Not nearly as interesting as the single
hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 12/10/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Along with The Tee Set and Shocking Blue, The George Baker Selection had a brief ride on the American charts with their Europop-flavored single "Little Green Bag." The song is probably best known to modern audiences for its placement in Quentin Tarantino's "Resevoir Dogs." Mixing a funky bass line and horn chart with a vocal that ranged from cool to operatic, "Little Green Bag" peaked just shy of the top-20 in 1970, notching the band's only American pop hit (they'd return very briefly to the Adult Contemporary charts in 1976 with "Paloma Blanca").The resulting LP scratched the lower rungs of the album chart, peaking at #107. More interestingly, it showed surprising breadth in the band's stylistic offerings, from the funky pop of the single, to string-based ballads, reggae and ska, Badfinger-styled harmony, country and rock. Nothing here sports the magic of the hit single, though the hippie-ish "I Wanna Love You" (which sounds like it was pulled from a 1960s musical like "Hair" or "Godspell") and the country cover of Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight" are both catchy spins (the latter sounding surprisingly like Michael Nesmith).Collectables offers their usual mid-line quality. Single sheet insert (i.e. not a folded booklet) with a minimal history of the band and no discographical information. The entire album is in stereo except for "Little Green Bag," and while it's nice to have the original mono radio mix (assuming this is the original mono radio mix, of course), it would also be nice to have the true stereo version that's appeared elsewhere (e.g., the multi-artist compilation "The Heritage Colossus Story")."
THE MISSING LINK
Alex | MI | 03/08/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The George Baker Selection is by far one of the most unheard bands that I have ever listened to. The album "Little Green Bag" is not what you would expect. There are so many different styles, each song has a different style from the other. With styles ranging from rock, country, pop, and a cover of Bob Dylan's "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight." Little Green Bag is one of the best and most unique records I own, and I would recomend it to anyone who has a love of music with variety, not to mention some damn catchy tunes."