Anthology : The Bread

Track Listing

1. Make It With You
2. Dismal Day
3. London Bridge
4. Anyway You Want Me
5. Look What You've Done
6. It Don't Matter to Me
7. Last Time, The
8. Let Your Love Go
9. Truckin'

10. If

11. Baby I'm a-Want You

12. Everything I Own

13. Down On My Knees

14. Aubrey

15. Diary

16. Sweet Surrender

17. Guitar Man

18. Fancy Dancer

19. She's The Only One

20. Lost Without Your Love

My Thoughts : Between Bread and the Carpenters, they were responsible for creating some of the loveliest melodies and soft rock classics of the seventies.

Lead vocalist and guitar player David Gates wrote all the group's hits. The band rarely stepped outside its role as pop balladeers--and certainly not on their singles. [The lone exception was 1971's "Mother Freedom," which only went to No. 37 and is not included here.] Album tracks like "Fancy Dancer" show that Bread could rock when it wanted to, but they're best known for make-out classics like "Make It with You," "It Don't Matter to Me," "If," "Baby I'm-A Want You" and "Everything I Own." These are all pop gems. Nobody recorded as many memorable mellow pop standards as Bread. RECOMMENDED

The Definative Collecton : Steely Dan

Track Listing

1. Do It Again
2. Dirty Work
3. Reelin' in the Years
4. Bodhisattva
5. My Old School
6. Rikki Don't Lose That Number
7. Black Friday
8. Bad Sneakers
9. Kid Charlemagne
10. Deacon Blues
11. Peg
12. FM
13. Hey Nineteen
14. Babylon Sisters
15. Cousin Dupree
16. Things I Miss the Most

My Thoughts : This is a good compilation for the new generations who wanted to get to know more about "Steely Dan". But if you are true fan, its better off purchase the "Citizen Steely Dan: 1972-1980" box set which contains ALL of Steely Dan's official studio-released work from that period of time. However, it could cost a small fortune. Alternatively, you can purchase "Steely Dan - Greatest Hits " that release CD format in 1993 which have a more genuine selections of their hits.

Track Listing

1. Do It Again
2. Reelin' in the Years
3. My Old School
4. Bodhisattva
5. Show Biz Kids
6. East St. Louis Toodle-Oo
7. Rikki Don't Lose That Number
8. Pretzel Logic
9. Any Major Dude Will Tell You
10. Here at the Western World [#]
11. Black Friday
12. Bad Sneakers
13. Doctor Wu
14. Haitian Divorce
15. Kid Charlemagne
16. Fez
17. Peg
18. Josie

The Very Best of The Doobie Brothers

Track listing

Disc 1
1. Listen to the Music
2. Jesus Is Just Alright
3. Rockin' down the Highway
4. Long Train Runnin
5. China Grove
6. South City Midnight Lady
7. Another Park, Another Sunday
8. Eyes of Silver
9. Nobody
10. Black Water
11. Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)
12. Sweet Maxine
13. I Cheat the Hangman
14. Takin' It to the Streets
15. Wheels of Fortune
16. It Keeps You Runnin

Disc 2
1. Little Darling (I Need You)
2. Echoes of Love
3. What a Fool Believes
4. Minute by Minute
5. Dependin' on You
6. Real Love
7. One Step Closer
8. Wynken, Blynken & Nod
9. Keep This Train A-Rollin
10. Here to Love You

11. You Belong to Me
12. The Doctor
13. South of the Border
14. Need a Little Taste of Love
15. Dangerous
16. Rollin' On
17. Ordinary Man

My Thoughts : In one neat little 2-CD set, "The Best of the Doobie Brothers" compiles virtually all of their best tracks in one package. Best of all, it captures the near schizophrenic nature of the band as they veer from classic rock to blue-eyed soul and then back again. The early Doobie Brothers leaned heavily on the songwriting abilities of Tom Johnston. Hits like "Listen to the Music," "Long Train Runnin'," "China Grove" and "Another Park, Another Sunday" were all written by Johnston, and they represent some of the best pop music from the early seventies.

Once Michael McDonald came aboard, though, the band's dynamic shifted dramatically toward west-coast soul, featuring mega-hits such as "What a Fool Believes," "Takin' It to the Streets" and "It Keeps You Runnin'." Throughout the set, permanent member Patrick Simmons provides the occasional gem and a change of pace with songs like "Black Water" and "South City Midnight Lady." All are included here, making this a one-size-fits-all collection for fans who want to hear the hits.

Complete Greatest Hits : Gordon Lightfoot

Track Title

1. Early Morning Rain
2. For Lovin' Me
3. Go-Go Round
4. Canadian Railroad Trilogy
5. Pussywillows, Cat-Tails
6. Bitter Green
7. If You Could Read My Mind
8. Summer Side of Life
9. Cotton Jenny
10. Beautiful
11. Sundown
12. Carefree Highway
13. Rainy Day People
14. The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
15. Race Among the Ruins
16. Daylight Katy
17. The Circle is Small
18. Baby Step Back
19. Stay Loose
20. Restless

My Thoughts : While 1999's 4-CD collection "Songbook" is a comprehensive look at this terrific Canadian singer/songwriter, Rhino does an excellent job of distilling that sprawling collection to twenty tacks covering songs from his United Artists, Reprise and Warner Bros. releases.

There are quite a few Gordon Lightfoot songs that I really like (e.g., ""Early Morning Rain," "Rainy Day People," "If You Could Read My Mind"), and his voice is a very distinctive, resonant, and soulful. Those three songs are enough to earn this compilation its first three stars.

