Search - Various Artists :: Am Gold: Radio Gems

Early 70's essential (almost) POP!

George G. Polovich | Oxford, MI | 03/28/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Disregard the other review! This character calls "Afternoon Delight" a "slut" song (I have no idea what that means). The song was #1 for 2 weeks in 1976 and everyone I knew was singing it. Hey, these are POP classics, not hard rock songs. Melanie's "A Brand New Key" had sexual undertones that most of us grasped (the other reviewer called it silly, he probably thought Moby Dick was a story about a whale)(#1 for 3 weeks). "Brandy" (#1, 1 week) is the type of song that defines 70's music, Nilsson's "Everybody's Talkin" (#6) was the backbone of the "Midnight Cowboy" ST, still one of the best ever. Charting at #3, "Wildfire" was a haunting ghost story while "Wedding Bell Blues" by the 5th Dimension continued Laura Nyro's string of hits (#1 for 3 weeks). The weak sisters are "Seasons In the Sun" (listen to the Kingston Trio's version) and "Sara Smile" (eventhough this may be the best song Hall and Oats ever did, that's not saying much). In reality, I had all these songs on other anthologies. I bought this CD for "Put Your Hand In the Hand" by Ocean (#2) as it's one of the few "spiritual" songs I like."