Romantic Rock Ballads

Though they're best-known for their anthemic pop/rock and hard rock singles like "The Kid Is Hot Tonite" and "Workin' for the Weekend," Loverboy did enough sweeping power ballads that their Love Songs collection is fairly substantial. "This Could Be the Night," "Heaven in Your Eyes," "When It's Over," and the Ann Wilson duet "Almost Paradise" are quintessential romantic rock ballads from the '80s, with searing guitars and synth washes conveying soaring passions. This being a Loverboy collection, however, lust is just as important – if not more so – than love, though it's possible that "Take Me to the Top" and "Lovin' Every Minute of It" could be seen as love songs to the group's raging libido.

When Slave to Love: The Best of the Ballads was released in 2000, there hadn't been a true Roxy Music compilation in print for years. Street Life and More Than This were both grab bags of Roxy Music singles and material from Bryan Ferry's solo career. While it's logical to assume that fans of one artist would certainly be interested in the other, the approach never made for a unified compilation – Roxy Music's sound shifted quite a bit over the years, and their earlier, edgier singles never sat well next to the smooth balladeering of Ferry's companion career.

Ballads & Blues 1982-1994 is a compilation album by Northern Irish rock guitarist, singer and songwriter Gary Moore. Released in 1994, the album encompasses the softer, romantic ballads and blues songs Moore had recorded since 1982. It contains three previously unreleased tracks.

Ballads? What ballads? They don't need no stinkin' ballads. Actually, most of these aren't true ballads, which are defined as either romantic/sentimental songs ("Rainbow Demon" darlin'?) or songs that repeat the same melody from stanza to stanza (think of that guy playing the acoustic guitar in Animal House). Uriah Heep did eventually write honest-to-goodness ballads, some of which are featured here: "Your Turn to Remember," "Free Me," and "Come Back to Me."…