Some of the best-known bands in Los Angeles in the Sixties became brand names for a particular style of rock: jangling folk rock for the Byrds, portentous doom rock for the Doors. Love not only bridged the gap between those two groups, they also tried to summon up every color of psychedelia. The range of their sound meant that they never really progressed past cult-band status, but Love were a cult worth joining and still sound fresh and inventive today. Lead singer Arthur Lee, a black man from Memphis, led this interracial band into uncharted waters, singing about orange skies and snot caked on his pants. This generous twenty-two-track compilation ranges from hard-rock freakouts ("Seven and Seven Is") to wistful pop ("She Comes in Colors") to trippy mariachi ("Maybe the People Would Be the Times, or Between Clark and Hilldale"). It also includes the grooviest up-tempo version of "Hey Joe" you'll ever hear.

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.