[.ca] Have a Nice Day - Vol. 1

+ 1/2 stars...Hit and Miss Affair:
Before the advent of online services like imusic.com, Rhino Records was THE label for re-releasing old material. As a lifelong music junkie (I own every Top 10 song from 1963 to 1975), I bought at least twenty of their Have A Nice Day series. Not every song is a winner, but many of these songs were not--at least at the time--heavily anthologized. Were all of these big hits? No. But it's nice to hear Vanity Fares first hit, "Early in the Morning" (No. 12), than the overplayed "Hitchin' a Ride." "Mississippi Queen" only made it to No. 21, but the song rocks! "Come Saturday Morning" (from the movie The Sterile Cuckoo w/ Liza Minnelli) didn't fare much better at No. 17, but again it's a song you get on few other collections. The big hits were No. 1's like "Venus," "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)," and the million-sellers like "The Rapper" and "Arizona." One of the most enduring songs of the bunch is the one-hit-wonder "More Today Than Yesterday" by the Spiral Starecase. \oCheck the spelling on that one...amazon.com has it right! It is NOT staircase!\c What would motivate anyone to buy this? Simple...nostalgia. I was a teenager when these songs hit the charts, and they all have a sentimental value to this day. My only gripe is that the playing time on these is pretty short with only twelve songs filling up less than half the disc space. \oIt was even worse on the cassette version when you got only 10 songs.\c

Shows the many different styles the 70's offered.:
The 70's was a decade that offered a variety of styes when it came to music. This collection shows that. There's the pop side with Vanity Fare, Spiral Staircase, and Billy Joe Royal. There's the heavier side with Mountain. And there is the wimpy side with the Sandpipers. This first volume sets the stage for the other volumes that follow.

Outstanding start for a good series:
Volume 1 of the "Have a Nice Day" series showed great promise for a series that unfortunately only delivered in spotty fashion. However, this first disc is tremendous. The selection of music is an overview of the many disparate styles that would form the sound of the seventies. Starting with the decades first mega-hit, "NaNa HeyHey Kiss Him Goodbye", these dozen tracks cover a little bit of everything. Yes, this track and a few others here were released in late 1969, but hit their stride in the winter and spring of 1970. For middle-of-the-road pop, there is Vanity Fair's "Early in the Morning", the Spiral Staircase's "More Today than Yesterday" and Mark Lindsay's "Arizona." For those who prefer a softer sound, there is the Sandpiper's mellow and lovely "Come Saturday Morning" and The Flying Machine's "Smile a Little Smile for Me." Mountain gives a preview of the harder side of the decade with "Mississippi Queen" while Shocking Blue checks in with "Venus." There's even a bit of an oddity in Billy Joe Royal's only hit that wasn't squeaky clean, the transparently suggestive "Cherry Hill Park." As with all of the discs in this series, the mastering is magnificent and all songs are originals (some in the set could have been better edited, but that's nitpicking). Many later volumes had difficulty coming up with twelve strong entries, but not Volume 1. This is a truly excellent value; twelve tracks, twelve great songs. Highly recommended.

Fantastic Music:
this is A Fantastic Album And really and Truly love it Including that Catchy Tune More today Than Yesterday by the spiral staircase A Song That Is So is so Lively which goes Through your Head along with The Jaggez The Rapper I wouldn't forget Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him goodbye which Is Sung at All the Sporting Events Highly Recomendable Good Clean Listening

Buy it for The Spiral Staircase & Shocking Blue:
As always with these compilations, there is dreck one has to wade through, but where else can you find Shocking Blue's kick-butt "Venus" and the Spiral Staircase's "More Today Than Yesterday" on the same disc, WITH Steam's classic high school chant "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Hey"?! "More Today.." is one of those exquisitely crafted, joyous pop classics one wants to play over and over until the mood sticks. What happened to these one-hit wonders? The brass and percussion arrangement is choice, too. "Venus" was defiled in the 80s by Bananarama, but the Danish group here is almost proto-punk. I'm certain this song came out in the sixties, but perhaps it had a second life in the 70s. In any event, "Venus" is classic rock'n'roll, pure pop for now people as Nick Lowe sang.

• More Today Than Yesterday - Spiral Starecase
• Baby It's You - Smith
• Smile a Little Smile for Me - Flying Machine
• Cherry Hill Park - Billy Joe Royal
• Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) - Steam
• Venus - Shocking Blue
• Early in the Morning - Vanity Fare
• Arizona - Mark Lindsay
• Rapper - The Jaggerz
• Come Saturday Morning - The Sandpipers
• Tracy \o*\c - The Cuff Links
• Mississippi Queen \o*\c - Mountain