Yet another little product off the mammoth assembly line of compilations - this time, one which is designed to pull at your heartstrings in the form of romantic, mushy numbers.
The album has its fair share of classics, numbers which are still played despite the advent of death metal and grunge. Numbers which have grown into anthems, not just gushy pieces of melodrama. What are these songs that I’m talking about? Well, Bonnie Tyler’s "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" for one. Then there’s Rick Price and the immortal "Heaven Knows" and Andy Williams spends his amazing baritone on "Where Do I Begin". And of course, Paul Young’s tear-jerker "Everytime You Go Away" makes its way to this list as well.
The rest of the songs are divided into two categories - old numbers which didn’t really make it and recent numbers which didn’t really make it. The former category boasts of songs like "One Lonely Night" (Reo Speedwagon), "I Wanna Know What Love Is" (Foreigner) and Words" (Fr. David). The second category has this list to boast of: "She’s All I Ever Had" (Ricky Martin), "All By Myself" (Celine Dion) and the somewhat surprising "Don’t Go Away" (Oasis). Now, these songs are decent enough, but not great by any means - which is why I guess this compilation is not a "Greatest..." selection. The general sound of the whole album is a little jumpy too, what with the mix of '60’s and '90’s music, which don’t really gel.
This article was first published on25 Nov 2001.