Pye Anthology, The (They're In Town)

Jammed-to-the-brim two-CD, 58-track set has almost everything they did in the 1960s, including their In Town and Life Is Just a Bowl of Berries albums, their Piccadilly and Pye singles, their 1965 New From the Berries EP, and eight previously unreleased cuts. Disc one, built around the In Town LP, New From the Berries EP, and several 1964-65 singles, fares considerably better than disc two, which has the frequently dismal Life Is Just a Bowl LP, and some less impressive 1966-68 singles. In addition to the fairly decent In Town LP and the "He's in Town" and "Poor Man's Son" hits, though, there are some enjoyable cuts, like the R&B jive "Flashback," the moody and poignant "If You Find Somebody to Love" (co-written by Perry Ford), and the uncharacteristic "Yellow Rainbow" (which is not the same as the song of the same name from the Move's first album), which is, hard as it is to believe, pretty fair pop-psychedelia. All that keeps this from being the last word on the Berries' sixties recordings is the absence of their two 1963 Decca singles. ~ Richie Unterberger|