Customer Reviews

Best of George Baker Selection

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
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nice collection of most of their good stuff. any serious fan would appreciate it.

While the music is good Paloma Blanca is by far the best followed by Little Green Bag. The rest are only a listen to now and then .

I had been hearing some of George Baker's songs since the 70's, and I simply love their rendition of Paloma Blanca which is worth the whole album. I also like "Little Green Bag" which is quite an energetic song.

This group artfully blends strings with what is a distinctly European type sound to create a synthesis of same that is very pleasing indeed.

Some of their stylings range from an almost "Country Western" feel to a more 70's Disco sound.

Excellent Album.

If ever a group seemed custom made for success on the Billboard Adult Contemporary [AC] charts, formed in 1961, it was this pop congregation from Holland which had actually started out in 1967 under the name Soul Invention. Led by Johannes Bouwens, and including Jan Hop, George The, Jan Gerbrand Viser, and Jacobus Anthonius Greuter, they had their first North American hit in the spring of 1970 when Little Green Bag peaked at # 21 on the Billboard Pop Hot 100 b/w Pretty Little Dreamer for the Colussus label.

A couple of months later they had switched gears to some degree with Dear Ann which, more in the nature of a country tune, just barely made the Hot 100, settling in at # 93 in late June b/w Fly. The failure of Little Green Bag to dent the Adult Contemporary charts, being more in the nature of a late 1960s psychedelic-rock tune, is understandable, but Dear Ann seemed tailor made for the type of music being played at that time on the Easy Listening stations, if not those devoted to Country.

So too did many of their following singles through to 1974 which, although doing well in their native Holland and other parts of Europe, were shut out completely in North America - cuts like Midnight, Over And Over, Nathalie, Mamma Oh Mamma, Holy Day, I'm On My Way, Marie Jeanne, Baby Blue, [Fly Away] Little Paraguayo, and Sing A Song Of Love.

All that seemed to change in late 1975 when, now with Warner, and with female vocalist Nelleke Brzoskowsky added, they took Paloma Blanca [White Dove] to # 1 Adult Contemporary, # 26 Hot 100 and # 33 Country in December 1975/January 1976 b/w Dreamboat. But then, once again, their success was confined primarily to Europe with releases like Morning Sky, Wild Bird, Manana Mi Amor, Beautiful Rose, and Marja, none of which impacted over here. They also sold numerous LPs throughout Europe and, with a rapid turnover in personnel, continued on into the 1980s before disbanding.

It figures that Disky of Holland would feature this group in more than one compilation, but they have to understand that, if they wish to see significant sales in North America they have to include both sides to their Billboard hits and less of the stuff that made no impact here whatsoever.

The sound quality is great on the whole CD, and this particular song is such a happy tune that it can turn a bad day into a good one just by listening to it.