The Showaera Collection

12 of the biggest '70s hits and most memorable duets that Donny and Marie Osmond recorded before taking their superstar act to TV! Includes their smooth pop hits I'm Leaving It (All) Up to You; Morning Side of the Mountain; Deep Purple; Make the World Go Away; Paper Roses and more.

The Best of The Velvet Underground: The Millennium Collection is a compilation album by The Velvet Underground. It was initially released for the North American market by Polydor in October 2000 as part of their "20th Century Masters" series of budget compilations celebrating the turn of the century.

This package chronicles 30 years of Moddy Blues recordings. Track includes "Nights in White Satin," "Question," "The Voice," "I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock And Roll Band).

A lotta funk power, a lotta soul power-and some gems you won't find on other collections. Joining I Got You; Papa's Got a Brand New Bag; Get on the Good Foot; Cold Sweat; Soul Power; Prisoner of Love, and It's a Man's Man's Man's World are his early ballad Try Me; his often overlooked 1968 hit America Is My Home and more.

Charming & romantic. There's no better way to describe Gato Barbieri's late-'70s recordings for A&M, a chapter in the Argentinian saxophonist's varied career that carried him from Lalo Schifrin's orchestra to stepping out on his own playing everything from traditional South American forms to avant-garde jazz to Latin/jazz/pop fusion & back again. Hip-O Records & The Verve Group are proud to feature Gato Barbieri in the 20th Century Masters/The Millennium Collection series, gathering 10 evergreens from one of Gato's most beloved periods. Featured are the full album versions of "Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile)," "Behind The Rain," "Sunride" & "I Am Singing."

True, it's impossible for any of these ten-track collections to be definitive, but they're nevertheless solid samplers that don't feature a bad song in the bunch. For example, take the Who's 20th Century volume. Yes, there are some great, great songs missing, but what's here (with the possible exception of "Squeeze Box") is terrific, including "My Generation," "Happy Jack," "I Can See for Miles," "Magic Bus," "Pinball Wizard," "Behind Blue Eyes," "Who Are You," "Join Together," and "Won't Get Fooled Again." Serious fans will want something more extensive, and neophytes would be best served by more well-chosen collections, but this disc is quite entertaining, considering its length and price. That doesn't erase the ridiculousness of the series title, but the silliness is excusable when the music and the collections are good.

Joan Osborne set the world on fire for a few minutes back in the '90s with her reading of Eric Bazilian's "One of Us," a single that dominated the charts for the better part of a year and continues to get radio play. The album, Relish, sold into the millions, making everybody and her brother (especially the folks at her label Interscope) think she was going to be a superstar. It didn't work out that way. Despite being one of the greatest R&B and soul singers around (before she played in the big leagues she issued a few independent recordings on her own Womanly Hips label that offer stellar proof of this), she got her rep as a pop singer; worse yet, as part of the '90s wave of female acts who dominated the charts for a little while and was a part of the first Lilith Fair, while singing pop songs at half power no less. She recorded one more album for Interscope (which is owned by Universal).

While it can't hope to compete with the impressive box sets of her work or even more specialized single-disc collections, 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Billie Holiday still manages to present a fair amount of her most definitive work from the '40s, even though it's only 12 tracks long. "Strange Fruit," "Lover Man," "Lady Sings the Blues," and "My Man" are all here, along with "Fine and Mellow," "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do," and "I Loves You Porgy." Not surprisingly since its track listing is so small, this collection is somewhat unfocused and definitely incomplete, but it offers a tantalizing taste of Billie Holiday's most musically fruitful period.

Barrett Strong was there for the very early days of Berry Gordy's Motown empire, but his sound bears no resemblance to the later smooth soul stylings that dominated the label's output. He was a R&B rocker all the way. His most famous song is Gordy's first smash hit, "Money (That's What I Want)" from 1960 on the Anna label. The rest of the disc contains some solid R&B ballads like "Oh Yes I Apologize" and "Do the Very Best You Can" and Strong's strong suit, raw rockers like "You Knows What to Do," "Yes No Maybe So," and "Let's Rock." The collection's highlights are a couple of songs, the bitter and tough lament "Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right" and the haunting Steve Mancha-penned "Misery." From the sound of these two songs, Strong had what it took to be a full-fledged Soul Man. Sadly, however, his career behind the mic stalled quickly and apart from "Money (That's What I Want)," he has been forgotten.

MCA's 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection is a good, basic collection of Robert Palmer's biggest hits, including "Sneaking Sally (Through the Alley)," "Bad Case of Lovin' You," "Can We Still Be Friends," "Looking for Clues," "Some Guys Have All the Luck," "Addicted to Love," and "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On." Although there are a couple of hits and good album tracks missing, this has enough of the hits to make it worthwhile for casual listeners on a budget.