Johnny Rivers Anthology 1964-1977 1991

While I'm here in the sixties, why not take a look at another classic sixties artist. Johnny Rivers had a bunch of big hits: seven in the top ten in the sixties and another two in the seventies, and many others that rode a somewhat higher chart position. Like many artists that didn't write most of their own material (although he did write his biggest #1 hit, Poor Side Of Town), Rivers was seen as a lesser artist by the late sixties/seventies hippie set. But the guy had a great, slightly nasal voice, and with producer Lou Adler, could find great songs to cover. He was a sharp rhythm guitarist that played some fine lead riffs when necessary (Secret Agent Man comes to mind), and he produced no less than 30 original studio and live LPs.

His sixties and early seventies records featured the cream of the crop of LA studio giants Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, Joe Osborn, and Marty Paitch, with Adler producing, and his records were well received critically even if they didn't always sell that well. He continued to record occasionally in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, and he never stopped playing live until 2021 when the covid threat finally got him off the road. 

The hits were great. Poor Side Of Town started a string of ballads featuring covers of Motown classics The Tracks Of My Tears and Baby I Need You're Lovin'. Before those he mostly rocked out in his Louisiana rockabilly style with Memphis, Mountain Of Love, Seventh Son, and Secret Agent Man. In the seventies he broke the top ten with Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu and his last big hit, the 1977 mellow styling of Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancin'). This two-CD anthology that Rhino produced in 1991 probably has a few more songs than you need, as it is filled out with album tracks and non-hit singles, but it holds up really well, and it seems like every single CD or LP best-of leaves off something really great. Some of those singles that didn't make the top ten are as good as the ones that did.

I was surprised when I read that he continued to perform live until fairly recently. There's some hot recent performances on YouTube.