Manufacturer: Deram/Polygram
This best-of is loaded with the usual smash suspects plus three new cuts--the sub-Mellancamp "Someday I'll Be Saturday Night", the Bed of Roses-style ballad single "Always", and a low-key remake of "Living On A Prayer" titled "Prayer '94". Love 'em or not, there's no denying the loyalty of the fans. --Jeff Bateman
Manufacturer: Mercury Records Ltd (London)
For better or worse, Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight" was the "Stairway to Heaven" of the 1980s, winning radio stations' listener polls and even lending its designer threat to an episode of Miami Vice. Hits recalls the days when the Collins name on a disc ensured its immediate embrace by programmers and the public. How you feel about these songs will depend on how you felt about ...
Manufacturer: Virgin
This album has class and it sees Paul Weller once again firmly in control of every aspect: he wrote all the songs bar a cover of Dr. John's "I Walk on Gilded Splinters"; he co-produced it and, apart from his earthy vocals, he plays guitar, piano, organ and percussion. All the tracks are special, but it's the three hits--"Changingman", "Broken Stones" and the truly wonderful "You Do Something To ...
Manufacturer: Universal / Island
After making his name with the Jam and then nearly losing it (in some quarters) with the Style Council, Paul Weller reemerged in 1992 with a self-titled album. Since then he's released four studio albums (and one live set, Live Wood); Modern Classics is a democratic collection, choosing three tracks from Paul Weller, four tracks from each of the rest, and adding one new ...
Never mind that Van Morrison is one of the most indelible songwriters of the 20th century--take each album on its own terms. On 1968's seminal Astral Weeks, a twentysomething Van Morrison can be found belting his gospelly, bluesy vocals in just as fine a form as he would be 20 years hence. In the sociopolitical context of the times, the album cried out about such ubiquitous 1960s themes as ...
Manufacturer: Warner
The signs were good. He'd been getting into Neil Young, smoking joints and making pilgrimages to Nick Drake's grave, but nothing could have prepared us for quite such a return to form. The mood was autobiographical, most notably on "Has My Fire Really Gone Out" and the title track--both of which dealt with the writer's block that plagued Weller after The Style Council. And yet, Wild Wood is ...
Apparently, Swing When You're Winning was inspired by the praise Robbie Williams received for his contribution to the soundtrack on Bridget Jones's Diary. Recorded with an 18-piece band in Frank Sinatra's old stomping ground, the Capitol Records Studio in LA, this collection of finger-clickin', Rat Pack standards and new material features plenty of guest collaborations, such as the ...
Manufacturer: Chrysalis
The two discs of The Essential Bob Dylan don't exactly provide a thorough overview of four decades of recording by one of the most important and prolific performers of his time. So the collection definitely skates over his leagues-deep oeuvre, summarizing his monumental first half-dozen years in disc one and skirting over the following 34 years in disc two. Delving into Columbia's three ...
Manufacturer: Sony
Manufacturer: Rhino
