Critic's Review
Tim Sendra, All Music Guide
Bobby Vee has a couple of hits collections on the market, but Absolutely the Best is the only one that boils his career down to just the hits. A whopping ten of the 14 songs on Absolutely the Best were Top 20 hits in the 1960s for the Buddy Holly-influenced, smooth-voiced pop/rock crooner. The other four were Top 40 hits, so it's not like they disappeared without a trace. It may come as a surprise to casual listeners that so many of Vee's songs are oldies radio fodder. He is sort of a forgotten man in pop history, but he ran off a string of memorable songs. The best of them, like the lush "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes," the dramatic "Run to Him" (which was originally meant for the Everly Brothers), the peppy "Rubber Ball," or his sole number one hit, "Take Good Care of My Baby," are just about as good as early-'60s pop can be. His comeback single from 1967, "Come Back When You Grow Up," is a triumph; hushed and hurting, it is too bad Vee didn't have more hits in the same vein. Still, what he did in the '60s shouldn't be ignored. By cutting away the filler, this comp packs a pop whollop that should make sure anyone who hears Vee will remember him, fondly.
