VARIOUS ARTISTS The Golden Archives Series (Rhino)

Why does a reissue get reissued? To get remastered for better sound and remarketed for better sales, presumably. At least that seems to be the case for these eight Rhino reissues. Six of these bands were contemporaries of the now-famous-again Monkees, so you can hear why many of us thought of the Monkees as just another group on the radio at the time. There’s the Beau Brummels, notable folk-rock pioneers; and the Turtles, probably the closest to the Monkees in terms of pop sensibilities and use of outside material. There’s the Bobby Fuller 4, who updated Buddy Holly’s sound for the mid-’60s, and the Standells, who took Them and the Animals out to the garage for good. For a bit more soul, there’s the Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve Winwood as a teenager high on Ray Charles, and Love, with the brilliant (for a while) songs and singing of Arthur Lee. The other two packages stretch back a little further: the alwayswelcome Everly Bros, and first-generation Chicano rocker Richie Valens, who’ll get his chance at posthumous stardom when his film bio comes out later this year. These all clicked the first time around; now it’s your choice to decide which ones will remain influential in the ’80s. M.D.