VA - Pure 70's (1999)

Since there was a Pure Funk and Pure Disco, it makes sense that a Pure '70s would follow. It couldn't be called "Pure Rock," since a lot of this simply doesn't rock at all -- "American Pie," anyone? However, all 20 songs on this collection (mostly culled from the Polygram vaults) reek of the '70s, and that's why this is a fun listen. Yes, it's entirely predictable -- "Hooked on a Feeling," "A Horse with No Name," "Don't Bring Me Down," "More Than a Feeling," "Mama Told Me (Not to Come)," "Sweet Home Alabama," "Maggie May," "Rocky Mountain Way," "Ramblin' Man," "The Things We Do for Love," "Show Me the Way," "All Right Now," "American Woman," and "Stuck in the Middle with You" are hardly obscurities -- but for anyone looking for a basic collection of AM-radio hits that haven't yet left the airwaves, this is a good bet.

AllMusic's Donald Guarisco retrospectively praised ELO for not including a string section in the song: "Electric Light Orchestra can easily be summed up as 'pop music with strings'. Thus, it is pretty ironic that the group's biggest American hit, "Don't Bring Me Down", features no string section at all", adding that "it proved that Electric Light Orchestra could be just as interesting without the string section and thus paved the way for later string-less [sic] hits like "Hold On Tight" and "Calling America", concluding that it was a song that was "powerful enough for rock fans but dance-friendly enough for the disco set". Billboard found the song to be Beatlesque while praising the multiple "irresistible" instrumental and vocal hooks. Cash Box similarly described it as being influenced by the Beatles, particularly the song "You Can't Do That," and said that the song "brims with overdubbed Lynne harmonies and a pounding rhythm track." Record World said that "From the opening drum blasts, through the harmony vocal/percussion break, to the echo-filled closing, this song rocks." Ultimate Classic Rock rated "Don't Bring Me Down" as the 97th greatest classic rock song, saying it "may just be Jeff Lynne's most concise and representative musical statement." In 2022 Lynne listed it as one of his nine favorite ELO songs.