Customer Reviews

Secret Agent Man: The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology 1964-2006

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This disc continues an unfortunate trend that began earlier in the decade: The practice of jacking the gain on every channel to its maximum level, then deeming the result "remastered".

The previous "best audio quality" stereo JR compilation was the 1998 "The Original" on Disky Records from the Netherlands. So, that disc was my comparison source for an A/B test for this new set.

When you cue up "Secret Agent Man" on the Disky release, the channels are balanced and all instruments can be heard distinctly.

However, on this disc, the guitar in the left channel has been jacked up so loud that it drowns out the bass and drums in the right. That great twangin' bass is just buried.

JR's web site states he "personally" remastered these recordings. However, the disc booklet credits him with producing the compilation, while the actual mastering credit is listed to Mark Chalecki at Capitol Mastering.

One wonders of JR ever stepped in the door while the actual mastering work on this compilation was being done.

And, Mark? You blew it, babe. BIG TIME.

For my money, although this set has double the number of tracks, the Disky CD is the way to really enjoy JR.

Roots-rocker Johnny Rivers dedicated the songs on "Secret Agent Man" - and by extension, his career - to "the grand master, C.B. (Chuck Berry)," who jams with Rivers in an opposing page photo. It's not surprising, as this fine 2CD set shows an artist flying under the radar, jump-starting and maintaining a more than 40-year career playing groove-driven, no nonsense rock, blues, and country covers.

Disc One covers Rivers' hits for the Imperial and United Artists labels (1964-73), and its first eight tunes drop you onto the Whiskey-A-Go Go's dance floor circa 1965. Rivers, bassist Joe Osborn and producer Lou Adler created an infectious series of fortified live hits ("Memphis," "Midnight Special," "Muddy Water") whose stinging guitar, groove-driven base and even hand claps sound better than ever with 21st century remastering.

Rivers was among the era's few stars of the early stars- Dion immediately comes to mind - who smoothly transitioned mid-decade to folk-rock's introspective approach. This stems not only from the memorable Beatles line in "Summer Rain," but lush, soulful Motown covers (1967's "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" and "Tracks of My Tears") and 1966's co-written #1 masterpiece, "Poor Side of Town." No Rivers cover here, from Berry to Van Morrison to Bob Dylan, tops its original ("Positively 4th Street," where Rivers substitutes heartfelt anger for the original's sneer, comes closest). But each respects the original, and Rivers delivers them gimmick-free in his trademark Cajun, R&B-flavored voice.

Disc Two cleans up his other 70s hits, then slides into first-rate oldies covers recorded over the last 15 years. He rocks on Memphis' Sun catalogue ("That's Alright Mama," "Big River," "Matchbox,") in tribute to legendary guitarist Carl Perkins, and sings jangly mid-60s folk-rock (the Beatles' "I'll Be Back," the Byrds' "Feel A Whole Lot Better." Those only knowing Rivers from Disc One's hits will be pleasantly surprised: he's in fine voice and in full command of songs he's loved and built his career around.

That career, left Rivers painfully short of superstardom but with 30 million records sold and many memorable hits. He crossed paths with seminal figures and events like Alan Freed, the Monterey Pop festival, the songs of Jimmy Webb and even country-rockers like the Eagles and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (Rivers wrote and recorded with extended members of those groups). If he doesn't make Rock and Roll's Hall of Fame, Johnny Rivers should be hired as a curator; "Secret Agent Man" shows him a first-class steward of classic American rock and roll.

I know some people are dedicated to the previous anthology on Rhino, but this anthology is just as good in its choice of songs. The key factor is Johnny Rivers.
In all "periods" of his musical career he has produced great music. From Chuck Berry's "Memphis" to the Lennon-McCarthy "I'll be Back." He just gets better with age.
The sound of the early tracks is much improved over the old 45's which I originally owned. I have never regretted the demise of vinyl as the main course of music.
If you haven't heard much of Johnny Rivers I highly recommend this anthology. Even if you have heard all the songs this is a great collection to have.

After years of commercial invisibility, in 1964 Johnny Rivers' energetic, unpretentious, yet solidly crafted studio-enhanced live recordings blasted onto the charts offering a refreshing, all-American alternative to the onslaught of British invasion music. After several chart successes in the "Whiskey-A-Go-Go" vein, Rivers changed musical direction and topped the charts with his self-penned "Poor Side of Town". Next came a pair of phenomenally successful covers of Motown songs, "Baby I Need Your Loving" and "Tracks of My Tears". For another ten years Rivers stretched from bluesy rock to lush balladry with two more songs making the top ten, keeping Rivers on the radar of the fickle music-buying public into the late '70's. All told, Rivers saw nearly 30 of his tunes make it into the top-100.

