Like the previous two volumes in Ace's Chartbusters USA series, this assembles as much music as is possible to fit onto a single-disc compilation of quality, though thematically unrelated, American chart hits from 1963-1969. The latest tracks here are actually from 1968, but it's still a good survey of smashes from the golden age of '60s rock, mixing superstars with one-shots. Classic hits from several genres are on hand here:
surf and
hot rod music (
the Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun, Fun,"
the Hondells' "Little Honda"),
british invasion (
the Zombies' "She's Not There"),
blue-eyed soul (
the Box Tops' "The Letter"), Motown (
Junior Walker's "(I'm A) Road Runner" and
Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine"),
garage rock (
the Music Machine's "Talk Talk"), instrumentals (
Booker T. & the MG's' "Soul Limbo,"
Hugh Masekela's "Grazing in the Grass"),
chicago soul (
the Impressions' "People Get Ready"), Stax (
Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour"), novelties (
Henry Mancini's "The Pink Panther Theme"), psychedelia (
Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild"),
blues-rock (
Canned Heat's "Goin' Up the Country"), and even
blues (
Slim Harpo's "Baby Scratch My Back"). As for tracks that
don't often show up on these kind of anthologies, there aren't many, but there are a few, those including
the Rose Garden's one-shot
pop-
folk-rock hit "Next Plane to London,"
the Marvelows' superb clapalong harmony
soul single "I Do," and
Timmy Shaw's "Gonna Send You Back to Georgia," which is certainly the most off the beaten track song here, and is better known to many in its cover version by
the Animals (who changed the title to "Gonna Send You Back to Walker"). Many '60s collectors will already have most of this, but for more general fans it's a rollicking good time, buttressed by Ace's usual excellent, thorough liner notes. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
