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The Kirkbys — It's a Crime: The Complete Recordings
(Think Like a Key TLAK1203, 1966/2025, CD)

by Henry Schneider, Published 2025-12-29

It's a Crime: The Complete Recordings Cover art

Think LIke a Key label owner and musician Roger Houdaille (Ex Norwegian) is a huge Jimmy Campbell fan. Jimmy has been a musical inspiration for Roger, as well as for releasing the tribute album by Ex Norwegian & Friends Sing Jimmy Campbell and the 2024 retrospective by The 23rd Turnoff Michael Angelo: The Complete 1967 Recordings. Now Roger is digging further back in time for Jimmy’s earliest recordings with his first band The Panthers and then The Kirkbys for It's a Crime:  The Complete Recordings. However, this time I question the release of this old mediocre material, unless it is there for the purist collector. The first two songs are by The Panthers and the poor fidelity doesn’t helps the lackluster “For You” and their cover of The Coasters’ “Searchin’.” The next twelve songs are a mixture of 60s Brit pop psych, jangle pop, and some rock. The Kirkbys tried to emulate The Beatles, The Kinks, and The Rolling Stones, but without standing out from the crowd. Included in these twelve are six demo tracks that are perhaps better than the final takes. And the album closes with The 23rd Turnoff’s demo of “I’ll Be Round.” Think Like a Key releases are either hits or misses, and unlike the other two albums mentioned above, It's a Crime:  The Complete Recordings is definitely a miss for me.

Filed under: Archives, 2025 releases, 1966 recordings

Related artist(s): The 23rd Turnoff / The Kirkbys

More info
http://www.thinklikeakey.com/release/502430-the-kirkbys-its-a-crime-the-complete-recordings

 

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