Some hippies were hip
David Kinney | San Francisco, Ca. United States | 04/16/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Youngbloods, along with The Lovin' Spoonful, and the now forgotten Cat Mother, represented the East coast wing of of the 60's folk-rock movement.They were a lot grittier than the Spoonful,and were fortunate to have two strong songwriters in Jesse Colin Young and Jerry Corbitt.This is an excellent sampler of their musical history, docked one star for some dated material and a couple of ill-advised attempts at playing the blues. Beyond that the songs just shine like little diamonds of a forgotten era. Everyone of a certain age rembers "Get Together", one of the more lasting peace and love anthems of our generation, but even better are "Darkness Darkness", "Sunlight"' the gorgeous "Foolin' Around", and "Ride The Wind". These are terrific songs in any context and served as the blueprint for Jesse Colin Young's subsequent solo carreer.This band, unlike many of their folkie brethren could really play their instruments and could rock doing it. Highly reccomended to fans of folk-rock, harmony singing,good pickin', peace love and understanding, and, most importantly, fun."
One of the Best Selections of Young Blood CD's
Scooter | Southern California | 07/26/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The problem with most CD Greatest Hit collections is that the musicians rarely had a collection of "greatest hits." More often than not, the CD is a grouping of a couple charted hits and a hodge podge of other songs which the producers thought was representative of the body of work of the group.
This CD is no exception, as the Youngbloods only had one solid charted hit, "Get Together". The other three tracks barely cracked the Hot 100. So if your looking for a selection of "hits", look elsewhere.
That being said, this is one of the few selections which contains the song "Ride the Wind" which at over 6 minutes long is a producers bain. But it is a terrific song which foreshadows Jesse Colin Young's earlier and later work.
The CD also has "Get Together" and "Darkness Darkness" which are also terrific songs. I love this CD, but it is far from a greatest hit CD, because they had so few. But it is genuine honest music, and if you are not familiar with the Youngbloods, is a good compilation."
