Compilations Music

I just received this today and actually got the double LP instead of the cd. When typing in the upc code it comes up as a cd but is actually the double lp. Anyway enough of that. This is such wonderful music all of the tributes are spot on. Always nice to hear other people do their own version of something so beautiful. Check it out. If you like gainsbourg you will appreciate this.

Just picked this up in a used CD store, mostly for the awesome tackiness of the cover photo. Amazingly, the music inside is not only NOT tacky, it's just plain awesome. And totally worth quite a bit more than the seven bucks I spent. I feel lucky today...

Since it was released in 2005, this tribute CD has been on regular rotation on my iPod. Serge Gainsbourg (1928-1991) was a controversial, brilliant, and eccentric French poet, singer-songwriter, actor and director. "He was our Baudelaire, our Apollinaire . . . He elevated the song to the level of art," French President François Mitterrand said of Gainsbourg. As shown by this compilation disc of English-language updated covers (drawn mostly from the late 1950s and early 1960s), Gainsbourg's music is difficult to categorize. Usually erotic, it is a progressive fusion of jazz, ballads, mambo, lounge, reggae, pop (in all varieties), disco, calypso, Africana, bossa nova, and rock and roll. Gainsbourg's former wife, Jane Birkin, lends her vocals to the first track, and Franz Ferdinand, Cat Power, Portishead, Michael Stipe, Marianne Faithful, and Carla Burni add their talents. The complete album setlist includes:

1. A Song For Sorry Angel (Sorry Angel) - Franz Ferdinand & Jane Birkin
2. I Love You (Me Either) - Cat Power & Karen Elson
3. I Just Came To Tell You That I'm Going - Jarvis Cocker & Kid Loco
4. Requiem For Anna - Portishead
5. Requiem For A Jerk - Faultline, Brian Molko & Francoise Hardy
6. L'Hotel - Michael Stipe
7. Au Revour Emmanuelle - Tricky
8. Lola R. For Ever - Marianne Faithful & Sly & Robbie
9. Boomerang 2005 - Gonzales, Feist & Dani
10. Boy Toy - Mar Almond & Trash Palace
11. The Ballad Of Melody Nelson - Placebo
12. Just A Man With A Job - The Rakes
13. I Call It Art - The Kills
14. Those Little Things - Carla Burni
15. The Ballad Of Bonnie And Clyde - James Iha
16. Angel's Fall - Nathan Larson

G. Merritt

I have been looking forward to this one. Serge Gainsbourg is someone who was ignored by America when he was alive, but he has been revived, mostly by British bands. Beck has always been a big fan. Mick Harvey did a few cover albums in English of the Gainsbourg work. There has been a group of new French singers who have reminded us of his legacy. So it's no wonder that this album hasn't come out sooner. The first song is a coupling of Franz Ferdinand and Jane Birkin, doing "A Song for Sorry Angel." It's a pretty rocking cut. Cat Power and Karen Elson do a limp version of "I Love You (Me Either)." This song is so well known, that it's hard to improve. One of the early highlights is "I Just Came To Tell You That I'm Going" by Jarvis Cocker & Kid Loco. Jarvis Cocker has become sort of the English version of Gainsbourg. For some reason Portishead and Tricky are on here. They are never good at cover songs. Part of this album is very Brain Molko centric. Molko teams up with Francois Hardy in a techno version of "Requiem For Un Con." Placebo does "Melody Nelson" which was featured on their cover record a few years ago. Placebo spin off band, The Kills, does a pretty good rendition of "I Call It Art." They end up sounding like Blonde Redhead. There are other great moments by Michael Stipe, Marc Almond and Carla Bruni. Probably the best surprise and refreshing bit is "Just A Man With A Job" by The Rakes. This may help the English-speaking and American born world appreciate what genius Gainsbourg had.

