The Best of The Five Americans

Five Americans | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 22, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sundazed Music Inc.
• ASIN: B00008OM3D
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #211,025 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I See The Light

2. Reality

3. Western Union

4. The Losing Game

5. The Train

6. Good Times

7. No Communication

8. I Know They Lie

9. If I Could

10. Now That It's Over

11. Zip Code

12. Sympathy

13. She's-A-My Own

14. It's A Crying Shame

15. The Outcast

16. Stop Light

17. Evol-Not Love

18. Don't Blame Me

19. Sound Of Love

20. Show Me

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Few pop smashes can be instantly identified by something as deceptively simple as the 'Dit-dit-dit-dah-dit' staccato keyboard hook introducing the Five Americans' '67 hit 'Western Union.' To celebrate the Sundazed purchase of the entire Abnak tape vault, here's a stomping Five Americans compendium assembled with the band's full participation. With 25 smash tracks, it's the very best of this groovy Dallas garage-frat combo, including chart-toppers like 'Western Union,' 'I See The Light,' 'Sound Of Love,' 'Zip Code,' and memorabilia galore! All tracks recorded 1965-1969. Includes two previously unissued tracks, 'You Can't Win' & 'Letters, Pictures, Melodies'. 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars American Pop Rockers Strike Back!, October 17, 2003

By 

Smiley Smile (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Best of The Five Americans (Audio CD)

After the British invaision of mid-60's it was time for American
groups to reassert themselves.One group to do so was a college band from Oklahoma called appropiately the 5 Americans-who had a small taste of success in 1966-1969. This collection captures the best of the band. Their first hit in 1966 was "I See The Light" a funky rocker that was a forerunner of psychedelic rock.
It is the highlight of this CD.
Most of songs on this Cd dont rock as hard ,but are the lighter more romantic pop rock of the era-featuring melodies & wonderful harmonies. Highlights include "Reality", Western Union-which was their biggest hit(top 10 in 1967);"The Train","Zip Code","Stop Light", "Evol not Love", "Sound of love" and the previosly unreleased "Letters,Pictures & Melodies"
Cd comes with informative booklet which details the history of the band,
This isn't a great Cd , but it is a good reminder of melodic 60's stlye pop rock.This was atime when pop rock was supposed to be fun and was!
Buy,listen, and enjoy!!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hardly A One-Hit Wonder, August 13, 2007

By 

AvidOldiesCollector (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of The Five Americans (Audio CD)

As with the vast majority of my reviews, I look at this one from the perspective of a collector of hit singles from the era in which the group performed. And from that viewpoint this is a 5-star collection.

I once read that, for every song that made the Billboard Top/Hot 100 in any given year, there were three that did not. So, purely from THAT perspective, anything that made the Top/Hot 100 was indeed a hit, those that made Top 40 were big hits, the ones that finished in the Top 20 were huge, and those that made Top 10 were generally regarded as "smash" hits.

The Five Americans, from Dallas, Texas [Michael Rabon - vocals, guitarist Norman Ezell, keyboardist John Durrill, James Grant on bass, and drummer James Wright] had one smash hit, Western Union, which hit the # 5 spot in the spring of 1967 on the Abnak label b/w Now That It's Over, and three big hits. Their first, coming on the HBR label, was I See The Light, and it made it to # 26 in March 1966 b/w The Outcast. Sound Of Love and Zip Code, both of which topped out at # 36 in June and September 1967 for Abnak, b/w Sympathy and Sweet Bird Of Youth respectively, were the other two.

Two others scored much lower, with Evol-Not Love reaching # 52 in May 1966 for HBR b/w Don't Blame Me, and their last charter, 7:30 Guided Tour, levelling off at # 96 in February 1968 b/w See-Saw-Man on Abnak.

All six of their hits are in this volume, along with four of the B-sides, and the sound quality is excellent. Rabon would have another # 45 hit [A Piece Of Paper] in 1972 as the lead singer with Gladstone.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Five Americans - 'The Best Of The Five Americans' (Sundazed), January 20, 2007

By 

Mike Reed (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Best of The Five Americans (Audio CD)

Twenty-five track anthology of this under-rated Oklahoma five piece garage band. Many of you might vaguely remember this band for their catchy hit single "Western Union", but they had a second hit with 1966's "I See The Light". These cuts are from their 1965-69 existence. Most impressive tunes here are the previously mentioned "Western Union", the psychedelic gem "The Train", "Good Times", their ballad "Now That It's Over", the total jammin' "It's A Crying Shame" and "Don't Blame Me". Personnel: Mike Rabon and Norm Ezell-guitars&vocals, Jim Grant-bass&vocals, Johnny Durrill-keyboards and Jimmy Wright-drums. Might appeal to fans of the Easybeats, Nightcrawlers, The Seeds, Chesterfield Kings and the Monkees.