This actually has only five of the dozen cuts
the Great Scots released officially; the rest of the 16-song disc is filled out by unreleased tracks recorded by the band in May 1966. It's tight mid-'60s rock with a wide range, but not much personality, although executed fairly enjoyably. "Show Me the Way" (included in the Pebbles series) is here and is an obvious highlight, though they sound a lot like Manfred Mann on Goffin & King's "Honey and Wine" and "What Am I to Do," and "Lord, I'm So Lonely" (an obscure
Billy Vera composition) is pretty fair blue-eyed soul in the
Animals mold. Barely any of the songs were written by the group members themselves, which prevents this from being a notable effort even for '60s collectors, although they most likely could have been stars if they'd been picked up by big-time producers and given commercial material, à la
Paul Revere & the Raiders. ~ Richie Unterberger