Festival Records commemorates the 50th anniversary of Normie Rowe's first single with 'Frenzy! The 50th Anniversary Collection - a 30-song soundtrack of Normie's frenzy-filled 1965-1968 period. The collection features all his early hits and more, remastered and sounding better than ever.

Normie Rowe was Australia’s biggest music star of the ‘60s. From 1965 to 1968, he was all over the radio, TV and press. The word “frenzy” sums up what was going on around Normie during those 3 years; the innocent fun of teen hysteria, the power of pop music and the social changes that were taking place around the world. And the draft; famously Normie was called up in early ’68, and was in Vietnam by January 1969.

In the telling of this story, one thing is often overlooked, and that is the sheer quality of the records that Normie made during this period. From the tough, dramatic and powerful early Melbourne recordings like “It Ain’t Necessarily So” and subsequent singles like “(I) Who Have Nothing”, “Que Sera Sera” and “Shakin’ All Over”, through to the superbly arranged and sung tracks he recorded in London in ’66 and ‘67 (with session musicians like Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones no less - what other Aussie can claim that?) like later hits like “Ooh La La” and “It’s Not Easy”, Normie’s pop, R&B and Soul-encompassing body of work is as strong as that of any other Australian of the era. And on this new collection it sounds better than ever, thanks to the remastering work of Aztec Records’ Gil Matthews.