Personnel: Emitt Rhodes (vocals, various instruments); Emil Radocchia, James Leitch, Gary Kato, Dom Peak, Chuck Berghoffer, Bill Rheinhart, David Cohen , Don Randi, Drake Levin, Hal Blaine, Jim Gordon, Joe Porcaro, Joel Larson, John Guerin, Larry Knechtel, Lyle Ritz, Pete Jolly, Tom Reynolds, Michael Rice.

Arrangers: Emitt Rhodes; Ian Freebairn-Smith; Larry Marks; Perry Botkin Jr.; Bob Thompson.

THE EMITT RHODES RECORDINGS 1969-1973 collects all four albums the singer/songwriter/musical wiz recorded over that period of time and adds one extra track (the 1973 single "Tame the Lion"). The set starts off with the album Rhodes recorded after his band, the Merry-Go-Round, broke up in 1969. The songs are a mix of newly written ones and Merry-Go-Round leftovers recorded with studio pros filling in for the band. But it is his actual debut, 1970's EMMITT RHODES, that is the best of the bunch; in fact, it is one of the best pop records of the '70s, and sounds like what would have happened had Paul McCartney saved up his most emotionally powerful and melodically rich post-Beatles' songs and recorded them with Badfinger as his backing band. Each song sounds like it should have been a hit single, from the heart-breakingly direct "Long Time No See" or the deceptively jubilant breakup song "With My Face on the Floor," to the anthemic George Harrison-esque "Live Till You Die" or the rollicking "Fresh as a Daisy." The pacing, sound, and feel of the record are as near perfect as you could hope, and the most impressive feat is that Rhodes did everything on the record himself.

His next album, 1971's MIRROR, repeats the same basic formula as EMITT RHODES but has fewer knockout songs, and there are some hard rock (on the title track) and blues (on "I'm a Cruiser") influences creeping in around the edges and scuffing up the perfect pop. By the time of FAREWELL TO PARADISE, though, the twin factors of pressure from the record company and Rhodes' increasing perfectionism led to his recording a melancholy, downhearted album that has far less pop and far more introspection in its soul. Hearing it in context of his previous work shows just how much Rhodes had begun to change, and it makes it even more of a loss that Rhodes basically walked away from his career at the age of 24. THE EMITT RHODES RECORDINGS 1969-1973 is essential to any fan of late-'60s/early-'70s pop music and hats off to Hip-O Select for giving Rhodes the attention he deserves.

Record Collector (magazine) (p.90) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[His self-titled album] stands up as a veritable tour de force of melodic, consummately-crafted Paul McCarney-esque pop..."