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

Back in 2023, I discovered Rhino's Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s series through the Ventura Highway compilation and quickly found the other two discs in the series.

This volume is my least favorite of the three CDs in the series; this edition has quite a few deep album tracks, is heavy on the country & folk cuts, and skews to artists I normally don't listen to. I wouldn't have purchased it based solely on the track listing, but I had to have the complete series so here we are.

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.
Sundown	Gordon Lightfoot	1974	1	1
Romeo's Tune	Steve Forbert	1979	11	13	1
Father & Son	Cat Stevens	1970
Vincent	Don McLean	1971	12	2
Part Of The Plan	Dan Fogelberg	1974	31	22
Why Me	Kris Kristofferson	1972	16	28	1
Brass Buttons	Gram Parsons	1974
Faithless Love	John David Souther	1976
Operator (That's Not the Way it Feels)	Jim Croce	1972	17	11	1
Massachusetts	Arlo Guthrie	1976
Never Let Her Go	David Gates	1974	29	3
Banana Republics	Steve Goodman	1976
Glad To See You've Got Religion	Loudon Wainwright III	1970
Angel From Montgomery	John Prine	1971
Second Avenue	Tim Moore	1974	58	41
Passing Thing	Andrew Gold	1977

Of the 13 tracks that were new to my CD shelves, my favorites are Part Of The Plan, Faithless Love, Never Let Her Go, and Second Avenue.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I was 8 years old when Sundown was on the radio and it creeped me the hell out.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s: Ventura Highway (1997)
Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s: Summer Breeze (1997)

Various Artists - Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s: Summer Breeze (1997)

A few months back, I discovered Rhino's Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s series through the Ventura Highway compilation and quickly found the other two discs in the series.

This one contains a Fleetwood Mac smash hit and I rarely see their stuff on such compilations. Plus, half the tracks were new to my CD collection and a few were new to my ears, as well. Some singles presented here didn't chart and there's at least one deep album cut included on the CD. Overall, a solid purchase for someone who has been nicknamed the Soft Rock Kid.

Don't f**k with the soft rock kid.

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.
A Horse With No Name	America	1971	1	3	1
Dreams	Fleetwood Mac	1977	1	11	1
Summer Breeze	Seals & Crofts	1972	6	4
Mexico	James Taylor	1975	49	5	1
Blue Bayou	Linda Ronstadt	1977	3	3	1, 2
Black Rose	John David Souther	1976
An American Dream	The Dirt Band	1979	13	12	1
Hot Burrito #1	The Flying Burrito Bros.	1969
How Much I Feel	Ambrosia	1978	3	11	1, 2
Thunder Island	Jay Ferguson	1978	9		1
Tomorrow	Joe Walsh	1978
The Joker	Steve Miller Band	1973	11		1, 2
Fallin' In Love	Souther-Hillman-Furay Band	1974	27
Heart Of The Night	Poco	1979	20	5
Where Are You Hiding?	Terence Boylan	1977
Peaceful Easy Feeling	Jack Tempchin	1978

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

• Summer Breeze: Hard to believe I didn't already have this one. Also hard to believe it didn't top the charts. Certainly a top-shelf tune - so relaxing while perfectly warm and breezy. A fantastic, uplifting bridge, those vocal harmonies and some great, unexpected chord progressions take it all up a notch. And have you heard the Isley Brothers deconstruct the thing?
• Black Rose: This one was new to me when I bought the disc, but it fits in perfectly. It's got a relaxed Steely Dan-ish groove with some great vocals on the chorus hook. The only thing that misses is the guitar solo.
• Hot Burrito #1: A key cut from the band's influential debut album, The Gilded Palace Of Sin, this one doesn't quite work among the other cuts. Good tune, just slightly out of place.
• Tomorrow: Walsh has come up with some smokin' guitar riffs throughout his career, but can he write a soft rocker? Turns out he can. This piece is driven by a strumming acoustic and some sublime organ work. Sounds like he tried to write a Paul McCartney tune and it absolutely works.
• Fallin' In Love: The liner notes describe this trio as a supergroup that was "a textbook case of mismatched talent and squandered potential." This bland single certainly supports that characterization. Sounds to me like a filler track on an early Bay City Rollers album. I don't remember hearing it on the radio back in '74, but I was 8 years old at the time so what do I know?
• Heart Of The Night: Like Summer Breeze, I could have sworn I already had this on at least one other compilation. This one got significant airplay on the Houston radio stations I was listening to back in '79, but leans a bit too country for my tastes with the slide guitar and a strident saxophone tone probably being the problems for me.
• Where Are You Hiding?: This CD was my introduction to both song and artist. The backing group certainly contains some familiar names, though: Don Henley, Jeff Pocaro, Dean Parks, and Wilton Felder. I like the driving, forward motion and the background vocals. The liner notes claim that Boylan "awaits a wider rediscovery" and, based on this tune, I'll certainly give some of his other stuff a listen.
• Peaceful Easy Feeling: 6 years after The Eagles hit #22 on the charts with this song, the songwriter released his own laid-back version. It sounds like a John Denver arrangement with lots of acoustic guitar picking plus a lilting flute line and it's absolutely perfect. And the female duet voice has to be either Emmylou Harris or Jennifer Warnes. What a treat.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Swimming to the sounds of Fleetwood Mac at the pool of the Odessa Country Club, listening to James Taylor while on a trip to Chichen Itza, going to the roller skating rink every Friday night in 6th grade, lonely cold wet winter nights in junior high, playing keyboards in a band for no money (I believe they call that "paying your dues"), and on and on...

Previously revisited for the blog:
Mellow Rock Hits Of The '70s: Ventura Highway (1997)

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.