Don t let this Curb your appetite! There is a better choice! - As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book Take Me To A Circus Tent and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various recordings from the 60 s and 70 s.The Curb Records Greatest Hits of Bob Welch is put together with the least amount of thought for good results. If you notice the three songs the non Bob Welch fanatic would know and seek are not only on the release but the opening trio of tunes on the CD (Sentimental Lady, Ebony Eyes, and Precious Love). Bob Welch deserves more then 10 songs as a representation of his work.Bob Welch s career ranging from Fleetwood Mac, the short lived Paris, and his solo material cries out for better treatment. With only ten tunes to digest, it is a walking advertisement for choosing a fatter sampling of his guitar playing and songwriting skills. How about a hint? The ways to indoctrinate yourself to more of his material before you make a decision about which studio albums to purchase is easy. RHINO! Their release has 16 tunes and includes the two rockers Black Book and B666 that is necessary when sampling his work.Budget compilations are an oxymoron at times. They can entice you with a good price but actually hurt the artist by not giving enough of their creativity to help cultivate the future fan. Rhino puts you in the better position with their marketing philosophy. The hits and radio tunes are there to give you comfort but with a myriad of songs you may find enough that are delectable to purchase something from his catalog. Enjoy the music and be well,Craig FentonAuthor of the Jefferson Airplane book Take Me To A Circus Tent
DON T RUSH THE GOOD THINGS - BOB WELCH-GREATEST HITS: Bob Welch represented the musical bridge betwixt Fleetwood Mac s Peter Green-helmed blues saturated beginnings and the snappy, crackly pop of the Lindsey Buckingham mega-years. Best remembered for the Big Mac groove-happy classic HYPNOTIZED and the aching SENTIMENTAL LADY (covered to great effect here with vocal colorization from Christine McVie), the singer/guitarist scored straight out of the solo chute via the album FRENCH KISS. That dandy debut boasted not only the smash FM remake, but subsequent hits EBONY EYES (not the Everly Brothers chestnut) and the infectious HOT LOVE, COLD WORLD as well. Later albums yielded diminishing returns, though the irresistably catchy THREE HEARTS, DON T RUSH THE GOOD THINGS funky pulse, and the Top 40 shoe-in PRECIOUS LOVE remain highlights. Welch may be a Where Are They Now candidate these days, but this much too breif GREATEST HITS showcases an artist with integrity, charm and pop chops to spare. RATING: THREE HEARTS
Curb Records Does It Again!!! - This is not the time or place to go into the political foibles of the former California lieutenant governor, however, Mike Curb s product from his CD label (Curb Records, natch) have a tendency to be (very) brief affairs, and in this aspect Bob Welch Greatest Hits doesn t disappoint. With only ten songs and a running time of barely 30 minutes, Greatest Hits doesn t do much for Bob Welch s reputation as an eclectic guitarist and songwriter, unless you count the cover of the Fleetwoods Come Softly To Me (with six solo albums worth of material to choose from this selection is certainly a head scratcher). The very brief liner notes are pretty silly, too.Anyway, like the reviewer below me, for newbies I recommend the Rhino anthology, for a couple of bucks more you get a far better song selection with more songs and good notes, and with sound quality where you don t have to crank the volume to eleven to get some enjoyment out of your stereo, despite the fact that this CD is three years NEWER.Keep the peace.
It has the hits, but little else - Curb s one disc compilation of Bob Welch s solo catalog(originally on Capitol) has some great musical moments, and that sabout all I can say for the CD. The collection is thrown together without regard to chronology, annotation or creativity. Welch s first five (solo) chart singles (from French Kiss and Three Hearts) are here, plus the failed single Don t Rush The Good Things (from Man Overboard). The remaining four songs are seemingly chosen at random from Bob s Capitol Records days. Of these four, only The Girl Can t Stop is worthy of inclusion in a best of. This disc is obviously the product of a one-off licensing arrangement....a bargain priced CD designed to be a cut-out special or impulse buy. Since they had permission to sample from Bob s four Capitol lps, it s baffling why Curb neglected all three singles from The Other One: Rebel Rouser, Future Games and Don t Let Me Fall. After Church (Summer of 79), none of Welch s singles cracked the Top 40, but those four singles would have made the greatest hits label an honest one. This is not a bad collection by any stretch, even though some of Curb s choices are lame. Fans are better off buying the Rhino Records collection, the Best of Bob Welch, which is similarly priced. The Rhino compilation has decent annotation and a more representative selection of songs, spanning Welch s days with Paris up until early 91. The only material it is lacking is from Bob s two albums for RCA Records.