An instantly recognizable bargain bin staple since the late '70s, thanks to their colorful comic book covers tracing the romantic life of an Everycouple named and , the series of discs are built on a brilliant concept: each disc is devoted to a single year, with hit songs, local commercials, station jingles, and news headlines all presided over by a noted DJ from the era for a near-perfect re-creation of that year's AM radio experience. stars of in Cleveland, OH, whose genial, almost avuncular delivery makes him sound almost anachronistic, a '50s throwback set in the pivotal year of 1964. Though the album contains no British Invasion hits (oddly, there's not a single British artist on any volume of the series), it's still a varied and exciting program, from the proto- 's classic to 's novelty to the slinkiness of Oddball ads, like a commercial for the American Lamb Council starring , and a weird station promo featuring a child's voice make this one of the more interesting entries in the series in terms of its audio ephemera. ~ Stewart Mason