A Surprisingly Enjoyable Album

Michael Bolton is like the Barry Manilow of the 1980s' and early 1990s': critics hated him, the public loved him. His songs were called dreck, yet he still managed to rack up an impressive 16 top 40 hits in a period of 14 years.



So what do all these points go to show? That Michael Bolton is a real musician who takes pride in his own work rather than caring about what other people think about him, the mark of a true artist, in my opinion.



"Greatest Hits 1985-1995" takes us through all the high points of Bolton's succeasful career in about 70 minutes.



Though he had been a fixture on the music scene since 1983, Bolton didn't break through commercially until 1987 with the release of "The Hunger". Buoyed by two hit singles, the hauntingly beautiful ballad "That's What Love Is All About" and faithful remake of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay", the album sold well and put Bolton on the map.



1989's "Soul Provider" proved to be an even greater success, yielding five top 40 hits. The first single, the title track (with awesome sax by Kenny G), climbed into the top twenty, but it was the next single that was the icing on the cake. "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You", a ballad written by Bolton that Laura Branigan had a hit with in 1983, climbed to number one and stayed there for three weeks. Add to that two additional top ten hits (the rockier "How Can We Be Lovers" and "When I'm Back On My Feet Again") and a soulful cover of Ray Charles' classic "Georgia On My Mind", Bolton was officially a superstar.



1991's "Time, Love And Tenderness" continued the hit streak, by going to number one and providing four top twenty hits. The first, "Love Is A Wonderful Thing", is not included because of a lawsuit by the Isley Brothers. Then there was the soulful title track, followed by a update of "When A Man Loves A Woman" that became Bolton's second number one hit. The fourth hit from the album, "Missing You Now", happens to be my favorite Bolton song. I love the mellowness of this song, especially Kenny G's sax. Beautiful song. Also included is the hard rocking "Steel Bars", co written with Bob Dylan.



1993's "The One Thing" yielded Bolton's last significant hit in the top ten smash "Said I Loved You...But I Lied", whose video became pretty famous and parodied.



When this album was released in 1995, Bolton added six new songs to the mix, but only three songs really stand out. "Can I Touch You...There?" provided Bolton with another top forty hit and is a major departure from all his other work, with heavy traces of hip hop backing it up. Very sensual song. "I Promise You" is a beautiful ballad whose bad lyrics are overshadowed by Bolton's passionate performance. And finally, "I Found Someone" is a new version of the Bolton penned 1987 Cher hit, which is nowhere near as good as Cher's but still good.



So, ignore the bad reviews and give this album a try. I was pleasnatly surprised with what I heard, and hopefully you will be, too.

Crap songs

There are only 4 songs I like on here. They are Soul Provider, Steel Bars, How Can We Be Lovers? and Said I Loved You... But I Lied. I mean, let's face it, he's not much of a good singer, you don't hear much about him anymore (I'd like to see him make a comeback because his last "Comeback" album did not even hit the top 20 - V.poor) and also he tries too hard.



Overall - 4 Good Songs. 2 Stars out of 5 Stars. 23%

(1 star - 0-20%)

(2 stars - 21-40%)

(3 stars - 41-60%)

(4 stars - 61-80%)

(5 stars - 81-100%)



A rather rubbish album and a not very representitive Greatest Hits collection.

got fiber?

Contrary to what the previous review said, it is not romantic music that I object to. Rather, my beef is with music that is poorly done and Michael Bolton's renditions are just that.



There are many great romantic music artists and among them are Percy Sledge and Otis Redding, of whose When a Man Loves a Woman and (Sittin at) The Dock of the Bay (respectively) are butchered by Bolton into total oblivion.



Bellowing at the top of one's lungs as if needing fiber in one's diet is not my idea of romantic. Michael Bolton has no real musical ability, and this causes his so-called vocal stylings to be very painful to hear.



If you want music of romance, check out any of the original artists of his remakes as well as Tony Bennett or the King, Elvis Presley.