NEW ON CD

Yvonne Elliman’s CD
featuring her best of
the ’70s is a winner

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The Best of Yvonne Elliman: 20th Century Masters / The Millennium Collection (Polydor)

Greatest hits albums are almost as old as rock -- "Elvis Golden Records" sold over 5 million copies back in 1958 -- and with the development of the compact disc, record companies have had an added incentive to reissue as much of their back catalog as possible. The turn of the century provides the theme for Universal Music's ever-growing reissue series, which to date includes anthologies of artists ranging from Bill Monroe and Tracy Byrd, to Abba, Steve Winwood, the Mary Jane Girls and the Dazz Band.

Now Yvonne Elliman joins the list with this 12-song retrospective of her pop chart recordings from the '70s. As with previous titles, it comes with informative liner notes that reveal, for example, that Elliman played ukulele before switching to guitar, and that she was married to the president of RSO Records Bill Oakes for most of her tenure with the label.

Elliman fans will this a fine overview. It opens with "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from the original 1971 concept album of "Jesus Christ Superstar," and continues with cuts from all four of her albums for RSO, including two songs from "Rising Sun," the only one of the four that didn't make the Billboard Pop Albums chart.

Only one Elliman single that charted is missing from this collection, and that's "Everything's Alright," also from "JCS," which only reached number 92 on the Hot 100.

The songs are arranged chronologically. "If I Can't Have You," her million-selling hit from the 1977 "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack, was her pop (not disco) treatment of the Bee Gees' composition. It reached the top spot of the singles chart that year, and was her biggest hit by far, beating out her other hits, "Love Me" (#14), "Hello Stranger" (#15) and "I Don't Know ... " (#28).

(An added piece of info about the latter song is that it might have been a top 10 hit for her if not for a cover version by Helen Reddy that was rush-released by another label.)

Had the compilers seen Elliman in concert back in the day at the Blaisdell Arena in the '70s, they would have included the audience favorite "Lady of the Silver Spoon." But anyone looking for an economical overview of Elliman's best-known material will find this collection a perfect pick.

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