At first glance, Direct Source's
1976 looks like a decent, low-cost sampler of some really good music from 1976. When you look at the fine print on the back cover, however, you find the chilling disclaimer that says some of the songs have been re-recorded. Since the disc came out in 2000, one would assume that they are re-recordings from the '90s. A quick listen would also tell you that the remakes are uniformly terrible. For example, the versions of
Andrea True's "More, More, More" (complete with a broken-sounding drum machine),
the Bay City Rollers' "Rock and Roll Love Letter," and
Larry Groce's "Junk Food Junky" are tinny and overly smooth musically, as well as very weak in the vocal department. The horror of
Wings'
Denny Laine thoroughly trashing "Silly Love Songs" is the absolute nadir of this disc; why anyone would want to hear that near-classic song ruined by modern production "techniques" is a mystery on par with the Loch Ness Monster. Don't be fooled by the splashy cover or the big names involved; this is a disc that must be avoided at all costs.