Various Artists [Soft Rock] Another one of these 2 disc Various Artists sets, i reviewed one just a few days ago [3rd March 2011], that one was very much on the theme of love, and from the Eighties, this one has the subtitle '36 Classic Rock Ballads', and comes from the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties, again another varied collection of genres, somewhat looser and less compartmentalised, and yet again i feel it's good to have a bite-sized taste of certain Artists, where a whole meal would be an overdose.
The front cover booklet isn't as inspired as the last mentioned disc set, a picture which in content is really excellent, but it's poorly reproduced, it's lost its blacks, and is only left with dark grey, also it's a bit soft on the focus, not sharp and precise, it was a good idea on the back to have the song names in black, and the Artists in red, makes it a lot easier to read.
On this listen i found tracks 1, 4, 8, 10-11, 13-14, 25, 27, 29 & 31 to be the highlights, with tracks 14 'Glory Of Love' by Peter Cetera, and track 25 [track 7 on disc 2] 'Chance' by Big Country to be the very best of all, and again it's a Scottish band that impressed me the most, Big Country were formed in the Eighties in Dunfermline, Scotland, Stuart Adamson was their Lead Singer, he commited suicide in 2001, 'Chance' is a lovely tuneful song, the jungle beat and strumming guitars intro are gorgeous [0:00-0:18], and when the vocals come in, so does this twanging rhythm guitar [0:18], it a lovely step upwards in the excitement of the song, but then there's more!, right after the first verse, and before the second, there's this even better percussive picking guitar, a faster and louder sound [0:36-0:54], wow!, it's like layers, slowly building up in intensity, thus the second verse becomes all the more enjoyable for what went on before [0:54], the opening words are great,
He came like a hero from the factory floor
With the sun and moon his gifts
but what does it mean?, but it sounds really phenomenal, and the chorus is simple [1:12], but is really strong and emotional, and the bridge between the chorus and the third verse is the same as between the first and second verses [1:43-2:00], the song just repeats the chorus until a clangy guitar outro, well another song that i really didn't know before, that is now firmly entrenched in my conciousness, at this rate i'll have more favourite songs than i have life left!.
Here's Big Country singing 'Chance' on YouTube, live from Top Of The Pops.
