The waiting is the hardest part: These two CDs of the Doors in full on May 1st, 1970, open with six minutes of crowd-control announcements and tuning. But with the jump into the grunting-boogie guitar of "Roadhouse Blues," the Doors are immediately in their late glory, showing off the garage soul on the recent Morrison Hotel. Jim Morrison sings like he's drunk on the fire behind him instead of cheap hooch, and the closing shots of Chuck Berry's "Carol" and "Soul Kitchen" are mighty lightning.

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."