A couple weeks ago I posted a review of Arista: A 15 Year History of Rock (you can read it here) and said I had another Arista anthology around here somewhere. I found 25 Years of #1 Hits: Arista and I also found Atlantic Records: 50 Years.
Arista: A 15 Year History of Rock was a mediocre collection of hits. My favorite song on 25 Years of #1 Hits: Arista is Annie Lennox’s haunting “Why.” I love everything Sarah McLachlan sings. It’s hard to believe “A Rose is Still a Rose” was a #1 hit.
Whitney Houston’s “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay” dominated the local radio stations back in 1999. Houston won the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for this song.
Atlantic Records: 50 Years is a much superior compilation of songs. From Sixties classics like Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” to Seventies songs like The Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar” to Eighties songs like “Stop Dragging’ My Hear Around” by Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty these 2 CDs are full of hits most of us will recognize. Clearly Atlantic Records outperforms Arista!
How many of these songs do you remember? Any favorites here? GRADES: ARISTA: C, ATLANTIC: A
| 1 | Santana– | Maria Maria (Spanglish Version) | 4:17 |
| 2 | Whitney Houston– | It’s Not Right But It’s Okay (Club 69 Mix) Remix – Club 69 | 4:19 |
| 3 | Annie Lennox– | Why | 4:54 |
| 4 | Sarah McLachlan– | Adia (Live) | 3:55 |
| 5 | Aretha Franklin– | A Rose Is Still A Rose (Love To Infinity Rhythm Mix) Remix – Love To Infinity | 4:01 |
| 6 | Monica– | For You I Will (Exclusive Live Track) | 4:01 |
| 7 | LFO*– | Summer Girls (Exclusive Live Track) | 3:21 |
| 8 | Deborah Cox– | Nobody’s Supposed To Be Here (Exclusive Live Track) | 3:51 |
| 9 | Westlife– | Swear It Again (Exclusive Live Track) | 2:57 |
| 1-1 | The Coasters– | Yakety Yak | 1:50 |
| 1-2 | Ray Charles– | What’d I Say | 6:28 |
| 1-3 | Bobby Darin– | Mack The Knife | 3:06 |
| 1-4 | Ben E. King– | Stand By Me | 2:55 |
| 1-5 | Wilson Pickett– | In The Midnight Hour | 2:38 |
| 1-6 | Sonny & Cher– | I Got You Babe | 3:09 |
| 1-7 | Percy Sledge– | When A Man Loves A Woman | 2:52 |
| 1-8 | Aretha Franklin– | Respect | 2:23 |
| 1-9 | Sam & Dave– | Soul Man | 2:41 |
| 1-10 | Otis Redding– | (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay | 2:41 |
| 1-11 | Cream (2)– | Sunshine Of Your Love | 4:12 |
| 1-12 | Crosby, Stills & Nash– | Suite: Judy Blue Eyes | 7:25 |
| 1-13 | Led Zeppelin– | Whole Lotta Love | 6:09 |
| 1-14 | The Rolling Stones– | Brown Sugar | 3:49 |
| 2-1 | Derek & The Dominos– | Layla | 7:06 |
| 2-2 | Yes– | Roundabout | 8:31 |
| 2-3 | Chic– | Le Freak | 3:34 |
| 2-4 | Sister Sledge– | We Are Family | 3:35 |
| 2-5 | Stevie Nicks With Tom Petty– | Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around | 4:02 |
| 2-6 | Phil Collins– | In The Air Tonight | 4:58 |
| 2-7 | Foreigner– | I Want To Know What Love Is | 5:04 |
| 2-8 | Bette Midler– | Wind Beneath My Wings | 4:19 |
| 2-9 | Tori Amos– | Silent All These Years | 4:12 |
| 2-10 | Brandy (2)– | Baby | 5:13 |
| 2-11 | Hootie & The Blowfish– | Hold My Hand | 4:16 |
| 2-12 | Jewel– | Who Will Save Your Soul | 4:03 |
Looking at the Arista album, I’m channeling Dany glover in the LETHAL WEAPON films: “I’m too old for this [stuff].”
