The Prisoners - "Hurricane, The Best of The Prisoners" (CD, Big Beat - 2004)

The Prisoners were among the best (if not THEE best) European garage outfits of the last 25 years or so, period! And if this post would have to end for some reason on the previous quote, it would have been as well completed and justice given!
Really now, I don't know what else to say about them except of the same old cliché that luck was never on their side, as in (m)any of the cult heroes in the history of rock & roll... And that many of the 90s Britpop heroes had them as an obvious blueprint and icons. The Charlatans, The Stone Roses, The Inspiral Carpets, The Shed Seven and The Ocean Color Scene are for sure some among them. None of them though had the guts and the gusto The Prisoners had. I mean, look at The Strypes... Are they an imitation of a lower quality or what?! OK they're not, actually they're quite good but I had to abuse a little the current trends, you know...
Heavy influenced by the Pretty Things of the "Emotions" era and the Kinks (of course!) with a nice ad of Booker T & the MG's, were as much mods as garage revivalists.  Great songwriting skills, danceable rhythm section, raw sounding guitars and heavy Hammond grooves are (in) the Prisoners' DNA. And Graham Day's one of the best and most faithful Marriott students ever. There's a whole lotta soul in here, I'm not joking. These guys really knew where to look for inspiration in the midst of a decade full of bad taste. And as usual Ace/Big Beat guys, did a hell of a good job with this cause that's indeed band's "finest moments all wrapped up on a single CD". Forget Paul Weller, this is still Britain's best kept secret, this is the real shit! Then came the Prime Movers and the James Taylor Quartet...

Pic taken from Ace website