What a treat to have yet another set of Gainsbourg material translated and performed by le potage du jour. Gainsbourg still challenges and transforms anyone who touches his work, as he did with his audience. You've never heard Cat Power, Michael Stipe and Marianne Faithfull like this. Everything becomes magnified: the song, the artist, monsieur Gainsbourg lui-meme. Wow - c'est si bon.. Also check out the Gainsbourg installment of the Tzadik series 'Great Jewish Music' (1997). You will enjoy both tributes if you're familiar enough with the originals.

this cd was very good, me and my 10 year old son listen to this cd as he do his homework very very good

I really loved this Cd. It is worth getting just to hear some awesome versions of pop songs. I grew up on alot of these songs but have recently gotten into punk and so I thought it was awesome!! I think my favorite is the cover Baby One More Time.

I love 90s music and lame pop from the early 2000s, and I also love classic punk. This combination of the new so-called-punk with my good ol' pop junk music is wonderful. This is my favorite CD.

The reason why the singer on Element 101's cover of "I'm Like A Bird" sounds like a girl is because it is a girl. They had/have (not sure if they're still recording) a female lead singer through most of their career. This CD is decent at best.

I bought this cd since I l-o-v-e-d Punk Goes 80's. While there are some good songs on here (Bye,Bye,Bye ; The Way You Love Me; I Want It That Way), there are some that are just plain laughable. For example, the cover of ...Baby One More Time is just.. horrendous. And, Student Rick's Heaven Is A Place On Earth is just funny (the lead singer cannot hit those high notes). Also, the cover of I'm Like A Bird is... confusing. The lead singer sounds kinda like a girl. By NO means are ANY of the bands on this cd "punk". Seriously. Rufio is screamo/emo and so is the Starting Line, and both of those are the closest things to punk on the cd.
It's still a great cd, though. It's just not as fantasmically awesome as Punk Goes 80's. (Get that instead!!! =))

I got a burned copy from my brother a few years ago and thought it was just a cd he had put together, then I found out it was a real cd! I think it's really funny because the people singing put their own twist on the songs. It's pretty funny to listen to. I enjoy it.

Overall, it's a good package, but some tracks/selections leave a little to be desired. Great tracks include first-time cd issues (I believe) of The Jones' Girls 12" version of "You Gonna Make Me Love Somebody Else," Teddy Pendergrass' "Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose," and Jerry "The Iceman" Butler's "I'm Just Thinkin' 'Bout Coolin' Out." Not bad. However, among the misses are the mentioned-in-other-reviews Jean Carn alternate edit (not the 7:44 version as listed), the McFadden & Whitehead anthem "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" (readily available on several compilations just off the top of my head), and a couple other LP edits (not 12" versions as listed) and obscure titles that only the most hardcore collectors would know anything about. A couple of suggestions for a Volume 2: PLEASE find the 12" version of "Sing a Happy Song" by the O'Jays (which, ironically, is listed at 5:00, same as the lp version, but actually is about a minute-and-a-half longer), the slightly remixed version of "Party Time Man" (yes, there was an alternate 12" version), the correct 7:44 version of the Jean Carn track, and maybe even a few Tom Moulton remixes that are hiding somewhere in the vaults. You know there has to be quite a few of those. You know, more steak and less sizzle...or in the case of some of the tracks, fizzle.

though this is not a complete collection of all of the philly 12 inches,
it is still worth the money. It includes a good number of cuts we've heard
mixed in the clubs or on the radio at some point. There is also a nice
bio-booklet that gives some interesting background info. I was a little
disapointed in the Jones girls mix of "Nights over Egypt", It is no different from the lp version. "Put your hands together" by the Ojays is
the best cut here. That song title was often confused with an earlier
hit of theirs titled"Put your heads together". Not the same song.
Over all I would just say that, this is just some good old school
Dance music. It takes me back to the late 70s and mid-80s.
Michael Payne

I love this stuff...grab this one while you can.You know how it is here today gone tomorrow...If your a Disco Nut like me your gonna wanna have this...this is a must have.Trust me.Some rarities here...& the sound quality is superb.

