Various Artists - 'Word: Compiled by Cherrystones' (Poptones) Released 23/10/06

There are two ways to compile mix CDs. You could pick the most obvious tunes from a handful of well-known artists, slap on a celebrity endorsement and watch the proceeds pour in. Gareth Goddard, as Cherrystones is known when not wading waist-deep in vinyl, opts for the more toil-intensive approach, spending aeons browsing through piles of musty platters, the majority of them filled with unspeakable crimes against good taste, in order to unearth unjustly overlooked gems. Such is the obscurity of his discoveries that if you've heard of more than one act included here you're most likely either Cherrystones' colleague, or you've already received your Phd in music geek-dom, along with the complimentary anorak.

Some of these 16 tracks have admittedly ended up neglected in charity shop record racks for a valid reason. Take Brainbox's babylonian portrait of the Dutch capital on 'Amsterdam - The First Days' as an example. Stretched across an entire album, their sub-Hendrix psych-warble and testosterone-drenched barking from an era when even bass players could count on ample solo slots, Marshall stacks rivaled the height of skyscrapers and adding 'man' to every utterance was a must for anyone with musicianly aspirations would amount to cruel and unusually clumsy punishment. Cherrystones' talent is in realising that what might be irredeemably pants in large portions can be supremely enjoyable, even exhilarating in carefully calibrated smaller doses, a wise judgement that also applies to the rare blend of prog and salsa on Fusioon's 'Farsa Del Buen Vivir' and Greek rocker George Romanos' 'Mapina', which sounds suspiciously like the first stab at grooviness by the central committee of a drab Eastern Bloc country keen to convince the population that Western decadence, as represented by rock 'n' roll, isn't worth manning the barricades for.

Most of 'Word', however, uncovers genuine buried treasures, with Midnight Circus' 'Forever Changes'-referencing 'Get It', Chrome's scifi-hued, spooky fuzz-fest 'You've Been Duplicated', Kontakt Mikrofoon Orkest's new wave-ish 'Do The Residue', Jacques Dutronc's Gallic giblet of rock 'n' funk 'A La Queue Les Yverlines' and Deviants' ramshackle racket 'You've Got To Hold On' providing particularly electrifying blasts from the murkiest mists of marginality. Plus there's a band called Lard Free on it, who should obviously promptly regroup to cash in on these obesity-obsessed times.

The uncontested highlight is Dead Moon's devastating 'Dead Moon Night'. The only act not engulfed in thick layers of obscurity here thanks to Sub Pop's excellent 'Echoes of the Past' anthology, the trio's stripped-down, luxuriously lo-fi racket ticks all cartoon garage rock boxes - stinging riffs, impassioned wailing, rudimentary rhythms and lyrics located in the nightmarish neighborhood of squeal-inducing Hammer horror films - to create high octane rock 'n' roll thrills well worth the price of admission alone.