WCBS FM-101: Great Ladies Of Rock & Roll-The 70'S CD

This CD was packaged for and promoted by WJMK, Chicago, Illinois.

This CD was packaged for and promoted by WSNI, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Great Ladies of Rock & Roll The '70s offers 25 tracks of the best female-fronted pop music during a decade when soul was gradually giving way to disco. Any compiler would be hard-pressed to outdo the selection here, which includes a parade of top tunes: Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff," LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade," Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia," Blondie's "Heart of Glass," Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You," and more (and yes, they are the original recordings). As often happens, Collectables' focus on sound quality isn't top-rate, but for the low price this one is usually offered for, it's difficult to complain too much. ~ John Bush

The title is Great Ladies of Rock & Roll: The 70's, but compiler Joe McCoy of New York oldies radio station WCBS-FM must have gotten the wrong message and thought it was supposed to be "Great Ladies of Disco & Soul: The 70s." True, there are some token ladies who don't fit into those categories -- Melissa Manchester, Bonnie Tyler, Nicolette Larson, Linda Rondstadt -- but they are the anomalies in this 23-song collection of R&B and dance records with female vocals from the '70s. McCoy seems to have had his pick of material, since Collectables has licensed tracks from all five major labels and some other sources as well. One could cite numerous great ladies of '70s rock & roll more worthy than, say, Bonnie Pointer, but even within the apparently self-imposed criterion of using pop hit singles, the omission of Carole King, Carly Simon, Heart, and Fleetwood Mac is striking. Maybe McCoy felt that more pop-oriented women and female-led acts such as Helen Reddy, Cher, Olivia Newton-John, and Captain & Tennille didn't rock hard enough to earn the "rock & roll" title, but every one of them has a harder-rocking '70s hit than Minnie Riperton's insufferable "Lovin' You." And what about Janis Joplin, Melanie, Maria Muldaur, Joni Mitchell, Phoebe Snow, Rita Coolidge, and Rickie Lee Jones? None of this is to criticize the great ladies of disco and soul heard here, among them LaBelle, Gloria Gaynor, the Staple Singers, Siste

Liner Note Author: Al Fichera.

Great Ladies of Rock & Roll: The '70s offers 25 tracks of the best female-fronted pop music during a decade when soul was gradually giving way to disco. Any compiler would be hard-pressed to outdo the selection here, which includes a parade of top tunes: Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff," LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade," Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia," Blondie's "Heart of Glass," Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You," and more (and yes, they are the original recordings). As often happens, Collectables' focus on sound quality isn't top-rate, but for the low price this one is usually offered for, it's difficult to complain too much. ~ John Bush

Great Ladies of Rock & Roll: The '70s offers 23 tracks of the best female-fronted pop music during a decade when soul was gradually giving way to disco. Any compiler would be hard-pressed to outdo the selection here, which includes a parade of top tunes: Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff," LaBelle's "Lady Marmalade," Gladys Knight & the Pips' "Midnight Train to Georgia," Blondie's "Heart of Glass," Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You," and more (and yes, they are the original recordings). As often happens, Collectables' focus on sound quality isn't top-rate, but for the low price this one is usually offered for, it's difficult to complain too much. ~ John Bush

WJMK: Great Ladies of Rock 'N' Roll 70's includes 23 pop, soul, and disco standards from Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Pointer Sisters, and Blondie, along with one-hit wonders Gloria Gaynor ("I Will Survive"), Nicolette Larson ("Lotta Love"), and the Emotions ("Best of My Love"). While the packaging is drab, the sound quality is decent, making this an affordable way to pick up these classic oldies. ~ Al Campbell