Forget about whether you've ever even heard of Transatlantic Records, and just be prepared to be delighted and surprised at almost every turn by this four-CD, 86-song set, whether one's interest lies in folk, rock, blues, or even comedy. It's not entirely surprising that a collection of the label's work would stand up this well -- starting out in 1961 with a series of entertaining (and totally groundbreaking) records dealing with sex education, Transatlantic went on over the next 16 years to provide early (and often first) recording opportunities for such figures as folk guitar legends Bert Jansch and John Renbourn and their group the Pentangle, fiddler Dave Swarbrick, Chilean folksinger Victor Jara, Alexis Korner's band Blues Incorporated, singer-songwriters Alan Hull and Ralph McTell, Irish folk band the Dubliners, comedian-vocalist Billy Connolly, 1970s pop-rock star Gerry Rafferty, and the power-pop trio Metro. They're all represented here, along with such more localized (but often equally worthy) music talent as Isla Cameron, Sheila Hancock, John James, Harvey Andrews, Sweeney's Men, Contraband, Decameron, and Andrew Cronshaw, and more rock-oriented bands like the Deviants, Skin Alley (an Atomic Rooster off-shoot act), Jody Grind, and the Purple Gang (who might have been a skiffle band), in a surprisingly well-thought-out cross-section of the company's activities. The fourth disc, given over to Transatlantic's harder-sounding acts, including the company's ventures into art-rock (Phillip Swern), heavy metal (Peter Bardens) and blues-rock (Jody Grind), will be the one that most impresses British rock listeners, who may find some sounds here that never made it across the Atlantic or that haven't been heard since the early 1970s. The label rivaled such EMI imprints as Parlophone, Harvest, and Regal Zonophone for diversity and quality, with acts like Peter Bardens (post-Cheynes but pre-Camel), Sallyangie (featuring Mike Oldfield and his sister Sally Oldfield), Circus (featuring Mel Collins in his pre-King Crimson period), Stray (a premature punk-rock outfit who went on to a 30-year career), Gryphon, and Metro. One also gets to hear the harder-sounding songs of acts like the Pentangle ("I Saw an Angel") and Ralph McTell ("Summer Come Along"). There isn't a track on the entire set that isn't worth hearing, however -- the folk-based material obviously gets ¾ of the set almost unchallenged, but everything there is also entertaining and significant as representations of the talent of their makers, and quite a few tracks -- even by figures who are familiar in other guises, such as Gerry Rafferty -- will surprise the listener. The mix of folk, rock (including folk-rock, power-pop, blues-rock, etc.), blues, jazz, and comedy is about as lively as any multi-artist assembly of which one could conceive; the quality is uniformly first-rate, and the annotation is well written, including full explanations (amazingly considerate on the part of the producers) for which artists aren't included here and why they're absent. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide