Best of Billy Joe Royal [Intersound] (CD - 2005)

Personnel: Larry Beard (acoustic guitar); Ron Reynolds (electric guitar, percussion); Bill Hullett (electric guitar); Sonny Garrish, Mike Douchette (steel guitar); Clayton Ivey (keyboards); Brian Barnett (drums); George Pendergrass, Russell Terrell (background vocals).

Audio Remasterer: Glenn Meadows.

Recording information: Master Mix, Nashville, TN.

Billy Joe Royal took a Joe South song called "Down in the Boondocks," layered in enough echo to make a bat dizzy, and had a huge hit with it in the early '60s. With its wry awareness of American class dynamics and Royal's fervent, desperate lead vocal, the song holds up surprisingly well even in this new century. Unfortunately, the version of "Boondocks" found here is a re-recorded one, as are the versions of two other South songs that Royal took to the charts in the 1960s, "I Knew You When" and "Hush." Royal's voice is still impressively strong on these recent remakes, but the original recordings had a kind of freshness and punch that is lacking here. ~ Steve Leggett minimize