Feb 10
AndrewMusic Compilations, Greatest Hits, New Release, pop music
Accompanying the release of her greatest hits set The Annie Lennox Collection, the artist has dug deep into her collection to supplement the standard release.
The Annie Lennox Collection standard edition will feature 14-tracks comprised of her greatest hits plus two newly recorded covers Pattern of My Life and Shining Light. The collection includes her iconic hits Why, No More “I Love You’s” and the recent single Sing. A limited edition physical release will be packaged with a DVD collection of her video hits and two bonus videos Something So Right and Waiting in Vain from her covers album Medusa. The latter spawned a Mickey Mouse ears trend among her fans.
The real goldmine for fans though will be packaged with iTunes digital release. In addition to the 14 tracks that appear on the CD, the iTunes Super Deluxe packaging will include 8 bonus audio tracks and 4 bonus videos including two previously unreleased music videos.
Among the 8 bonus audio tracks is the obscure cover of Mama that Lennox recorded for 1995 compilation Ain’t Nuthin’ But a She Thing and only performed live once in her entire career to a prerecorded backing track. Additional tracks including her version of Many Rivers to Cross recorded for American Idol: Idol Gives Back and Dream Angus, which appeared on the compilation Carnival: Rainforest Foundation Concert.
Lennox is making a number of TV appearances this week to promote the U.S. release on February 17. She will also have two live performances titled An Evening With Annie Lennox in New York tonight February 10 and in Los Angeles on Friday, February 13. The U.K. release of The Annie Lennox Collection is March 9.
The Annie Lennox Collection CD
1. Little Bird
2. Walking on Broken Glass
3. Why
4. No More “I Love You’s”
5. Precious
6. A Whiter Shade of Pale
7. A Thousand Beautiful Things
8. Sing
9. Pavement Cracks
10. Love Song for a Vampire
11. Cold
12. Dark Road
13. Pattern of My Life
14. Shining Light
Bonus Audio (iTunes Super Deluxe Release)
15. Into The West (from The Return of the King soundtrack)
16. Ladies of the Canyon (b-side to No More “I Love You’s” single)
17. Hush, Hush, Hush (Paula Cole cover, recorded with Herbie Hancock)
18. Many Rivers to Cross (from American Idol: Idol Gives Back)
19. Dream Angus (from Carnival: Rainforest Foundation Concert compilation)
20. Mama (from Ain’t Nuthin’ But a She Thing compilation)
21. Everybody Hurts feat. Alicia Keys (R.E.M. cover)
22. Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye (from Red Hot + Blue compilation)
The Annie Lennox Collection DVD
1. Little Bird
2. Walking on Broken Glass
3. Why
4. No More “I Love You’s”
5. Precious
6. A Whiter Shade of Pale
7. A Thousand Beautiful Things
8. Sing
9. Pavement Cracks
10. Cold
11. Dark Road
Bonus Videos (iTunes Super Deluxe Release)
12. Something So right
13. Waiting in Vain
14. Pattern of My Life
15. Shining Light
Jan 20
AndrewMusic Greatest Hits, Music
A whole album of Mariah Carey ballads? Sounds like heaven, right?
Well sort of. Undeniably, this is another greatest hits set even if it doesn’t say so on the label. (She’s already produced two, #1’s in 1998 and Greatest Hits in 2001). The songs on The Ballads have dominated radio since 1990’s Vision of Love, and been well represented on past hits collections. This time around, there is a new mix of Hero to lead off the set, a duet with Whitney Houston (When you Believe), Boyz II Men (One Sweet Day) and Usher (How Much). Joe and Nas take a crack at a sluggish, kind of boring version of Thank God I Found You. And the rest of the tracks are overfull with the soaring vocal gyrations we know and love from Mariah Carey.
Thank God for the duets (though the U.S. edition is missing the Westlife duet Against All Odds but includes Mariah’s take with Luther Vandross of Endless Love) because without them, this is actually too much ballad. Mariah’s voice dominates the entire disc and without a dance tune or suggestively sexed-up track to interrupt the flow of love songs, it starts to drag quickly. You wouldn’t think so, but after about 5 tracks, this starts to sound more like elevator music than a set of iconic ballads from the foremost queen of them (sorry Whitney, but that’s just how it is).
Possibly the hands-down most attractive track is One Sweet Day, but there’s a lot of love to go around. (But why not include All I Want for Christmas Is You on the U.S. version!) But the downfall of The Ballads is the lack of energy to carry you through 18 tracks. It’s not until you survive to the tail end that you get some more uptempo tunes like Always Be My Baby (heavenly!) and the Spanish-tinged How Much.
It’s not really a hit or miss affair, it really is just ‘hits’ but I can’t help thinking that this effort seems a little lackluster, and is entirely unrepresentative of Mariah’s music career. Individually, all the tracks included here are divine, but taken together, they fall just short of heaven.
