Joe South is one of the great unsung singer-songwriters of the late 1960s. His songs have been covered by everyone from Elvis Presley to k.d. lang to Al Green to John Mellencamp. There probably isn't an hour in the day when one of his compositions isn't playing somewhere on an oldies, country, soul, or easy-listening station--and yet this compilation marks the first time an album of South performing his own tunes has been available in the U.S. since Rhino's 1990 Best of Joe South was deleted. South originally penned two top 20 hits for pal Billy Joe Royal--"Down in the Boondocks" and "I Knew You When" (both here)--before his stint as a session guitarist (on Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and Simon & Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock," among others). His 1968 debut LP, Introspect, was critically hailed and became a commercial smash. South scored two hit singles--"Walk a Mile in My Shoes" and "Games People Play"--before drugs and the suicide of his brother soured things terribly in the early '70s. Novices may be stunned by how much South's rendition of "Hush" sounds like Deep Purple's hit ... and how different his version of "Rose Garden" is from Lynn Anderson's hokey country standard. In South's hands it becomes a true revelation. Retrospect is seven songs shorter than the deleted Rhino title and substitutes an early novelty number ("Purple People Eater") for such faves as "Party People." Nevertheless, it's great to have South's music available again. --Bill Holdship