With this legacy of music, anthologizing his recordings is no small undertaking. Two decades ago, Rhino did a respectable job with its two-disc collection that has held up over the years. Shout records now offers a new alternative in this "ultimate anthology". While this piece does delve further into Rivers' more recent recordings and offers two previously unreleased songs, it does this at a price. While most of his top-40 songs are included here, nearly a third of Rivers' charting singles are absent. Among those omissions, and though only a minor hit single, "Ashes and Sand" from 1977 continues to evade reissue on CD, somewhat surprising in that it was originally issued on Rivers' own Soul City label. While 18 tracks on a disc may seem to be generous enough, for an "anthology", ratcheting the count up to 24 would have allowed the inclusion of many of the missing singles and would have better justified the claim to being "ultimate". So, down one star for this perceived "stinginess".

Otherwise, this set rates highly for the packaging, 20-page liner notes booklet and overall sound quality. Choosing between this and the Rhino one comes down to whether you're looking for more of Rivers' classic single records, in which case the Rhino set wins hands down, or the inclusion of Rivers' more contemporary work served only by this Shout/Soul City collection.

The excellent sound quality on this cd was a revelation especially when the songs date back to 1964. My previous Johnny Rivers compilation cd sounded very thin. This is not the case with "Secret Agent Man - The Ultimate Johnny Rivers Anthology 1964-2006".

You forget just how many hit records Johnny Rivers had until you have them all on a cd like this. His music is very much in the feel good mode and this disc has seldom been out of my player since it arrived. If you are a Johnny Rivers fan or simply like good music this cd is highly recommended.

Johnny Rivers was a songwriters performer. He was the type of artist that was entrusted with projecting the magic of a sublime composition onto vinyl. As a result, Johnny charted seventeen Top 40 hits over thirteen years, sixteen of which are included here (inexplicably, the number 35 hit from 1966, 'Under Your Spell Again', is omitted... but it's the only omission), along with three other tracks that cracked the Top 100. Not surprisingly, Johnny's string of Top 40 hits began drying up as the 1970's gave way to the singer-songwriter phenomenon, where artists such as Carole King began not only writing, but performing their own works, rather than handing them over to professional tunesmiths such as Rivers.

Johnny Rivers had an adaptable voice and style that enabled him to glide effortlessly through several genres during the turbulent 1960's. Johnny started out primarily as a club singer, and as such churned out hits that coupled club sounds, either live or studio-dubbed, to lend the listener the feel of sitting in a crowded, smokey lounge with Johnny crooning no more than a few steps away. Such was the case with his first hit song, Chuck Berry's 'Memphis', which opens this anthology, and which rose all the way to number two on the national charts. Rivers had similar success with Berry's 'Maybelline', and other 1950's fare such as Carl Perkin's 'Blue Suede Shoes'. But Johnny was also adept at jazz influenced fare (Van Morrison's 'Into the Mystic'), psychedelia ('Summer Rain'), cutting-edge folk (Bob Dylan's 'Positively 4th Street'), traditional folk (Pete Seeger's 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone'), Motown soul ('Baby I Need Your Lovin', 'The Tracks Of My Tears'), and traditional pop ('Sea Cruise', Help Me Rhonda', 'Rockin' Pneumonia - Boogie Woogie Flu') and rock ('Seventh Son', 'Secret Agent Man'). Ironically, Johnny's only number one hit was the self-penned 'Poor Side of Town' from 1966. His last Top Ten hit, 'Swayin' To the Music (Slow Dancin')' expanded his credentials to include soft, romantic ballads. Along the way Rivers added hits about 'Muddy Water', the 'Muddy River', and the 'Mountain of Love'. There may not have been an artist from his own era as diversified as Rivers proved to be.

