Nothing soothes the soul better than a return to a time where Rock music was in its infancy. And while we can't physically go back to such a rewarding time (and I wish that we could, if only to enjoy the rise of Rock yet another time), we can revel in it in other ways.

Reelin' In the Years Productions has started a new DVD series called British Invasion that wades deeply into the waters of those bygone years when all of those great bands from the UK captured our rapt attention after arrival on American shores to gain a new audience. Were these audience seekers successful? Very!

There are four separately available DVDs that showcase TV performances from these four great and memorable bands and artists that include Dusty Springfield, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, and Small Faces. The Box set adds a Bonus DVD with an additional 2.5 hours of footage and interviews that is not available separately as the others are.

Dusty Springfield ~ Once Upon A Time 1964-1969:

This DVD features the "White Queen of Soul" and a large selection of her hits such as "I Only Want To Be With You," "her popular "Son of a Preacher Man," "Wishin' and Hopin'," and 14 more video performance tracks along with interview segments that precede the songs. The performances are culled from a wide variety of sources such as The Ed Sullivan Show, Shivaree, Frost On Sunday, NME Poll Winners Concert, Bandstand, and a few other TV clips. If you're a fan, you know these songs. You want these songs.

Gerry & The Pacemakers ~ It's Gonna Be All Right 1963-1965:

Best known for their "Ferry Cross The Mersey," Gery & The Pacemakers offered up a frenzy all of their own. These four lads from England gave us a nice batch of songs that we all remember well including "You'll Never Walk Alone," "How Do You Do It?," It's Gonna Be Alright," "I Like It," and other top charters. This DVD puts together clips from shows like Popspot, The Ed Sullivan Show, a very cool Hullabaloo perfromance of "I'll Be There," a Beat Club (Germany) performance of "Dizzy Miss Lizzy," and "I'm the One" from a NME Poll Winners Concert (1964). This is quite an enjoyable disc.

Herman's Hermits~Listen People 1964-1969:

The opening performance of this set is amazing. Beginning with a short recollection of an event that coupled Peter Noone with a band (you 'll be surprised at how YOUNG Peter looks), you get a rare look at the beginning of a highly successful Top 40 Pop band with "Fortune Teller" performed at The Cavern Club in 1964. After this, you're treated to many memorable top hits like "I'm Into Something Good," "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat," "Silhouettes," "Listen People," "There's a Kind of Hush," and much more than these. There are interviews as well as a 24-minute Australian TV performance set. This DVD offers up a solid 22 performances from such television as Hilton Show, The Ed Sullivan Show (that guy had them all, didn't he?!), Bandstand, the NME Poll Winners Concert (1965), and Pop Gear, plus more. A winner!

Small Faces~All Or Nothing 1965-1968:

I saved my favorite of the set for last. It's no secret of my love for Small Faces (Marriott), which morphed into Faces with the addition of Ron Wood, and Rod Stewart. This collection of 27 frenzied performance videos are what fans like myself long for. Coupled with interviews with the incomparable Ian McLagen, and drummer Kenney Jones, along with archived interviews with the late (and great) Steve Marriott, and the greatly missed Ronnie Lane, songs like their well-known "Itchycoo Park," and classic standards like "Sha La La La Lee," "Ogden Nut Gone Flake," "All or Nothing," make this set wonderful. Small Faces were above the rest as early as 1965. They performed at extraordinary levels not approached yet by many bands. Steve Marriott's vocals and his complete giving over to his art is a sight to see. And on this set you can see it plenty. The Bonus feature offers all videos without interviews and adds four songs. It doesn't get better.

The 4:3 video on these DVDs for most of these archived clips are beautifully cleaned up, some with nary a scratch on the old film. The sound is equally great with mixes that are in Dolby Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 (for those that like surround). Menus allow for play by individual tracks or a "Play All" feature without interviews.

In reality, this collection of video performances are extraordinary. The chest top has barely been lifted. This Box and separately available DVDs have scrubbed and assembled some important footage along with crammed booklets that provide essays, notes, credits, photos, and pages of memorabilia from the eras. Wait until more bands and artists arrive in this desirable series that gives us a video wormhole back to the past. Next up will be Pretty Things, The Hollies, and Manfred Mann, which are expected in the Fall 2010

On a personal note, I am in love with this set and anxiously await future sets. The ability to revisit these artists at their peaks is more than a fun event, it's a bit emotional as well. Frankly, I can't recommend them enough. The Box supplies the Bonus disc that offers up nine more Dusty Springfield performances as well as seven additional Herman's Hermits performance videos. In addition, the Bonus disc provides over 90 minutes of additional interviews with members from all four represented artists.

Get this one!