M. DALTON | Brisbane, Queensland Australia | 08/15/2004
(3 out of 5 stars)
"A pretty good compilation but the Arabian Nights & African Queens medleys just don't work in edited form. I pray for the day they release the full-length albums...BRAZIL..AFRICAN QUEENS..ARABIAN NIGHTS..LIFE IS MUSIC. All brilliant..all greatly desired by their fans..PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE.."
Not bad.....
07/07/1998
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This compilation of the Ritchie family has most of their hits, short versions. I was disappointed with the Arabian Nights medley, they cut it down to around 8 minutes originally it was about 16 minutes. Same thing with the African Queens medley, that was cut also. Overall if you can overlook the cut down size of most of the song, its a good compilation disc."
Takes more than one CD to compile all their great songs!
M. DALTON | 05/27/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The early days of disco saw the birth of a classic song turned into a classic again with the magic touch of disco sound. Even the cover of their debut LP was an enigma not showing the faces of the group members. "Frenesi" and "Peanut Vendor" completed the first side of the record which had a jazzy fair. The B side has "Fascination","Dance with me" and "Pinball" Which although short in lenght were more danceable. "Arabian Nights" portrayed their classic "Best Disco in Town", the rest of the songs were good but never topped the charts. The cover art pictured the group members wearing exotic "carnival" costumes. Cassandra Ann Wooten, Gwendolyn Oliver and Teri Mason Jacks were credited as the group voices. "Life is music" followed in 1977 with a glamo- rous picture cover and a centerfold where the trio were wearing furs. "Long Distance Romance", "Lady luck" and "Liberty" were great songs but again didn't top the charts. By the end of the summer "African Queens" was released. Again the art cover was very exquisite portraying the trio as different African Queens. Only "Quiet Village" topped the charts (not included here). "Summer Dance" was a very danceable tune as well as "Voodoo", unfortunately only the 7" mix of the first one is included. Disco was hot on the trails by 1978: "American Generation" was released with a new line up. The sound was more aggressive as showed in "I feel Disco Good" and of course the title hit. This was their final release on Marlin/TK label. The release of "Bad Reputation" with Casablanca records portraying the new group dressed in leather and surrounded by bodybuilders on the cover was simply hot. The sound was very High Energy: "Bad reputation" "Put your feet to the beat", It's a man's world" and "Where are the men" really will make you put your feet to the beat. By 1980's the group was fading away. They were singing ballads and mellow songs. With RCA records "I'll do my best" and "All night, all right" are presented here. Will be great to see releases of the "disco good" days of this group."
THE RITCHIE FAMILY IS MUSICALLY CAPTIVATING!!!
M. DALTON | 04/03/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am SO GLAD that I got my hands on this cd!Thanks to the Inter net, I would have never found this MUST HAVE CLASSIC!Back in the 70's,my mother played "The Ritchie Family" almost daily to the point where the albums now sounds like crumbled wax paper.Then I I heard these songs again on WKTU.NY and I had to add this to my disco collection!"BRAZIL" is beautiful and breath taking!!You cannot sit down when this song is playing!It's one of my top 10 disco hits of all time!!!"ARABIAN NIGHTS" is my next favorite with it's blend of disco & exotic Persian/Turkish tunes!I would have prefered to hear the 16 min version instead of the 7 min 18 seconds because I hate when good songs like this is edited.The next one is "BEST DISCO IN TOWN" a combination of all disco hits including their own.This is the most common song of(TRF)it gets the most air play."AFRICAN QUEENS,SUMMER DANCE AND GOOD IN LOVE" is also easy to like.I haven't heard "AMERICAN GENERATION" in about 20 years and I fell in love with it all over again!How come "QUIET VILLAGE" is not included?"QV" was a top hit with it's medium tempo yet tropical and sexy rhythms!There were two other songs on their original LP that was indeed candidates for their best hits and they were "BABY I'M ON FIRE & ROMANTIC LOVE"! These songs like all the rest had that danceable,sexy and mesmerizing touch!!Overall, I definetely got my $$$$$ worth and will cherish it forever.My mother totally agrees and we both say -too bad they don't make music like this anymore!With this kind of extravagant music "YOU MUST BE THE GRIM REAPER IF YOU WERE GLAD TO SEE THE DEMISE OF DISCO"!!!!!! "KEEP DISCO ALIVE""