The Very Best of the Foundations

Album Review

British '60s octet the Foundations, whose claim to fame was their ability to re-create the sound of Motown, were really two-hit wonders in the U.S., those two hits being "Baby Now That I've Found You" and "Build Me up Buttercup." The casual listener may be forgiven for thinking these songs, perpetually familiar due to oldies radio and the occasional soundtrack placement, were performed by a Motown act such as the Four Tops. Because the group recorded for the Pye Records label, which licensed their recordings to the Decca subsidiary Uni in the U.S., and all of those imprints have long-since been retired (at least, in their '60s identities), there is no major label to keep a hits collection continually in print. But Britain's Sanctuary Group had access to their catalog in 2002, and this compilation is issued by Sanctuary with U.S. distribution through BMG. It is not as good a selection as, for example, 1995's The Very Best of the Foundations on Taragon, which features a stereo alternate of the otherwise monophonic "Baby Now That I've Found You." But as of 2002, it was probably the most readily available Foundations album in the U.S. All seven of the group's U.S. and/or U.K. singles chart entries are included, along with another seven album tracks, giving a good sense of the band's sound, and Colin Escott's liner notes concisely tell their story.