More American Graffiti - Various Artists (MCA)

- Reviewed by David Maclennan

Yeah, well, it's not as good as its predecessor -there's only 25 track as opposed to 41, and a number of these are fairly mediocre. But it's platter chatter by "the howling, prowling, wolfman, Jack," which is fine by me as I could listen to him all day (you write like him too —typesetter).

When the tracks are good, they art good; gems like Little Richard's "Ready Teddy' and Tutti Frutti', Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue', Gene Chandler's 'Duke of Earl' (from whence Zappa got Duke of Prunes'), Bill Haley's "See you later Aligator," and more. There are however, too many mediocre cuts such as Dion's "Teenager in Love" (Why not "Ruby Baby" or "The Wanderer) Carl Dobkins' 'My Heart is an Open Book', the Dubs' 'Could this be Magic' and so on.

I would rather have seen more tracks by artists that featured on the first 'Graffiti' album such as the Flamingoes ('Lovers never say Good-bye'), Fats Domino or Chuck Berry, not to mention more helpings of high school pop and doo-wop. And I'd like to have seen a further 41 tracks, not a mere 25. This album is fine, but the original 'Graffiti' album remains the finest compilation of golden oldies on the market. Here's hoping Hollywood don't attempt a follow-up film!