Before this, there had not been a new
Righteous Brothers
compilation since 1990, when
Verve
issued the single disc, 12-track
The Very Best of the Righteous Brothers: Unchained Melody
in the wake of
Rhino
's excellent, exhaustive 1989 double-disc, 32-track set
Anthology 1962-1974
. The 2005 compilation
Retrospective
falls between those two extremes. While not digging as deep as
Anthology
, it contains all 12 songs on
The Very Best Of
and adds another eight cuts, including
Bill Medley
's 1968 solo single
"Brown Eyed Woman."
Although the disc might have been better served by a strict chronological sequencing -- after opening with
"Unchained Melody,"
it jumps all over the place -- this nevertheless contains all of the big hits, all in great sound, and has enough of their lesser-known material to illustrate that
the Righteous Brothers
were more than just the pair who sang such oldies staples as
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin',"
"(You're My) Soul and Inspiration"
and
"Little Latin Lupe Lu."
remains the definitive word on the duo, but for listeners who don't want an exhaustive collection (or shell out the money for that out-of-print collection) yet want a little bit more than the hits, this is the perfect choice. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine