Customer Reviews

Best of Laura Branigan

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"Self Control" is a solid masterpiece of an album and I wore out several old vinyl copies...Laura Branigan burst on the scene with the incredible "Gloria" anthem that set her apart from others as a singer of remarkable power and range with a gorgeous & haunting completely original voice that is one of the finest in decades. Sadly this great singer is no longer with us and certainly left us way too soon but Laura left behind a treasure chest of commanding performances such as all of these gems in this awesome collection for fans of great singer's to savor and enjoy. "Solitaire" soars brilliantly and "Ti Amo" is romantic and passionate. THE definitive "The Power Of Love" is a magnificent vocal that is raw and earthy and one of the most riveting and glorious vocals that I have ever heard and this passionate masterpiece could have been used as the closer as it's a hard anthem to follow yet "Is There Anybody Here But Me" is quite haunting and intoxicating!!! Could this lady ever sing and Laura was clearly the best from her generation of singers as this essential collection demonstrates with each and every song. Another definitive masterwork is the brilliant "How Am I Suppose To Live Without You" which is a soul-barring performance that was actually the first song that made me fall in love with this great singer with a beautiful voice and a soul to match..."Dim All The Lights" becomes another rocking anthem in Laura's hands and "Self Control" and "The Lucky One" remind us what a classic the "Self Control" album is. Enjoy as this is The Art Of Singing at it finest...Thank You Laura and you are missed!

With a voice that demands to be noticed, Laura Branigan's "Best of Branigan" collects sampling of her works spanning her entire career. Whether it's the 80's anthem "Gloria", the infectious "Self Control" or her heart felt version of "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You", this album delivers the absolute best of her works. One will also find some less familiar songs in this collection. For example, the song "Power Of Love" (Later recorded by Celine Dion)a powerful ballad that will warm even the coldest of hearts and the huntingly sad "Is There Anybody Here But Me" are just two of the forgotten or overlooked gems that are found on this album. And finally, this album contains two new tracks only available on this album, "Show Me Heaven" a beautiful song about new love and "Dim All The Lights" a fun new remake of the classic Donna Summer tune that will get your foot tapping. "The Best Of Branigan" Is a must for any collection.

I was so sad to hear the news of Laura Branigan's sudden death. She was a great vocalist and she will be missed.

I hope people will rediscover her music because she has always been one of my favourites, yet she seems to have been largely forgotten by radio and music buyers, respectively.

A precursor to the Celines, Whitneys and Mariahs, Laura successfully blended dance and pop along with a serving of top-notch ballads delivered in classic diva style.

This 1995 collection gathers her biggest hits such as 'Gloria', 'Solitaire', 'Spanish Eddie' along with her successful versions of 'The Power of Love' and 'How Am I Supposed To Live Without You'. Unfortunately, it does not feature fan favourites such as 'Shattered Glass', 'Moonlight on Water' and 'Forever Young'. It also would have benefitted from some 12-inch remixes of her dance hits but I'm probably nitpicking there.

But what is here is that classic voice. This is a fine compilation but I also recommend her studio albums as all of them are worth checking out.

This is one of the few albums that I own in three formats - long playing record, audio cassette and CD. Whenever the music industry changes to a new format, I'm right there buying my Branigan. I've even gotten over that Baywatch duet with David Hasselhoff, so you can understand that I REALLY like her music.

While this album doesn't have all her best songs, it has most of the ones that played at the parties I went to, and "Gloria" is still very much a party staple to this day. I can also remember the controversy stirred up by her suggestive video for "Self Control", another of my favorite tracks. Even with four Grammy nominations in the Pop Female category, Laura's string of hits faded away in the nineties, and even though I'd like to blame Hasselhoff, it probably wasn't his fault.

Fans of '80s music will always remember Laura Branigan's distinctive voice and trademark songs, and her music will live on through albums like this one.