It's tasty enough. Philadelphia International 12" Singles brings together some of the 12" singles released by the legendary record label during disco's heyday of the late 70's and early 80's. Most of the long tracks on here are fairly obscure and may not be obvious to many fans of the label.

What's cool about this set is that many of tracks does not sound like the trademark Philly International sound (a la "I love Music"). Instead, it showcases a different side to philly international with a wide range of songs. "Strut your funky stuff" is a cool slice of euro dance, "Goldmine" is one of the funkiest long players released by the label, "Let's Clean up the Ghetto" has a charging bassline that's every bit as demanding as the singers plea for neighborhoods to come together and clean it up, "Aint got time for nothin" is a smooth hybrid of the trademark PIR strings and an Earth Wind and Fire style bassline and vocals. "Put our Heads Together" finds the O Jays adapting to the 80's gracefully, and who haven't heard "You gonna make me love somebody else" and "Ain't no Stopping us Now".

There are some ocassional dull patches such as Jocko's "Rocketship" (If you're able to endure his corny attempt at rapping, the rhythm track is funky enough to make you not wanna press the skip button) and "Rhythm Talk". "Let me be Good to you" is a lightheated throw away and could've been replaced with a far superior 12" track such as Teddy P's "Only You".

While showcasing a different side to philly International is a amirable move, it does so at the expense of consistency in terms of sound. While the album is generally solid from start to finish, the tracks seem patchy and throwed together with a whiplash change in sounds and tones from track to track. Taken all at once, it can be a bit much to handle. Taken in moderation, you'll truly see how good a lot of these songs are.

Not only does the tacky pacing of the songs hold this album back from being better than it could've been, It's the quality of the songs. This anthology is not as climatic as it appears to be since many of the these songs are not lost masterpieces. Only a handful of these songs can actually go down as PIR classics. Sure there's plently of highlights on this album, but most of them don't match the unforgettable quality
of the classics PIR songs that we're familiar with.

The patchy track flow and the quality of the songs make PIR 12" Singles sound like "Bonus Tracks" to a great album more so than a definitive anthology. Make no mistake, its enough highlights and good rarities to make it worth checking out and having in your collection. This album can best be described as a philly cheese steak without a lot of grease. It taste good but its not the same!

Great collection, not all of the 12 versions but a great effort!! Thank goodness the folks overseas love the real soul music!!! Worth the price for the Jean Carn cuts & the extended versions of the Jones Girls, You Gonna Make Me Love... Maybe in a perfect world, there will be a Vol 2. Thank you Edsel Music, Amazon, & ImportCd's for the memories!!!!

Bought as a gift for a person that loves the softer sounds. I've heard some of it and have been well pleased with the purchase. He plays it in his truck to avoid all the commercials on the radio, which he hates.

Though a little expendable, this is still a fairly good collection of adult contemporary tunes featuring several hard to find tracks and spanning two and a half decades. The track listing attests that soft rock flourished mainly in the '70s as no less than 22 of the album's 30 tracks are from that decade alone. In the following decades, it took a back seat to other genres as well as MTV. The first disc runs just under 57 minutes and the second 62 minutes so a few more tracks could have been added but that's a very minor complaint.

If you love soft rock or adult contemporary music then you'll have no trouble enjoying this collection.

So far I have enjoyed many of the Hip-O label Gold series collections. The songs chosen by the compilers are very good representations of the genre.

Some of these songs I am a pretty big fan of... some not so much but the way this collection flows even my non favs work well here. Also I was a little skeptical about the fact that this is primarily a 70s collection having a couple of 80s and 90s tracks in the mix was a little strange. With the remastering it works pretty well.

WIth all that I think many would agree that this kind of music I REALLY need to be in the mood for. (thus why I give only 4 stars). I find it perfect for listening to in the evening after a really long day. This also proves that "soft rock" doesn't necessarily mean "sappy love songs" though they are some of those on this collection.

