The Buckinghams used to play at the old Aragon Ballroom on Foster Avenue in Chicago. This was before they hit it big, so I probably didn't appreciate them enough. Even so, save for four charted hits which I like, there is not enough to make up a REAL greatest hits album. Those four (and you know what they are) have to be worth the price you pay for this package. You don't really want to settle down for an evening of listening to unfamiliar filler. Do you? Four stars anyway.

I'm a fan of the Buckinghams, but their number of hit records is just too limited for a large greatest hits collection. This creates a package loaded down by filler material. Kind of a Drag and Mercy,Mercy,Mercy are certainly worth the price of admission for me. Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Susan, Hey Baby (They're Playin Our Song), Don't You Care and Back in Love Again may be the only music in the collection that will sound familiar to you. Filler material is very common in "best of" collections. Take that into consideration before buying this set. Diehard Buckinghams fans will have no problem with it.

This is one of the late 60's bands that Columbia Records pushed heavily, along with Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Union Gap, and others. This tight pop-rock band was originally from Chicago, and contains the trademark vocals of Dennis Tufano and the licks guitarist Carl Giammarise. This core still tours today, and have not aged at all. Live they are still excellent.

About that time, Al Kooper and James William Guercio were asked to produce a then known just-got-famous band just "bought over" from USA Records and their first and only number 1 hit "Kind If A Drag" in January 1967. All Kooper started Blood Sweat and Tears in 1967, and Mr. Guercio tackled the Buckinghams and Blood Sweat and Tears before he hit REALLY big with Chicago in 1969.

You can hear the Producers brass influence immediately with their second hit "Don't You Care". It was followed by the crossover hit "Mercy Mercy Mercy" (also successfully done earlier that year by Cannonball Adderly).

That was there last top ten hit. They did hit top 15 twice in succession with the well known "Hey Baby(They're Playing Our Song)" and the much more progressive "Suzanne". "Back In Love Again" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" Rounds out the top thirty stay.

Whats amazing is that all there top 15 hits occurred in rapid succession in the January 1967 - December 1967 time frame.

This collection is one of the best out today, with all their hits plus some, many cuts for a CD this cheap, and from a distinctively unique sounding group who were one of my favorites and hopefully yours. In their short time frame, they produced excellent and well crafted Pop, remembered today and instantly identifiable.

This is a great CD at a great price, and a superb addition to any 60's library. Very "MOR" sounding, and worth listening too. Highly recommended. Good Listening!

The Buckinghams had great songs: Don't You Care, Susan, Hey Baby
They're Playing Our Song, Mercy Mercy Mercy, and their number one
hit: Kind Of A Drag. Unfortunately, Columbia decided to re-mix
the song, Kind Of A Drag. It lacks the punch of the original mix.
Does anyone out there know where I can find the original mix of
their best song???

What can you say about these guys? They were BORN in their prime, and The Ed Sullivan Show was just an afterthought. Tufano is the quintessential pop vocal genius, Giammarese had a track record miles long to reaffirm that he was and still is a guitar god. That they would both go on in the 70's to do other experimental things was evident from the very beginning. Nick Fortuna's bass playing ranks right up there with the best of blues sect.Take away the horns & the background studio fluff and this music would still hold its own, even today. Like the little black dress, that string of pearls, and Shalimar perfume, The Buckinghams will always be "in style."