RIP Laura: July 3, 1957 - August 26, 2004

Amanda Richards, June 6, 2005

How is it possible that Laura Branigan is gone. 47 that is not fair, but what she left behind, I will treasure forever. One of those treasures is this 1995 best of collection, which I immediately pick up when first released. This lady and wonderful talent, is very special, I grew up listening and thoroughly enjoying very song she ever sang, her voice had such passion and emotion, that it was such a joy to just sit down and listen to her. She though never really got her due. Celine Dion took "Power Of Love" to #1, but it's Laura's which only hit the top 30, that I like more of the two, her voice is just so raw, and powerful, that you feel every word come over you. "Ti Amo" the song off of her Self-Control album and on this collection, always ripped my heart out and I think that song is going to be hardest to listen to. "Gloria", "Self-Control", "Solitaire" and "The Lucky One" are also very dear songs to me. Laura was it in 1982 that was the year before Madonna and years before Janet Jackson, Laura has always been a breath of fresh air to me, a very honest performer and very honest person. I wish I had known her personally, but I always felt like I did anyway. This is a sad day in music and humanity. Laura will be extremely missed. And I hope we get the final recordings for Laura, that would be a terrific comeback, and a wonderful good-bye.

Good-bye "Gloria"
"How Am I Supposed To Live Without You"
We all were the "Lucky Ones"
Good-bye Darlin'
Good-bye Laura Branigan.
I Will Miss You.

Laura is often overlooked when thinking of great vocalist. With this compilation of material the listener will experience the Branigan voice. Show Me Heaven would have made a powerful single but was not promoted as such. Dim all the Lights is a great tribute to Donna Summer but Laura still makes the song her own. Self Control and Ti Amo are a great flashback to the 80's , as is Gloria and The Lucky One. The only possible error I see in this CD is the missing songs that were needed.. Never In A Million Years,Moonlight on Water, The Best is Yet to Come, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, All Night With Me. But this is a must have for anyone that needs to be reminded of what an exceptional artist Laura can be.

Laura Branigan. With her powerful, expressive voice, she helped pave the way for the "megadivas" of the next two decades. I was extremely saddened to hear of Laura's death last week from a brain aneurysm - at only 47, she was taken way too soon. She will truly be missed, and it is a shame that she didn't get more respect during her lifetime. Laura was one of the artists who got lost in the shuffle when Madonna and Prince rose to superstardom during the mid-1980s - she never put a single in the top 20 again after 1984's "The Lucky One." It is still surprising that she fell out of favor so quickly. Laura was a tremendously gifted individual who, while she could perform vocal gymnastics, didn't have to - her voice spoke for itself.
I was only two years old when "Gloria" was a hit, but it was a favorite of mine even then, and still is. "Self Control" is a classic as well, one of the quintessential '80s dance singles - it still sounds great today. And she was the first to have a hit with Michael Bolton's song "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" (#12 pop and #1 AC) in 1983, seven years before Bolton's own nauseatingly bombastic version came out. On top of all that, Laura was a beautiful lady - the covers of her "Branigan 2" and "Self-Control" albums certainly illustrate that very well.
This compilation may not have all of her chart hits, but it has enough to satisfy the casual fan. Before I bought this CD, I hadn't heard "Solitaire" in years and had never heard her lesser hits "The Lucky One," "Ti Amo" and "Spanish Eddie," but I have become enamored of all those songs. I don't care for her version of "The Power Of Love" as much as Celine Dion's, but it was a top 30 hit and her last song to crack the top 40. There's also "Dim All The Lights," her remake of the Donna Summer disco classic which became a minor dance hit, and the very aptly titled "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye." I, too, would love to see the recordings she was working on at the time of her death released - perhaps they could put out an album that would be part greatest hits, part new unreleased material, similar to Selena's "Dreaming Of You." Perhaps Laura will finally achieve her long-deserved comeback now that she's gone - one of the great ironies of the entertainment business.
"Ti Amo" Laura, and thank you for the memories and for the gift of song you brought into our lives.

