A very subjective title, very subjective indeed. For starters, “One and One Is One” itself, a song that does indeed deserve to be ranked among Medicine Head’s very best recordings, is absent from this particular collection. So are “Slip and Slide” and “Rising Sun,” and, indeed, anything else from the band’s period of greatest commercial success. Instead, this set looks back to Medicine Head’s beginnings, and the handful of singles and LPs cut for John Peel’s Dandelion label between 1970-1972. Which is not a problem; those albums and all ten songs included here are among Medicine Head’s finest achievements — “Coast to Coast,” “Kum On,” “His Guiding Hand,” and, of course, the hit “(And The) Pictures in the Sky” are as memorable as any of the group’s later material. But, if you’re buying a compilation album titled for its maker’s biggest hit, is it really asking too much to expect that hit to be included? Full marks for the music, none whatsoever for the marketing. – Dave Thompson
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