Three months later the Eagles release their debut and chart no fewer than three singles. Convinced that the band is on the right track, co-founders Craig Fuller and George Powell would return to the studio with a revamped Pure Prairie League and turn out the best album of their career, Bustin' Out, seven months after their debut. [All but one song, "Leave My Heart Alone," are included here.] In addition to their signature song, "Amie," the album contained "Jazzman," "Early Morning Riser," "Boulder Skies" and "Call Me, Tell Me." Even though the album's songs were as good as anything by the Eagles and the album reached No. 34 on the charts, Pure Prairie Leage continued to remain in relative obscurity. If talent had anything to do with hit singles, these guys would have been as big as the Eagles. Instead, by early 1973 they were dropped by RCA. [Ironically, "Amie" became an FM radio hit in 1975 and eventually reached No. 27 on the pop charts, resulting in RCA's re-signing the band.]

When their third album, Two Lane Highway, was released, Fuller was out and new lead guitarist-singer Larry Goshorn was at the helm. His "Two Lane Highway" is probably the best track from that album. By the release of their fourth album, If the Shoe Fits, the band continued its artistic decline. Goshorn's "Goin' Home" is a competent, but not spectacular song, and the countrified version of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" is no better or worse than what you might expect to hear from any bar band on any given night. Pure Prairie League would release four more albums for RCA in the Seventies before moving to Casablanca (and for a time feature future country star Vince Gill), but the music lacked the spark of the Fuller-Powell glory days.

It's no wonder that 12 of this CD's 17 songs (13 if you count the B-side "Woman") are from the band's first two albums. In fact, that would have been a better idea: release Pure Prarie League/Bustin' Out as a two-fer. Short of that, this Greatest Hits package takes a close second. RECOMMENDED

42 of 43 found the following review helpful:


All of those stars for the first two albums  May 18, 2002 By David Pearlman "sound fanatic"
Let's face it: The Pure Prairie league released only
two good albums, their first two.

But the second of those was a true corker: "Bustin'
Out". The not-so-secret weapon that elevated those first albums
was singer/writer Craig Fuller. Once Fuller departed, following
the second album, Pure Prairie releases were dull and pedestrian
countrified bar-band stuff.

This compilation wiseley draws primarily from those first
two worthwhile efforts and, as it includes all but a single

lackluster track from "Bustin' Out", basically replaces that
album as the must-own in the Pure Prairie League catalogue.
Along with almost all of "Bustin' Out" you get a the best
tracks from the first album, a pleasant non-LP b-side from the
same era, and a few tracks from later RCA albums that prove
to any doubters that it was all over once Craig Fuller left.

Most anyone can start and end their Pure Prairie League
collection with this album...

14 of 15 found the following review helpful:


Great Music But..  Nov 10, 2005 By D. Allen "Mr. Mojorisin"
The sound quality is the worst of any post-70's CD in my collection. I have CD's recorded in the forties that sound better than this! Either the master tape has been lost or someone won't part with it long enough for a digital transfer to be made. This sounds like a copy of a copy of a copy of the master, and made on poor equipment to boot. This, however, is our reality, like it or not, and if you're like me and you must own it "for better or worse", then you'll pull out your wallet and be happy with it because the individual CD's that this is culled from don't sound any better. (sigh)

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


Needs Some More Tunes  May 01, 2007 By Richard Keith
I'm a PPL fan from way back, and recently a tune stuck in my mind and I had to spend an hour going through the samples to finally find it. The tune, "Son Shone Lightly" is on "If The Shoe Fits," their 4th album. Why is it not included here? And ditto as another reviewer suggested for "Country Song"? Other than omissions, this is a decent collection. If you're a true fan, just get the albums.

1 of 1 found the following review helpful:


Truly The Best Of Pure Prairie League  Jul 18, 2005 By The Footpath Cowboy "rockerusa2002"
GREATEST HITS contains 17 great songs by Pure Prairie League, a country-rock band out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Most of the songs feature Craig Fuller on vocals, and the rest feature Michael Reilly. All but one song from BUSTIN' OUT are featured as well as four from the debut and the rest from TWO-LANE HIGHWAY and IF THE SHOE FITS. The fact that the current band members, including several originals, believe that the young Australian tourist jailed in Indonesia since 2005 for drug-smuggling was unjustly convicted makes this CD an essential purchase for both your ears AND your conscience.

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