The Rokes were Brits who went to Italy in 1963 and became one of the biggest bands in the land for the rest of the decade. They chalked up numerous Italian language hits and recorded four albums as well as becoming an enormous live draw and TV favourites.However, scattered across those albums were a number of English language songs that somehow came off sounding like a Euro-tinged blend of The Beatles, Hollies, Kinks and Pretty Things. In ’67, The Rokes released the first English language version of ‘Let’s Live For Today’, a song they’d already cut in Italian. It went on to become a huge US hit in the hands of The Grass Roots and was covered by scores of bands. Rollicking beat gems like ‘No No No’ and ‘Ride On’ slowly morphed into more sophisticated fayre such as the sitar-drenched ‘Ripe Apples’ and the sinister psychedelic rocker ‘When The Wind Arises’, both of which were released in the UK in a belated attempt to break them here. Here, for the first time on CD, are virtually all of The Rokes’ English language recordings from 1966 to 1968.
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