I don't think I really need to give a song by song review because most people looking up this CD collection will be pretty darn familiar with the tracks. Compare these tracks with some chosen on other soft rock compilations and you may find that this one will have the better track list and a few that frequently get ignored by other compilers.

I am a enthousiastic collector, and have almost all the Time Life rock n roll stuff, as well as Eric Records cds of this era. Although they are essential to any 50s 60s collection, nothing can top ACE series.
I could comment like this on all the 50s remasters of this fabulous record label, not only these issues, but especially the Golden Age of American Rock n roll. I can not add anything to the positive reviews than simply summing up my personal view:
28 tracks per cd, and sometimes 30! (Time life is also excellent, but you get 15 per cd!)
excellent booklets with background info (not surpassed by any label).
not the same old songs over again, but many rare and still excellent tracks!
last but not least amazing sound quality.
So although you might have some songs there on other collections, it is for above mentioned points alone worth it to always have an ACE copy as well.

Over the past decade England's ACE label has become one of the recording industry's leading rerelease giants. In fact, in my book they've outdistanced Rhino Records, who I long considered the standard bearer for reissues. Both labels do a superb job of tracking down the best source tapes available. However, where Rhino generally puts about twenty tracks (or less) on a disk and includes a booklet with only six or eight pages, ACE packs 28 songs onto the disk and includes a 20-page booklet loaded with photos and artist information on every song.

In addition to such No. 1 hits as "Come Softly to Me," "The Three Bells," "Honeycomb," "Venus" and "The Theme from 'A Summer Place,'" you also get seldom anthologized hits like Brook Benton's "Endlessly," Larry Finnegan's "Dear One," Jimmy Elledge's "Funny How Time Slips Away" and Gary Miles' "Look for a Star."

Along with volume one, these are some of the greatest teen ballads of the era--roughly 1957 to 1962. [Only "End of the World" (1963) and "Letter from Sherry" (1964) fall outside this time frame.] So what you're getting are some terrific pre-British Invasion American pop. If you enjoyed the first volume as much as I did, this is an equally superb companion volume. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This second installment in Ace Records' "Teenage Crush" series continues to prove their unequalled status in bringing classic American rock and roll to the CD medium. Packed with 28 tracks from the golden age of American pop, this CD has five number ones, 18 top-20 hits, four that made it into the top-40 and one, Bobby Curtola's "Fortune Teller" that was just out of the top-40 (41) on the charts. While mining the top-40, the repertoire here does not just regurgitate the same old stuff found on so many other oldies compilations in the market. While there're lots of familiar tunes here to hum along to, you won't find tracks like Billy Storm's "I've Come Of Age", Larry Hall's "Sandy" or Gary Miles' "Look For A Star" in many, if any, other comp CDs, especially with the sound quality presented here. As has come to be expected, Ace has secured better sources for many of these tracks and sound quality is the best encountered so far for virtually all of these tunes. Many of the tracks appear in true stereo (6,12,13,15,16,19,22-24,26-28) with the remainder in clean mono. Completing the package is a 16-page booklet with many pics, promo shots and detailed backround notes on the artists represented on the disc. Another outstanding effort by Ace - it just isn't done any better than this.

This is a great CD for anyone who loves oldies! Even though I'm young..., I prefer oldies to modern music, and this album is great! Since no single artist has two songs on it, you never get bored of the style of music. Also, it alternates between male and female voices. Before I got this CD I hardly knew of any of the songs, but now I know and love them all!

This DVD is better than "Humlerist" and "The Malady Lingers On", because you have the option of choosing subtitles/lyrics. Only thing; "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" is missing.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this collection of videos spanning the Moz man's solo career. About half way through I realized I was slightly mesmerized. These are awesome videos, much better than I would have expected. Watch as the fey Moz is replaced by a fairly butch grown man. Morrissey is good at creating his own mythos, and his vids are just another part of a very powerful fist. Some of the later ninties vids were lacking, but that is made up for by all the stuff from Arsenal and Vauxhaul and Kill Uncle. I rented this and now plan on buying it.

