The Record Music Magazine

ANTHEMS (16 ALL TIME ROCK HITS) – VARIOUS ARTISTS - UNIVERSAL
Record Rating: *****

For the younger crowds, take a nostalgic journey back in time when music had real soul, feeling and emotion. Yep, I am talking about the time when Clapton was king, and Michael Jackson was still The King of Pop. It's music like this that puts to shame the empty sounds of today.

A magnificent compilation of classic hits from the sixties to the mid nineties, with 16 tracks, there is plenty to enjoy. There are some real gems here which you really find on any compilation, such as The Moody Blues doing their Nights In White Satin (one of my all time favourite tracks), Bee Gees asking you about Stayin’ Alive and even Dire Straits with their Walk Of Life. Most of the songs on this compilation would be obscure to anybody born after 1990…so if this is you, your only exposure to this kind of music would be 20 second clips on they play in TV commercials today. You missed out on all the fun or were too young to appreciate it! But don’t worry…this is a great way to get educated about how cool the early rock and rollers really were. Rock and roll simply doesn't get any more heartfelt than Eric Clapton doing Cocaine or come to that, the smoldering tones of Inxs gliding through Suicide Blonde. Far from being clichéd, this is rock music at its most classy; the inclusion of Del Amitri’s largely forgotten Always The Last To Know being reason enough to set this collection apart from the usual cobbled-together fare that often makes up such albums

I admit I'm a sucker for this kind of music…but even if I wasn’t…it would be hard not to give this compilation the album of the month moniker…for there’s just so much great music on this one. Anthems - 16 All Time Rock Hits is an excellent collection of those old anthems that you used to live by…and now we can call them classics. You can't fail to find something on here to lift the spirits, to get you singing along. Two thumbs up all the way!

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