An Album/Song A Week: Super Hits of the 70's: Have A Nice Day Vol. 1-25

 By 1991 Rhino Records was the premiere reissue label in the land.  Artist anthologies, compilations.  All done first rate.  And their rise coincided with the arrival of CD's in the mid-80's.  Suddenly all our old records sounded pristine again.  Rhino was able to market Greatest Hits sets on artists that sorely needed one or needed an update to an inferior catalog item.  Throw in informative liner notes and it was easy for me to buy whatever Rhino was putting out.  And they curated compilations on genres that sorely were missing in the canon or needed an update:  Rockabilly, New Orleans, Girl Groups, Old School R&B, Disco and 70's AM Top 40 one (or two) hit wonders.  

The first 15 volumes of Super Hits of the 70's landed in 1990 to much fanfare.  The series begins in 1969 with 1969's #12 hit "More Today Than Yesterday" by Spiral Staircase.  And if that song rings a bell then you have an idea of what the rest of the series was about.  One maybe two or three Pop, maybe Country one-hit wonders.  All sounding perfect on an AM Top 40 radio station in the 70's.  Informative, sometimes humorous liner notes tell the story.  Sure, not everything here clicks.  But taken as a whole you'll learn to get along with the New Seekers or Wayne Newton.

In 1993 Rhino expanded the series to 22 volumes.  In 1996 the last three volumes came out.  The series ends with the Rockets' 1979 #30 cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well".  Again, if you remember that one then you'll love the whole series.  

BTW- Rhino's equally excellent R&B equivalent to this series was Soul Hits of the 70's: Didn't It Blow 

Your Mind.  It topped out at 20 volumes and was released in 91/95.