Various Artists - Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits: 1968

and the nostalgia continues...

Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits: 1968 is yet another low priced CD that gives us great rock and roll hits from 1968. The sound quality is great and the artwork is as good as all the others in this CD series.

Archie Bell & The Drells start off the track list with their hit entitled "Tighten Up." This peppy number benefits from great horns, singing and percussion. Archie Bell & The Drells perform "Tighten Up" to perfection and they handle the tempo changes like the pros that they always were!

Listen also for "Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)." This psychedelic rock tune has some great music and John Fred & His Playboy Band do this one up right! John Fred sings this to perfection and it's a great tune for listening--or even dancing! The peppy melody is upbeat and playful. Otis Redding has what is probably the biggest hit of the album with his "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay." "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" is a classic that still gets plenty of airplay today on the oldies radio stations; Otis never misses a beat and he sings this song with all his heart and soul. I love it!

Aretha Franklin does her "Chain Of Fools" with soul--and all of HER soul, too. Aretha sings this beautifully and it always impresses me greatly whenever I hear it.

Tommy James & The Shondells perform a spirited "Mony Mony" with an awesome amount of energy and the backup vocalists rock really well! "Mony Mony" uses great percussion, drums and guitars to make a terrific musical arrangement. Ohio Express does "Yummy Yummy Yummy," which is strictly speaking a rockin' tune but it comes off feeling like a bubblegum tune after the REAL rock on this album.

Overall, this CD has ten hits from 1968 that are sure to bring back good memories from back in the day. Yeah, sure, "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" isn't the strongest rock tune on the disc--but the rest is very good quality control. I recommend this CD for fans of this genre of music.
February 2, 2008

Two different versions

Hmm. I got this CD back when it was first released - but it had a different set of songs. (Look at the customer image from T. Butler, above). The version I have has "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Love Child", "Grazing in the Grass", and "Born to Be Wild" which seem to have been replaced with "Tighten Up", "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay", "People Got to Be Free", and "Chain of Fools". I wonder why the changes.

I also have 1971 and 1972 which seem to be unchanged... December 14, 2007

60's & 50's music

great cd - I played it at my parents 50th wedding anniversary party and everyone loved it. October 11, 2007

An Interesting Group of Songs

When you're looking for that one particlular 60's song, this series isn't too bad. I bought this CD for "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay", but was pleasantly surpised to get "Chain of Fools", "Green Tambourine" and "The Horse" which is a song my band used to play in the 70's. November 14, 2006

1968 rock

this is another great billboard rock n roll CD. There were all different types of music that year, like soul and bubblegum. Here we have the tight instrumental the Horse, the wild song Mony Mony, and one hit wonder group the Lemon Pipers with Green Tambourine. All original versions! July 28, 2005

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