The Atlantic set is much better. The first album is pure gold, and I recognize half the songs on the second. Maybe I’m not too old for some of this [stuff].
Jerry, I bought a fair share of Atlantic records–vinyl and CDs–over the years. Arista is another story…
Oldster that I am, I don’t recognize any of the Arista tracks. The Atlantic CD has several nostalgic favourites from my high school and college days–Sonny & Cher, Sam & Dave, Otis, CSN, Derek & the Dominoes. If you know where to find a Time Machine to go back to 1965-71 and escape Trump II, I’ll buy a ticket. If there is a god, I’ll never hear any Hootie & the Blowfish ever again.
Fred, I think a lot of us would like to take a Time Machine back to 1965-1971 and escape Trump II!
Yes, but much of the Nixon Era had its own lack of charm.
Years ago, when I had all vinyl records, I had THE ATLANTIC SOUL YEARS 1948-1973, a collection from their first 25 years. La Vern Baker, Brook Benton, The Bobbettes, Booker-T & the MGs, Ruth Brown, Solomon Burke, Clarence Carter, Ray Charles, The Chords, The Clovers, The Coasters, The Drifters, King Floyd, Arentha, Ivory Joe Hunter, Wilson Picket, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Percy Sledge, The Spinners, Joe Tex, Big Joe Turner, Chuck Willis Betty Wright, Sticks McGee.
Now that was music. I think the liner notes had Jerry Wexler talking about various records.
Of the current choices, the Atlantic is the pick, obviously. I think 7 of the songs were on my collection too.
Jeff, THE ATLANTIC SOUL YEARS 1948-1973 is a classic! I might have it around here somewhere. What I miss with most contemporary CDs is informative liner notes. Most of them are just photos and hype.
Well…get the audiophile collections and the non-budget packages, George! They usually have/had booklets full of small type…
Todd, I do buy audiophile collections and the non-budge packages, but the quality of the booklets is variable.
I do have it on vinyl still.
Todd, I own very little vinyl. I sold my 1000 vinyl records in the early 1980s when I made the shift to CDs.
I never saw any need to do so. Particularly since a lot of what I had on vinyl didn’t immediately come out on CD…or ever.
Todd, Diane is always “suggesting” I get rid of stuff–books, CDs, vinyl records, etc. Right now, I’m up to almost 3000 books dispatched in 2024. Thousands to go…
Lots of music I recognize on here.
Patti, I love the music of the Atlantic Records era.
Totally agree with Fred and Jeff!
So many fond memories re Atlantic records from my time at school in the 50s – and listening to them on AFN (American Forces Network) while German radio stations only played Kitsch.
I’ve surely written already about What’d I Say being the first record I bought – Those were the days …
Wolf, Atlantic Records goes way back into the Past. But their music lives on!
No doubt as to the superiority of the Atlantic collection. There’s a really good documentary about Arif Mardin, co-founder of Atlantic Records. I highly recommend it if you can find it.
Deb, I’ll look for that Arif Mardin documentary! Thanks for the suggestion!
The history of the Erdegun family is also really interesting, just to read about them on wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmet_Ertegun
The political career of his father and how he and his older brother decided to stay in the USA – unbelievable!
Given how Everythong went, the Ertegun Bros. made the right choice.
Thing is, while Arista might’ve had more disposable pop in the ’70s and certainly the ’80s than Atlantic did if we dig back into the late ’50s, Atlantic was mostly de-emphasizing jazz by the ’70s, and Arista was doing some wonder albums in that direction. Happily, some Bestselling artists could still have their records released by Atlantic, such as the Modern Jazz Quartet, but a whole lot of the major innovators of the ’70s into the ’80s, from Anthony Braxton on over, were on Arista.
Todd, Arista had a serious JAZZ presence for some of its history. It faded as pop became the big money maker.
Pop always made more money that jazz during Arista’s existence, George.
Todd, JAZZ was a loss leader for Arista…until management decided to stop recording and selling it.