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
After the barrage of edgy protest tunes and face-melting acid rock played at jet-engine volumes, something had to provide a contrast during the late ‘60s . . . something like bubblegum pop. Enter The 1910 Fruitgum Company. With the band members’ Colgate smiles, coiffed hair, and a prefabricated sound, 1967’s “Simple Simon” was an instant smash hit, with a contagious melody and more backing-vocal bah-bah-bahs than a room full of Osmonds. But there’s more to The Best of The 1910 Fruitgum Co. than songs for small children. Although “May I Take a Giant Step (Into Your Heart)” plays on the kids’ game Mother May I, the lyrics inch toward playful boy-meets-girl flirtations that hit home with hormonal teenyboppers. The following “Please Me, Tease Me” did even more so. This compilation boasts a sonically magnifying remaster; you just won’t find a better-sounding, more thorough collection of The 1910 Fruitgum Company than this one.