AMG Review of Best of the Spencer Davis Group [EMI 10 Track]

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

This budget-priced 25-minute CD (part of EMI-Capitol's "Ten Best" series) has it all over EMI America's late-'80s Best of the Spencer Davis Group. It's made from much better source tapes and priced about 20 percent lower. It only has ten songs on it, but those include "Gimme Some Lovin'," "Keep on Running," "I'm a Man," "When I Come Home," "Searchin'," and "Every Little Bit Hurts," exactly the songs that nine out of ten people who remember the Spencer Davis Group would want. "I'm a Man" is evidently making its first appearance in stereo on this CD, and while it comes off better in mono, it is interesting to hear the instrumental component of the song divided in this way. Surprisingly, the producers have also found room for one post-Steve Winwood-era track, the mildly psychedelic "Time Seller" (which sounds a little like an early ELO track) that slots in decently in this setting.