In 1970, Lightfoot signed with Warner Brothers subsidiary Reprise (highlights of his twenty-plus years at this label make up the remaining fourteen tracks found here). Soon after signing with Reprise, Lightfoot began to make a name for himself as a singer with the introspective top five hit "If You Could Read My Mind." He also continued to write songs that were popularized by others, such as the enclosed "Cotton Jenny" for fellow Canadian Anne Murray.

In the early 70s, singer-songwriters became the rage in popular music and Lightfoot certainly contributed to the movement's success with the big hits "Sundown," "Carefree Highway," and "Rainy Day People." His 1976 six minute-plus epic "Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" would prove to be Lightfoot's artistic peak as well as his final major commercial success, although he would continue to make some fine music during the rest of the `70s.

Lightfoot's `80s output is represented here by the set's two most generic, forgettable recordings: "Baby Step Back" and "Stay Loose." The compilers of this collection would have been better off ditching those tracks and selecting a couple of the countless gems not included from his United Artists tenure, such as the breezy "Did She Mention My Name" or "Black Day in July," an intensely hypnotic account of the '67 race riots in Detroit (get the double-disc United Artists Collection for a thorough overview of this period).

Complete Greatest Hits concludes on a positive note with "Restless," a 1993 ode that finds Lightfoot descriptively ruminating about looking forward to the future while not forgetting the past. It reminds us of what a special observer and documenter he has been of life's events, both monumental and trivial.

The Portrait of Bing Crosby

Track Title

Disc: 1
1. Please
2. How Deep Is the Ocean?
3. Dancing in the Dark
4. Sentimental and Melancholy
5. On the Sentimental Side
6. Don't Be That Way
7. Blue Hawaii
8. Silver on the Sage
9. Song of the Islands
10. Last Round-Up
11. Black Moonlight
12. Someday, Sweetheart
13. I've Got the World on a String
14. Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?
15. Dinah - Bing Crosby, The Mills Brothers
16. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
17. Pennies from Heaven
18. Down the Old Ox Road
19. Maybe
20. Thanks
21. In My Merry Oldsmobile
22. Moonlight Becomes You
23. Remember Me
24. It's Easy to Remember

Disc: 2
1. Sweet and Lovely
2. Too Romantic
3. This Is My Night to Dream
4. Temptation
5. Try a Little Tenderness
6. Stardust
7. Sweet Leilani
8. I'm an Old Cowhand (From the Rio Grande)
9. Goodnight Sweetheart
10. Funny Old Hills
11. Too Marvelous for Words
12. Out of Nowhere
13. I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You
14. Apple for the Teacher - Connee Boswell, Bing Crosby
15. Sweet Georgia Brown
16. If You Should Ever Need Me
17. Still the Bluebird Sings
18. Were You Sincere
19. Sing a Song of Sunbeams
20. You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me
21. Only Forever
22. You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby
23. Moon Got in My Eyes
24. White Christmas

EXPERIENCE HENDRIX : THE BEST OF JIMI HENDRIX

TITLE TRACK

1 . Purple Haze

2. Fire

3. The Wind Cries Mary

4. Hey Joe

5. Billy Roberts

6. All Along the Watchtower

7. Stone Free

8. Crosstown Traffic

9. Manic Depression

10. Little Wing

11. If 6 Was 9

12. Foxy Lady

13. Bold as Love

14. Castles Made of Sand

15. Red House

16. Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

17. Freedom

18. Night Bird Flying

19. Angel

20. Dolly Dagger

21. Star Spangled Banner

My Thoughts : As a single-disc compilation, Experience Hendrix: The Best Of is an easy not so hard to beat thing. Drawing from all the original digitally remastered reissue MCA albums. This 20-track collection contain his hits of all the major highpoints in Hendrix's career songs like "Purple Haze", "Foxey Lady", "All Along The Watchtower", "Little Wing", "Red House", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Manic Depression" a live version from Woodstock of "Star Spangled Banner" and "Angel". It gives an accurate impression of why Jimi Hendrix was so revolutionary and influential in rock music history itself. All of his completed studio recordings are mandatory listening. As it is for a terrific guide introduction to this legendary guitarists own groundbreaking work!

VERVE JAZZ MASTERS 13 - ANTONIO CARLOS JOBIM

TITLE TRACK


1. Corcovado

2. Vivo Sonhando

3. So Danço Samba

4. Desafinado

5. Águas de Março (Waters of March)

6. O Grande Amor

7. Agua de Beber

8. Chovendo Na Roseira

9. O Morro Não Tem Vez

10. Fascinating Rhythm

11. Insensatez

12. Inütil Paisagem (Useless Landscape)

13. O Morro Não Tem Vez

14. Por Toda a Minha Vida

15. Triste

16. Borzeguim

My Thoughts : Words aren't enough to describe this album. It's an album that is an experience. Each and every song affects the emotions and soul. All the tune represents the true parade of the best themes of this inspired composer. We will enjoy the lovable candor and warmth of this legendary figure of the Brazilian song. There is not once a minor track. Each one to its own possesses the magic flame of that kaleidoscopic land of myths and legends. There are instrumentals as well as vocals, making this a great album with a mix of different Jobim styles feat artist like Luis Bonfa, Stan Getz, and Astrud Gilberto. A must-have for Jobim and/or bossa nova fans!!!