(psycho Thriller) The Operator [dvdrip] 2001 @request

The trio America (vocalists/guitarists Dewey Bunnell, Gerry Beckley, and Dan Peek) approximated the 1970s California pop folk sound so well that when their first single "A Horse With No Name" appeared on the radio waves in the fall of 1972, many listeners assumed it was a song by Neil Young. Ironically, "Horse" knocked Young's own "Heart of Gold" out of the Number One slot that year and jump-started America's career as a sort of lighter and less-filling version of Crosby, Stills Nash & Young. All three members of the group were competent and accessible songwriters, and their easy harmonies brought America several big hits throughout the '70s, including two produced by Beatles-producer George Martin, "Tin Man" and "Lonely People." Peek left at the end of the decade, leaving America as a duo, and they managed one more radio hit, "You Can Do Magic" in 1982. All of these are included on this collection, along with "Ventura Highway," "Muskrat Love," "Sister Golden Hair" and key album tracks.

If glam-era rockers Geordie are remembered for much these days, it is for handing on vocalist Brian Johnson to AC/DC at a time when most observers reckoned both he (and they) were long past their sell-by date. Geordie, in particular, had scarcely been heard of in seven years, failing even to impact on the one recent movement that seemed custom-built for them, the so-called New Wave of British Heavy Metal. But AC/DC knew what they were getting, and anyone casting their ears back to Geordie's prime will realize they weren't kidding themselves.

As the Otis Williams-fronted Temptations learned with Ear-Resistible, the group's surprisingly successful album from a year earlier, it's best to play it safe and stay true to the times. And that's precisely what Williams does on Awesome, an album that models itself after Ear-Resistible. There are mostly ballads here and some innocent concessions to the hip-hop audience. Overall, though, this is the Temptations sounding like the Temptations, albeit a tender yet resilient Temptations.