This 26-song anthology is almost identical in track selection to the most comprehensive prior
Scaffold
collection,
Abbey Road Decade 1966-1971
, released just four years before this CD. And indeed, the track selection isn't too different from the only other
anthology,
See for Miles
'
Singles A's & B's
. It's a bit puzzling as to why this body of work, not in terribly high demand at any rate, was packaged with such slight alternations so soon after the
disc. Anyway, assuming this is the first
best-of you come across, it does its job well, spanning 1966 to the early '70s, and naturally including their two big British hits of the late '60s,
"Thank U Very Much"
and
"Lily the Pink."
The music, frankly, is an erratic mix of comedy and
rock
that's much patchier and rather more twee than, say, that of fellow U.K. humorists
the Bonzo Dog Band
. There are plenty of singsong novelties that are more silly than funny, sometimes annoyingly so -- a description, unfortunately, that could apply to those two big hits. On the other hand, when some solid
pop/rock
melodies and
Mike McGear
's voice come more to the forefront, there are some nicely subtle, witty, and very British slices of vaudevillian
pop
--
"Do You Remember?,"
"1-2-3"
(with its weird barely audible sitar twangs behind the whistling melody), the
cool jazz
stylings of
"Today,"
and the
Baroque
psychedelia
of
"Buttons of Your Mind."
Elsewhere,
"Uptown & Downtown,"
from 1969, is an uncharacteristic detour into relatively gutsy
soul-rock
(or is it a satire, perhaps?);
"Liverpool Lou"
is a wobbly adaptation of a
traditional folk
number; and
"Take It While You Can,"
from 1970, sounds like it just might be an irreverent
John Lennon
pastiche. It's uneven, but it's periodically rewarding for fans of peculiarly British
comedy pop
whimsy, though the liner notes are sketchy and the discographical information patchily inadequate. ~ Richie Unterberger