Album Review: The Great NZ Songbook Volume 2

<i>The Great New Zealand Songbook Volume 2</i> cover. Image / Supplied

Rating: 3/5
Verdict: High-calibre local jukebox ammo

Having got the more obvious enduring local anthems out of the way in last year's first collection, this sequel to the runaway sales' success has its work cut out.

Especially when it comes to the second "this century" disc where the jury might be out on whether the likes of Gin Wigmore's Oh My, J. Williams' You Got Me, Midnight Youth's All On Our Own or Dane Rumble's Cruel among others are classics or just good chart ideas at the time.

Still it's fairly up to the minute with the likes of Kids of 88's My House and Lawrence Arabia's Apple Pie Bed among earlier hits from the noughties.

Meanwhile, the first "last century" disc is a gem-ridden jukebox, with the majority of its songs deserving inclusion and coming nicely bookended by Patea Maori Club's Poi E and Max Merritt & the Meteors's Slippin' Away.

Though, other than Ray Columbus & the Invaders' She's a Mod (which was a cover) the compilers of both volumes believe that nothing much happened before 1975. Also that the likes of Hello Sailor and Dragon had one significant song apiece.

Getting permissions for such a compilation must be a fraught business - and might explain the absence of Herbs other than as the voices behind Dave Dobbyn's Slice of Heaven on Volume One.

While the premium edition, with its journal of handwritten lyrics and artist memorabilia, undoubtedly helps decide the choices on the basic but still neatly configured double CD version too.

-TimeOut