After the terribly happy experience I had with vol 14 of this series I decided to treat myself to vol 17. Due to the lack of organization in the various section I could only find 3 volumes, so pickings were slim in the first place. I remembered "Dancing in the Moonlight" vaguely. The only version of "Smokin’ In the Boys Room" that I’m familiar with was the Motley Crue cover. "Dance With Me" is a great song, as is the title song from "The Rockford Files." "Love Hurts" is probably what made me choose this volume over the other 2 (actually, I bought one other that day, but that’s for another review.)

The track list:
Dancing In the Moonlight – King Harvest
Rings – Cymarron
(I Don’t Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway – Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues – Danny O’Keefe
Painted Ladies – Ian Thomas
Before the Next Teardrop Falls – Freddy Fender
Rendezvous – Hudson Brothers
Smokin’ In the Boy’s Room – Brownsville Station
Dance With Me – Orleans
The Rockford Files – Mike Post
Love Hurts – Nazareth
Feelings – Morris Albert.

Good heavens yes, "Feelings" is on here. That song alone nearly made me pass on the entire CD, but I had hope that when I heard it I wouldn’t hate it as much as I thought would. Well, I was sort of right. I hate it more. In fact, because of this CD I also realized that I detest Freddy Fender. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, I just hate everything I’ve heard from him. Fortunately, I have a remote for my CD player so I can just skip it.

Sadly, I find myself skipping a lot on this CD. A typical play of this CD goes like this, track 1, track 2, track 3, skip, skip, skip, track 7, repeat, track 8, track 9, track 10, track 11, next CD. Track 7, by the Hudson Brothers (for those who read my review of vol 14) does sound like Lennon/McCartney circa 1975 (you know, if they were working together at that time and were selling off the not-so-good songs. But, maybe they did….) Not ringer maybe, but the influence is noticable.

After the debacle that was the liner notes of volume 14 I was hesitant to even read these notes. Well, these notes aren’t too bad. Unfortunately, they tease with songs that would have been much better selections for the compilation had Rhino been able to come up with the cash to afford the rights. The worst temptation was the "Painted Ladies" discussion. The writer mentions "A Horse With No Name" by America. If "A Horse With No Name" was included on this CD it’s value would have gone up in my estimation 50%.

So, if you remember some of these songs fondly and would like to have them, by all means head out for a copy of volume 17. I just wasn’t as crazy about this album as I was about volume 14.


Recommended: Yes

Great Music to Play While: Reading or Studying