surprise even some dedicated pop and rock fans, those that might not realize how the Turtles, Bobby Fuller Four, the Standells, the Association, the Electric Prunes, Nilsson, Captain Beefheart and Iron Butterfly were all connected, however loosely, or how Rick Nelson and Del Shannon got weird as the decade started to draw to a close. These connections, along with discovering dozens of gems from lesser-known artists, are the reason why WHERE THE ACTION IS! winds up being a blast, as well as a revelation just like any other Nuggets set.

  Retrospective CD
  by Animals
Our Price: $13.65 CD
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Today the most recognition the Animals get is "House of the Rising Sun" being played on oldies radio, but in the mid-1960s they were a powerful part of the British Invasion, often reckoned on a par with the Beatles, the Stones, and the Who. Like those bands, the Animals had strong roots in blues and R&B, but, in their original incarnation, they stayed closer to those roots than their peers did. This definitive compilation, masterfully assembled by the ABKCO think tank of Teri Landi and Jody Klein, shows the tough, uncompromising use to which the Animals put their American influences. John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" is recast as a raw garage rocker glazed with Alan Price's sinister organ riffs, and the aforementioned "House of the Rising Sun" is transformed from a traditional folk lament to an urgent, ominous piece of churning tumult.

Of course, the group skillfully expanded those roots (with the help of some great writers), and turned out some classic working-class-rebel anthems ("We Gotta Get Out of This Place," "It's My Life"). By '67, the original lineup disbanded, and Eric Burdon led a new batch of Animals into a psychedelic West Coast sound ("San Franciscan Nights," "Monterey"). The Animals may not be given pride of place in the rock history books, but RETROSPECTIVE shows that they fully deserve it.

  50 Greatest Love Songs CD
  by Elvis Presley
Our Price: $25.39 CD
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When will the onslaught of Elvis Presley repackaging end? This is the question even the most obsessive Elvis collectors have been asking themselves ever since the king's death. Apparently, as the intervening decades have shown, the answer is never. So those who admire the man's work might as well sit back and enjoy the seemingly endless parade of new clothes adorning the royal catalog. A collection of Elvis's love songs is hardly a new spin, but a compilation this extensive (the titular 50 tunes take up two full discs) is an impressive turn of events.

Those who long for the rockabilly rebel of the Sun Records era should look elsewhere, but anyone entranced by Elvis's way with a romantic ballad will be in heaven upon experienced the abundance of riches here. From the milestone "Suspicious Minds" to the Kris Kristofferson evergreen "For the Good Times," this set runs the romantic gamut with considerable aplomb.

Definitive collection of the greatest love songs ever recorded by Elvis.