Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box [Box set]

Rod Stewart | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 16, 1998)
• Original Release Date: June 16, 1998
• Number of Discs: 7
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B000006OIT
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,339 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #66 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Bubblegum

Track Listings

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

110 of 115 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Lot Of Songs, A Lot Of Soundbites, March 27, 2001

By 

John Peterson "bigtimemusiclover" (Marinette, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box (Audio CD)

I don't want to lay a bum trip on you all, but I have some major problems with this box set. First of all, Rhino, probably the best independent label to specialize in archive music restoration, had the best of intentions to tackle this compilation of the 1970's and dress it up to make the package as appealing as possible with the wonderful sound quality, the shag rug, the soundbites, and an admittedly cool booklet with the history of the recording artists, their songs, and their perspective along with various events in world history. But by using the soundbites in between the songs it disturbs the flow of the songs; it also makes repeated listening a chore to sit through. The soundbites (usually lasting for 30 seconds) lead to the second problem; to make room for them a number of songs (Ride Captain Ride, for example) had to be shortened in length. Is it asking too much to leave the songs alone and complete? We're paying a lot of money for the songs, NOT for the soundbites! And we also get the pleasure of listening to a ghastly Jim Jones soundbite telling his followers to "get your medicine" and "don't be afraid to die" with people weeping in the background. Someone sure is sick at Rhino to include that. And for those of you who have the 25 volume series of Have A Nice Day who also want this box set you're gonna get some repetition big time. 80+ songs. We're talking over half of this package. For those who don't have the Have A Nice Day series and who, like me, grew up in the '70's listening to AM radio, you're gonna have some major flashbacks listening to this. If you can tolerate the soundbites and don't mind the shortening of some songs (shades of Ktel!) you'll enjoy this package. Just keep that in mind and approach it from there. Have a nice day.

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great way to revisit to joys of '70s AM radio, May 22, 2004

By 

Michael Favareille (Pinole, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box (Audio CD)

Perhaps my favorite box set. This reminds me so much of listening to KYA or KFRC (two top-40 stations in San Francisco in the 1970's), when you would here rock, then country, then pop, then novelty songs. A fantastic blend. Favorite songs include: Popcorn, Chick-A-Boom(hadn't heard this since the '70s), Love Goes, More More More, Love Rollercoaster, School's Out, Dueling Banjos, Candy Man, Rose Garden, and I could go on. One star is missing due to

a. Some songs are cut
b. Some songs I would have liked to see(licensing would have been an issue on some) include
My Sharona by The Knack(biggest hit of 1979)
Stayin' Alive by the Bee Gees
Bennie & the Jets by Elton John
Escape(The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes
I Think I Love You by The Partridge Family
Gonna Fly Now(Theme From Rocky)
Silly Love Songs by Paul McCartney and Wings
Beth by Kiss
If You Leave Me Now by Chicago
Dancing Queen by Abba
We've Only Just Begun by The Carpenters
(Take Me Home) Country Roads by John Denver
Nadia's Theme

All of the above were major top 10 hits(most were big number #1s)

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This is one release that is hard to review, June 6, 2003

By 

guillermoj (Washington, DC United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Have A Nice Decade: The '70s Pop Culture Box (Audio CD)

Rhino Records has tried to hit a home run and maybe only wound up getting to second or third base. Baseball analogy aside, this review cannot only focus on the music as it's not cheap. The packaging is amazing, the inserts are hilarious and informative, it includes timely sound bites of the era, and the 7 CDs do not skimp on the music.

Is it worth your time and money? Maybe. Out of the 7 CDs I wound up making a 4 CD mix (adding others that were not here)and I think it more than covers the best of this selection. My point here is that there is a lot of filler that is neither fun because it was great or because it was so cheesy. My best of would consist of the collections best songs and songs that although may not have been loved by the critics, were representative of the period.

So if money were not a consideration one could say go for it; however money is generally a consideration and it's not too fun to keep fastforwarding through songs that don't appeal to you. On the other hand the collection has songs that you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere.

The are some serious problems in that some songs were cut off or butchered for either space consideration or due to the focus on the single edits. This is particularly annoying in the live songs on the 7th CD.

This may be one of my least persuasive reviews because there is a lot to like, but almost as much that should have been inlcuded or have been left out. I enjoyed it but all in all it's not worth the price unless you have a lot of disposable income and are a collector of box sets.