Search - Various Artists :: Have a Nice Day 6

A Few Surprises, But Plenty of Duds

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 02/26/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"In terms of chart success, this is by far the weakest in Rhino's Have a Nice Day series. We're still looking at songs from 1970-71, but only three of these songs hit the Top 10 and three of them ("He's Gonna Step on You Again," "Tarkio Road" and "It's a Cryin' Shame") didn't even dent the Top 40.By the far the biggest hit was the Five Man Electrical Band's million-seller "Signs." [It's odd that Rhino put their less successful follow-up hit "Absolutely Right" on the same album instead of a later volume.] The other Top 10 hits were the infectious "Sweet City Woman" and the loopy novelty song "Gimme Dat Ding."Other highlights include the garage rock sound of Crabby Appleton's "Go Back" (you gotta love a band that names itself after Tom Terrific's nemesis!), and one of the weirdest songs in pop music history,"Timothy," a song about cannibalism written by Rupert "The Pina Colada Song" Holmes.As I've noted in reviewing earlier volumes, Rhino has focused on one- and two-hit wonders for this series. This is especially true here. As I already noted, some of these artists aren't even technically "one"-hit wonders. In fact, the only artist with more than two chart hits is Lulu. And "Oh Me Oh My (I'm a Fool For You Baby)" only reached No. 22.So volume six not only includes a number of fringe artists, many of these songs aren't going to bring back a lot of memories. [Who the heck is John Kongos?] But with a handful of delights ("Signs," "Sweet City Woman," "Go Back") and guilty pleasures ("Gimme Dat Ding"), this volume has its moments."

I'll bet you haven't heard some of these in 30+ years.

simnia | snowy bayou country, USA | 12/12/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really enjoyed hearing these semi-obscure songs from 1970-1971. Although I still recognized many of these song titles and groups, I didn't realize just how long it's been since I've heard some of them played anywhere--so long that I barely recognized them, though I'm sure Rhino has presented the original versions. I recognized 8 songs by sound, I was able to find 2 more on top 40 lists, but 2 were completely alien to me. I wish this "Have A Nice Day" series had stuck to its original pattern of presenting songs from a narrow time period, instead of spanning 2 or more years per CD as they did here. Considering that 25-30 new Top 40 songs are released each month, they could easily have released albums that spanned no more than 1-2 months, which would've been more logical and nostalgic. More songs per CD would help, too. Specific memories: I remember poking fun at the humorous family song "Saturday Morning Confusion" in 1971, my girlfriend liking the wacky "Gimme Dat Ding" in 1970, jokes about the topic of cannibalism in "Timothy" in 1971 (nice chord progression, and moves well!), the overly played story song "Signs," the overly played and irritatingly banjo-laden "Sweet City Woman" in 1971, the negativity of "Go Back" in 1970, the unremarkable "Tarkio Road" in 1971, and every guitarist banging out the intro chords to "One Fine Morning" throughout the early '70s (nice high energy song). Obviously Rhino's strategy of collecting lesser-known hits from the '70s is very effective in reviving old memories."

Pretty good mish mosh

K. Cooper | Phila. area | 04/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"From the truly great- Buoys and Lighthouse- to the good - Pipkins, Lulu, 5 Man Electrical band (twice), Stampeders, Brewer and Shipley, there's a decent amount of good material here. The rest is pretty forgettable. I bought it for Lighthouse's great "One Fine Morning" and the Buoys catchy song about cannibalism "Timothy". No accounting for some people's taste! 3.5 Stars."