Consumer Guide Album

Michael Nesmith: Compilation [Pacific Arts, 1977]
Nesmith began his career on RCA as a crackpot inventor and ended as a bankrupt cottage industry. The title of his final RCA LP, And the Hits Just Keep On Coming, was more wishful than sarcastic, which is why he's seen to its reissue, as well as that of Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash, another pretty much standard country-song sampler. Seven of the twelve cuts on this compilation (another great title) come from those two albums. The side that concentrates on earlier stuff is an amazing contraption, one piece of zonked Nashville after another. The other side is a pretty much standard-plus display case. Among the missing: "The Grand Ennui," "Calico Girlfriend," "Mama Nantucket," "The Keys to the Car." B+