24 thoughts on “PIONEER CD 6 PACK (1992)”

1. Steve Oerkfitz October 21, 2021 at 1:52 am

   On the first 2 cd’s I Could do without Grand Funk Railroad, Eddie Money, Richard Marx, Bobby McFerrin and Toto. Especially Bobby McFerrin. And I like The Righteous Brothers but find this an odd choice. as is the one by Til Tuesday. Can’t complain about the 3rd cd ( except I have never liked Tina and Ike’s version of Proud Mary) and don’t feel qualified to comment on the rest.
   My favorite tracks The Weight by The Band, Walk On the Wild Side by Lou Reed, Maggie May by Rod Stewart , the two Patsy Cline songs and God Only Knows by the Beach Boys.
   Is it really necessary to transcribe all that info on each song?

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   1. george Post authorOctober 21, 2021 at 8:48 am

      Steve, some commentators like to know who wrote the songs and who produced the songs. If the information is available, I tend to include it.

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2. wolf October 21, 2021 at 2:55 am

   There are so many songs here that I remember, wonderful!
   Crazy coincidence:
   The first song Gimme some Lovin’ is my all time favourite – and Steve Winwood (who was just 18 years old when he wrote and performed this) is my favourite artist.
   I’ve beeen to many of his concerts in London, Germany and Orlando (House of Blues).
   And after my first wife had died from cancer I followed him on a tour through Texas – Houston, Austin and Dallas. Fond mem
   ories.
   Tina Turner is of course also one of my favourites – to really enjoy Proud Mary you have to watch her dancing to it live …
   And Steve’s favourites are among my favourites too.
   I’m just an old 60s/70s man, I know.

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   1. Jeff Meyerson October 21, 2021 at 8:24 am

      Wolf, you would love this. We had tickets for several outdoor concerts this summer that were postponed until next year because of Covid. One that is now scheduled for next June 29:

      Steely Dan with special guest Steve Winwood. Should be a great show.

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      1. george Post authorOctober 21, 2021 at 8:54 am

         Jeff, if Steely Dan comes to Buffalo with Steve Winwood, we’re going! Maybe even if they tour to Toronto.
      2. Steve Oerkfitz October 21, 2021 at 8:56 am

         Just thought the Beach Boys info was a bit too much. Not a big fan of Winwood but I did like Traffic. So of course the one time I saw him he only did songs from his solo albums. No Traffic. No Blind Faith. No Spencer Davis Group. Boring.
      3. george Post authorOctober 21, 2021 at 10:39 am

         Steve, I think the combination of Steely Dan and Steve Winwood would be worth seeing.
      4. wolf October 21, 2021 at 12:27 pm

         Stop!
         You’re me making me so envious!
         But I have to accept that at 78 years I’m too old for such a long flight from Europe.
         But I count myself lucky that there’s so much available on youtube eg.
   2. george Post authorOctober 21, 2021 at 8:50 am

      Wolf, I remember “Gimme Some Lovin'” being a big hit on U.S. and Canadian radio stations in the Sixties. And, local bands made “Gimme Some Lovin'” a standard song in their sets each night.

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3. Michael Padgett October 21, 2021 at 6:02 am

   TMI. I can’t bring myself to read through all that this early in the morning, but Steve seems to have gotten all my favorites except “Wichita Lineman”.

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   1. george Post authorOctober 21, 2021 at 8:51 am

      Michael, I vacillated on whether to present each Volume in this set on six Thursdays in a row or to just present all of them. I realize it’s a lot to take in, but I felt that it made more sense to just post the whole set today.

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4. Jeff Meyerson October 21, 2021 at 8:18 am

   I agree with most of Steve’s remarks. Lose the McFerrin. The Righteous Brothers song, meh. Not one of their best. I would take any of the first 4 CDs, don’t know enough about the others. Favorites: the Patsy Cline, Marvin Gaye, Spencer Davis Group, The Band, Santana, Beach Boys, Rod Stewart, Dionne Warwick, Four Tops, Al Green.

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   1. george Post authorOctober 21, 2021 at 8:53 am

      Jeff, I agree with you: there are some odd choices on these discs. The Righteous Brothers song is a good example. With all of their hits, why this minor work?

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5. Deb October 21, 2021 at 9:01 am

   This is actually one of those sets that is exactly as advertised on the tin: too hits in various genres as reflected on the Billboard charts. We could argue about why something was included or excluded, but at least I’ve heard of everything here. And George, I love that you always include background information on each song whenever it’s available—in the “you learn something new every day” category: I have always thought Willie Nelson wrote “You Were Always on My Mind,” but he didn’t. Interestingly, one of the co-writers was the guy who wrote “Suspicious Minds”—which might be the reason Elvis did a version of “You Were Always on My Mind.”

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   1. george Post authorOctober 21, 2021 at 10:42 am

      Deb, several commenters on this blog have told me they find the additional information fun and useful. I did not know the writer of “You Were Always on My Mind” also wrote “Suspicious Minds,” both great songs.

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   2. Jeff Meyerson October 21, 2021 at 1:24 pm

      Speaking if Willie Nelson… I was listening this morning to The Mavericks’ version of “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” – Willie’s breakthrough as a performer and his first #1 country hit. But it was actually written by Fred Rose for Roy Acuff in 1947, and covered by Hank Williams, Ferlin Husky, Slim WHitman (yes!) and Conway Twitty, among others, before Willie did it in 1975.

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6. Rick Robinson October 21, 2021 at 2:26 pm

   There are a lot of good songs here, Pioneer did a pretty good job. On t he jazz CD, the first 4 are quite good, the others have been done better by other artists. The same is true with the classical CD, solid music, but not the top performers, with the exception of Horowitz. Still, I’d find both the disks listenable if I didn’t already have all of the music on other disks.

   Now, the rock & pop. First, remove all Rod Stewart, who I can’t stand. For the rest, I like most of what’s there, but I’d skip the Patsy Cline,.

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   1. george Post authorOctober 22, 2021 at 7:19 am

      Rick, I’m assuming that Pioneer focused on the sound of the songs and not the artist. And, they were trying to find songs that would appeal to a variety of musical tastes.

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7. Cap'n Bob Napier October 21, 2021 at 4:09 pm

   Lots of good stuff and some chaff! Did I ever thank you for the book and CDs you sent? I apologie if I didn’t! I’m a shell of my former self!

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   1. george Post authorOctober 22, 2021 at 7:20 am

      Bob, you’re welcome! I hope you enjoy that John Lennon book and the Beatle CDs.

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8. Jeff Smith October 21, 2021 at 5:48 pm

   For me, this is a great set. Even the pieces I don’t like I can at least listen to. And there are things like the Grand Funk — don’t own anything by them, don’t want to own anything by them, but I like that cut.

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   1. george Post authorOctober 22, 2021 at 7:26 am

      Jeff, I feel the same way you do about this set. Some strange choices, but very listenable! It might be hard to find since it wasn’t sold in record stores, but given away as a promotion.

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9. Todd Mason October 22, 2021 at 9:14 am

   Everything pleasant enough, at least, with some exceptions, most notably “American Woman” by the Guess Who, which I’ve hated since first hearing it as as child. Two Earl Klugh tracks among the jazz cuts seems odd.

   I suspect this was as much meant for playing on the shop floors as a demonstration album/s, as anything else…slightly unlike, say, the Maxell sampler albums from ca. 1980, which were sold, albeit very cheaply.

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   1. george Post authorOctober 22, 2021 at 10:20 am

      Todd, I suspect Earl Klugh’s inclusion was the result of the increasing popularity of Smooth Jazz at that time.

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