Mitch Ryder Sings the Hits
has much better balance than
What Now My Love
, the album which yielded his last and least-potent of six Top 30 singles. Detroit rockers covering
the Supremes
'
Motown
smash
"Come See About Me"
seemed to be in vogue --
Mark Farner
and
Don Brewer
's excellent version showed up on
Monumental Funk
-- and
Ryder
does the song justice as well, the two
blue-eyed soul
copies fun and worthy of comparison. There's only one
Bob Crewe
original on this collection of covers, and that tune,
"Peaches on a Cherry Tree,"
is combined to good effect with
Leiber & Stoller
's
"Ruby Baby,"
an
R&B
hit for
the Drifters
in the '50s, a post-
Belmonts
smash for
Dion
in 1963. The music has that extra something that eluded the
album, a little more intensity on songs like
"Let Your Lovelight Shine,"
and the
pop
/
blues
version of
Rufus Thomas
' 1963 hit
"Walking the Dog."
Crewe
mixes vibes in with the earthy keyboard/guitar sound, and it's just great. There are intriguing black-and-white photographs of
Mitch Ryder
in his prime inside the gatefold, his trademark open-mouth howl on the cover, as it is on
All Mitch Ryder Hits
. It's a distinctive voice and sound on these recordings, more refined even than
"Devil With a Blue Dress On"
"Sock It to Me Baby."
certainly had the magic, and it is all over tracks like
Toussaint
"I Like It Like That"
as well as
"Sticks and Stones."
even takes on
James Brown
with very credible renditions of
"Please, Please, Please"
"I Got You,"
and revitalizes the
Bing Crosby
Ray Charles
classic
"You Are My Sunshine"
with a uniquely identifiable arrangement that only
could give it.
doesn't get the attention it deserves, but is a solid effort from start to finish and makes for a good party record. ~ Joe Viglione