Michigan had one of the most vital scenes of the 1960s, and while many of the best known Michigan bands came from the psychedelic-era movement that centered around Detroit's (most notably and ), there was already a thriving scene going back to the early years of the decade, and one of the great movers and shakers in Michigan was a guy named . Based in Ann Arbor, managed one of the city's best record stores, booked bands, and launched a record label, , that released classic sides from some of the area's most notable bands. is a fine and long-overdue retrospective of material from the vaults, though the disc cheats a bit as a label overview. Instead of simply collecting releases, compiler has also included material from a number of acts that booked and managed, and while this gives a broader picture of the Ann Arbor/Detroit music scene in the mid-'60s (as well as a more detailed look at the sort of music championed), if you're looking for an accurate history of the label, some of the music here will throw you off the trail. And perhaps the best and best-known tracks on here, by , weren't really released by -- the band's manager, , simply put the label's name and logo on their self-released single! But these minor gripes aside, this is a great sampler of top-notch mid-'60s with the classic Michigan sound and feel. (who later evolved into ) are represented with five songs, and while they weren't much on original material (the spooky is the only group-penned tune here), was one of the best vocalists on the scene and their covers of rock convincingly. land a whopping eight songs on this collection, and while they weren't quite so remarkable to merit so much attention here, they had a sure hand for (not a common thing in Michigan at the time) and are fine stuff. , who later went on to star status backing up , is represented with three tunes by his early group (most notably a solid psych-tinged ballad ) as well as a version of 's that predated their speaker-shattering debut album . , a year away from changing his name to and forming , handles both drums and vocals on ' raw reworking of is nearly as good a summation of the White Panther Party ethos as anything ever waxed. Anyone with a taste for mid-'60s will find plenty of buried treasure on , and it's a must for anyone interested in the history of Midwest music. ~ Mark Deming