I have been a die-hard fan of Morrissey since I was 17. Unfortunately, I did not get the opportunity to see many of his videos, aside from my favorite "The More You Ignore Me, The Closure I Get", and that was right after I graduated from high school! After that, MTV and VH1 began to go downhill from there...

If you are as passionate of the Pope of Mope as I am, buy this DVD! You will not be disappointed! The biggest thrill for me is seeing him enjoy Fairmount, IN, in the "Suedehead" video, he looks so cute and happy! You'll be happy seeing all of his videos, too, so don't deny yourself this sheer bliss any longer! Heaven Knows You Won't Be Miserable for owning it!

When Oye Esteban was released in 2000, Morrissey was much younger and his body of work was still growing. This collection of videos is pretty much a must own for any Morrissey fan. It includes some really popular songs, some rarely played songs, and a very cool group of videos from Morrissey's solo career post-Smiths and pre-year-2000.

I actually happened on this DVD somewhat by accident, having bought a copy for a dear friend who is an even bigger Morrissey fan than I am. After playing this DVD start to finish several times over the years, I had to buy myself another copy. It's not normal for me to buy a DVD of music videos, especially considering I already own all these songs in some audio format. But these videos are so unique, and this mix of songs is so well ordered, this DVD almost screams "buy me!"

The highlight songs here for me have to be "Everyday Is Like Sunday," "The Last Of The Famous International Playboys," and "Sing Your Life." They bookend this DVD's other tracks, all of which are very well chosen.

If you don't already own this DVD, do yourself a favor and buy it. I've been lucky enough to see Moz live a few times over the past few years. He's lost none of his vibrancy nor any of his stage presence. And his shows seem to be structured the same (songs separated by old videos and very daring opening acts). Yet the Morrissey we see in `Oye Esteban' is most certainly younger. And that will make many Morrissey fans happy to see, because that's the mental image I think most fans have of him.

It's hard to really find a knock with this DVD of videos. But still some people will, and I understand that. These are presented in standard format (same way they were shot, so there's nothing to complain about there). These don't include all his videos (not meant to be an anthology, just a cross-section). And of course, some will moan about the sound mix (once again, when they shot DVDs in the 80s and 90s this was standard sound mixing).

I am personally happy with this DVD. The videos are as clear as you could ever want from standard definition DVD. I definitely like watching these videos (some of which I hadn't seen before getting this DVD) and all the memories that come with listening to these songs.

Check it out for yourself, it's almost like a Morrissey time-capsule from 1987 to 2000.

Enjoy!

I have watched this DVD over and over and I never get sick of it. If you were a Smiths fan or are a Morrissey fan, you need to own this DVD. Listening to the music alone does not compare to watching Morrissey interact with his bandmates (especially the tension between Morrissey and Spencer Cobrin.) I am considering buying a second copy, just in case something happens to my first one. You should also buy "He put the M in Manchester." It's a live concert from Manchester on Morrissey's 40th birthday.

song selection is left be desired. I suppose finding 40 good contemporary songs is a pretty hard task to begin with.

Although I am not a music officianado, I like good music. When I order CD's online I miss the chance to sample the quality of the recording before purchase. I anxiously took my new CD home to listen and flashback to the days of my favorite music, R& B and Funk. When the first sound came from my Sony system I felt the disappointment. I skipped to songs three, then four. No improvement. The CD had the type of sound you hear on computer downloadeds. It was high pitched and ear offensive. Unhappy!

All Night thing the Invisble Man Band which consisted of the Burke Brothers from the Five Stairsteps. this the way to open up a Album. banging Groove. I wanna do something freaky to you Leon Haywood is timeless. all of these Jams are cuts you can Groove to&enjoy a Cook Out. So Fine Howard Johnson's Jam is still banging. Watching You by Slave&other Classic Jams on herre.