No album containing only 12 songs with a running time of 52 minutes can claim anything like a comprehensive look at the 1970s, much less present "the best" of the decade. But 's discount-priced compilation, part of 's series and drawing upon the major label's vast archives, plus a couple of licensed songs from other companies, can attempt to be representative of the diverse musical styles of the '70s. Major trends in popular music included singer/songwriters ( ' ) and Southern rock ( ). R&B music (often referred to as "soul" in the '70s) continued to be broadly popular, but it had expanded its styles to include social concerns ( ) as well as easy listening ( ) and bubblegum ( ). Similarly, the British Invasion that had begun in the '60s continued to lap American shores, but it was diverse, touching on everything from reggae ( ) to creamy pop ( ) and even folk-rock ( ). All of these songs were popular, but the only two titles to rank among the most successful records of the decade are the final two on the disc: a piece of pure pop, and 's epic Annotator says of the latter that it "could be the 'anthem' of the decade," which is both ironic and fitting, since the song's lyrics actually constitute a musical history of the '60s, the decade from which most people spent the '70s recovering. ~ William Ruhlmann