Search - Various Artists :: B.O. 60's Millennium: 20th Century Masters

Christine D. from RAINIER, OR
Reviewed on 10/28/2011...

Great compilation of songs.

Excellent Music...But What's the Point?

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 11/13/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I've given up arguing against MCA's continued swindling of the American record-buying public with these Millennium series collections, so let's just take a look at the music, okay? At just over 40 minutes, this 12-song cd is a little more generous than most. Are these songs the "Best of the 60's" as the title implies? That's a bit open to interpretation. After all, the title isn't "No. 1 Hits of the 60's" (although four of these songs are). It's not even called "Top Ten Hits of the 60's" (because two of these songs never reached the Top Ten, and it wasn't until 1972 that "Nights in White Satin" reached No. 2 in the U.S.--five years after Days of Future Past was released). The other two non-Top Ten songs are "With a Little Help From My Friends," which was a U.K. No. 1 but peaked at only No. 68 in the U.S. Its inclusion can, however, be justified because of Joe Cocker's spell-binding performance of the song at Woodstock. The other is "What a Wonderful World." While Louis Armstrong knocked the Beatles' "Can't Buy Me Love" from the top spot in 1964 with "Hello Dolly," Armstrong--who was born in 1901--was hardly embraced by the flower child generation in 1967 when "What a Wonderful World" hit No. 12 on the Adult Contempory (old fogeys) chart. The song no doubt makes the list after its chart success (No. 32) when it was rereleased as a single from the Good Morning Vietnam soundtrack.The rest of the songs were huge hits and for the most part are representative of the era. The biggest flaw is how do you represent an entire era with a mere twelve songs? On the plus side, there's only one pre-1965 song: the Angels' "My Boyfriend's Back" from 1963. The rest of the songs are from the Sixties rock era, although Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild" and Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody To Love" are the only songs here that really rock. But how do you argue with such choices as "My Girl," "California Dreamin'," or arguably the best pop single ever recorded--Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"?The U.K.'s ACE label put out a similar release last year called Chartbusters U.S.A. for about the same price, but ACE packed thirty songs onto a single disc. Why can't MCA be as generous? [Okay, I know I said that I was going to stick to looking at just the music, but I couldn't help myself.]So who would buy this album? My guess is that MCA is relying heavily on impulse buyers. These albums usually get a high profile display in the discount stores and if there are several songs on here that you absolutely have to have the price isn't too bad, but unless MCA slashes their list price in half you're better off sticking with your favorite Classic Rock radio station. It's cheaper and you get a better song variety."

Nice 60's collection

katie | 04/25/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Overall a good selection of original sixties songs, every one a good one. Sometimes a collection has one or two in it that you don't care for, but this one is a very good one. My 5th graders even love listening to it, they especially love It's a Wonderful World by Louis Armstsrong."