Laura Branigan's voice has three characteristics any singer out today would give anything for: STRENGTH,BEAUTY,AND RAW EMOTION! For all of you that think she just recorded "GLORIA" well buy this cd and discover what a true vocal talent she is. Unfortunately her material in the 90's was completely ignored..THANKS ATLANTIC! Although you will be able to find songs from her best release to date,"OVER MY HEART"(which is out of print). HOW CAN I HELP YOU TO SAY GOODBYE is proof of Ms. Branigan's gift of singing softly yet emoting enough strength while not ruining the beauty of the song. Her 80's hits are here: GLORIA, SELF CONTROL and SOLATAIRE. Two new singles,SHOW ME HEAVEN AND DIM ALL THE LIGHTS. The new songs are wonderful and refreshing but I feel these songs could have been left out so fans could appreciate more of her past work. The songs MOONLIGHT ON WATER and NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS from her 1990 self titled release SHOULD HAVE been on this "BEST OF!" As well as HOLD ME, SHATTERED GLASS, I FOUND SOMEONE, YOUR LOVE, TURN THE BEAT AROUND, CRY WOLF, and DON'T CRY FOR ME ARGENTINA. Laura Branigan has never been promoted or managed well yet lucky for us she has recorded several albums. Most of those albums are out of print or very hard to find. So this "BEST OF" is a must have if you want a little taste of each of them. Also if you ever get an opportunity to see Laura Branigan live in concert you will be touched and amazed by what a beautiful voice and heart she has!!!

Laura Branigan truly had an amazing voice. I was shocked to learn of her passing at the young age of 47 -- just when she was recording new material after been away from the music scene for years. She definitely set the tone for many artists who followed her and they became more successful than she. Her later albums did not sell well but were excellent and displayed that voice that is so unique and incredibly strong. Most people only know Gloria and Self Control because that is all the commerical media highlighted during her career (Atlantic could have done a better job of promoting her) but there are many, many other great gems that she recorded - such as Never in a Million Years, Over Love, Shadow of Love and Cry Wolf. She was very, very under-rated. Laura - rest in peace. You will be truly missed. I hope that your unreleased material will be on a CD for all your fans soon.

I will always think of Laura Branigan as one of my favorite singers from the 80s! Recently I pulled out all my Laura Branigan albums and gave them a good listen! THE BEST OF BRANIGAN offers some of her strongest songs including the heart-breaking "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye?" which has been sung by other artists, but is best covered by this singer! This is the song to listen to when you have lost someone (whether emotionally or physically) you dearly love and you need to let out your pain...

Two qualities of Laura Branigan's voice, sincerity and passion, have rarely been captured by other singers. Her ballads are her true masterpieces, though "Self-Control" is a haunting example of a more upbeat, poppy song that really isn't happy at all. And its ambiguity is addictive.("Self-Control" could be about anything: insomnia, eating issues, a knack for finding the wrong relationship. Pick your poison; it's there!)

"Gloria" evokes a lot of pleasant memories for many people. The summer of 1982 instantly comes to mind! "Gloria" doesn't have as much depth as her other songs, but it is a classic pop hit and is one of those songs you instantly recognize and relive all over again within the first seconds of hearing its beginning.

Though this collection is very satisfying, there are so many other great songs she recorded that should have been included. There's the beautiful "Your Love" from the 1988 SALSA soundtrack. There's the entire HOLD ME album (I listened to it so many times the cassette broke) and of course her very first album, BRANIGAN, offers "If You Loved Me" and "I Wish We Could Be Alone." "A Million Years" (from 1990's LAURA BRANIGAN) is an unofficial anthem to unrequited love.

Since music is such a touchstone for emotions, particularly when it comes to pain and passion, love and loneliness, you may find yourself looking for the most suitable album(s) for your mood. Whether you want to remember the summer of 1982 ("Gloria" or "Lucky One") or the emotional equivalent of downing your sorrows ("Over You" or "Solitaire"), you can't go wrong with THE BEST OF BRANIGAN--or any of her albums for that matter.