Customer Reviews

Baby Come Back: Best of

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great lite rock CD. This album covers their best stuff except they left off Danger Zone which was a minor hit in 78. Player has great sound mix of electric guitars and keyboards with great harmonies and it shines throughout this album. PRISONER OF YOUR LOVE and IF LOOKS COULD KILL are 2 great hits on this CD that never get played anymore on the radio. This CD will give you flashbacks to the late 70's.

I want to start my review of this CD by saying up front that I consider Player one of my favorite bands ever.Over course of many years they have managed five albums (Four from the late 70's early 80's version of the band and one from 1996 by core members Peter Beckett and Ron Moss).Each album contains a wealth of great songs played by really impressive musicians.

This CD is an excellent compilation of songs and covers all five albums.All of their albums have been released on CD (either here in the US or as imports). I recommend this set for anyone looking for an overview of the band.
NOTE: Check out my review of the Ron Moss solo album which is produced and arranged by Peter Beckett. I consider this another Player album.

Most know Player from their late 70s megahit BABY COME BACK. Many consider this group a one hit wonder. They did have another minor hit in THIS TIME I'M IN IT FOR LOVE which was just as good as the first. The 70s and 80s were a difficult time for musical artists and groups for no matter how great their albums were whether studios would continue to release their work relied solely on the performance of their singles. There were many artists during this period who had one or two great hits and when the third attempt misfired their studio would automatically put them on the back burner till they slowly disappeared. This was very sad for many excellent artists were denied showing their true potential. Luckily today careers are not based only on singles. Thus we have many more varied artists able to succceed.

Player had 3 albums from the late 70s and early 80s to their attempted resurrection in the mid 90s. This BEST OF collection truly shows that even though only the first two tracks were true hits they were a group with great potential. If you liked their two hits then you will love the collection. Tracks are taken from their five releases and theire is not a miss here. They have experimental pop as in PRISONER OF YOUR LOVE and BEAUTIFUL LOVE and their true romantic ballads are all extremely well executed. They don't follow a simple repetetive formula as many groups did. Instead each is lush, broad, expressive and beautiful in its own right. GIVIN IT ALL, IT'S FOR YOU and WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW are perfect examples. IF LOOKS COULD KILL and SOME THINGS ARE BETTER LEFT UNSAID are great pop songs. All the tracks here stand the test of time and are in no way dated. This says a lot for music from this time period.

For superb pop music and lush, lovely ballads you can't go wrong than THE BEST OF PLAYER. And it is also superb as a sign that quality music did come from this period. I wish they had been given more of a shot. Very underrated. A group definitely worth adding to your music collection. And the digital remastering is superb and provides excellent sound. Highly recommended.

While only two songs justify buying the disk, its still worth the price. "Baby come back" gets quite a bit of airplay in most "soft rock" radio markets. I hadn't heard "This time I'm in it for love" for at least 15 years. What a great song. Junior high, first loves.....guaranteed to take you back.

Those who may be wondering...the title track on this release is indeed the full-length version (the one that ends with the guitar solo). After years of purchasing cassette singles, and compilations with the shortened version...this release gave me what I wanted. So, if you don't mind paying the price for one song, then buy this CD. Otherwise....

FYI fans of Bold and Beautiful--this is the group Ronn Moss (Ridge Forrester) plays with. Been doing this for years and it shows--he's really good!

I'm an avid fan of the Bold and the beautiful and was stun to find out that Ridge Forrester/Ron Moss was a 70s singer. My dad played songs from this group and I liked them as a child but had no idea. It's too funny. I'm just now finding out he was in this band. I started watching the show as a child in 1987 during the summer time of course.

Great 70's + group. Some of There music has a black flavor to it it. I Like this album a lot, but I hope they will bring out the original "Player" album complete. Every song was great.

I love Player, but this CD has only 5 major hits on it: Baby Come Back, If Looks Could Kill, It Only Hurts When I Breathe, This Time I'm In It For Love, and Footprints in the Sand; and it has 1 minor hit on it: Beautiful Love. So there are 6 great songs out of 15 so-so songs. While I love this band, I would not buy this CD for 6 greats songs out of 15 songs, unfortunately.

I love this CD and I remember when the group made an appearance on the Dinah Shore show. They were so dreamy and their songs were so smooth. Brings back many memories and clothing styles! The 70s brought in some very talented musicians and what great lite rock!