While most of these hits are packed one after another on disc one of this handsome two-disc set, disc two demonstrates that Rivers hardly lost a step as his career progressed into the 1990's and the new millennium (Rivers basically disappeared from the recording scene in the 1980's). Since Johnny's most recent discs have not received wide distribution, many of the tracks on disc two are rare finds. While the Rivers name appears more frequently in the songwriting credits, Johnny continues to offer immaculate covers of rock and roll gems such as 'Honey Don't', 'Matchbox', Lennon and McCartney's 'I'll Be Back', and Gene Clark's 'Feel a Whole Lot Better'. Perhaps fittingly, this compilation, put together by Rivers himself, ends as it begins with a Chuck Berry cover, this time 'Let It Rock'. While the production on these more recent endeavors is richer and more lavish than in the past, Johnny obviously has not lost any of his kinetic energy, and his rich vocal tone remains pristine. In fact, the one live track from the set, 'China', only serves to reinforce Johnny's capability to ignite a performance.

Johnny Rivers had a fantastic, underrated career, and this anthology does much to not only set the record straight, but set it spinning. I grew up in the 1960's, and it seemed that Johnny Rivers distinctive voice was always among the plethora of different voices populating Top 40 AM radio playlists. To hear these great tracks today, one after another, is to quickly live again through my formative years of thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and even into my college years. Truth is, if you're lacking a substantial number of these recordings, you're lacking the finest work of one of the dominant icons of rock and roll's most distinguished decade.

Once again I find myself singing the praises of a true (and completely under rated) pioneer of popular mainstream (rock) music. This latest release could well turn out to be one of the most meaningful releases of the year. This is the complete hit set - for those interested in sampling Johnny's music look no further than this double disc - it has the lot and more! If you want the best of Johnny Rivers, this is the package for you. It will open up a desire to sample the rest of the back catalogue which is as diverse as it is large. What can I say except enjoy! Perhaps it will soon be the turn of Mr Rivers to be the spotlight of a universal revival of interest in his music. A true pioneer of which there aren't many left from his era.

Few people remember it was Johnny Rivers who jump-started the dying Sunset Strip in 1964. That's when he and his rock combo were engaged as resident house band at the newly opened Whisky A Go-Go. The go-go girls danced in cages while Johnny rocked, and stars like Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood dropped in to frug and twist. Suddenly a scene was born, and more clubs sprang up and brought the area back to life.

For 13 years (from '64 to '77), Rivers had many hits. Generally he'd take an old blues, r&b, or country song and rock it up. The first 8 tracks on this compilation are representative of his early style. They all contain twangy guitar, rapid handclaps, a steady backbeat, and a crowd whooping their approval. These singles were taken from a series of albums he recorded "live" at the Whisky, and worked on further in the studio. Exciting stuff - and a lot of fun. The second phase of his career featured subtle strings, horns, and female backing vocalists. He'd later drop that in favor of stripped down rock 'n' roll.

I knew I'd like Disc One, but wasn't sure if I'd like Disc Two. I needn't have worried. It's all terrific. After taking off for the 80's, Rivers reappeared in '91 and has recorded ever since. Fifteen of the 18 tracks on Disc Two are from this later period. His voice is still emotive and soulful, and the stripped down sound suits him. As always, he makes good song choices and remains a master interpreter.

This anthology is a winner.

Growing up as a black kid in the 50's and 60's when pop music was not so catergorized, Johnny Rivers was one of my favorite artist because his music was and is good...period. I think the first time he caught my attention was when he recorded the song "Poor Side of Town". I was then and still am a kind of meloncholly kind of person and that song just really did something to my soul. I probably had a crush on some girl at the time who did not give me the time of day. "Summer Rain" was another song along the same vein. This 2 cd set really demonsterates the all around talent of Johnny Rivers. He plays different genres of music including rock, country, and soul. I was very iimpressed with his cover of Smokey's "Tracks of My Tears". He has some beutiful melodic riffs in this song. And he demonstrates that he can take it to the hole too as he jams on tunes like "Memphis", "Maybeline", "Midnight Special". "Sea Cruise" and others. And I could really appreciate Bob Dylan's song "Positiveky 4th Street " more so now that I can understand the words when Johhny is singing it( no disrespect Bob). The first time I saw him on TV It was really a joy. He was performing and you could really tell that he was really having a bal singing and playing for the audience. No faking the funk here. I can even remember back then me saying "hey that Johnny Rivers is a really cool dude". Needless to say I really like this entire cd and I mplore you who may not have listen to this artist to check him out. He is a great song writer, singer and he can really play that guitar.

I have to turn down the music so that I can listen. The lack of any real dynamics has everything the same volume on every track. It is like on TV when the commercial comes on for every track blaring in your face only you don't go back to the regular programming, even on tracks that should be fairly soft.