Absolutely awsome. That’s about all you can say about this flabbergasting set put out by Columbia in the early 90?s. The five stars above reflect the love and care that went into every aspect of this set, from the presentation with it’s frosted portrait of Sinatra on the cover, to the different CD sleeves and labels which really give a sense of history to the set – to the music itself, which is priceless. Although the price is awesome – a whopping $250, but in my estimation, it’s worth every penny. This is pop music history in the making, with Sinatra acting as pop music’s custodian, and the culmination of every songwriter’s dream. During his Columbia period, Sinatra chose and recorded masterworks of all the great songwriters of the era, from Rodgers & Hammerstein to Jimmy Mercer; from stage, screen and anywhere else he heard a great tune. Sinatra had great taste in music – and until his audience unaccountably began to shrink, he took great care in the songs he chose. Oh, make no mistake – there are some true stinkers here as well: novelty numbers that he tried when it seemed he could catch an audience’s ear no other way – I mean, you’ve got to hear the reprehensible “Mama Will Bark” to believe it – but the vast majority of music here is pure American gold – the finest songs by the finest songwriters, arranged and recorded with all the love and care that Columbia could muster. This ain’t just a box set, it’s pure music – period.

Much like Time-Life's other series chronicling popular music, volumes in the "Sounds of the Seventies" series covered a specific time period, including individual years in some volumes, and different parts of the decade (for instance, the early 1970s) in others; in addition, some volumes covered specific trends, such as music popular on album-oriented rock stations on the FM band. Each volume was issued on either compact disc, cassette or (with volumes issued prior to 1991) vinyl record. Individual volumes generally contained anywhere between 18 and 22 tracks, and represented the highlighted time period's most popular and noteworthy tracks. Also included was a booklet, containing liner notes written by some of the most respected historians of the genre, photographs of the artists, and information on the songs (writers, performers and peak position on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart).

An outstanding collection with 50 of the most beautiful pop hits of all time, in 4 CD. Enjoy a nostalgic musical journey in a 30 years period (1973-2004) through beloved legendary pop songs in their original versions selected from the top charts.