This is the strangest set of music compilation CDs I own. If you look at the various Track Lists, you’ll see what I mean. The songs are from various eras of Rock-and-Roll, various styles, some obscure groups, odd choices, and strange combinations of songs/artists. The accompanying documentation goes into some detail about how these songs came about: songwriters, producers, etc.
The “concept” behind this series was to take songs from the Columbia Records and Epic Records vaults and remix and remaster the sound. Several of these songs appear in true stereo for the first time on these discs. The choices seem bizarre to me, but there are some gems here. And, the sound is fabulous! These buffed up songs are all spiffed up for new audiences.
Do you recognize these songs? Any favorites here? GRADE: B+
Tracklist: Volume 1
| 1 | –The Looking Glass* | Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne Written-By – E. Lurie* | 3:24 |
| 2 | –Grin | White Lies Written-By – N. Lofgren* | 3:27 |
| 3 | –Chase (5) | Get It On Written-By – B. Chase*, T. Richards* | 2:59 |
| 4 | –Pacific Gas & Electric | Are You Ready? Written-By – C. Allen*, J. Hill* | 5:46 |
| 5 | –Sweathog | Hallelujah Written-By – G. Zekley*, M. Bottler*, R. Twain* | 2:58 |
| 6 | –Mashmakhan | As The Years Go By Written-By – P. Senecal* | 3:45 |
| 7 | –Chi Coltrane | Thunder And Lightning Written-By – C. Coltrane* | 3:01 |
| 8 | –The Spiral Starecase* | More Today Than Yesterday Written-By – P. Upton* | 2:54 |
| 9 | –Sly & The Family Stone | Hot Fun In The Summertime Written-By – S. Stewart* | 3:03 |
| 10 | –Redbone | Maggie Written-By – L. Vegas* | 5:07 |
| 11 | –Argent | Hold Your Head Up Written-By – C. White*, R. Argent* | 6:16 |
| 12 | –The Spiral Starecase* | No One For Me To Turn To Written-By – P. Upton* | 2:31 |
| 13 | –Keith Barbour | Echo Park Written-By – B. Clifford* | 3:43 |
| 14 | –Christie | Yellow River Written-By – J. Christie* | 2:45 |
| 15 | –Redbone | The Witch Queen Of New Orleans Written-By – L. Vegas*, P. Vegas* | 2:55 |
| 16 | –The Isley Brothers | That Lady Written-By – The Isleys* | 5:02 |
Tracklist: Volume 2
| 1 | –The Addrisi Brothers* | We’ve Got To Get It On Again Written-By – D. Addrisi*, D. Addrisi* | 2:45 |
| 2 | –The Arbors | The Letter Written-By – W.C. Thompson* | 3:30 |
| 3 | –Cymarron | Rings Written-By – A. Harvey*, E. Reeves* | 2:31 |
| 4 | –The Looking Glass* | Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) Written-By – E. Lurie* | 2:55 |
| 5 | –Chicory* | Son Of My Father Written-By – G. Moroder*, M. Holm*, P. Bellotte* | 3:11 |
| 6 | –Clint Holmes | Playground In My Mind Written-By – L. Pockriss*, P. Vance* | 2:54 |
| 7 | –Johnny Nash | Stir It Up Written-By – B. Marley* | 3:02 |
| 8 | –Redbone | Come And Get Your Love Written-By – L. Vegas* | 4:58 |
| 9 | –Albert Hammond | It Never Rains In Southern California Written-By – A. Hammond*, M. Hazlewood* | 3:50 |
| 10 | –Dave Loggins | Please Come To Boston Written-By – D. Loggins* | 4:08 |
| 11 | –Johnny Nash | I Can See Clearly Now Written-By – J. Nash* | 2:43 |
| 12 | –Michael Murphey* | Wildfire Written-By – L. Cansler*, M. Murphey* | 4:48 |
| 13 | –Albert Hammond | I’m A Train Written-By – A. Hammond*, M. Hazlewood* | 3:21 |
| 14 | –Burton Cummings | Stand Tall Written-By – B. Cummings* | 3:43 |
| 15 | –Walter Egan | Magnet And Steel Written-By – W. Egan* | 3:24 |
| 16 | –Paul Davis (3) | I Go Crazy Written-By – P. Davis* | 3:54 |
Tracklist: Volume 3
| 1 | –Derek (3) | Cinnamon | 2:43 |
| 2 | –The Buckinghams | Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song) | 2:48 |
| 3 | –The Cyrkle | Please Don’t Ever Leave Me | 1:57 |
| 4 | –Scott McKenzie | San Francisco | 2:59 |
| 5 | –The Pozo-Seco Singers | I Can Make It With You | 2:17 |
| 6 | –Don & The Goodtimes | I Could Be So Good To You | 3:18 |
