I got this compilation in an auction joblot, about 30 years ago, and its been in storage ever since.
You can see by the track listing this is definitely an American overview, and somewhat lacking the exciting sounds coming from the UK at the time, so no Bowie, no T.Rex, no glam basically, all of the sounds that would eventually lead to punk (by that I mean British punk).
I realize I am joining a 5 year old conversation, but I am going to put in my two cents anyway. It was rather bold to release an album that professed to have Superstars of an entire decade when it was released with not even a third of the decade over. I think Superstars refers to the artist and not the songs. So, granted some songs are hits the groups had in the 60's, they were superstars in the 70's. Excluding the one-hit wonder, Jo Jo Gunne, they did a decent job at selecting artists that fared well throughout the decade.
One of the best compilations of songs that came out in 72/73 whether it was accurate listings or not. Folks who bought this at Woolworth's were not concerned with timeline accuracy. These were different simpler times. This was a great album to get an overall feel of what was out musically at the time, a time when music and what came out was still manageable and people could get an idea and enjoy, opposed to the masses of stuff ( mostly misguided technical noise) that come out now and no specific anything of substance that one can hold on to for pop music.
RC's comment: - Actually all the groups listed and singers had hits in the 1970's misses the point. The tracks in this compilation should've ALL been from the 1970s. Instead, there are cuts from 1969, 1968 and possibly earlier that DON'T belong in this set precisely because they're from the previous decade. The failure of this album to stay true to its title is a lesson from the past to teach album compilers of today to exercise one thousand percent care and diligence to proper research.
The artist gets a hit (on a another/competing label) years later, and compiler digs out their previous track - so they compliler label gets a 1/12th per album side cashback.
The reverse is true, artist releases a deatbeat track in the next decade / whatever , and true (if maybe how 90% of the public would read first time ), and the compiler short of tracks licenced to them in that timeframe/ artists who made western/bond/ whatever themes compliations bungs in one , two or more of the licenced stuff they do have ! All legal , and its how the industry works.
Mind you additional information on when it (track) hit the charts would be nice.
Anyway, only 6 tracks a side, you were done, compliations should have 24mins or 8 a side to be worth buying.
RC, I may be going over old history, but if a CD was issued just today(hypothetically speaking) that purports to cover the 1970s, then proper research is OF THE UTMOSAT IMPORTANCE but is sadly lacking, nay, non-existent in such compilations these days.
Memo to ALL record companies: When putting a compilation together that purports to cover a given decade, such as the 1970s(for example), it is highly important that those who are charged with the responsibility of finding the material for such an album should PAY STRICT ATTENTION TO RESEARCH to ensure that no track appears in the set that does not belong there. The tracks must have a 1970 to 1979 copyright date, no earlier and no later.
There would likely be others that are 1960s vintage but I picked the most obvious ones to highlight this lack - total lack - of proper research into track vintage for such a compilation as this.
The Judy Collins track sticks out like a sore thumb as completely out of place because of its 1968 vintage, as do The Bee Gees, their second track in this set dates back to 1967(Tr.C5), and the Crosby, Stills & Nash cut(C3) is from 1969. These tracks do not belong in a compilation that's supposed to be of 1970s songs. Again this is an example of slipshod compilation with no research carried out at all in relation to the chosen tracks. For this fact alone, the report card on this album should bear a big, fat red "F" for "Failed"!