Best of Rock 1980

Best Of…1958-1980: Come and Get Me is a generous collection of Jackie DeShannon's biggest hits, important album cuts, and obscure non-LP singles. The keys to DeShannon's talent lie not only in her own songwriting and ability to handle non-originals as if they were her own compositions, but her versatility as a performer. DeShannon's arsenal of orchestrated pop, rockabilly, the Phil Spector-inspired girl group sound, soul, gospel, folk-rock, and country-pop is rivaled by few. She could also pull off sentimental ballads and was believable when in the singer/songwriter mode. There are many peaks in this anthology, including the proto folk-rock of "Needles and Pins" (written by Sonny Bono and Jack Nitzsche) and "When You Walk in the Room" (a sole composition from 1964 that sounds like a Byrds tune as carried out by the Ronettes), as well as the soulful rocker "It's Love Baby" (which features a hot guitar solo) and the initial recorded version of "Bette Davis Eyes" (co-written by DeShannon and later a number one hit for Kim Carnes). A 4,000-word essay by longtime fan Glenn A. Baker rounds out the package.

While the two previous Best of UB40 collections neatly divided the band's output between their more political early period and their later, covers-oriented pop success, they were also only ten tracks apiece. The Very Best of UB40 1980-2000 is the first comprehensive single-disc overview of the band's career, and it's a lot more generous at 20 tracks. It isn't arranged chronologically, which actually helps the programming by splitting up the covers over the course of the running order. There's a bit more toughness to the earlier songs, both in the lyrics and the punchier performances. Yet in the end, the sonic differences are subtle enough that casual fans should still be able to enjoy them (unless they only want to hear the band performing reggae-pop versions of oldies they already know).

While they started out in the late '60s as a psychedelic band, delved into progressive rock, and even recorded an album in collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Deep Purple achieved their greatest success as a strong, straightforward, hard rock band, anchored by the powerful guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore and the show-stopping vocals of Ian Gillan (and later David Coverdale). From 1970's Deep Purple in Rock to 1974's Stormbringer, Deep Purple were one of the most popular hard rock bands on Earth, and Deepest Purple: The Very Best of Deep Purple captures the band at the top of their form on some of their best-known songs…

With the success of Styx's album The Grand Illusion, Wooden Nickel Records, Styx's previous label, released Best of Styx, which contained selected Styx songs in the Wooden Nickel catalog. Styx had left Wooden Nickel to sign with A&M Records several years earlier, so the compilation does not contain any songs from Styx's three A&M albums that preceded this album's release…

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971 by Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, and Randy Meisner. With five number-one singles, six Grammy Awards, five American Music Awards, and six number one albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s…

In 1966 two R & B bands local to Oldham (UK) merged to form a blues outfit THE BLUES KEEPERS. With sponsorship from a local businessman (also their manager) they rented an 18th century farmhouse where they practised extensively, gradually moving towards a progressive rock style then beginning to emerge…

While they started out in the late '60s as a psychedelic band, delved into progressive rock, and even recorded an album in collaboration with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Deep Purple achieved their greatest success as a strong, straightforward, hard rock band, anchored by the powerful guitar work of Ritchie Blackmore and the show-stopping vocals of Ian Gillan (and later David Coverdale)…

Like fellow Aussies the Sherbs, Zoot never escaped teen-star status. But as Zoot Locker proves, they were certainly adapt at churning out clever pop tracks. Because of their time period, Zoot used every trick in the psychedelic book; but most songs maintain the three-minute mark, resulting in shrewd and skewered singles much like the Move delivered. Innocent innocuousness such as "Monty & Me" about walking the dog or "One Times Two Times Three Times Four" seems unfairly buried in the past. Of course, Beatles nods abound, such as the Lennon-isms of "Hey Pinky." With this smoking version of "Eleanor Rigby" the quartet attempted to jettison their early "pink" image, jumping aboard the bizarre "heavy covers" bandwagon with Vanilla Fudge and Rare Earth. The Hollies are another pervasive influence ("Flying" shares rhyme schemes with "Dear Eloise" over a "Helter Skelter" riff) while "Mr Songwriter" echoes the Byrds by way of Dylan. "Freak" foreshadows "Highway Star" and many Sweet moments.

As one of the most popular bands of the '80s, U2 didn't quite fit into any particular category. They were a post-punk band that quickly found acceptance from a hard rock audience, a group that made fully formed albums but often made their best statements on individual songs, especially during the '80s…