Head East - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: Best Of Head East '2001

Tracks list

Tracklist:

[5:11] 01. Head East - Never Been Any Reason (Album Version)
[6:43] 02. Head East - Jefftown Creek
[3:42] 03. Head East - City Of Gold
[4:28] 04. Head East - Love Me Tonight
[3:10] 05. Head East - Monkey Shine
[4:04] 06. Head East - Gettin Lucky (Album Version)
[6:01] 07. Head East - Every Little Bit Of My Heart (Album Version)
[4:45] 08. Head East - Get Up & Enjoy Yourself (Album Version)
[3:13] 09. Head East - Man I Wanna Be (Album Version)

**********

ABOUT THE ALBUM
1 disc(s) - 12 track(s)
Total length: 00:51:50
Main artist: Head East
Composer: Various Composers
Label: A&M
Genre: Pop/Rock, Rock
© 2001 A&M Records Inc. This Compilation
â„— 2001 Interscope Geffen (A&M) Records A Division of UMG Recordings Inc.

The line that divides a broadly popular rock band who makes it into the history
books (and a lot of record collections) from a worthy also-ran is not hard to
draw. When one looks at the career of the Midwestern mainstream rock group Head
East, who released seven modestly selling albums between 1975 and 1980, and
compares them to such contemporaries as the Doobie Brothers, Boston, Kansas,
Foreigner, and Styx, all of whom played the same kind of music, the difference
is simple: Those other guys had hit singles, and Head East didnt. Its not that
the bands music was too complicated or inaccessible; as this, their first-ever
compilation, demonstrates, their music often boasted hooks and other catchy
elements. But it also shows that they were more interested in coming up with
music that would work in concert than music that would succeed on the radio. Its
a subtle distinction, perhaps, but the songs are often collections of showy
instrumental pieces punctuated with short, chant-like vocal lines, the sort of
thing likely to impress a live crowd, but not the kind of consistent writing
that draws in listeners who hear it repeatedly over the airwaves. Nowhere does
one find that big, sentimental ballad that would have opened the band up to a
broader, more female, more passive audience. Trading off vocals and frequently
using harmonies, they sing well but not distinctively, and though their playing
can be tasty, they never seem to come up with licks that stick. The compilation
is well-chosen. There are the near-hits Never Been Any Reason, Love Me Tonight,
and Since You Been Gone, as well as concert favorites like Jefftown Creek and
Get up and Enjoy Yourself. But even at their best, Head East is a band whose
music, while consistently enjoyable, is never compelling.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo



**********

Related artists