Various Artists - Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s: Ventura Highway (1997)

A quality compilation with sub-par cover art that I quickly snatched from a used bin for the following three reasons:

1. Mellow Rock Hits
2. '70s
3. 1990's Rhino compilation

I'd never heard of the Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s series until I came across this disc and yes I've already ordered the other two. The usual suspects make an appearance but then there's three tracks that are odd outliers in my book.

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

Tracks (liner notes promote that these are the full album versions), with chart peaks from the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts plus links to previous appearances on this blog:

Song	Artist	Year	Pop	AC	Prev.
Diamond Girl	Seals & Crofts	1973	6	4	1
Ventura Highway	America	1972	8	3
Amie	Pure Prairie League	1975	27	20	1
Uncle John's Band	Grateful Dead	1970	69		1
Black Water	The Doobie Brothers	1975	1	38	1, 2
Sara Smile	Daryl Hall & John Oates	1976	4	18	1, 2, 3
Love Will Find A Way	Pablo Cruise	1978	6	28	1
Couldn't Get It Right	Climax Blues Band	1977	3	43	1, 2
Still The One	Orleans	1976	5	33	1
Baby Come Back	Player	1977	1	20	1, 2
Fly Like An Eagle	Steve Miller Band	1977	2	38	1, 2
Nights Are Forever Without You	England Dan & John Ford Coley	1976	10	6
If	Bread	1971	4	1	1
A Little Bit More	Dr. Hook	1976	11	15
You Better Think Twice	Poco	1970	72
Dixie Chicken	Little Feat	1973

Some thoughts on the five tracks that were new to my CD shelves:

• Ventura Highway: I was not much of a fan of this group back in the '70s - I wanted to dance and Horse With No Name or Tin Man just didn't do it for me. However, I now dig many of their tunes, including this one. From the opening guitar hook to the chorus harmonies, it's solid. I'll confess I didn't know the song title for decades.
• Nights Are Forever Without You: one of my earliest (legal) music downloads from the iTunes Store was a 5 track EP from this duo.
  
  It's still available and will run you $3.99 today but I digress. This song was included in that download so I thought I had it already but that should show you that I've liked the thing for a long time now. We're treated to a country-tinged verse while the chorus rocks a little bit.
• A Little Bit More: I was ten years old when this was popular and I didn't understand the lyrics at all. Still, it's smooth enough music with string pads, noodling guitar, and calming harmonies.
• You Better Think Twice: Released in 1970 but obviously still in the '60s as far as sound is concerned. This one's a little too country and the vocal harmonies are too similar to CSN for my tastes.
• Dixie Chicken: This band's combination of NOLA soul, country rock, and roadhouse blues is right up my alley and catchy as hell. Sidenote: there's a famous joint in College Station called the Dixie Chicken ("The Chicken," for short), but even though I visited my sons in that town for 8 years, we never went there.

The three outliers? Well, to my ears, they're Uncle John's Band, You Better Think Twice, and Dixie Chicken. The chart positions bear that out - those three are hardly the "hits" promised in the title. Nevertheless, this compilation is...

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Nothing specific, just general feel good vibes associated with my carefree childhood in the '70s in the Chihuahuan Desert.