Love is the song we sing By: Lezah WIlliamson

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It was Dave's birthday last month, but we didn't see his friend David until this last Saturday. Turns out that David gave Dave (aside: all Dave's friend's are either named Ian or David - it can get quite confusing, at times) a boxed CD set for his birthday. But it wasn't just any boxed set, oh no: this was the San Francisco Nuggets (1965-1970) various artists 4 cd boxed set entitled Love is the Song we Sing. (Image from www.rhino.com)

Love is the Song we Sing is the 4th Nuggets boxed set from Rhino. But it is so much more than just a boxed set, too: there is a book with writers such as Ben Fong-Torres, Alec Palao and Rock Scully; there is a fantastic, wild collection of photos from the era; there is a history of the art of Ron Nagle (think of those bubble letter rock posters from the '60s and you'll know what I'm talking about). And then of course, there's the music.

This is a various artists collection, with a lot of the better known bands of the time (The Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, etc.), some of the one-hit wonders of the time (Count Five), some early incarnation bands (The Great! Society - Grace's Slick's first band), and some great groups you've never heard of. I guess that's another wonderful thing about regional compilations like this: some of those bands that were on the brink of being lost into the seeds of time are brought forward. There are bands like The Harbinger Complex (when Dave asked, "Where did they get a name like that?", a friend quipped, "College"), and The Charlatans, who started the whole movement. Fortunately, there are lots of pictures of The Charlatans (who look tres cool), as they were more about the whole package than just solely about the music.

And I guess that's part of the beauty of this boxed set, because you do, indeed, get the whole package - the music, the art, the pictures, the history. It's almost as good as actually being there...