Customer Reviews

The Very Best of the Foundations

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

 

 

...I always knew their two big hits, Baby Now that I've Found You and Build Me Up Buttercup from the radio and I decided to take the plunge into the group's other music. What I discovered is that though the hits are good, they are not the best songs on this realy good cd. In the Bad Bad Old Days, Born to Live Born to Die, Baby I Couln't See, Take A Girl Like You, My Little Chicadee, Something For My Baby and especialy the ridiculously catchy Stoney Ground are all more than enough to convince any listener that this group is wildly underated. A must have sixties classic.

So many singers and groups are remembered for just one song. The Foundations, whose music was at the R+B end of the pop spectrum, fared slightly better as they had two major international hits.

Baby now that I've found you, their debut single, topped the British chart in November 1967 and just failed to make the American top ten. It has a really bouncy tune that hides the sadness of the lyrics. In the mid-nineties, Alison Krauss gave the song a completely different interpretation, slowing the song right down. Both versions are highly enjoyable in their different ways.

Build me up buttercup, another upbeat tune but this time with upbeat lyrics, peaked at number two in Britain but topped the American charts. This song was originally intended for the Paper Dolls, but a mix-up meant that they did not turn up to record it at the scheduled time, so the song was given to the Foundations instead.

The Foundations had a few other hits. In the bad bad old days was a top ten UK hit, while Back on my feet again made the UK top twenty. Two other songs, Any old time and Born to live born to die, were minor UK hits while My little chickadee was a minor American hit.

The rest of this CD contains many other excellent songs although it omits all the obvious cover versions that are often featured on Foundations compilations. Unless you want those covers, you find all the Foundations tracks that you need here.

Agree that the collection is a good representation of The Foundations but it is misleading. First of all because Colin Young, previously known as the lead singer of 'Joey Young and the Tonicks'in 1965-66,replaced Clem Curtis in The Foundations in 1968. Secondly, because their greatest hit, Build Me Up Buttercup, featured Colin Young as the lead singer, not Clem Curtis so to write that the group 'fell off a cliff'when Clem Curtis was replaced by Colin Young does not make sense!!

Beautifuly put together CD! Its my absolute favorate!

The obvious hits "Build me up butter cup" and "Baby, now that I found you" are great pop songs but...this compilation represents much more than that. This is a treasure trove of fun, horn-driven, soul songs.

[I think] that this was a British attempt at jumping on the Motown bandwagon.

What I like about The Foundations is that although there is an emulation of American soul, I can still hear the strong influence of British wave and garage rock. The horns are so, so up front. This is like a combination of Motown, Stax and early era Chicago Transit Authority. The production is bottom heavy...which I love. Instead of the syrupy strings of a Berry Gordy work, there are strong horns and thumping bass. The bass is rudimentary and overpowers the guitar. I like that since it gives the sound a raw vibe. While I'm not saying that the musicianship is sloppy, it definitely has a certain losse-ness to it, which makes the songs rock a bit more.

Not everything is great and some of the tunes are derivative however, you can get lost in this compilation since there is much to enjoy. Any fan of soul would thoroughly enjoy this since the songs have the attraction of what soul has to offer yet the organic production and British, early 60's rock influence presents that soul genre in a different, fun, manner.

This is the type of cd that, with repeated listenings, some of these obscure songs will start creeping into your head, and become regulars on your play list.

I expected the same version of "Build Me Up Buttercup" that was on the Very Best of the Foundations album (i.e., the familiar radio version), but this download was a different version even though I got here via a link from the Very Best.

This group was unusually large for its time, and while it was another minor player among the many British entertainers to invade North America's shores in the Sixties, it can lay claim to one feat usually denied most U.K. groups: their first N.American hit, Baby Now That I've Found You, crossed over into the R&B charts! Not even The Beatles could manage that.

Peaking at # 11 Billboard Hot 100 in February 1968 on the Uni label (they recorded for Pye in the U.K.), it also made it to # 33 R&B, b/w Come On Back To Me.

Consisting of vocalist Clem Curtis, Anthony Gomez on keyboards, Eric Allandale on trombone, saxophonists Pat Burke and Mike Elliot, guitarist Alan Warner, drummer Tim Harris, and bassist Peter Macbeth, the group scored again in March that year with Back On My Feet Again which topped out at # 59 Hot 100 b/w I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving, also a # 22 Hot 100 that year for Herman's Hermits.

February 1969 saw their biggest hit, Build Me Up Buttercup, rise to # 3 b/w New Direction, but after that it was like they fell off a cliff. When Elliott and Curtis left the group, and Colin Young climbed on board, In The Bad Bad Old Days (Before You Loved Me) could only manage a # 51 Hot 100 in May 1969 b/w Give Me Love, followed by My Little Chickadee which barely made the charts, settling in at # 99 Hot 100 in July b/w Soloman Grundy.

In 1970 the group split up, although a new Foundations [with a completely different cast] was formed a bit later, but with no further chart success either in the U.K. or North America.

A nice even representative sound of the late 60's pop boom well worth a spot in your collection.

I love The Foundations who made a lot of great music in the sixties. Of course everyone has heard "Baby Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me Up Buttercup", but they had so many great songs. I had a ten inch compilation from the early'80's with about ten songs, all of which are on this disc. They would've fit in very well with a lot of the Motown groups, although they were a multi-racial English band. I mistakenly gave this recording one star when I intended five.