All Time Greatest Hits

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Product Details

Artist : Grass Roots
Format : Best of
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0008811146726
Label : Universal Music Group
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 1996-08-07
UPC : 766483220648

ASIN : B000002P1T

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. Let's Live for Today
2. Where Were You When I Needed You
3. Things I Should Have Said
4. Midnight Confessions
5. River Is Wide
6. Bella Linda
7. Lovin' Things
8. Wait a Million Years
9. Baby Hold On
10. Heaven Knows
11. Come on and Say It
12. Temptation Eyes
13. Two Divided by Love
14. Glory Bound
15. Runway
16. Sooner or Later

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Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

As a band the Grass Roots were always a shadowy bunch, a front for studio musicians and professional songwriters looking to get their songs on the radio. They scored 14 top 40 hits during their reign in the late '60s/early '70s and their hits were among the catchiest and most enjoyable of the AM radio era. "Let's Live for Today," "Midnight Confessions," "Bella Linda," "Two Divided by Love," and a slew of others are shameless pop made brilliant by multilayered harmonies and arrangements that liberally borrowed from folk-rock and R&B. The Grass Roots may have been product, but what great product. --Rob O'Connor

Customer Reviews

Their best (2004-05-12)

A nice collection from one of the top pop bands of the late 60's and early 70's. Contains all 14 of their top 40 hits plus a couple of near misses. My favorites are "Wait a Million Years", "Two Divided by Love", and their last top 10 hit "Sooner or Later." If you like pop, you will like the Grass Roots.

The fuel that made Top 40 radio run....upbeat fun music!!! (2004-04-19)

Return with me now to the late 60's and early 70's. The Top 40 format was still king on AM radio. Most stations would kick off each hour with a driving uptempo tune. Enter the Grass Roots. They were the epitome of Top 40 radio. A great many people despised "bubblegum" music in those days. But this music was better than that. I never knew anyone who disliked the Grass Roots. They simply made great pop music. This collection, done with unusally great care by MCA Records, is simply terrific. The remastering job is absolutely first rate. There are three full pages of interesting liner notes. Enjoy again favorites like "Midnight Confessions", "I'd Wait A Million Years" and of course "Temptation Eyes". At a time when popular music was getting a lot more complicated, the Grass Roots 45's were a welcome breath of fresh air. You will surely remember most of the 16 tracks on this disc and they all sound every bit as good today as they did then. If you are nostalgic for the music you grew up with, this is one CD you should definitely own!!!

A collection of refined sunshine pop (2004-02-13)

The mid-60's was brimming with many groups and styles. The Beatles, Byrds, Stones were in the forefront, as were the Supremes and Motown artists. Harder groups like Steppenwolf and Iron Butterfly were on the horizon. So where do the Grass Roots fit in? Call them a poppy version of the Byrds and Beatles, complete with harmony vocals, catchy hooks, and a too cheerful beat at times whatever the subject.

Their first of three Top Ten hits was the optimistic "Let's Live For Today" with that "sha-la-la-la-la" lead-in to the title. This protest against the unrewarding upward mobile yuppie mentality of "chasing after money and dreams that can't come true" with its reassurance not to worry about tomorrow.

"Where Were You When I Needed You" was the song that prompted me to get this, as the Bangles did this on the B-side of "Hero Takes A Fall." Its Byrdsy guitar and harmony vocals still manage a poppy cheer in this song about telling a girl she's history. One of my favourites despite its #28 showing.

"Midnight Confessions," their highest charting hit at #5, was included on the Jackie Brown soundtrack, and was originally done by the Evergreen Blues Band. The Motown-influenced horns and bass merged with the organ and harmonies are apparent here. An attempt to duplicate that can be seen in "Baby Hold On."

"The River Is Wide" showed them incorporating strings along with the brass, kind of like Nancy Sinatra's sound during her square periods, except with 60's pop sensibilities. "Bella Linda" sports the same sound, but it's more on the Beatle-ish or Turtles-ish side. The same sound can be found on "Wait A Million Years," another Top Twenty hit.

As the 60's turned into the 70's, the hits became fallow and the sound somewhat repetitive, but they managed two more Top Twenty hits, including the catchy "Two Divided By Love" where the brass became more pronounced, and "Temptation Eyes." And their final Top Ten, "Sooner Or Later" sounded different due to the change in lineup and sound, which was veering towards soul. This began with "Heaven Knows" which came out in late 69. All the same, they were still upbeat.

Criticized for being mainstream in a time when experimental music was on the rise, the Grass Roots managed a refined brand of music derived from the scene at the time. It was also their refusal to experiment and change that probably led to their collapse in the 70's. Still, they managed a great early sound referred to sunshine pop that the Bangles saw fit to take a song from.

With Four More Selections This Is A 5-Star Compilation (2003-09-02)

I agree completely with the reviewer who suggests that MCA could have been a bit more generous and expanded this to include the missing hits he mentions, along with one he overlooked - Only When You're Lonely, their second charter for Dunhill in fact, and a # 96 in September 1966.

There is a nice fold-out insert containing three pages of liner notes written by Todd Everett in May 1996, a discography of the contents, and reproductions of their LP covers Let's Live For Today, The Grass Roots Lovin' Things, and Golden Grass The Grass Roots. The sound quality is excellent.

This group underwent many changes through the years after being formed as The Bedouins in 1964 in San Francisco by drummer Joel Larson and lead Bill Fulton. Their initial releases in 1966 [Where Were You When I Needed You and Only When You're Lonely] were written by P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In 1967 the group consisted of bassist/lead Rob Grill, guitarists Creed Bratton and Warren Etner, and drummer Rick Coonce. In 1971 further changes included guitarists Reed Kaling and Virgil Webber and original drummer Joel Larson.

Not exactly The Beatles in terms of group continuity, but they did put out some of the most marketable hits of their era, including Let's LIve For Today which was based upon a hit in Italy by a group known as The Rokes. All in all a pretty good choice for the price asked - which could have been even better with just a little more MCA generosity.

Almost Perfect (2003-07-27)

This CD would be the perfect compilation of The Grass Roots were it not for the omission of "Walkin' Through the Country" and another less known song, "Feelings". The quality of the recordings is excellent. The brass, vocals and instrumental rifts are clear and clean. Obviously remastered from the originals since all the songs sound better than I remember them. Except for "Where Were You When I Needed You", which appears to be a redone original. You can tell by the vocal lead trying to enunciate each word in the song. The original release of this song had a more relaxing feeling to it. All in all, I'm very pleased with this CD.

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