Tony Rivers - The
Tony Rivers Collection Volume 3. Harmony Soul
Tony Rivers Collection, Vol. 3: Harmony Soul Review by Richie Unterberger.
The third and
weakest volume in RPM's series of Tony Rivers anthologies is devoted to
projects that he was involved with in the 1970s. About half of the 24 tracks
are credited to the artist himself; the others spotlight groups that he worked
with, including Summer Wine, Harmony Grass, Magic Bus, Indiana, Highly Likely,
Shine, Hollywood Freeway, and the Brian Bennett Band. There are no recording or
release dates given for the songs (half of which were previously unissued),
other than that they were done between 1970 and 1977; since RPM is usually
pretty good about this stuff, one presumes that the exact information was not
available. Rivers' forte was as a high Beach Boys-styled singer and vocal
arranger, and the first section of the CD -- which, again one presumes, are
from the earliest part of the 1970-1977 period -- betray his Beach Boys
obsession, often sounding like slicker, more mainstream variations of the Beach
Boys' own vintage harmony sound. Ever wonder what the Lovin' Spoonful's
"She's Still a Mystery" might have sounded like in the hands of the
Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys, for instance? You couldn't possibly get a better
illustration than Summer Wine's version. These outings (a couple of which --
"Do You Wanna Dance" and "Why Do Fools in Love" -- are
actually based on the Beach Boys' covers of these oldies, not the original
renditions) might be on the smooth side even for Beach Boys devotees, but as
early-'70s mainstream pop goes, they're fairly pleasant and interesting. You
couldn't say that of the material on the last half or so of the disc, almost
exclusively written and performed by Rivers himself, and mostly unreleased at
the time. These are pro forma lush, very mainstream -- right of center, really
-- mid- to late-'70s pop with adult contemporary soul overtones. Not that it's
necessarily that much less imaginative than the Beach Boys derivations that
open the set, but it's hardly going out on a limb to note that the classic
Beach Boys discography is a far better model for imitation than the late-'70s
Bee Gees, the mid-'70s Main Ingredient, and the like. Emblematic of one of pop
music's least durable eras, it's tough to listen to that portion of the disc
without falling into a grouchy torpor. For that reason this anthology could
only be recommended to very few collectors, even the ones that enjoy the '60s
sunshine pop essays by Rivers on the previous two RPM volumes of his work. As
for the cover of "Bohemian Rhapsody" that concludes the program,
taken from an album in the Top of the Pops series of close replications of
chart hits by session musicians -- what's the point?
Tracklist:
1 Tony Rivers - And Your Dream Comes True
2 Harmony Grass - It Takes a Lot of
Loving
3 Summer Wine - Do You Wanna Dance
4 Summer Wine - Why Do Fools Fall in
Love?
5 Magic Bus - Finders Keepers
6 Indiana - My Mum
7 Brian Bennett - The Girls Back Home
8 Summer Wine - She's Still a Mystery
9 Highly Likely - For the Music
10 Tony Rivers - Whatever Happened to You
11 Tony Rivers - Well, Well, Well
12 Tony Rivers - Getting the Feeling
13 Tony Rivers - (I'm Not Your) Steppin'
Stone
14 Shine - I Wonder If Anything (Lasts
All Time)
15 Tony Rivers - My Love's Getting
Stronger
16 Hollywood Freeway - You're the Song
(That I Can't Stop Singing)
17 Tony Rivers - Hey Kids
18 Tony Rivers - Never Lose Never Win
19 Tony Rivers - Here I Go Again
20 Tony Rivers - Who Put the Love
21 Tony Rivers - I'm Gonna Steal Your
Heart
22 Tony Rivers - No Don't Stop the Rain
23 Tony Rivers - Everything You Do Is
Magic
24 Tony Rivers Group - Bohemian Rhapsody
Thank you.
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