The Boat That Rocked - OST

The Boat That Rocked does for 60s music and flared trousers what When We Were Kings did for "The Rumble in the Jungle", ie. it makes you wish you were there. Written and directed by Richard Curtis, who was also responsible for Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love, Actually, there is a notable British groovy vibe about this stellar 2CD collection. Even if weren’t old or sober enough to have any memories of this period, the songs here will still hit you with that reassuring flash of recognition.

Don't be alarmed that 20-something newcomer Duffy kicks things off with "Stay With Me Baby". Everyone knows she found her way to the 21st century from '66 via Marty McFly's Delorean, so that explains that. Elsewhere, generous helpings of The Kinks, Cat Stevens, The Who and Cream offer irrefutable proof that the British understood rock 'n roll a little better than those across the pond.

But when The Beach Boys' "Wouldn't It Be Nice" pops up, followed by Smokey Robinson, Herb Alpert and Otis Redding, you realise that the Americans probably had the surest way with drama and bottom-of-the-barrel, raw emotion.

The ladies of the era could've been better represented, with only Martha Reeves, The Supremes and Duffy's 'twin sister' Dusty Springfield weighing in. The warm, druggy psychedelic good times are here too. Tommy James & The Shondells "Crimson and Clover", Jimi Hendrix's "The Wind Cries Mary", and Procol Harum's "Nights in White Satin" all make you long for a time gone by. As Curtis says in the soundtrack's liner notes, the best days of pop music are not necessarily behind us, but their successors sure are harder to find.