| 7 | –Chad & Jeremy | I Don’t Wanna Lose You Baby | 3:07 |
| 8 | –The Tremeloes | Even The Bad Times Are Good | 2:37 |
| 9 | –Lulu | To Sir With Love | 2:44 |
| 10 | –The Buckinghams | Susan | 2:56 |
| 11 | –The Cyrkle | I Wish You Could Be Here | 2:49 |
| 12 | –Scott McKenzie | Like An Old Time Movie | 3:16 |
| 13 | –The Third Rail | Run Run Run | 1:57 |
| 14 | –The Avante-Garde* | Naturally Stoned | 2:12 |
| 15 | –The Clefs Of Lavender Hill* | Stop!-Get A Ticket | 2:22 |
| 16 | –Sagittarius (2) | My World Fell Down | 2:55 |
Tracklist: Volume 4
| 1 | –The Buckinghams | Kind Of A Drag | 2:07 |
| 2 | –The Rip Chords | Three Window Coupe | 1:57 |
| 3 | –Chad & Jeremy | Distant Shores | 2:44 |
| 4 | –Jan & Dean | Yellow Balloon | 2:35 |
| 5 | –The Cryan Shames* | Sugar And Spice | 2:29 |
| 6 | –The Tremeloes | Silence Is Golden | 3:08 |
| 7 | –Lulu | Best Of Both Worlds | 3:02 |
| 8 | –The Buckinghams | Lawdy Miss Clawdy | 2:06 |
| 9 | –Chad & Jeremy | Teenage Failure | 3:27 |
| 10 | –The Cryan Shames* | I Wanna Meet You | 2:06 |
| 11 | –The Arbors | A Symphony For Susan | 2:35 |
| 12 | –Georgie Fame | The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde | 3:10 |
| 13 | –The Union Gap* | Woman Woman | 3:33 |
| 14 | –Lulu | Morning Dew | 2:48 |
| 15 | –Chad* & Jill* | The Cruel War | 3:09 |
| 16 | –Tim Rose | Hey Joe (You Shot Your Woman Down) | 4:52 |
Lot of stuff I don’t know here. Lot of stuff I wish I didn’t know here. Not a single track that I own. I don’t mind Johnny Nash ( reggae lite), Isley Brothers , Sly and the Family Stone, Grin and Tim Rose but a lot of light weight stuff here. Always intensely disliked The Buckinghams, Gary Puckett Scott McKenzie, Lulu, and Redbone.
The Sly Stone track would be my favorite here. Way too heavy on the easy listening side for my tastes. I find a B+ very kind. I would give it a D
Steve, I suppose my B+ was a result of listening to these songs in remixed, remastered sonic quality. I admit I was swayed.
Phew! When you say Forgotten Music you mean it . George.
Jerry, the vaults of Columbia Records and Epic Records held a lot of obscure music.
Finally, a compilation so weird I can’t think of anything to say about it. You probably got this out of a cutout bin for 15 cents or so, but surely the people who put this thing together did so with the idea that people would actually buy it. I wonder who those people are–both the compilers and intended audience.
Michael, I did find three of these volumes in a thrift store. But, I had to search the Internet for Volume 4. I confess, I’m a completist.
As I understand it there are more than one version of these CDs. If you have the ones with extended liner notes, you have true collector gems here. I love compilations like this. Even though I’ve not heard all of the songs on these, just based on the ones I do know, I’d give each of the individual CDs an A plus. The remastered sound is only a bonus.
Steve, now that I know there are “alternative versions” of ROCK ARTIFACTS I’ll have to seek them out. The only volume I have that doesn’t have extended liner notes is Volume 1. The liner notes are detailed and compelling.
Even more out of my depth than usual.
Patti, these songs are more obscure than usual. And, they sound completely different with remixing and remastering.
Kind of more interesting as a cultural artifact than as music I’d really listen to. Who knew Redbone, The Looking Glass, and Spiral Staircase had more than one hit? And I’d forgotten that Nils Lofgren had a long career before he joined the E Street Band. OTOH, I’d listen to those obscure gems by Chi Coltrane, Pacific Gas & Electric, and Christie over and over again.
Deb, I need to dig out my Nils Lofgren CDs. I originally bought Lofgren’s albums in vinyl, but later bought them again on CD. I played them over and over again just like you!
