38 Special - The Very Best of the A&M Years (1977-1988) (2003)

GREATEST HITS WEEK (JUNE 29 - JULY 5, 2015)

I'm not southern rock guy and I know next to nothing about this band, but this radio friendly compilation is perfect by the pool. And that's precisely why I picked it up. It's front-loaded - most of the hits I remember are in the first half of the disc, but it all starts to sound the same so it's pleasant enough for a while before ending with a whimper. I seem to remember from the band's videos that the group had two drummers? Sometimes one is too many and they went and got themselves two. Go figure.

Thorough retrospective liner essay by music journalist Scott Schinder. Also included in this CD: a Rockin' Into The Night album cover iron-on decal! Jealous much?

Below, I've marked my favorites with a ✔ and tracks I skip with a ✘.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:  18 tracks, 76 minutes.

Title	Year	Pop	Rock
Rockin' Into The Night	1980	43		✔
Hold On Loosely	1981	27	3	✔
Wild-Eyed Southern Boys	1981		35
Fantasy Girl	1981	52	30	✔
Caught Up In You	1982	10	1	✔
Chain Lightnin'	1982		9
You Keep Runnin' Away	1982	38	7
Rough-Housin'	1982
Stone Cold Believer	1980			✘
Twentieth Century Fox	1983
If I'd Been The One	1983	19	1
Back Where You Belong	1983	20	4
Teacher, Teacher	1984	25	4	✔
Somebody Like You	1986	48	6
Like No Other Night	1986	14	4
Back To Paradise	1987	41	4	✔
Second Chance	1989	6	2	✘
Take Me Back	1978			✘

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  Nothing specific, just a general sense of being a skinny high school kid. I didn't own any of 38 Special albums back then, but their stuff was all over the radio, even the non-single album cuts.