No Mercy Greatest Hits

A Slight Case of Overbombing gathered together material from goth merchants the Sisters of Mercy's three major-label releases. That fact immediately sets the stage for complaints from longtime fans desiring their indie music. However, for the listener more familiar with the band's mid- to late-'80s college radio tracks, this is a very good collection. The lyrics are rather pointless and Andrew Eldritch's vocals lack dynamics, but his singing has personality that overcomes his limitations. It's the edgy, hard gothic rock of the music that is their strength. There's an undeniable pull to songs like the galloping "This Corrosion" or the epic "More" (both produced by Jim Steinman). There's also a mix of "Temple of Love," featuring Ofra Haza, and an unreleased track, "Under the Gun." Not essential, but a good record for the casual fan (although more extensive liner notes would have been nice).

The Buckinghams recorded five Top 40 singles that all charted in 1967. All five of those tunes are included in this collection. Their three biggest singles, "Don't You Care," "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," and the number one hit "Kind of a Drag," are pure pop ear candy. Most of the tracks were ably produced by James William Guercio, who would later produce Blood, Sweat & Tears' classic self-titled second album and all of Chicago's earlier albums. Like a lot of '60s groups, the Buckinghams included a song to raise the social conscience of its audience. In this case, the song is "Foreign Policy," an almost unbearable "experimental" tune that includes a snippet of a JFK speech and clocks in at over four minutes! Of course, that's really not very long, but the other ten tracks are all less than three minutes a pop. "Foreign Policy" is truly "kind of a drag." However, the rest of the tracks are tolerable.

The Best of Leonard Cohen samples 12 of the many highlights from the singer's first four studio LPs. With a heavy emphasis on the debut Songs of Leonard Cohen and its follow-up Songs From a Room, the set includes such masterpieces as "Suzanne," "So Long, Marianne" and "Bird on the Wire," as well as later efforts including "Chelsea Hotel" and "Famous Blue Raincoat."

During the '80s, Thompson Twins arguably produced the finest synth-pop singles, and Greatest Hits recollects their industrious years with Arista in clear, digitally remastered sound. Numerous collections exist in the Twins' catalog and nearly equal their studio albums, but Greatest Hits prevails as the most essential as it offers a definitive chronology from 1982's infectious debut "In the Name of Love" through 1987's reflective "Long Goodbye." Featuring 16 tracks, this brimming retrospective recalls MTV's formative years ("Lies"), those unforgettable Dr. Pepper commercials ("Doctor! Doctor!"), the anti-Apartheid movement ("The Gap"), and countless other '80s pop culture memories.

Despite its rather cheeky title, Greatest Hits 1977-1990 is a good place to sample the entire Stranglers output. From the squalor of the late-'70s material, to the smoothed-out gloom pop of songs like "Skin Deep" and other mid- to late-'80s neo-goth rock, this is a solid anthology that values substance over style and exhaustive track selection. For sure, a well-edited Stranglers anthology is the only way to enjoy them; they recorded way too much dross to spend time searching out all of their plentiful, marginal records.

Greatest Hits is an compilation album by the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth, released in 1975. By this time Nazareth had experienced considerable success with albums and singles. This compilation showcased tracks from the band's third album Razamanaz through their sixth album Hair of the Dog, as well as some non-album singles…

They were originally named 'The Hot Chocolate Band' by Mavis Smith, who worked for the Apple Corps press office. This was quickly shortened to Hot Chocolate by Mickie Most. Hot Chocolate started their recording career making a reggae version of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance", but Brown was told he needed permission. He was contacted by Apple Records, discovered that John Lennon liked his version, and the group was subsequently signed to Apple Records. The link was short-lived as The Beatles were starting to break up, and the Apple connection soon ended. In 1970 Hot Chocolate, with the help of record producer Mickie Most, began releasing tracks that became hits, such as "Love is Life", "Emma", "You Could Have Been a Lady", and "I Believe in Love".

The Thompson Twins – who were neither a duo nor related, but simply named after the Tin Tin cartoon – were one of the more popular synth pop groups of the early MTV era, scoring a handful of hits before fading away into lite-funk obscurity. While many of their contemporaries indulged in stylish variations on Roxy Music or robotic electronic funk, the Thompson Twins were more pop-oriented, even when they strayed into dance-pop. Despite their success – "Hold Me Now," "Lay Your Hands on Me," "King for a Day" all reached the U.S. Top Ten – the group was unable to successfully expand their synth pop sound and, consequently, their audience had virtually disappeared by the late '80s.

The Best of Leonard Cohen is a greatest hits album by Leonard Cohen, released in 1975. In some countries from Europe, it was released under the title Greatest Hits. This alternative title was used for the original vinyl release and for CD reissues from the 1980s onwards. The album was not a hit in the United States but did well in Europe, Cohen's major market at the time. He toured in support of the album in 1976, beginning in Berlin on April 22 and ending in London on July 7. The front cover photograph was taken in 1968 in a Milan hotel room, according to Cohen's liner notes. In July 2009, this compilation was re-released in England under the title Greatest Hits with updated artwork and a revised track listing.