Why The Best Are The Best

The revamped 1995 edition of Anthology includes all of the group's hit singles, as well as significant album tracks and singles that didn't chart, making it the definitive portrait of the popular, groundbreaking urban contemporary group.

The '60s pop outfit the Happenings enjoyed a three-year run of several hit singles late in the decade. Formed in 1961 in Patterson, NJ, the group has seen their lineup change from time to time, but founding member/lead singer Bob Miranda has been a constant member through it all…

A relic from the days when so many artists' catalogs were still unavailable on CD, and a decent hits package was the best you could hope for, Out Demons Out! is a generously stuffed compilation that carves through the Broughton Band's Harvest label catalog, and comes up consistently trumps. Of course the title track is here – a non-LP single at the time, it remains the archetypal Broughton performance, encapsulating everything that made the band great both on vinyl and in concert. But it is by no means the only classic in their arsenal: "Apache Drop Out," "Evil," and "Hotel Room" are all masterpieces, while "Up Yours" rivals "Out Demons Out" in the all-together-in-a-muddy-field shout-along stakes. The subsequent appearance of the full catalog on disc in its own right takes some of the urgency away from this collection, but anybody searching for an easy entry into the world of the Edgar Broughton Band will find no better introduction.