Unlike many garage rock compilations, the Back from the Grave series focuses exclusively on the rawer and more aggressive side of the genre.

As a result, the albums are primarily populated by louder songs that are characterized by fuzztone guitars, rough vocals, and are clearly influenced by groups such as the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, the early Kinks, and the Pretty Things.

[2] The liner notes are also notable for their distinctive style – they tend to be highly enthusiastic, full of intentional spelling errors and slang, humorous asides and tangents.

Though it takes a much narrower approach to the genre, the tracks compiled on its ten volumes are considered to be of exceptionally high quality throughout.

Each of these CDs contain either one or two LPs worth of material on one disc and correspond more closely to the original LP series, however there are differences.