The Grass Roots - The Greatest Hits, Vol. 2

The companion to Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 is another ten-song compilation, this one made essential at the time by the presence of "Midnight Confessions" and also "Wait a Million Years," both of which give this volume a little more focus on the group's post-1968 horn-driven, soul-oriented period; and the presence of some of their superior, lesser-known hits such as "Come On and Say It" -- a group original with a great guitar break and a powerful lead vocal -- gives this volume a tougher edge than one usually associates with this band's AM hits. This disc and its companion volume were both supplanted by Rhino's 1991 double-CD Anthology: 1965-1975 set, all three of which are out of print as of 2008 -- but as with Vol. 1, the combination of songs here is hard to beat for light pop/rock listening in any context, and it's always welcome. The sound was also surprisingly good for its time -- this was a new compilation in 1987, assembled from good, solid source tapes -- though it has long since been supplanted in that department by any of Universal's and Rhino's later collections. And the annotation (identical to that found in Vol. 1) gives a decent, brief overview of the group's history. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide