Revolutionary Spirit, The Sound Of Liverpool 1976-1988 (Cherry Red Records) **** IN 1973, The Cavern was knocked down to make way for a never-to-be-built ventilation shaft for Liverpool's underground rail network.

Well, that was one way to remove the legacy of The Beatles that hindered Liverpool's musicians in the wake of the Fab Four, Merseybeat having made way for the Merseybeaten generation.

As charted in an excellent introductory essay by Liverpool scenester and broadcaster Bernie Connor, it took the punk attitude, to shake off the spectre of John, Paul, George and Ringo. Enter Deaf School, who book-end the first of five CDs on this 100-track compilation with What A Way To End It All and Don't Stop The World.

Revolutionary Spirit is curated and designed by the excavation team behind Cherry Red's fantastic run of reminiscence, from indie pop's Scared To Get Happy to shoegaze's Still In A Dream; from the indie guide to Manchester – North Of England, 1977 to 1993, to the Goth gravedigging of Silhouettes And Statues.

As before, the box set's book of artist sleeve notes, previously unseen photographs and new essays are vital in telling the back story behind the works of, for example, The Chuddy Nuddies, Attempted Moustache, Those Naughty Lumps, The Turquoise Swimming Baths, Old Ma Cuxsom And The Soapchoppers, Marshmallow Overcoat and Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus.

Crucial to the re-emergence of Liverpool were The Crucial Three, the short-lived three-piece of Julian Cope, Ian McCulloch and Pete Wylie, who could never agree who was the most crucial. Wylie's The Mighty Wah is the one notable absentee from Revolutionary Spirit, but Cope's early psychedelic days in The Teardrop Explodes are represented by the dazzling Sleeping Gas and beauteous When I Dream.

The familiar still strikes hardest, be it McCulloch's swaggering formative deeds with Echo And The Bunnymen, The Pictures On The Wall and, in particular, Rescue, or Orchestral Manoeuvres In Dark's DIY electronica. The La's and The Pale Fountains, Icicle Works and Lotus Eaters, A Flock of Seagulls and China Crisis are all here, so too Big In Japan and Wild Swans, whose cult song bequeathed its name to the box set.

As for that "Revolutionary Spirit" amid the classics, rarities, album tracks and previously unreleased discoveries, it is epitomised by Jegsy Dodd And The Sons Of Harry Cross's state-of-Liverpool paean Always The Bridesmaid.