Billy Joe Royal's first two albums, Down in the Boondocks and Cherry Hill Park, were combined on this single-CD reissue by Collectables. Although the sound and the packaging could be a little better, this still is a fine way for collectors to pick up these two records on disc. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CD $13.28

Billy Joe Royal is best known for his country-tinged mid-'60s hit "Down in the Boondocks." Penned and produced by Joe South, "Boondocks" featured a churchy echo and a born-on the-wrong-side-of-town theme that makes it an effective track even 40 years later. Nothing like that gem appears on this brief, slick collection of some of South's '80s pop-country material from Atlantic Records. Oh, it's all pleasant enough, with impossible to hate songs like {&"If the Jukebox Took Teardrop...   [ read more ]

CD $8.51

Billy Joe Royal took a Joe South song called "Down in the Boondocks," layered in enough echo to make a bat dizzy, and had a huge hit with it in the early '60s. With its wry awareness of American class dynamics and Royal's fervent, desperate lead vocal, the song holds up surprisingly well even in this new century. Unfortunately, the version of "Boondocks" found here is a re-recorded one, as are the versions of two other South songs that Royal took to the charts in the 1960s, {&"I Knew Y...   [ read more ]

CD $7.58