Search - Various Artists :: Rock Artifacts 2

Very listenable album at a great price

05/29/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is a great buy. It has a large number of tracks, (16), of which most you will enjoy. I originally purchased it for "It Never Rains in Southern California", and found most other tracks a great surprise. The recording of "The Letter" is a more upbeat, different version than the usual Joe Cocker one. Burton Cummings on "Stand Tall" is also excellent. There are several very commercial songs, such as "Ring", "Playground of my Mind", and "Brandy". The liner notes are well done and will be appreciated by anyone who favors music of the early 70's. I plan o purchasing the other two collections of Rock Artifacts."

Discover this recording for yourself

Chuck Yoakum | Atlanta | 04/01/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I want to issue this review of just one of the tracks on this collection, "The Letter" by the Arbors. When this was a single on Date records, I must have played it a million times. As cool as the Boxtops original is, this version blows it away. It easily stands up to the great remake done later by Joe Cocker too. I recently got this recording, wondering whether or not I'd still be knocked out by it, and it delivered the goods as much as I remembered. I'll have to do more research on the group to speak definitavely about them, but I know they were a college group formed at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Their sound on this recording reminds me of the Lettermen or the Associaion on acid. That is to say, the psychedelic production, which is extremely well done, makes you think you've "just dropped in to see what condition your condition was in"... to borrow from another source. Buy this collection or get this tune in any way you can if you are a fan of obscure nuggets and one-hit wonders."