Nils did a solo cd earlier this year. He also early on did a stint with Crazy Horse backing up Neil Young. I remember when he used to do back flips while playing the guitar but he’s gotten a little too old for that now. He was gymnast in high school.
Steve, I played Nils Lofgren’s CRY TOUGH until I wore the grooves out. I need to unearth my CRAZY HORSE CDs and resisted to them. I remember Lofgren doing backflips while playing his guitar. Amazing!
Some of the songs (but not too many …) I remember – could even sing them for you, but the others?
I Can See Clearly Now was a favourite like
Hey Joe (of course the Jimi Hendrix version).
And the all time favourite: San Francisco – I was a kind of hippie too as a student … 🙂
PS:
Typical for those times:
Almost all songs are below 3 minutes, some even just 2 minutes – made more money in the juke box … 🙂
Wolf, it wasn’t until FM radio and independent stations emerged in the latter half of the Sixties that longer songs (5+ minutes) gained an audience. Until then, AM radio and juke boxes favorited 2-3 minutes songs.
There are a few songs here I’d download and add to a playlist, but that’s about it. I’ve always liked Scott MacKinzie’s “San Francisco”. That may have been because of the time I was in when I heard it.
The Spiral Starecase* – More Today Than Yesterday
Sly & The Family Stone – Hot Fun In The Summertime
Argent – Hold Your Head Up
The Looking Glass – Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)
Johnny Nash – Stir It Up
Albert Hammond – It Never Rains In Southern California Written
Dave Loggins – Please Come To Boston
Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now
Scott McKenzie – San Francisco
That’s about it, and I’m assuming the ones I named are by the original artists.
Rick, yes, all the songs on this four volume set are performed by the original artists. The difference is in the sound. These songs never sounded so good!
I didn’t see anything there that would make me buy that CD.
This is an instance where I’d like to meet the person who pitched the idea. He/she could probably sell ice to Eskimos.
Beth, you may be right. I don’t know what audience this eclectic set of discs was supposed to attract. But, I bought them and found them fascinating because of the new sound.
As someone who has spent a lot of time making mixes of favorite music, just looking at these makes me cringe. They are appalling programs, despite the fact that some of the songs are quite good.
Jeff, I agree with you that the flow of these volumes is erratic. But, the individual songs sound great!
OK, just getting here and haven’t read any other comments yet. This is indeed weird. The songs I know: More Today Than Yesterday (Spiral Starecase), That Lady (Isleys), Hot Fun in the Summertime (Sly & Family Stone) from #1.
#2″ Brandy (Looking Glass), Playground in My Mind (Clint Holmes; dislike this, which was on another compilation you had recently, as I recall), Stir It up (Johnny Nash cover of Bob Marley), Come and Get Your Love (Redbone), It Never Rains in Southern California (Albert Hammond), Please Come to Boston (Dave Loggins), I Can See Clearly Now (Johnny Nash), Stand Tall (Burton Cummings), Wildfire (Michael Martin Murphey), I go Crazy (Paul Davis). So, a lot more this time.
#3 Cinnamon (Derek – aka Johnny Cymbal of Mr. Bass Man fame), Hey Baby (They’re Playing Our Song) and Susan (Buckinghams), San Francisco (Scott McKenzie), Even the Bad Times Are Good (Tremeloes – a favorite of mine), To Sir With Love (Lulu).
#4 Kind of a Drag (Buckinghams), Silence is Golden (Tremeloes – this was originally the flip side of Rag Doll by the Four Seasons, FYI), Bonnie & Clyde (Georgie Fame), Woman Woman (The Union Gap).
I have a story about “Susan” by the Buckinghams: on the first day of school in 8th grade (1970), the new Speech teacher introduced herself. Her name was Susan Something—Henderson, Richardson, something like that. Anyway, during the course of her introduction, she said, “Do any of you know the song ‘Susan’ by the Buckinghams?” A few hands were raised (including mine, of course, I was always a radio junkie). “Well,” she continued, “that song was written about me. I was dating a guy in the Buckinghams back then.” Obviously, the relationship didn’t end well, but she’d always have “Susan” to remember the romance—which may or may not have been a good thing.
Deb, very cool story! I don’t know anyone who’s been the subject of a rock song. But I do know that “Susan” got a lot of airplay on the radio when it was first released. Obviously, a lot of Susans thought the song was about them!
Jeff, the key to ROCK ARTIFACTS are the extended liner notes and the spiffy sound on many of these songs. See Jeff Smith’s comment for more information.