Magnum [1996] The Last Dance [Live]

[01] Intro
[02] Changes
[03] Back To Earth
[04] Just Like An Arrow
[05] Love Is A Stranger
[06] Les Morts Dansant
[07] Two Hearts
[08] Rock Heavy
[09] How Far Jerusalem
[10] The Tall Ships
[11] Wild Swan
[12] Start Talking Love
[13] Rocking Chair
[14] Vigilante
[15] Kingdom Of Madness
[16] Drum Solo (End To End)
[17] Tell Tale Eyes
[18] The Last Dance
[19] One Sacred Hour



cduniverse: A superlative double disc issue from the popular prog rock group; includes "Changes" and "Back To Earth." 1996, German import.
(cduniverse 8/10)

Motley Crue [1998] Greatest Hits

[01] Bitter Pill
[02] Enslaved
[03] Girls Girls Girls
[04] Kickstart My Heart
[05] Wild Side
[06] Glitter
[07] Dr. Feelgood
[08] Some Ol'Situation
[09] Home Sweet Home
[10] Afraid
[11] Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
[12] Without You
[13] Smokin' In The Boys' Room
[14] Primal Scream
[15] Too Fast For Love
[16] Looks That Kill
[17] Shout At The Devil '97



amg: Mötley Crüe parted ways with Elektra in the spring of 1998, releasing their second compilation, Greatest Hits, on their own label that fall. Weighing in at 17 tracks, including two pedestrian new songs, Greatest Hits duplicates much of Decade of Decadence, featuring no less than eight songs — "Looks That Kill," "Home Sweet Home" (original, not the Decade version), "Smokin' in the Boys' Room," "Girls, Girls, Girls," "Wild Side," "Dr. Feelgood," "Kickstart My Heart" (original, not the live version that was on Decade), "Primal Scream" — that were on the previous collection. Considering all that overlap, you can be forgiven for thinking that the two compilations are interchangeable, but Greatest Hits actually has the edge, not just because it doesn't feature the silly "Anarchy in the U.K." cover, but because it features a greater selection of hits from their masterpiece, Dr. Feelgood, including "Without You," "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)," and "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)," all of which weren't on Decade. It has its flaws, to be sure — the sequencing is illogical, the newer songs are lame, and the original "Shout at the Devil" should have been featured instead of the atrocious Generation Swine re-recording — but it's still the best overview yet assembled.
(amg 9/10)

Mark Hollis [1998] Mark Hollis

[01] The Colour Of Spring
[02] Watershed
[03] Inside Looking Out
[04] The Gift
[05] A Life 1895-1915
[06] Westward Bound
[07] The Daily Planet
[08] A New Jerusalem



amg: Achingly gorgeous and hauntingly stark, Mark Hollis' self-titled debut picks up where he left off with Talk Talk's Laughing Stock seven years earlier, re-emerging at the nexus point where jazz, ambient, and folk music collide. It's quite possibly the most quiet and intimate record ever made, each song cut to the bone for maximum emotional impact and every note carrying enormous meaning. Hollis paints his music in fine, exquisite strokes, with an uncanny mastery of atmosphere that's frequently devastating. And if anything, his singularly resonant voice has grown even more plaintive with the passage of time, which — combined with the understated artistry and minimalist beauty of tracks like "The Colour of Spring" and "Watershed" — makes Mark Hollis a truly unique and indelible listening experience. His obvious understanding of the power of silence aside, one prays he doesn't again wait for the seven-year itch to strike before returning.
(amg 9/10)

Marianne Faithfull [1998] A Perfect Stranger - The Island Anthology

[101] Broken English
[102] Witches' Song
[103] Guilt
[104] The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan
[105] Working Class Hero
[106] Why D'ya Do It
[107] Sister Morphine
[108] Sweetheart
[109] Intrigue
[110] For Beauty's Sake
[111] So Sad
[112] Truth Bitter Truth
[113] The Blue Millionaire (12' Version)
[114] Falling From Grace
[115] Running For Our Lives
[201] Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife
[202] Trouble In Mind (The Return)
[203] Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
[204] Yesterdays
[205] Strange Weather
[206] Gloomy Sunday
[207] Hello Stranger
[208] As Tears Go By
[209] A Perfect Stranger
[210] Conversation On A Barstool
[211] A Waste Of Time
[212] Isolation
[213] Blazing Away
[214] When I Find My Life (Live)
[215] Times Square (Live)
[216] Ghost Dance
[217] Sleep
[218] Love In The Afternoon
[219] Bored By Dreams
[220] She



amg: Because more than half of the 35 songs on this two-disc retrospective of Marianne Faithfull's 1979-95 output come from her three great albums — Broken English, Dangerous Acquaintances, and Strange Weather — or are previously unreleased outtakes or B-sides from them, A Perfect Stranger: The Island Anthology makes a fine primer to Faithfull's often challenging, always mesmerizing (or would that be always challenging, often mesmerizing?) music. "Ballad of the Soldier's Wife," her solid contribution to 1985's Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill, is also included, giving Faithfull's hauntingly tragic voice the resonance and attention it demands. Weill and Faithfull seem made for each other, as the bulk of the second disc (comprised of songs from her 1990 live album and the underachieving A Secret Life, as well as the career-capping Strange Weather) makes clear. But there's also a strain to some of these tracks, as if Faithfull's aesthetic wandering eventually will bring her to that elusive cabaret of her dreams. On her best recordings, it indeed sounds like she's home.
(9/10)