Nov 28
AndrewMusic Greatest Hits
Erasure’s new hits collection Total Pop! will be released as a two-CD version and a special edition that will include a CD and DVD compilation of live tracks and promotional appearances. The first disc track list is taken directly from the original Pop! release in 1992 and features the bonus track Who Needs Love (Like That) (Hamburg Mix) in addition to the duo’s first twenty singles.
The second disc runs through single releases from the 1994 release I Say I Say I Say to 2007’s Light at the End of the World and features a new mix of the hit Always.
The fifteen-track live CD features live recordings spanning from 1987 to 2007 from a number of tours. DVD is a collection of live promotional appearances. Three bonus tracks will be released with the digital download of the Total Pop! Oh L’Amour (August Mix), Boy (Acoustic) and All This Time Still Falling Out of Love. The set is available February 23 in the U.K. No North American release has been confirmed.
Erasure Total Pop! track list
Disc 1
1. Who Needs Love (Like That)
2. Heavenly Action
3. Oh L’Amour
4. Sometimes
5. It Doesn’t Have To Be
6. Victim Of Love
7. The Circus
8. Ship Of Fools
9. Chains Of Love
10. A Little Respect
11. Stop!
12. Drama!
13. You Surround Me
14. Blue Savannah
15. Star
16. Chorus
17. Love To Hate You
18. Am I Right?
19. Breath Of Life
20. Take A Chance On Me
21. Who Needs Love (Like That) (Hamburg Mix)
Disc 2
1. Always
2. Run To The Sun
3. I Love Saturday
4. Stay With Me
5. Fingers & Thumbs (Cold Summer’s Day)
6. Rock Me Gently
7. In My Arms
8. Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me
9. Rain (Al Stone Mix)
10. Freedom
11. Moon & the Sky (Jason Creasey’s Heaven Scent Radio Re-Work)
12. Solsbury Hill
13. Make Me Smile (Come Up & See Me)
14. Breathe
15. Don’t Say You Love Me
16. Here I Go Impossible Again
17. I Could Fall In Love With You
18. Sunday Girl
19. Storm In A Teacup
20. Always (2009 Mix)
Nov 28
AndrewMusic Greatest Hits
Annie Lennox will release the 14-track The Annie Lennox Collection on February 10. The hits set, which marks the end of her current contract with Arista, was pushed back from September. The track spans the length of her solo career, post-Eurythmics, which began with the 1992 LP Diva and includes two newly recorded tracks Pattern of My Life and Shining Light. A special edition CD/DVD release will be available featuring a collection of music videos.
The Annie Lennox Collection track list
1. Little Bird
2. Walking on Broken Glass
3. Why
4. No More I Love You’s
5. Precious
6. A Whiter Shade of Pale
7. A Thousand Beautiful Things
8. Sing
9. Pavement Cracks
10. Love Song for a Vampire
11. old
12. Dark Road
13. Pattern of My Life
14. Shining Light
Nov 13
AndrewMusic album review, Greatest Hits
Christina Aguilera has released a greatest hits set Keep Gettin’ Better that represents her 10-year solo career. It goes without saying that this is an awesome collection of tracks, all mainstream radio hits. She has a beautiful voice and has managed to stock her career with a nice mix of gorgeous ballads and peppy pop tracks. The best, Genie in the Bottle, Fighter, and Dirrty are here, well cushioned by half a dozen other solid hit songs. Among them are three tracks from her big band-esque release Back to Basics which come with a different vibe but are all still uniquely Aguilera’s.
Unlike Aguilera, a lot of artists release greatest hits albums after only a few studio albums and it’s like “What’s the point? You haven’t been around that long.” But in this case, a greatest hits set is wholly justified. These are bonafide knockouts tracks. Even better, the reworked versions of Genie in the Bottle (Genie 2.0) and Beautiful (You Are What You Are) are amazing new songs in their own right despite borrowing from the original. Genie 2.0 is unrecognizable (except for the lyrics) set with a backdrop of a heavy dose of 80’s electronica vibe (think Sweet Dreams) and is easily another major score for Aguilera.
Incidentally, the set is only available at Target. Though the single Keeps Gettin’ Better is available on iTunes.
Nov 07
AndrewMusic Erasure, Greatest Hits, Hits
A brand new greatest hits collection Total Pop! The First 40 Hits will be released in February by the pop band Erasure. The collection spans the band’s entire career and features a new remix of the track Always by Jeremy Wheatley.
The original release, Pop! The First 20 Hits came out in 1992 and featured the singles through the band’s studio album Chorus. A two-disc version was also released with hits from the band’s albums I Say I Say I Say, Erasure and Cowboy.
Those tracks will be revisited on Total Pop! in a double CD package and available as digital download. A 4-disc deluxe package will pair the hits set with a live CD and DVD. The release is set for February 23, 2009 in the United Kingdom (a North American release date has not been confirmed.)
The set will be preceded by a remix disc Pop! Remixed available February 9.
Additionally, lead singer Andy Bell has been working on new material for a solo release, expected in 2009.
Older Entries
Twitter
Facebook
RSS
