V/A - The Big Ball (Warner Bros. Sampler) (1970)

In the bygone days before multinational corporate mergers and acquisitions left the record industry a smoldering husk of its former self, Warner Bros. Records launched a series of bargain-priced label samplers dubbed Loss Leaders: available via mail order for two bucks or less, these remarkably generous compilations often featured B-sides and other non-LP tracks, but what's most notable is the sheer consistency of the listening experience Warner and its affiliated labels housed a veritable murderers' row of rock & roll legends, and only rarely does a disappointing track squeak into the mix.
The Big Ball represents the first Loss Leaders release of the 1970s, and it's a corker, spotlighting a veritable who's who of legends including Van Morrison (the heart-stopping "Caravan"), Neil Young ("The Loner"), Joni Mitchell ("Big Yellow Taxi"), and the Grateful Dead ("Turn on Your Lovelight") alongside cult favorites like Randy Newman ("Mama Told Me Not to Come") and Tim Buckley ("Happy Time"). This is music that celebrates the creative spirit at its most daring and realized and proves a stinging reminder of how calculated and tame major-label rosters have become in the decades since.

Disc 1
01.  The Fifth Avenue Band - Nice Folks - 2:25
02.  John Sebastian - Red Eye Express - 2:53
03.  The Beach Boys - This Whole World - 1:54
04.  Geoff & Maria Muldaur - New Orleans Hopscotch Blues - 2:43
05.  Arlo Guthrie - Coming in To Los Angeles - 3:03
06.  Eric Andersen - I Was the Rebel, She Was The Cause - 2:34
07.  Norman Greenbaum - Jubilee - 2:56
08.  Savage Grace - Ivy - 4:22
09.  Van Morrison - Caravan - 4:54
10.  Fleetwood mac - Oh Well - 3:29
11.  The Pentangle - Sally Go Round the Roses - 3:40
12.  Jethro Tull - Nothing Is Easy - 4:28
13.  The Small Faces - Flying - 4:20
14.  Family - No Mule's Fool - 3:23
15.  The Kinks - When I Turn Off The Living Room Light - 2:21

Disc 2
01.  The Everly Brothers - I'm On My Way Home again - 2:21
02.  Tim Buckley - Happy Time - 3:14
03.  Joni Mitchell - Big Yellow Taxi - 2:15
04.  Neil Young - The Loner - 3:50
05.  Gordon Lightfoot - Approaching Lavender - 3:01
06.  Randy Newman - Mama Told Me Not To Come - 2:12
07.  James Taylor - Fire and Rain - 3:28
08.  Dion - Sit Down Old Friend - 3:25
09.  Ed Sanders - The Iliad - 4:08
10.  The GTO's - Kansas and The BTO's - 1:12
11.  The GTO's - The Captain's Fat Theresa Shoes - 1:56
12.  Captain Beefheart - Ella Guru - 2:26
13.  The GTO's - The Original GTO's - 1:04
14.  The Mother's Of Invention - W.P.L.J. - 2:52
15.  Wild Man Fischer - The Taster (The Story Of The Taster) - 4:39
16.  Pearls Before Swine - Footnote - 1:24
17.  The Grateful Dead - Turn On Your Love Light - 6:37

Label - Warner Bros.