This very straightforward selection is based almost exclusively on
the Bay City Rollers
' British and American singles file. It opens, of course, with
"Saturday Night"
-- in U.S. terms, their most memorable release -- but thereafter adheres to strict and joyful chronology. The original hit version of
"Keep On Dancing,"
featuring founding vocalist
Nobby Clarke
, sets the ball rolling with lovable exuberance; two years later,
"Remember"
finds
Les McKeown
installed at the front,
Bill Martin
and
Phil Coulter
entrenched in the writers' seat, and
the Rollers
themselves preparing to assume world domination. With hindsight, it seems staggering that the quintet's heyday was so brief. As early as
"Money Honey,"
the first cracks are beginning to show and, though their American breakthrough at least postponed the day of judgment, by the time
Ian Mitchell
replaced original guitarist
Alan Longmuir
, in time for the
Dedication
album, the entire edifice was teetering. The inclusions from that period are uniformly, and deceptively, elegant:
"Love Me Like I Love You,"
"I Only Want to Be With You,"
"Dedication,"
"Rock'n'Roll Love Letter,"
"Yesterday's Hero"
mark the apogee of
as both a creative and a commercial force. But
Mitchell
's sudden retirement finally sent the whole shebang over and, as
The Definitive Collection
approaches its close, the entire affair takes on a very different complexion. Five tracks recorded first with makeshift replacement
Pat McGuinn
, then with the returning
Longmuir
, catch the band striving desperately for critical acclaim and musical credos -- too desperately. Where once
were effortless effervescence, now they are po-faced pretension. Where once they were bouncing boppers, now they are boring balladeers. And where once their most meaningless lyric seemed impossibly profound ("shang a lang" indeed), now their profundities are tacky, trite, and shallow. Four final singles pass by with barely a hummable note between them and, though this album closes by turning back a few years, to the title track from the all-powerful
Wouldn't You Like It
album, the damage has already been done. Wouldn't you like it? Not anymore. ~ Dave Thompson