Come in From The Rain

Hip-O's Ultimate Collection: The Complete Hits will likely be too much music for most audiences, simply because most listeners don't remember much more than "Love Will Keep Us Together," "Muskrat Love," and "Do That to Me One More Time" from Captain & Tennille. They actually had many more hits than that – 11 more, four of which hit the Top Ten, actually (for the record, they are "The Way I Want to Touch You," "Lonely Night (Angel Face)," "Shop Around," and "You Never Done It Like That"). All of them are here, along with several other singles and album tracks on this generous 22-track collection. To be frank, Captain & Tennille weren't quite varied or deep enough to make this collection not lose steam toward the middle, but the highlights – the three Neil Sedaka-penned tunes ("Love Will Keep Us Together," "Lonely Night (Angel Face)," "You Never Done It Like That,") plus "Do That to Me One More Time" – are all very good, standing proudly amongst soft rock hits of the time.

The latest in a long line of greatest-hits compilations and anthologies for the Captain (aka Daryl Dragon) and his lovely partner in crime Toni Tennille, this 20th Century Masters collection gathers all of their most well-known hits and a few fan favorites in one economically sensible disc. Starting off with one of their most popular tunes, "Love Will Keep Us Together," the disc also includes the curiously titled "Muskrat Love," the less-curiously titled "The Way I Want to Touch You" and its apparent sequel, the soft rock smash hit "Do That to Me One More Time."

Peggy Lee's 1979 album Close Enough for Love is a disco-themed take on her classic themes of love and romance. "You" is a light, mellow funk ballad, while the standard "Just One of Those Things" becomes a propulsive dance anthem. Those looking for songs similar to Lee's trademark "Fever" will want to add the smoldering, sexy "Easy Does It" to their collection. Peggy Lee's voice sounds a bit depressed on this album, indicating, perhaps, an unfamiliarity with the new musical trappings. But that quality also gives the album's more straightforward numbers, like "Rain Sometimes" and "Come in From the Rain" (sounding like Wings), a moving, somber tone. An example of a dated album, but one that is a ripe for a rediscovery.

Showing the influences of progressive rock, blues, and straight-up boogie, Wishbone Ash were never your run-of-the-mill British rock band, and this home video, recorded at London's Shepard's Bush Empire during the spring of 2000, makes it clear that three decades after their debut, this band still has plenty to say and the musical authority to say it with style, flair, and power. Wishbone Ash: Live - 30th Anniversary Concert features the band playing a dozen of their favorite songs with plenty of room for Andy Powell's trademark guitar solos.

While it's certainly too much for the average Wishbone Ash fan, "Distillation" is an excellent four-disc, 56-track box set that features the best of the band's heavy boogie from the '70s. None of the group's essential tracks are missing, and it contains 4 previously unreleased cuts, 11 very rare tracks from the vaults and 12 live versions (CD 4) plus band biography and track by track comments by Andy Powell and Martin Turner.