Classic Rock (Time-Life Music)


Classic Rock was a 31-volume series issued by Time Life during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Unlike what the name may imply, the series spotlighted popular music played on Top 40 radio stations of the mid-to-late-1960s.
Much like Time-Life's other series chronicling popular music, volumes in the "Classic Rock" series covered a specific time period, including single years in some volumes and stylistic trends in others. Each volume was issued on a compact disc, cassette or 2-LP vinyl record set. Individual volumes generally contained 22 tracks, and represented the highlighted time period's most popular and noteworthy tracks. Also included was a booklet, containing liner notes written by some of the most respected historians of the genre, photographs of the artists, and information on the songs.

History

"Classic Rock" was first issued in the winter of 1988, with the first volume in the series titled Classic Rock: 1965. Like most compilation albums, songs by two of the era's most successful groups – The Beatles and The Rolling Stones – were not included due to licensing issues; however, several albums had cover art with drawings of male rock singers resembling The Beatles.
As was the case with Time-Life's other series, "Classic Rock" was advertised in television and magazine advertisements. The series was available by subscription ; those who purchased the series in that fashion received a new volume roughly every other month, and had the option of keeping the volumes they wanted.
Each volume was also offered for individual sale. When the series was fully issued, a customer could purchase the entire series at once, often at a discounted price.
New volumes continued to be issued through 1991, the final one being a volume titled Classic Rock: Rock Renaissance IV. An additional volume, titled Totally Fantastic '60s, was released in 1996.
Time-Life continued to offer "Classic Rock" through the early-2000s, after which it was replaced by other series.
In 1999, Time-Life issued a "budget" box set, "Classic '60s: Greatest Hits", containing three CDs or cassettes of 12 songs each, for retail sale.

The series

Album listing

As with many of Time-Life Records' multi-volume releases, the volumes were not issued in a logical, sequential order by date or era of the subject; that is, issuing volumes covering 1964 before progressing to 1965. In the track information section, the volumes will be listed sequentially by era; the following list is the order in which the volumes were released.

1988

''1964''

01 - Cream - White Room
02 - Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard
03 - Byrds - My Back Pages
04 - Hollies - Pay You Back With Interest
05 - Searchers - Bumblebee
06 - Pretty Things - Don't Bring Me Down
07 - Troggs - I Can't Control Myself
08 - Love - My Little Red Book
09 - Kinks - Dedicated Follower of Fashion
10 - Santana - Evil Ways
11 - Traffic - Forty Thousand Headmen
12 - Them - Mystic Eyes
13 - Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane
14 - Van Morrison - Moondance
15 - Flying Burrito Brothers - Christine's Tune
16 - Balloon Farm - A Question of Temperature
17 - Yardbirds - Stroll On
18 - Cream - Tales Of Brave Ulysses
19 - Standells - Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White
20 - Sir Douglas Quintet - The Rains Came
21 - Quicksilver Messenger Service - Who Do You Love
22 - Blind Faith - Can't Find My Way Home

''Rock Renaissance III''

01 - Nashville Teens - Tobacco Road
02 - Paul Revere & The Raiders - Steppin' Out
03 - Searchers - When You Walk In the Room
04 - Bobby Fuller Four - Love's Made a Fool of You
05 - Troggs - With A Girl Like You
06 - Barbarians - Are You a Boy Or Are You a Girl
07 - Seeds - Can't Seem to Make You Mine
08 - Sonics - Psycho
09 - Byrds - 5 D
10 - Chocolate Watch Band - Let's Talk About Girls
11 - Five Americans - I See the Light
12 - Nazz - Hello It's Me
13 - Procol Harum - A Salty Dog
14 - Moody Blues - Ride My See Saw
15 - Cream - I Feel Free
16 - Joe Cocker - Delta Lady
17 - Allman Brothers Band - Midnight Rider
18 - Steppenwolf - The Pusher
19 - Blood Sweat & Tears - I Can't Quit Her
20 - Electric Flag - Groovin' Is Easy
21 - Van Morrison - Caravan
22 - Blind Faith - Presence of the Lord

''Rock Renaissance IV''

1. I’m So Glad _Cream 3:57
2. Alone Again Or _Love 3:14
3. When I Was Young _Eric Burdon and the Animals 2:59
4. Season of the Witch _Donovan 4:55
5. Tuesday Afternoon _The Moody Blues 4:50
6. Jesus is Just Alright _The Byrds 2:10
7. Open My Eyes _Nazz 2:39
8. Are You Gonna Be There The Chocolate Watchband 2:25
9. Blackberry Way _The Move 3:35
10. Flying High _Country Joe and the Fish 2:38
11. Darkness, Darkness _The Youngbloods 3:49
12. Shakin’ Street _MC5 2:21
13. Whiskey Train _Procol Harum 4:30
14. Second Generation Woman _Family 3:15
15. Meet on the Ledge _Fairport Convention 2:51
16. Fresh Air _Quicksilver Messenger 5:20
17. Space Cowboy _The Steve Miller Band 4:57
18. San Francisco Girls _Fever Tree 3:57
19. Buy for Me the Rain _The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 2:24
20. Abba Zaba _Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band 2:42
21. Venus in Furs _The Velet Underground and Nico 5:06