There aren't many smash hits on Pop in the '70s, Vol. 3 -- the best-known are a couple of disco hits, Silver Convention's "Get Up and Boogie" and Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes' "Get Dancin'" - but that isn't the main problem with the collection. Rather, it's the decision to lead off with extended club versions of Santa Esmeralda's flamenco-ized cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and the aforementioned "Get Up and Boogie"; they're both infectious songs, to be sure, but together they take up over 20 minutes, making poor ...
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There aren't many smash hits on Pop in the '70s, Vol. 3 -- the best-known are a couple of disco hits, Silver Convention's "Get Up and Boogie" and Disco Tex & the Sex-O-Lettes' "Get Dancin'" - but that isn't the main problem with the collection. Rather, it's the decision to lead off with extended club versions of Santa Esmeralda's flamenco-ized cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and the aforementioned "Get Up and Boogie"; they're both infectious songs, to be sure, but together they take up over 20 minutes, making poor lead-ins for the ten other concise pop singles that follow. The compilers mixed polished soul and disco cuts with AM-radio-ready singles obviously chosen for camp value. That may be debatable on some of the merely smooth and sentimental ballads, but it's hard to disagree on songs like Meri Wilson's giggly "Telephone Man," essentially a recitation of a porno-flick plot, and Austin Roberts' mawkish widower's tale "Rocky," which contains a groaner of a line in "Rocky, I've never had to die before." For further '70s nostalgia, there's Cyndi Grecco's "Making Our Dreams Come True," better known as the theme from Laverne and Shirley, and an early John Travolta single, "Let Her In," sung in near-falsetto range. Overall, it's actually an entertaining collection if you like your '70s pop with a heavy dose of kitsch, even if those first two tracks take up a massive amount of space. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
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