At first glance, Direct Source's
1973 looks like a decent, low-cost sampler of some really good music from 1973. When you look at the fine print on the back cover, you find the chilling disclaimer that says some of the songs have been re-recorded. Since the disc came out in 2000, one would assume that they are re-recordings from the '80s or '90s. A quick listen would also tell you that the remakes are uniformly terrible. For example, the versions of
B.W. Stevenson's "My Maria,"
Charlie Rich's "The Most Beautiful Girl In the World," and
the Stories' "Brother Louie" are tinny and overly smooth musically, as well as very weak in the vocal department. The horror that is
Sweet's hollowly metallic "Blockbuster" is the absolute nadir of this disc; why anyone would want to hear that classic song ruined by modern production "techniques" is a mystery on par with the Loch Ness monster. Don't be fooled by the splashy cover or the big names involved; this is a disc that must be avoided at all costs.