Those greatest hits collections just keep coming, a vital ingredient in the rise of the CD. And even single-disc or one-cassette retrospectives are unusually plump, packing in a dozen to a dozen-and-a-half songs . . . except that more and more often, several tracks are brand spanking new - not time-tested hits at all.
Here are reviews by Deseret News staff writers of four such packages - by Lionel Richie, ZZ Top, Olivia Newton-John and Euro-star Falco. Note how their albums are both a little bit old and a little bit new.LIONEL RICHIE; "Back to Front" (Motown). * * *
After four years away from the recording business, prolific singer-songwriter Lionel Richie returns with "Back to Front," a Motown release that features three new Richie tunes as well as 11 tracks drawn from his solo career and his tenure with the Commodores.
Richie also returns with a new co-producer, Stewart Levine, breaking away from James Anthony Carmichael, who produced the Commodores and all of Richie's previous solo efforts. Despite the change of partners, the overall result is more of the same, smooth, soulful R&B magic that made Richie one of the most successful songwriters of the past two decades.
The record's first release, "Do It To Me," is a typical, slow-groove Richie tune, featuring Richie's trademark piano-playing and lyrical ability. As a result, Richie masterfully creates the proper mood in which to drop a story about a romance-gone-bad that he can not leave behind. Richie, known for catchy but evocative hooks that capture the entire story of the song, shines through here: "Do it to me one more time/I'll give you one more chance, this heart of mine/Do it to me one more time/I can't get enough of your love." Accenting the song is a well-executed, if not-so-flashy, saxophone solo by Max Russo.
Another new cut is an uptempo, dynamic turn called "My Destiny," which features classy string arrangements and is somewhat reminiscent of Richie's "You Are," which scored big for him from his first solo effort. The low point on this record is the third new track, a smarmy, contrived effort called "Love, Oh Love," which lacks Richie's usual musical dynamism and is chock full o' cliches about what a wonderful place this would be if we would all just be nice to one another.
There is one other disappointment on this record, which is the single-edit version of the song "Still," which Richie recorded with the Commodores. This short, choppier version cheats the hit ballad of the power it contains in its album version.
There are a few notably absent tracks that Richie fans might hope to find on this compilation. The aforementioned "You Are" is one of them, as well as "My Love" and "Dancing on the Ceiling," both songs that hit the Top 10 for Richie. Overall, however, "Back to Front" successfully captures the best of Richie's work, as well as providing a listenable platform from which Richie can rechristen his career.
- Jason Hawke
ZZ TOP; "ZZ Top's Greatest Hits" (Warner Bros.). * * * *
The formula is tried and true: Slap together eight or nine hit songs, throw on a new single as a teaser and before you can say "greatest hits" the band, with little or no effort, is packing suitcases full of cash to the bank.
The trouble is, most "best of" or "greatest hits" collections are woefully incomplete. Or more often the case, the band hasn't had enough hits to even warrant such a collection.
By most standards, ZZ Top fell into the latter category with 1977's "Best of ZZ Top," which featured a lot of good stuff, but not a lot of hits. Fifteen years later, along comes "ZZ Top's Greatest Hits," which is everything a greatest-hits package is supposed to be.
Eighteen songs - every one of them hits of one degree or another - packed merrily onto one compact disk. And of the 18, only two - "Tush" and "LaGrange" - were included on the 1977 best of.
The best route here is to buy both the 1977 10-song package and tuck it next to the new 18-song collection. Together, they represent all the essentials from the ZZ Top catalog, which now spans 25 years.
- Jerry Spangler
OLIVIA NEWTON-JOHN; "Back to Basics: The Essential Collection 1971-1992" (Geffen). * * *
Can you believe it . . . wispy-voiced Olivia Newton-John - the usually Perry Como-mellow pop princess and occasional actress - has been making hits for 20 years. Or thereabouts.
Actually, the most recent "hit" on this new career-spanning anthology is 1984's "Twist of Fate," and the earliest is 1974's "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)," so the subtitle dates are a bit tricky. But the collection starts off with four previously unreleased songs, to bolster the notion that Newton-John has something fresh to offer the record-buying public.
The new sounds aren't startlingly contemporary, however.
"Deeper Than a River" is a merely mild ballad from the prolific pen of emotive songwriter-producer Diane Warren (Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" and Celine Dion's current smash "If You Asked Me To" are hers). "Not Gonna Be the One" is a dated-sounding takeoff on the Bee Gee's style. "I Want to Be Wanted" is Olivia in her familiar breathless mode, remaking an old Brenda Lee song. The best is "I Need Love," produced by discomeister Giorgio Moroder, with an upfront dance beat and saucy lyrics that hint it's a sequel to her biggest hit of all, "Physical."
After the four debut tunes come a baker's dozen of her older singles. In an interesting departure from the norm, this musical history tracks backward through her career, from "Twist of Fate" to her spirited "Grease" duets with John Travolta (those are fun to hear again) to "Physical" to laidback mid-'70s songs like "Please Mr. Please," "Have You Never Been Mellow" (of course) and "I Honestly Love You."
A few hits are missing, among them the country-ish "Let Me Be There" and her first charted single, a 1971 cover of Dylan's "If Not For You."
But a more complete retrospective would require a boxed set. This is probably more than enough for most of us.
- Ray Boren
FALCO; "The Remix Hit Collection" (Sire/Warner Bros.). * * * 1/2
Yet another superstar from Austria, but Falco - unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger - deserves a high rating simply for mastering the English language.
Even some 10 years ago, when his "Der Kommissar" (the inspector) first swept across Europe on the then-popular German Wave (a short-lived alternative answer to disco), nobody could figure out whether Falco wanted to be a rapper or a singer.
Although he mostly applies minimalist musical themes (kind of like Ravel's "Bolero": The melody is haunting but rarely develops into something more substantial), he layers them thickly so that one often wonders, "What the heck hit me?"
Featuring remix versions of all of his greatest hits (including "Vienna Calling," "Junge Roemer," "(Rock Me) Amadeus," and, of course, "Der Kommissar"), Falco sings, raps, pops and rocks better than ever.
Whatever the reason for offering half-German, half-English songs with a solid pop-rock base and YOU'VE-JUST-GOTTA-SING-ALONG choruses, Falco is an ideal treat for anyone who's:
a) fond of rap rhythm but wants less-offensive lyrics and more music
b) dying to dance along to some commercially produced alternative music from overseas and
c) can master the Austrian-German phrase, "Drah di net um . . . po, po, poh. Schau schau, der Kommissar geht um, oh, oh, oh" and sing along to one of the most creative pop tunes of the 1980s.
- Dagi Binggeli