The second volume of Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day is very heavily weighted toward 1970-vintage hits that originated in locales other than the United States, beginning with a
Tony Macaulay-co-authored hit, "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)," credited to the group
Edison Lighthouse and featuring
Tony Burrows, an ex-member of
the Kestrels, who sang on the recording -- Burrows also turns up on this CD singing on singles credited to
the Brotherhood of Man and
White Plains, on "United We Stand," and "My Baby Loves Lovin'," respectively; both, like "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)," are superbly crafted pieces of
pop/rock, brilliantly catchy and memorable.
The Tee Set were, along with
the Shocking Blue and
the George Baker Selection (also featured here), part of a contingent of Dutch groups whose work was imported to surprising success in the United States by
Jerry Ross and Colossus Records -- "Ma Belle Amie," however, is somewhat limp
pop compared to
the Shocking Blue's "Venus."
Vanity Fare's Top Five hit "Hitchin' a Ride" has held up better, as one of those hook-laden, pleasant
pop hits that also had a toe dipped prematurely in the
disco sound.
Ray Stevens' "Everything Is Beautiful" was a major feel-good hit from the early part of the decade that would have been anathema to many of the listeners of Volume One of this series (or at least
Smith's "Baby It's You" and
Mountain's "Mississippi Queen"), which is another testimony to the diversity of this series and the era it represents. Two cuts here also speak for that range of musically valid sounds:
Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" and
the Marmalade's "Reflections of My Life," the former a hard-rocking anthem to religious mysticism by a one-shot artist who hit number three, and the latter a moody piece of
pop/rock by one of the most enduring bands in England, in their only American success. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide
