- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Subtitled “The Roots of Mod”, Pebbles, Volume Six mostly collects obscure and raw rhythm and blues songs from the British Invasion era.
Pebbles, Volume Six (Various Artists) (1979): Except for a handful of stray tracks, Pebbles, Volume Six is the only album in the Pebbles series that features British music. Subtitled “The Roots of Mod”, Pebbles, Volume Six mostly collects obscure and raw rhythm and blues songs from the British Invasion era. In the early days, English musicians typically recorded American R&B songs rather than writing their own material, and that is true of most if not all of the songs on Pebbles, Volume Six. The Fairies is the first band to get three songs on a Pebbles album, and they are among the fiercest English bands of the period. The Fairies included Twink in the lineup; he later recorded with Tomorrow, the Pretty Things, and the Pink Fairies. However, the latter Is not “sheer coincidence” as mentioned in the liner notes – Twink is actually a founding member of the Pink Fairies. All of these songs are classics, particularly the Isley Brothers song “Respectable” by the Cheynes, “Leave My Kitten Alone” by the First Gear (“Leave My Kitten Alone” was also recorded by the Beatles and is one of my favorite songs in the Beatles Anthology I collection), the Bo Diddley classics “Here ’Tis” by the Betterdays and “Bring it to Jerome” by David John and the Mood, “Bowie Man” by the Wild Ones, “Road Block” by the Wheels, “I’m a Hog for You” by Erkey Grant and the Eerwigs, and “Spoonful” by the Rats, with “Spoonful” later becoming one of my favorite songs by Cream. When it was reissued on CD in 1996, Pebbles, Volume Six was renamed English Freakbeat, Volume Six, since the five earlier albums in the English Freakbeat series had similar music.