The Glam Singles Collection

Album Review

Covering the years 1972-1977, this has both sides of all 12 of their British singles, including of course the U.K. Top Ten hits "Tell Him" and "New York Groove" (which was covered in the late '70s by Ace Frehley of Kiss). Hello were one of several British glam bands to have some success in Britain while remaining totally unknown stateside. Their music was too unimportant to induce revisionism that would declare this a great oversight. Yet, if only at several decades' remove, it's inoffensive enough generic glam, with the requisite distant and not-so-distant echoes of David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, and bubblegum music. Easy-to-sing-along-with (if not terribly memorable) tunes are often wedded to basic stomping rhythms and well-crafted vocal harmonies. It's interesting to find that five of the songs, including "New York Groove," were penned by Russ Ballard, formerly of Argent and before that in the 1960s British Invasion band the Roulettes. If you're looking for the most atypical groove here, it's the Ballard-penned "Ask Your Mama," a light acoustic-flavored pop-rocker on the B-side of their first single.