Instro Hipsters A Go-Go! enters an already oversaturated market of thematically based beat, mod, psych, and garage box sets. The organizing principle behind this one (at, oof, 128 tracks) is instrumental music from the '60s and '70s. What does this mean? Five discs of B-movie car-chase or drug-romp music marked by — in order of frequency — vamping Hammond organs, swinging horns, blissfully fuzzed guitars, humorous rim shots, and a few ooohs and aaahs for sex appeal.
Is it all good? Well, yes! And the compilers provide a wide swath of styles — blatant popsters Dave Clark Five and Herman's Hermits rub up against Les Yper Sound, who boast the avant-garde composer and musique concrète originator Pierre Henry as one of their members.
Do you need five discs of this? No, but when you rip them, the fantastic liner notes will make up for the suck on your hard drive. Most of the bands here had more than a few full albums, and the good-sized bios and discographies will lead the non-collector in the direction of some new sounds, not to mention some awesome band names — Wynder K. Frog ended up being my favorite.
