[.ca] Buried Treasure - Lost Gems Fr

Great idea with variable result:
This is the kind of collection which keeps me collecting and searching for space in my one-bedroom apartment. As there is too much emphasis on Greatest Hits, Number Ones, and Golden Oldies, which means many excellent chartworthy records fell by the wayside, releases like "Buried Treasure" loom large for the student of pop history. There are forty songs from Warner Bros., Atlantic, Valiant, et al., which made either made alot, or some, or *no* noise commercially and (to me) about ten are worth hearing more than twice, including "Angel On My Shoulder" and "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" by folk singer Shelby Flint, "Good Good Lovin'" by the Blossoms, "Lady Madonna" by Fats Domino, "Apricot Brandy" by Rhinoceros, "Freedom Blues" by Little Richard \orec. probably in '69, *not* '71 as per. liner notes\c, and the long version of "Don't Try To Lay No Boogie Woogie On The King Of Rock And Roll" by Long John Baldry. What I find disturbing is that The Association has three tracks here, The Beefeaters have two, and Fats and Richard have but *one* each! The Fat Man has about fifteen never reisssued Warner Bros. tracks and The Architect/Emancipator/Quasar has about fifteen *never released* tracks from Warner Bros./Reprise, including a complete album. I hope the company considers a "Buried Treasure, Vol. 2 - the '70s" with Fats' "New Orleans Ain't The Same" and Richards' "Burning Up With Love", a tune promo'd on TV in '72 but not issued.

Great concept but uneven in execution:
With all the labels that are now under the WEA umbrella, there is an almost incomprehendable volume of material in the vaults to be mined, much of which has not seen the light of day in the digital era. This two-CD collection from Collectors' Choice attempts to bring to the buying public their choice of "lost gems" of WEA's artists' music from the 60s. The title implies a collection of tunes not usually found in other reissues. While this is accomplished to some extent, the approach to track selection is all over the place. Even the liner notes acknowledge a "shotgun" approach to the track selection. For some artists, their biggest and well-known hit is presented when these are not infrequently available elsewhere, yet their other lesser-known tunes have been overlooked. In this vein are Joannie Sommers's "Johnny Get Angry", the Marketts' "Out of Limits" and "Let's Go" from the Routers. In a contradictory approach, there are three tracks from the Association, none of which were charting singles. And some of the biggest stars of the label are not represented at all such as the Everly Brothers, Petula Clark, the Drifters, Peter, Paul and Mary and many, many others although this is explained as not necessary as these artists are well represented elsewhere. Seeming more in keeping with the purpose here is the appearance of such rarities as Mel Torme's only top-100 charting single "Comin' Home Baby", Shelby Flint's only other charter "Cast Your Fate To The Wind", "Here's To You" from Hamilton Camp, Rhinoceros' "Apricot Brandy" and Fats Domino's only Reprise hit, "Lady Madonna". All told, among the 40 tracks are 25 top-100 hits, nine of which are one-hit wonders. Overall, while the repertoire seems a bit skewed, this piece contains a lot of interesting, indeed "gems" from the 60s and is appealing to both the casual listener and serious collector. Sound quality is competent overall with many cuts (disc 1, tracks 3,4,8,9,11,13-16; disc 2, tracks 1,2,8-12,14-19) in stereo. Completing the package is a 12-page liner notes booklet with a refreshingly honest approach to the contents and backround on the artists covered. While a valuable piece in itself, considering the enormity of the WEA vaults, this is merely a tease and the music collector would hope that there will be further volumes to continue where this set leaves off.

• Baby Please Don't Go - Troyce Key
• 77 Sunset Strip - Don Ralke
• Like, I Love You - Edd Byrnes
• Sixteen Reasons - Connie Stevens
• Apache - Jorgen Ingmann
• Angel on My Shoulder - Shelby Flint
• Al Di La - Emilio Pericoli
• Johnny Get Angry - Joanie Sommers
• Comin' Home Baby - Mel Tormé
• I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight
• Let's Go - Routers
• He's a Doll - The Honeys
• Out of Limites - The Marketts
• Farmer John - The Premiers
• Little Miss Sad - Addrisi Brothers
• It Was a Very Good Year - Modern Folk Quartet
• Don't Be Long - Beefeaters
• Please Let Me Love You - The Beefeaters
• One Too Many Mornings \oVersion 1\c - The Association
• Forty Times - The Association
• Cast Your Fate to the Wind - Shelby Flint
• One Too Many Mornings - The Beau Brummels
• Good Good Lovin' - The Blossoms
• Sit Down I Think I Love You - The Mojo Men
• Looking at a Baby - Collectors
• I'm Gone - Magic Mushrooms
• Next Plane to London - Rose Garden
• Pata Pata - Miriam Makeba
• Here's to You - Hamilton Camp
• 1941 - Tom Northcott
• Tiptoe Through the Tulips with Me - Tiny Tim
• Lady Madonna - Fats Domino
• This Wheel's on Fire - Hamilton Camp
• Morning Girl - The Neon Philharmonic
• Apricot Brandy - Rhinoceros
• Motherless Child - Sweetwater
• Go Back - Crabby Appleton
• Just About the Same - The Association
• Freedom Blues - Little Richard
• Don't Try to Lay No Boogie-Woogie on the King of Rock 'N' Roll - Long John Baldry