Nxs The Greatest Hits (1994)

Brian Hyland's "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" is one of those songs that straddles the line between silly and annoying, but the public thought highly enough of it to make it a number one hit in 1960. Listeners expecting a full menu of similar novelties will be surprised by Hyland's Greatest Hits. Spanning the years 1960-1970, Greatest Hits consists mostly of Hyland's folk-pop from the mid- to late '60s, concluding with his 1970 hit version of the Impressions' "Gypsy Woman." Most of these 18 tracks were charting hits although only three cracked the Billboard Top Ten.

It took quite a while for a definitive Barry White compilation to hit the market, but All-Time Greatest Hits – part of Mercury's Funk Essentials series – finally filled the bill in 1995. Boasting a full 20 tracks from White's heyday of 1973-1978, more than half of which made the R&B Top Ten, All-Time Greatest Hits is easily the most generous single-disc White collection on the market. It includes the edited single versions, not the full-length album tracks, which actually makes for a more digestible introduction to White's achievements.

Gene Chandler is remembered by the rock & roll audience almost solely for the classic novelty and doo wop-tinged soul ballad "Duke of Earl"; the unforgettable opening chant of the title leading the way, the song was a number one hit in 1962. He's esteemed by soul fans as one of the leading exponents of the '60s Chicago soul scene, along with Curtis Mayfield and Jerry Butler.

The title of this compilation, All-Time Greatest Hits, is misleading. That's no disrespect to the material here, which is mostly very good. It's just not Louis Armstrong's all-time greatest. These 18 tracks come from Armstrong's "pop" era, the final decades of his career where, under the tutelage of producer Milt Gabler and arranger Gordon Jenkins, the jazz pioneer moved full-bore into a genial form of heavily orchestrated pop music. The Armstrong of this era, a large, bear-like man with an infectious laugh and a gravelly voice, immaculately dressed in a crisp suit with a white linen handkerchief in one hand and a rarely played trumpet in the other, has become the iconic image of the man, which unfairly relegates his best, most passionate and most influential work to the background…

Whitesnake were lumped into the "hair metal" explosion of the 1980s, but they were a classier, more classic rock band than most of their peers. So the songs that populate this hits collection hold up better than the work of many of that era's MTV-boosted groups. Vocalist David Coverdale took flack for sounding like Robert Plant, but his booming, confident voice is more temperate than the Zep frontman's caterwaul. From roaring epics such as "Still of the Night" and "Here I Go Again" to the blatant, sexy "Slide It In" to the memorable power ballad "Love Ain't No Stranger," the expected hits from the band's commercial heyday are included in this comprehensive CD, which skips over Whitesnake's several hitless discs of the '70s. Three decent unreleased songs fill out this 14-cut collection, which, much like the band itself, is solid and timeless.

Whitesnake were lumped into the "hair metal" explosion of the 1980s, but they were a classier, more classic rock band than most of their peers. So the songs that populate this hits collection hold up better than the work of many of that era's MTV-boosted groups.

The Toronto-based Loverboy, comprised of vocalist Mike Reno, guitarist Paul Dean, bassist Scott Smith, keyboardist Doug Johnson, and drummer Matthew Frenette, was never a big hit with critics, but the band members' blend of hard-edged pop won droves of fans and kept them at the forefront of pop/rock for most of the '80s. This album contains most of their hits (excepting some more minor cuts like "Queen of the Broken Hearts"), giving a broad overview of their work. Sex was always a hot topic for the band – think "Hot Girls in Love" – but there is more to Loverboy than just hormones. There are also party anthems, with "Working for the Weekend" and "Turn Me Loose" being iconic in the genre.