Eddie Money

This strong debut benefits greatly from the expertise of veteran producer Bruce Botnick as well as the likes of former Steve Miller bassist Lonnie Turner and saxman Tom Scott. Guitarist Jimmy Lyon was to Money what Keith Scott was to Bryan Adams. Money, son of a New York City cop, had a rock & roll epiphany en route to following his dad's career path. The debut album, long on craft but not without inspiration, deservedly shot radio-ready tunes "Two Tickets to Paradise" and "Baby Hold On" up the charts, the latter helped by former Elvin Bishop songmate Jo Baker. The key tune is the spirited "Wanna Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star," which spells out the game plan.

Columbia/Legacy's 2001 release The Best of Eddie Money supplants the earlier 1989 collection Greatest Hits: The Sound of Money as the best overview of Money's career. Again, it's not sequenced chronologically, nor is it as tight as it should have been (Money is somebody who would really sound terrific on an eight- or ten-song collection), but it's very good all the same, containing all of his big hits, plus live versions of "Rock and Roll the Place" and "No Control" previously only available on a promo EP. So, even if it's not perfect, it will still satisfy the needs of most Money fans.

Eddie Money was always reliable for turning out a hit single or radio anthem on each of his records. Often, it felt like all of his energy went into a couple of songs per album, since the remainder of each record, while frequently enjoyable, was cluttered with filler. Which is a roundabout way of saying what a welcome addition Greatest Hits: The Sound of Money is to Money's catalog: not only is it a fine collection of his hits, it's the most consistent record he's assembled. Not that it's perfect. Some of his smaller hits are missing and there's a bit of filler even on this hits disc, but the truly essential items – "Baby Hold On," "Two Tickets to Paradise," "I Wanna Go Back," "Walk on Water," "Shakin'," "Take Me Home Tonight," "Think I'm in Love," even "Peace in Our Time" – are here, and the best of them really do define what album rock was all about at the turn of the '70s and early '80s.