Decade 1967-1976

The amazingly talented Lulu finally gets a CD box set of much of her catalog. It contains most of her 1967-1976 released recordings. I've always loved her since seeing her in the film To Sir With Love. There's many highlights of her career on this box set retrospective. Her many hits, which were in the US, UK and other countries show what a great vocalist Lulu is, whether belting out a rock or soul song, or singing a ballad. There are 6 complete albums , and a nearly equal amount of singles and rarities here. The box is like a book, measuring approximately 5 x 8 inches in size, with liner notes, photos & picture sleeve reproductions. The 5 CD's are in slots on a page each. I have used a cloth to get them out as they are kind of tight in each page slot. Sound quality is very good, and I only detect a vinyl transfer on one of the Boom Bang-A-Bang foreign versions [ Spanish }. This set is great to have, though it does arrive after almost everything in this set has previously been released on CD several times throughout the past couple of decades. It covers her EPIC, ATCO, RCA and CHELSEA albums. I had almost every song on here from previous Lulu CD reissues . One of the big draws for me is better sound quality for the 1969 Eurovision contest songs that Lulu recorded. There are 4 German language tracks , which are very rare, and did not have on CD before. Unfortunately, there are not any English language versions of these songs. There are also 4 foreign versions of that winning Eurovision song, Boom Bang-A-Bang , which was a big hit many countries, but never released in the US. Lulu has stated she doesn't even like the song. What is NOT on this CD are : her 1964-1966 Decca label recordings, which are available on other releases. Two big omissions from 1967 are 2 songs that Lulu sang in TO SIR WITH LOVE. The long version of that song with an extra verse that is not on the #1 single, and the rockin' STEALING MY LOVE FROM ME are not included. This is really a bad point, as the only CD to contain these songs is the now out of print soundtrack CD , that goes for quite a price now. Also, as the title says, this set stops at 1976. Ironically, as the bulk of this box set has been issued on CD several times already, it is some of Lulu's late 70's through 80's and beyond that has not been released on CD. These include 3 full albums that have never seen CD release. They are 1978's DON' TAKE LOVE FOR GRANTED, an excellent album on Elton John's Rocket Records label, and 2 albums that she recorded for the Alfa label: her 1981 hit album LULU [ that contains her US hit I COULD NEVER MISS YOU [ MORE THAN I DO ], and also the Grammy nominated WHO'S FOOLIN' WHO ] and the UK release TAKE ME TO YOUR HEART AGAIN. There are also various singles and guest appearance tracks from this time frame as well. I do hope that Edsel , who released this box set, will follow up with another box set featuring these much wanted albums on CD. But I do highly recommend this LULU DECADE 1967-1976 box set. It's an amazing set to have all of this material in one box. Also, the copy that I ordered from amazon itself came with an autographed photo by Lulu herself. Nice incentive there.

When you buy this 5 CD set, you will get those three CD releases rolled into one package along with four German singles which were absent from the "Atco Sessions 1968- 1972" double CD. Also included is the 2017 Twofer of Lulu +Heaven and Earth And The Stars. If you already own those three releases from EMI, Warner and Edcil, there is no need to buy this release unless you are a completest who has to have the missing German singles. Volume varies between discs because they are not newly remastered. They are just exact copies of the CD releases that comprise this set. I hate the pockets that house discs 1 and 5. They are glued to the backs of the hard covers and are near impossible to remove without scratching. There is a hole for your fingers, but those discs fit too tight. I wasted a whole month stuffing around with Virgin Airline just for four German singles that were missing from "The Atco Years" double CD. If you have absolutely no Lulu, pick this up. This works out to be cheaper than buying those double CD's and the twofer separately as they are all out of print.

Lulu has done a lot of label hopping during her fantastic career and this project involves three of them, between 1967-76. I’m not sure why they didn’t include her earlier Decca period-but no matter as that material is readily available on other collections as is a lot of this material. This set covers her time with Columbia (EMI), Atco/Atlantic and Chelsea labels. So, amongst the hits are “The Boat That I Row”, “Boom Bang A Bang”, “Oh Me Oh My” and “The Man Who Sold The World”. The packaging is exquisite, with lots of photos and detailed sleeve notes also including her career before and after the decade it covers. For die hard fans it needs this as most of the material has been available on other CD collections over a period of time and they will no doubt have bought it. On the other side of the coin, it’s splendid for new fans. Almost all of the Mickie Most /EMI material has been fully exploited in the past with the exception of the Spanish version of “Boom Bang A Bang”. All of her recordings with Chelsea are currently available on other sets. The Fourth CD in this set, which covers Atco singles and rarities is likely to be the one of most interest to long term fans. It includes some recordings in the German language and one or two others that they might not have on CD. After the period this covers Lulu switched to a number of other record labels and in the case of GTO only recorded one single. I think her fans would really like it if all of those recordings (including some she did with Jools Holland) were gathered together on a CD, but that might be complicated with the number of labels involved. Despite having most of the material, I’m sure, like me, most fans will regard this to be a ‘must have’ because of the way the set has been caringly put together and presented.

Let's pretend we are back in the 60's and 70's when we were blessed to have such great female singers Cilla, Dusty and Sandie and not forgetting the lovely LULU. I am almost 63 and have started to go back to the music of my youth. Obviously the Beatles and Roy Orbison are amongst the greats and I always enjoyed the pure pop sounds of our UK ladies who we are all proud of. Never owned an album by LULU but this 5 CD set is a treasure of some of the most memorable popular songs of the time. The albums 'New Routes' & 'Melody Fair' are pure gems that I missed out on. So happy I bought this box set. Always loved Lulu's version of 'The Man Who Sold The World'. Now after hearing this excellent music I have just ordered 'The Decca Years' and 'Greatest Hits' with the DVD. So much on these releases to admire. Superb sound quality and the inside booklet has some beautiful photos and pictures of the record sleeves. I am so pleased my teenage years were during the sixties and my early 20's spent during the sensational 70's. Two fantastic decades of music that played a big part of my life. Lulu helps brings back some wonderful memories. As the title of one of the songs included here 'Funny How Times Slips Away'. Treat yourself to this box of pleasure. Thanks LULU

I never thought we would see a Lulu box set as she recorded for so many labels.This set covers her years at Columbia,Atco and Chelsea and includes everything she recorded for those labels with the Atco tracks being the best. It's a great shame that her stay with Rocket Records and Alfa Records couldn't have been included as these have yet to get a cd release. Lots of pics and a good write up makes this a worthwhile purchase.

My husband is a great Lulu fan and loved the box set