Search - New Colony Six :: Colonized! Best of The New Colony Six

There was only 1 WLS

Micheal Yates | lexington, ky United States | 11/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"was just reading the reviews of this cd and it made me feel so nostalgic that i have to add my own to the list.



i never cease to be surprised how many other people throughout the country waited for the sun to go down and WLS to come on at '89. it was like a miracle--one minute there was nothing but static and noise--and the next there was the greatest radio ever. i started with ron riley and art roberts and was still hanging around at the end of 1989 with john landecker.



those were the days of real radio--not programming companies in seattle that make every station play the same playlist and not dj's who get to read a liner and then aren't allowed to talk.



radio stations had their own personality and their own playlists and broke their own records in their market.



which leads to this wonderful cd and the joy of hearing all the new colony six records on WLS.



growing up in rural western kentucky we knew the chicago bands as well as anyone in chicagoland. american breed--buckinghams--shadows of knight--cryan shames and of course new colony 6. i remember the early stuff--"I confess"--"let me love you" and it was fine. but the ballads--oh my! they were simple and yet beautiful. delicious tennage angst! in a parked car under the stars these songs were the soundtrack of many a french kiss and decent grope. on the dance floor if you had pitch you could softly sing along to "i will always think about you" close to your date's ear and become a romantic.



in 1968--age 16--i was hired as a dj at a local radio station that played top 40--and they let me pick my music--heaven on earth. amazingly our playlist included all the chicago bands that we heard after dark on WLS. we didn't care what billboard magazine said was no. 1.



my greatest dream at that time was to live in chicago--visit WLS and go to all these great "battle of the band" shows. this cd takes me back to that time and reading these other reviews lets me know that there were a lot of us that knew we were living in a special time. no--you can't go back there--but you can turn the lights down and turn up the stereo with this cd on--and for a few minutes smell "heaven scent" perfume and think about getting your tux at "carole's red hanger shoppes" and your new stereo at "playback--the electronic playground"."

Remembering the New Colony Six

Micheal Yates | 02/20/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Once the sun set on Little Rock back in the day, the radio came alive with stations outside of our normal listening area. The king of them all was WLS in Chicago. It was "89" that played quality music from dusk till dawn. I often fell asleep at night with Art Roberts spinning the hits through my transistor radio. One of the great things about WLS was the exposure to regional Chicago bands. My favorite was the New Colony Six. It amazes me they never cracked the Billboard Top Forty. This collection by Rhino covers their years as a garage band (At The River's Edge)through their development as pop balladeers (I Will ALways Think About You). I knew most of the songs on this set. The unknown songs were a pleasant surprise and did nothing to change my opinion of the band. I recommend this as a superb collection from one of the good bands who never seemed to get the recognition they deserved."

A Definitive Anthology

Micheal Yates | 06/26/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The New Colony Six were never big hitmakers (out of 10 charted pop hits, only two made the Top Forty), and many music fans born after the early 60s may never have heard of them, but they are perhaps the most underappreciated American pop group of the late 1960s. One listen to the touching ballad "I Will Always Think About You," or its companion piece, the beautiful "Things I'd Like to Say," should put a lump in anyone's throat. Other tracks run the gamut from garage rock ("I Confess," their first charting) to Brit-pop (the Holliesish "Can't You See Me Cry") to late 60s vocal pop-rock (the Turtleseque "I Could Never Lie to You"). With excellent liner notes, this CD is the best possible introduction to a band that should be remembered as one of the era's best."