Best Of The 70's, The - Lynsey De Paul

Advantages: Consistently good choice of songs-with a fresh approach
Disadvantages: Plastic looking photographs for the cover

...I'll admit it-I'm a fan of the very talented Donny Osmond but I was NOT happy to hear that Donny was recording a 70s cover version album. I loved his last album "What I meant to saY" Which was predominently new music co-written with the likes of Eliot Kennedy (Spice Girls), Gary Barlow and Paul Peterson (formerly associated with Prince). I wanted the next album to be yet more good original stuff-Donny's sung other people's music most of his life ! However I heard some cuts from the album pre-release on www.donny.com and liked what I heard so I bought it. As did a lot of other people as it went gold within a week of release. And here's a rundown of the tracks for the UK release (the US version has David Gate's "If" on it but I suspect Decca remembered the Telly Savalas version been a hit over here and passed on that track !) 1 "I can... Read review

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Advantages: It's Neil Diamond
Disadvantages: It's Neil Diamond

...? Is it because the songs are unashamedly sentimental? Yes they are but none of the arrangements are that different from anything else that was around at the time by artists who are now considered to be cool. Furthermore, as a reflection of their era these songs are some of the best crafted and produced you can get. Is it because he got stuck in a 70s-tastic time warp when the rest of the world moved on....? Mmm could be. Is it because the evil fairisle-jumpered clone troopers of the easy listenin' Empire stole Mr Diamond's style and made it their own - did he get there first? Is it because nobody gets far enough past the sentimentality to notice that there is humour as well as schmaltz in many of the songs? Almost certainly a contributory factor. Could it be because it's the music many of us remember our parents listening and dancing... Read review

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Advantages: A few really good tracks, some De La Soul tunes you have never heard before
Disadvantages: The album has no flow, a few weak remixes

...rapping in their parents' basement to entertaining millions worldwide, Prince Paul. After hearing a demo, Prince Paul went to Tommy Boy Records and De La Soul was signed. The rest is history, so they say but if you are still current can you really be history. That is a whole other topic. De La Soul's sound was pretty unique when they hit the scene. They skipped rapping about how their parents just don't understand them or about rolling Blunts and pimping. De La was heading down a more socially relevant direction. De La Soul is a child of the collective influences of the music that Posdnuos, Dove and Mase enjoyed. De La had a soul because of the R&B influences as well as the reggae social conscious. De La is not over the top and never take themselves too seriously. They flow with a smooth cadence and snatch electronic sounds, live... Read review

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