The Essentials

The Essentials The Rascals R&B-based rock classics never sounded better! Features 'Good Lovin'', 'Groovin'', 'A Girl Like You', 'A Beautiful Morning' & 8 more. Digitally remastered. 2002.	The Essentials 2002 compilation featuring 12 remastered tracks, 'Hanky Panky', 'Say I Am (What I Am)', 'I Think We're Alone Now', 'Mirage', 'Gettin' Together', 'Mony Mony', 'Crimson & Clover', 'Sweet Cherry Wine', 'Crystal Blue Persuasion', 'Ball of Fire', 'She' & 'Draggin' the Line'.	The Association No chart hits, but some Association fans rank this record as their best; the group had gained creative control, and together with producer John Boylan (who would later produce Linda Rondstadt and Pure Prairie League among other top acts), they explored a more country-rock sound a...	Young Girl: The Best of Gary Puckett and the Union	The Association Live You wouldn't think that a band with such a polished studio sound would be a good live act, but the Association were real pros, not only capable of hitting those incredible harmonies in a live (and high-altitude!) setting, but also—given their reliance on studio musicians...
Tommy James & The Shondells - The Definitive Pop Collection Tommy James & the Shondells' high-spirited sound remains one of the most distinctive hallmarks of the era and an essential part of the classic rock songbook.	Mercy, Mercy, Mercy: A Collection These clean-cut Chicagoans were unrepentantly commercial popsters whose wholesomely catchy, horn-laced '60s hits retain their bubblegum charm three decades after the fact. The 18 track Mercy, Mercy, Mercy is an exemplary best-of disc, collecting all of the group's major hits, i.e...	Happy Together: The Very Best of the Turtles The Turtles are one of the most fondly remembered '60s pop acts—quite an achievement considering that they came up in an era dominated by Motown, The Beatles and other musical giants. After releasing a series of chart-topping singles, including the #1 hit "Happy Together," t...	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...	The Grass Roots - All Time Greatest Hits As a band the Grass Roots were always a shadowy bunch, a front for studio musicians and professional songwriters looking to get their songs on the radio. They scored 14 top 40 hits during their reign in the late '60s/early '70s and their hits were among the catchiest and most enj...

Finally, a sensible "Greatest Hits" from the Association
Strangely enough, despite being one of the quintessential "few hit wonder with good deeper catalog" acts of the 1960s, The Association have had precious few, single-disc "Greatest Hits" comps in their favor. The Warner Brothers "The Association's Greatest Hits" disc missed several singles for album tracks from "Birthday," while most other compilations used re-recordings of the original tracks; the Japanese got a great, 20 track disc, but at the usual import prices. With "The Essentials," Rhino finally fills this niche once and for all. As far as I can see, all of the major tracks are here: Never My Love, Along Comes Mary, Cherish, and Windy are the four big radio tracks, while Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies (a GREAT song, bizarrely missing from the earlier, WB disc), Goodbye Columbus, and No Fair at All round out the slew of minor hits. "Enter the Young" is the far-superior take from the first album, and "Six Man Band" is an excellent Greatest-Hits-only bonus. Some tracks are missing in action from the Warner Brothers disc, but few should miss the "why-was-it-there?" We Love Us. Quibbles? I'm still perplexed by the inclusion of the twee "Time for Living" ("The Time It Is Today" is a better song, and is one of the few original-GH tracks that deserved to be ported over), and I wish Rhino had seen fit to include some of the tracks from their oft-overlooked--but excellent--self-titled 1969 album. These are minor issues, though. Verdict: If you're looking for an inexpensive, single-disc original-recordings "Greatest Hits" collection from The Association that's more comprehensive (if more concise) than the ancient, poor-sounding Warner Brothers disc...finally, someone saw fit to provide! Grab it without remorse.