This is a wonderful tribute to one of the best rock bands ever to come out of the UK. It features the best of Def Leppard video's from the early eighties to the present day. For mature rock fans it's a terrific trip down memory lane…
Manifold Records present Best of Del Mar Vol. 3 - 50 Beautiful Chill Sounds. 50 excellent Chillout tracks and a continuous mix with mixing duties handled by DJ Maretimo.
Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys make up Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, who were responsible for some of the catchiest and brightest synth pop that the '80s had to offer. O.M.D.'s material was a step above other keyboard pop music of the time, thanks to the combination of intelligently crafted hooks and colorful rhythms that bounced and jittered with pristine charm. Their squeaky-clean brilliancy initiated by both their synthesizers and subdued yet attractive vocal styles gave them a more mature sound over bands like Duran Duran and A Flock of Seagulls, who were attracting a younger audience. The Best of O.M.D. is an excellent compilation of their polished music, starting out with less provocative material like the basic electronic wash of "Electricity" and the bare but ebullient fervor of "Enola Gay." As this set moves along, so does the craftiness of their work, which is evident on tighter sounding songs like "Tesla Girls" and "Locomotion," where the intricacy of their formula begins to take a more resounding shape. O.M.D.'s best work came from 1985's Crush album, which harbored the midnight airiness found in "So in Love" as well as the adolescent innocence that streamed its way through "Secret," which are two of the best tracks on this set.
With their first six studio albums not containing a single dud track, trying to neatly assemble a Led Zeppelin 'best of' must have been quite a daunting task. All in all, the folks at Atlantic did an admirable job when the first-ever, single-disc Zeppelin 'best of's' were issued in 1999 (Early Days) and 2000 (Latter Days), covering most of the essentials. For fans that wanted to buy both discs in one shot, both were packaged together in 2002, under the title of Early Days and Latter Days…
The 1990 collection The Very Best of Elton John (available in the U.K. and Australia) is an excellent 30-track summary of his peak years, running from "Your Song" to "You Gotta Love Someone." In a sense, it's the concise counterpart to the box set To Be Continued, released that same year but spanning four discs and filled with rarities…