Various Artists - Billboard Top Rock'n'Roll Hits 1968 (1988)

Not sure about rock'n'roll hits, but there are some fun pop hits here for the Big Chill set. This CD (compiled by Joel Whitburn and released by Rhino) is notable for its early entry into the CD compilation reissue market. The compilation itself is first-rate; my only complaint is the 29 minute running time.

This disc is part of a 20 CD compilation series spanning 1955 to 1974, with one 10-track album for year; each track made the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. All the Billboard Top Rock'N'Roll Hits discs for years 1960 through 1969 were originally released in 1988 or 1989 and rereleased in 1993 with revised track listings, most likely due to licensing restrictions. For this CD, the following were replaced on the 1993 reissue:

• I Heard It Through The Grapevine
• Love Child
• Grazing In The Grass
• Born To Be Wild

with

• Tighten Up - Archie Bell & The Drells
• (Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay - Otis Redding
• Chain Of Fools - Aretha Franklin
• People Got To Be Free - The Rascals

Your humble blogger turned two years old in 1968. Mom baked a chocolate sheet cake.

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

Tracks, including Billboard Hot 100 chart peak:

Title	Artist	Pop
I Heard It Through the Grapevine	Marvin Gaye	1
Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)	John Fred & His Playboy Band	1
Yummy Yummy Yummy	Ohio Express	4
Green Tambourine	The Lemon Pipers	1
Grazing in the Grass	Hugh Masekela	1
Born to Be Wild	Steppenwolf	2
Cry Like a Baby	The Box Tops	2
Mony Mony	Tommy James & The Shondells	3
Love Child	Diana Ross & The Supremes	1
The Horse	Cliff Nobles & Co.	2

I could hear Grazing In The Grass twice a day, every day, and never tire of it. And God help me, I love The Horse. It's also nice to have Green Tambourine, Judy In Disguise, and Cry Like A Baby on a CD.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD (blatantly self-plagiarized from the Rock Instrumental Classics, Vol. 4 post): The Horse is a classic in my mind because, where I grew up, all high school marching bands played an arrangement of it. Many still do.

The archives here at blog headquarters contain a 45 single of The Horse on the Phil-L.A. of Soul label (filet of sole, get it?). I enjoy both sides of the single, the A-side with vocals, Love Is All Right, and the more famous B-side without.