Now, as you've probably gathered by the tone of this so far, I'm not the biggest fan of this type of music. I find the majority of it insipid, sentimental, and just plain boring. However, I had recently heard Willy DeVille do a version of "Come A Little Bit Closer" which I thought was great. So I was curious to hear not only what the original version of the hit sounded like, but whether there was more to this style of music then I had first believed. There was obviously nothing wrong with some of the material they had been performing and this collection would be a perfect opportunity to revisit the era to check out the rest of their catalog from the first time around.
It doesn't seem to have mattered whether Traynor or Black was lead singer, as the harmonies and vocals are impeccable on each of the songs. I've always liked West Side Story and I hadn't been aware that "Tonight" had ever been recorded as a single, so that was a nice surprise to hear right off the top. Unfortunately, even though these are supposed to be the cream of their repertoire, a good many of these songs are nowhere near being up to the same quality as the opener; and some are just downright embarrassing. "Only In America" is the worst sort of sentimental, jingoist trash, and "Baby This Is Rock & Roll" is just tripe extolling the music of the title, which is silly considering how little these songs have to do with rock and roll.
However, the band seems able to rise above the quality of most of their material, so at least listening to it isn't impossible. Unfortunately, no matter what the song or who the lead vocalist is, they are also virtually indistinguishable from each other. Sure some tracks have a sort of Latin sound to them, but it's been so toned down that I don't see why they bothered. Anyway the vocals sound so "All-American," white, and bland. If the music were any spicier it'd be completely out of place.
![Jay & The Americans - Greatest Hits [CEMA]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/213B54HYSQL._SL120_.jpg)
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