This Is Rock Ballads:essential 80's B (2007)

Product Summary Label: Koch Entertainment Dist UPC: 00741157169621 Release Date: 10/9/2007 Buy.com Sku: 205586728 Item#: M3SLC4 Buy.com Sales Rank: 25079 Format:  CD Song Listing Disc 1 Song Title Sample 1. Heaven - Warrant ~ Various Artists 2. Take My Breath Away - Berlin ~ Various Artists 3. Wait - White Lion ~ Various Artists 4. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now - Starship ~ Various Artists 5. Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone) - Cinderella ~ Various Artists 6. Hello, It's Me - Todd Rundgren ~ Various Artists 7. Close My Eyes Forever - Lita Ford ~ Various Artists 8. Headed For a Heartbreak - Winger ~ Various Artists 9. Hooked On a Feeling - B.J. Thomas ~ Various Artists 10. Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Bret Michaels ~ Various Artists 11. Dream On - Ronnie James Dio ~ Various Artists 12. Sister Christian - Night Ranger ~ Various Artists 13. Save Your Love - Great White ~ Various Artists 14. Wanted Dead Or Alive - L.A. Guns ~ Various Artists 15. Fly High Michelle - Enuff Z' Nuff ~ Various Artists Disc 2 Song Title Sample 1. Something To Believe In - Bret Michaels ~ Various Artists 2. Stairway To Heaven - Great White ~ Various Artists 3. Ballad Of Jayne, The - L.A. Guns ~ Various Artists 4. Summer Luv - Pretty Boy Floyd ~ Various Artists 5. Sweet Child O' Mine - Love/Hate ~ Various Artists 6. Everlasting Love - Howard Jones ~ Various Artists 7. Don't Stop Believin' - Starship ~ Various Artists 8. When the Good Die Young - Dokken ~ Various Artists 9. Sometimes She Cries - Warrant ~ Various Artists 10. Love Hurts - Nazareth ~ Various Artists 11. When the Children Cry - White Lion ~ Various Artists 12. Nobody's Fool - Cinderella ~ Various Artists 13. Spooky - Atlanta Rhythm Section ~ Various Artists 14. Still Lovin' You - George Lynch/Kix ~ Various Artists 15. Miles Away - Kip Winger ~ Various Artists   Album Notes and Credits Notes & Personnel Info Since 1980s hair metal was all about excess, it's appropriate that this collection of the decade's "essential" rock balladry is, for lack of a better word, excessive. But it's also thoroughly misguided, as Cleopatra Records has simply cobbled together a loose assortment of live tracks, covers, and re-recorded songs. Not a single track on This Is Rock Ballads! comes from its original source; instead, the two-disc collection is congested with irrelevant versions of songs that lose their spark outside of their '80s context. In fact, "context" is the exact thing that Cleopatra seems to be avoiding here. There's no telling when these re-tooled songs were recorded, or even which members were involved, and the scant liner notes (featuring the original credits and nothing more) are less than helpful. So while we're treated to two Warrant tunes (including a lackluster remake of "Heaven," complete with noodling piano and a drum machine), only the label execs know which era they're from, and only true Warrant fans will be able to deduce that it's Jani Lane singing, not his subsequent replacement Jaime St. James. Another blunder is the collection's track listing, which inexplicably pairs bands like Starship and Atlanta Rhythm Section with a slew of hair metal heavyweights. What is Howard Jones doing here? Why in the world is B.J. Thomas' "Hooked on a Feeling" sandwiched between selections from Winger and Poison? And who authorized Ronnie James Dio to cover "Dream On," a song that -- like "Hooked on a Feeling" -- isn't even from the '80s? Such a lack of organization is unfortunate, because several of these artists have aged rather well despite their waning audiences. Great White sound surprisingly tight on a cover of "Stairway to Heaven," and Cinderella's Tom Keifer retains his platinum-selling, banshee-styled screech on a live cut of "Nobody's Fool." Regrettably, the compilation still suffers, a victim of Cleopatra Records' illogical track assembly and indifferent packaging. Fans would do better to track down Razor & Tie's Monster Ballads series, which is much more indispensable to the genre than this "Essential '80s Box" can ever claim to be. ~ Andrew Leahey   Technical Info Release Date : 10/09/2007 Original Release Date : 2007 Catalog ID : 1696 Label : Cleopatra Number of Discs : 2 Runtime : 143m : 22s Studio/Live : Studio Mono/Stereo : Stereo SPAR Code : n/a UPC : 00741157169621    Product Image