Very Best Of Erich Kunzel, The - Erich Kunzel

Advantages: Eight Good tracks.
Disadvantages: Twenty naff tracks.

...The Very Best of the Human League. This compilation of HL tunes was released in 2003 and if you do want to buy it after this review, my advice is iTunes, all 28 songs for £7.99. To buy in most shops as a double CD is still more than £10, and the price (and availability) varies greatly online. To be honest, when I was compiling an 80's playlist for my iPod I needed about 6 songs from HL but could not resist downloading the lot for the price. Did I regret it? would I have been better off getting just a few tracks? well........ 1.Don't You Want Me Absolute classic, who can forget the video. Heavy electronic beats, a great storyline, good vocals and almost everyone knows the lyrics, so this one gets a tick, I've kept it 9/10. 2.Love Action (I Believe In Love) Again, big tick for me. From the incessant bass line and jingly... Read review

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Advantages: superb, timeless songs
Disadvantages: no more recordings / performances from Redding

...A great party record, this one - plenty of cracking dance tunes, and a decent quota of slow tunes for later on. It's also some of the best quality soul music ever produced, and all of it produced during a very short period of time - during the mid-60s, until Redding died in a plane crash in 1967, aged just 26. Redding himself wrote many of the songs, songs as good as: # "These arms of mine" - his first single to chart, in 1963, it's a simple ballad, almost 50s crooner style. It's just a love song, about a guy pleading to his girl, but oh so persuasive. # "Respect" - Aretha Franklin recorded the definitive version, but it's definitely worth hearing the Otis original. # "Love man" - It might sound like a macho boast but I'm not so sure. When Otis stammers "cau cau cau cause I'm a love man" it sounds more like a man who... Read review

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Advantages: Perfect songs, time taken on it.
Disadvantages: None!

...The Smiths are one of those very rare and fortunate bands who never released a poor album. Of course, there was a reason for this, the output from the songwriting partnership of Morrissey and Marr was one of musical history's finest. From 'Hand In Glove' all the way to 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out', they produced some of the greatest songs of the 80's, and all time, in fact. The only problem is, in releasing a greatest hits album, how would they fit so many great songs on to one CD? Answer. By packing that one CD with 23 songs, which personally I didn't realise was possible. And these 23 songs really do showcase the very best of the Smiths. It's one of those best ofs which really has had a lot of thought put into it, and this has caused it to have a lot more meaning and direction than your average money-spindling greatest... Read review

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