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Critic's Review
Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
Exotica fans might be outraged by such an assertion, but really to most listeners one Arthur Lyman album is about the same as another. And if you only get one Arthur Lyman album, you might as well get one with the hits (all three of them, two of which didn't reach the Top 40) and one that has a bit of a chronological span, right? The Very Best of Arthur Lyman fills that bill, including of course his sole big hit, "Yellow Bird," as well as "Love for Sale" and "Taboo," which both made around the middle of the Top 100. In all there are 18 tracks from his 1958-1965 HiFi albums, with his sleepy, vibes-suffused covers of a number of standards, among them "Havah Nagila," "Caravan," "Misirlou," Ravel's "Bolero," and the less expected "Blue Hawaii." There's also his own rendition of "Quiet Village" (birdcalls included), the song that was taken to the Top Five by his former boss, Martin Denny. Even with tracks that have been consciously selected as a best-of, in all it's an agreeable but rather similar-sounding set that establishes an unrelentingly drowsy mood. Things do perk up a bit occasionally, as on "Love for Sale," an easy listening instrumental you could actually dance to.
