The Grass Roots - 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Grass Roots

Money is the Root of All Grass.......

Yes...yes. All the calls for me (your beloved Seer) to retire have been dutifully ignored. Why, you may ask? Because, selflessly, I have a thirsty public perched for every new word from me and I just can't let them down. Besides, it wouldn't be very impressive in Wikipedia. Fame must be protected at all cost I always say!

Anyway, the mystery is always what I'm going to review next. But the truth is- I have no idea. Keeping that in mind people, things have a way of evolving into your conciousness in many mysterious ways. Take for example this review. I was with a friend the other evening and we were playing that game - you know the one - whereby you say a word or a phrase and the person responds to whatever it triggers within their own mind. Back and forth. Anyway, they said I was the male Louella Parsons. And I responded that I was the male Hedda Hopper instead. And they said I was a grasshopper and then I responded Grass Roots. And, there you have it. Another review!

I suppose that it's safe to say that in the mid to late 60's that there were a lot of influences bouncing around. You had the Beatles of course, the Rolling Stones, The Who, and a variety of other things going on. Mix into this the American connection of Dylan, the Byrds, Monkees, and God knows what else and you have record companies scrambling to cash in on the top pop AM and young teen market. After all, it certainly is a lucrative one. And still is, as a matter of fact.

Behind the scenes, we have professional songwriters and hired musicians to create the illusion known as The Grass Roots. And, if the truth be known, they are better than my illusions, such as my sea serpent and dragon, because they made money from it! Oh people, when will I learn to milk my creations? Only a matter of time, I console myself.

But, forget my trials for now (but come back to them quickly after this review has ended!). I have to say that this c.d. is a fine representation of what was coming across the airwaves in the 60's. You get the jangley strains of the Byrds influenced "Where Were You When I Need You", the ahead of it's time "Let's Live for Today", the jaunty teen regret of "Things I Should Have Said" and the soon to be staple on many songs with horns included with "Midnight Confessions" ( a virtual classic) and "Wait a Million Years". Of course, all the selections here were geared towards teen angst and teen love (which by now we all know now were ephemeral but a great fire while it lasted). The results here reveal wonderful pop confections and a side to teen age life that was, a joy of sorts, in the temperamental 60's.

Please keep in mind, that I do not feel this music is up to snuff with the mega-giants that have been previously mentioned. Their legacys are well earned. But, this music, in a way, was a joyful bounce to a teen-agers life as they cruised around, looking for a new love, or heard on the way to the drive-in theatre. Perhaps immature, but essential ingredients on the way to exist in the grown-up world. Magikal, puzzling, but with a beat and something very alluring. In other words, a good time feeling was had by all. And, being the wise Seer I am, I would be the last one to advise against feeling great within oneself. To do otherwise would be a crime against yourself. And, your beloved Metamorpho, just can't allow such things within my sacred review scriptures! Read my words. At least twice a day for assured salvation!

In closing, this is a wonderful collection that will give you good vibes. Is it essential to your earthy experience? No, probably not. But, that being said, it certainly is a lot of fun.

O.K. Now I must get back to my game, O.K.? They said Metamorpho - I said genius. They said Einstein and I said Metamorpho. From that, all roads lead back to me. As it is. As it should always be. I am sure my friends would all agree (that is, after they get through throwing darts at me!). Life is great fun. Seek it - enjoy it!

Grazing in the grass is a gas - can you dig it? -- Metamorpho ;) June 11, 2008

This IS the Best of the Grass Roots!

If you want to step back to the summers when the toughest decision
you had was when to get up in the morning.... This disc will take you there.
Blessed with tight harmony, clever orchestration, and lyrics to created for
young romance, this disc delivers. Everyone was in compaction with the Beatles during this era, and these folks stayed in that vein.
Sit back and enjoy!
Cathy
Bobby's Girl February 11, 2007

org.vs. new remakes by org.

this grass roots cd is the first original i've come acoss in a few years. in the meantime i've happen to find in the now diminshing existence of record stores that carry music of this era the quickly extinction of availablity of titles that are seeked by people of our taste. this past week i bought the dvd of the grass roots entitled "the grass roots.. goldenlegends..new stero recordings by the orignal artists. well you know what age to a band means. the voice goes, so the tunes have to be played at a lower key than the original song, also the singer can't hold the note as long as he use to. so what you end up with is a sound that is close to the original in this case,but falls short of the original sound, the great vocals adjust to the lower key and therefore we lose the original sound. this is the best original recordings compiled and availabe to the public that i've encountered in many years and i find it satisfying that i finally found the orignal voices matched with the original sound matched with the original music. listen to the music! April 17, 2006

Nice Set of Some Fine 1960's Tunes By A Semi-Forgotten Band!

The best songs here still hold up well. They are "Where Were You When I Needed You", and "Let's Live For Today. Both have some nice melodies and harmonies ,and lyrics that have some meaning even 35 years or so later! This is a fine Series that includes some of the "second tier" musical acts of 25-40 years ago, plus some really top acts of the time, like the Moody Blues and Supremes, and it's fine hearing some of these releases brought back to life! The Grassroots had a few top 40 hits, some of the best of the day too! So this is your chance to catch some of these fine releases that are otherwise somewhat hard to come by today! February 18, 2004

"Live for Today" is one of the quintessential Sixties songs

The rap against the Grass Roots is that they were essentially a studio band, but that does not take away from the fact that they produced one of the quintessential songs of the Sixties in "Let's Live For Today (Sha-la-la-la-la-la)." The song only made it to #8 on the "Billboard" charts, but has always symbolized for me what Sixties music was all about. You could not point to a quintessential song by the Beatles since the changes from the early period to all the periods that followed showed such changes and growth, but "Let's Live For Today" captures a lot of Sixties musical sensibilities. Just do not ask me to defend my position in a well-reasoned musical argument because I am sure it will fall apart. But I do know that when the Grass Roots moved into the Seventies with their music the results are not as good as what they did in the previous decade. When I get to the point that a song by the Grass Roots no longer reminds me of "Let's Live For Today" then my argument is that they have gone too far in evolving as a group.

All of the dozen songs collected on "20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of the Grass Roots" cracked the "Billboard" Top 40, with the other pair of Top 10 hits being "Midnight Confession" (#5) and "Sooner or Later" (#9), a pair of songs that evidence the range of the type of songs the Grass Roots recorded. One of the interesting things about the Grass Roots is that you will find that where these songs ended up on the pop charts pretty much reflects how good they are. The best of the bunch after those three is "Wait a Million Years" (#15), and then there is a discernable drop off to "Things I Should Have Said" (#23), "Heaven Knows" (#24) and "Where Were You When I Needed You" (#28). For most listeners these twelve songs will include all of the Grass Roots songs they need to own and probably get to the point where they find songs to skip when they play the CD. In other words, owning this hits collection will make the vast majority of people happy with no need to go on to a larger hits collection. February 16, 2004

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