Extra Scenes: The Best of Highway 61 Vol. 1 (July 1973 - December 1976)

Various Artists - The Best of Highway 61 Vol. 1: 1973-1976

Released: July 12, 2013

Recorded: 1973-1976

Producer: Various

Track listing[1]

Knockin' on Heaven's Door [Bob Dylan]
Amoureuse [Kiki Dee]
Strut Your Stuff [Tom Scott and The L.A. Express]
Sweet Home Alabama [Lynyrd Skynyrd]
Walk On [Neil Young]
I Am Missing You [Ravi Shankar]
Dreamer [Supertramp]
Only One Woman [Nigel Olsson]
Spin 'Round the Room [Stackridge]
Only Women Bleed* [Alice Cooper]
Baby, Get It On [Ike & Tina Turner]
Magic Man* [Heart]
Walk This Way [Aerosmith]
Bad Blood [Neil Sedaka]
A Song for You [Solution]
Blitzkrieg Bop [Ramones]
Gloria [Patti Smith]
Devil Woman [Cliff Richard]
Honey Don't Leave L.A. [Attitudes]
(Don't Fear) The Reaper* [Blue Öyster Cult]
Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright) [Rod Stewart]
American Girl [Tom Petty & Mudcrutch]

The first Best of Highway 61 compilation was released close to the fortieth anniversary of Bob Dylan's first post-Columbia Records single, "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", from the album Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. Despite the subtitle "1973-1976", there was barely any emphasis on 1973 (with Dylan and Kiki Dee both representing said year), with the majority of the music being from 1974 to 1976, largely due to Highway 61 Records finding its feet and some up-and-coming talent upon formation.

Apple's American sister branch did eventually find great talent from Lynyrd Skynyrd ("Sweet Home Alabama") to Alice Cooper ("Only Women Bleed") to Heart ("Magic Man") to the Ramones ("Blitzkrieg Bop") and to Tom Petty & Mudcrutch ("American Girl"), the majority of them being signed onto the label by ex-Beach Boys and Passions member Dennis Wilson and ex-Badfinger member Pete Ham. These two men would form a partnership that would define the label for years to come, eventually leading to talents such as Toto, the Buggles, Huey Lewis and the News and Pat Benatar, as well as bringing in veterans such as Carly Simon, Yes and Colin Blunstone.

The most popular track of the compilation was Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", which saw a resurgence of popularity on Saturday Night Live in 2000 in a sketch called "More Cowbell", written by Will Ferrell and Donnell Campbell. In the sketch, Ferrell plays fictional cowbell player Gene Frenkle during the recording sessions of the song, whose overzealous cowbell playing got on the band's nerves but impressed producer Bruce Dickinson (guest host Christopher Walken), demanding for "more cowbell". Due to the sketch's popularity, "more cowbell" became a pop culture catchphrase.

The Best of Highway 61 Vol. 1 received positive reviews from critics, charting at #1 in the United States and #4 in the United Kingdom, calling it a fine start for Apple's sister label.

Footnotes

1. Tracks marked with an asterisk are single edits in order to fit on a single compact disc.

Author's Comments

Not a lot to say here; the artists featured on the compilation are a partial spoiler as to what's to come in a chapter for Phase Three, but there's no other way around it, to be honest. So far, I've got the roster mapped out to 1976, and I know what artists I'll have signed up to the label up to 1983. It's all a matter of deciding who stays on and later leaves the label.