Raspberries Side Three

One has a tendency to think of acts like the Pretty Things in terms of their albums, primarily because most of their singles simply never charted, even in England (and many were never even heard of in the United States), and the albums have been easier to find over the decades since. Actually, it was singles that best defined what most bands were about at the point that the Pretty Things first got together, and they never stopped neglecting that category of release – hence, this three-CD set containing the product of 33 singles (66 sides) over a period of 35 years, from 1964 through 1999.

Sounds of the Seventies was a 38-volume series issued by Time-Life during the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s, spotlighting pop music of the 1970s. Much like Time-Life's other series chronicling popular music, volumes in the "Sounds of the Seventies" series covered a specific time period, including individual years in some volumes, and different parts of the decade (for instance, the early 1970s) in others; in addition, some volumes covered specific trends, such as music popular on album-oriented rock stations on the FM band. Each volume was issued on either compact disc, cassette or (with volumes issued prior to 1991) vinyl record.

It may not be the "ultimate" collection of hits from the 1970's, but this ten disc set does indeed offer 198 of the songs that helped define the decade. Happily, they are all original recordings by the original artists, as they were heard on the radio. True, in a few cases that means the selections are "radio edits" (Rod Stewart's 1971 hit "Maggie May", for example, is missing the 30 second instrumental introduction that was included on the original album, but rarely played over the airwaves), but why quibble? The songs, though not necessarily remastered, all sound great, and the set includes some genuine treasures that have not (yet) been offered on other compilations. Highly recommended!

The voice behind the Top Ten 1980 hit for the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why" should have been a big star after his third solo album. Everything that was wrong on Don Felder's Airborne effort goes right on Schmit's Tell Me the Truth album, his charming voice gliding over charming songs like "In Roxy's Eyes" and "Something Sad." Having Rita Coolidge and Siedah Garrett on backing vocals is part of the artistically successful formula here, but the other key is that six producers converge to manufacture a very smooth and very polished affair…