The Essentials

The Essentials Formed in L.A. in '65 by six multi-instrumentalists who blended pop, rock and folk with gorgeous vocal harmonies on chart-topping RIAA gold hits like 'Cherish', 'Windy' and 'Never My Love', included here with 'Along Comes Mary', 'Everything That Touches You' and 7 more essenti...	The Essentials Pop-rock hit-makers Tommy James & The Shondells had a short butextraordinary run, scoring 14 Top 40 Billboard® pop singles from 1966-1969.Their high-spirited sound remains one of the most distinctive hallmarks of theera and an essential part of the classic rock songbook. Formed ...	Jay & The Americans - Greatest Hits	The Vogues - Greatest Hits	The Lovin' Spoonful - Greatest Hits It sometimes feels as though the Lovin' Spoonful have been reduced to a footnote in the history of rock & roll. Yet few of their contemporaries could match the likes of "Daydream," "Summer in the City," and the transcendent "Do You Believe in Magic?"--a song that can still turn J...
Young Girl: The Best of Gary Puckett & the Union Gap	Hollies - Hollies Greatest Hits	Very Best of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons 2002 compilation packs a single CD with 20 classics recorded for Vee-Jay, Phillips, Curb/Warner, Private Stock, & RSO between 1962-1978. Remastered from original master tapes. Rhino.	The Guess Who - Greatest Hits	The Greatest Hits When David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash created this pop super trio in 1968 after their splits from the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and The Hollies, respectively, it would have been a pipedream that a hits package released 37 years later would sound as eternal and essent...

Charming
The Rascals are truly an overlooked group in the annals of rock n roll. The group featured superb vocal harmonies, steady rhythm guitar and drumming, excellent keyboard touches, and stunning arrangements that appealed to many listeners. Oh what great songs: I've Been Lonely Too Long, How Can I Be Sure, See, I Aint Gonna Eat Out Of My Heart Anymore, and my all time favorite People Got To Be Free. It seems as if record companeis are competing withe ach other to put out the best and most essential greatest hits package for a particular group. Whether this is the best collection for your money, I must say its hard for me to decide as of this juncture. However, these twelve songs are all very good and if you do not choose to go the Box Set route, you will be pleased.

WHERE'S THE REST
THE RHINO COLLECTION IS A TWO (2) DISC SET WITH NUMEROUS SONGSWORTHY OF AN 'ESSENTIAL' CD. THIS CD LACKS MANY REALLY GOODSONGS.... I OPTED NOT TO PURCHASE...

Hardly essential in this form
Rhino's "Very Best of..." has 16 tracks to this collection's 12 for the same price. Too much is left out to consider this CD a true package of "essentials". Stick with the Rhino CD, or spring for the 2-CD "Anthology" (also from Rhino) for a better-rounded Rascals collection.

Classic Blue-Eyed Soul
The (Young) Rascals were the best blue-eyed soul group of the Sixties. They hit the Top 40 a total of 13 times during a four-year run from 1966 through 1969. This collection gives you 11 of those hits along with their first charting single "I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore" (#52). The songs are presented in chronological order, including: "I Ain't Gonna Eat My Heart Out Anymore," "Good Lovin'," "You Better Run," "I've Been Lonely Too Long," "Groovin'," "A Girl Like You," "How Can I Be Sure," "It's Wonderful," "A Beautiful Morning," "People Got To Be Free," "A Ray of Hope" and "See." What keeps this from being a 5-star rating is that it is simply a condensed version of 1994's superior The Very Best of the Rascals, which adds "Come On Up" (#43), "Heaven" (#39), "Carry Me Back" (#26) and "Glory Glory" (#58). This is essential music, but this is not the best Rascals' collection available.