Like volume one, this is a high-grade assortment of hits, all but one by American artists, from the five years or so following
the Beatles
' invasion of the United States (though a couple of the tracks are from 1963). If there's one thing that might keep some listeners from lavishing unrestrained praise on this collection, it's that there's no real theme other than they were all, or virtually all, big hits and all pretty good. (You can't even say that the theme is
American pop
and
rock
, due to the inclusion of
the Zombies
'
"Time of the Season."
) Naturally, part of what makes
and '60s
in particular interesting is its diversity, and this 29-song anthology covers a lot of bases. Among them are
folk-rock
(
the Byrds
"Mr. Tambourine Man"
),
blue-eyed soul
the Rascals
"Good Lovin',"
the Righteous Brothers
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"
Motown
Martha & the Vandellas
"Dancing in the Street"
psychedelia
the Jefferson Airplane
's
"Somebody to Love"
hard rock
Steppenwolf
"Magic Carpet Ride"
hot rod
Jan & Dean
"Little Old Lady from Pasadena"
), and
garage rock
the Syndicate of Sound
"Little Girl,"
the Kingsmen
"Louie Louie"
). Plus there's good old
pop/rock
in
the Turtles
, one-shots like
John Fred
"Judy in Disguise"
the Newbeats
"Bread & Butter,"
and even a little non-
Mongo Santamaria
"Watermelon Man"
Lalo Schifrin
"Mission: Impossible."
Nothing here's real rare; even the few low-charting items, like
Jerry Jeff Walker
's original version of
"Mr. Bojangles"
the Gants
' cover of
"Road Runner,"
aren't hard to get elsewhere. But if you're not a specialist collector yet are on the lookout for '60s oldies anthologies, this series and this volume are recommended above most others. That's due to the exceptional quantity (29 songs on a single disc), consistent high quality (even the
novelties
and light
pop
tunes here are fun guilty pleasures), and packaging (excellent annotation provides the stories, some relatively little known, behind each track). ~ Richie Unterberger