16 Greatest Hits (1971)

The Grass Roots' third hits compilation in barely two years was made necessary by the AM radio one-two punch of "Sooner or Later," a number nine hit (and their last Top Ten single), and "Two Divided by Love," which reached number 16 on Billboard's Hot 100 (and number eight on the Cashbox listings, which meant it did better in actual sales than in radio play). This album also gave Dunhill an excuse to recompile the strongest songs (and all of the actual hits) off of Golden Grass (1969) and More Golden Grass (1970) onto one ... Read More

The Grass Roots' third hits compilation in barely two years was made necessary by the AM radio one-two punch of "Sooner or Later," a number nine hit (and their last Top Ten single), and "Two Divided by Love," which reached number 16 on Billboard's Hot 100 (and number eight on the Cashbox listings, which meant it did better in actual sales than in radio play). This album also gave Dunhill an excuse to recompile the strongest songs (and all of the actual hits) off of Golden Grass (1969) and More Golden Grass (1970) onto one long-player, exploiting them one more time in less than 36 months, and very successfully -- distilled down from the 24 tracks on the previous two collections, and now reaching all the way from 1966 to 1971, 16 Greatest Hits caught the public at just the right moment and made number 58 on the charts as well as becoming only the group's second gold record award release. And it is a fun collection, kicking off with "Sooner or Later" and leaping all the way back to "Where Were You When I Needed You," three lineups and several changes of sound removed, before zigzagging its way out of folk-rock, through the faux-Motown "Midnight Confessions," and into their pop/rock-soul sound of the early '70s. The song lineup is a jumble, but the singing, playing, and production represent a lot of what was good about AM radio during this period. The only flaw is that it's just a little predictable all around, whereas the two prior compilations both benefited from the need to fill them out with unusual B-sides and even an album track or two that were more adventurous than some of the hits. This album -- which, as with most of the group's collections, has been supplanted several times over by subsequent CD compilations -- is eminently listenable, and might be the group's most accessible vinyl compilation, but it's also a somewhat dulled-down representation of the Grass Roots' overall sound compared to its predecessors. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi Read Less