Customer Reviews

The Best of Stephen Bishop - 20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Stephen Bishop compilation is a great entry in the "20th Century Masters" series. If you're not that familiar with Bish, it's a great place to start because pretty much every track here ranks among his very best work--there isn't a weak track anywhere to be found on this CD. In addition, the remastering is truly superb--some of the songs seem to be taken from different masters than the ones used for the "On And On--The Hits Of Stephen Bishop" (also an excellent collection). The version of "Save It For A Rainy Day" here is the "Careless" album version opposed to the version that tends to show up on Bish comps (presumably the single version). However, I'm stumped as to what makes this version of "Looking For The Right One" an "alternate mix". All but the last 2 tracks on here are from the '70s, which is not at all a bad thing, because in the late '80s & '90s his music was often plagued with dull, generic sappiness, as well as some atrocious production values (particularly on "Bowling In Paris", his worst album). The one '90s tune that is included is a terrific acoustic guitar & vocal version of "Separate Lives" that lets the beauty of the song shine brightly (it blows away the Phil Collins-Marilyn Martin hit version). Also a blessing is the inclusion of the sumptuous "Tootsie" theme "It Might Be You" (the one song here Bish didn't write). Tracks like "On And On", "Never Letting Go", "Madge", & "One More Night" are all terrific examples of his impressively tuneful & resonating acoustic guitar-based soft rock. "Save It For A Rainy Day", though woefully marred by Chaka Khan's characteristically obnoxious "trying-to-steal-the-show" vocals on the fade, is otherwise a great pop song. There's also the lighthearted, enjoyable "Animal House"; the ultra-catchy uptempo tune "Everybody Needs Love"; the affecting orchestrated ballad "Looking For The Right One"; & the breezy, Italian-flavored, & wonderfully melodic "Little Italy". Bishop's terrific vocals are flexible & full of feeling. Certainly this isn't even close to the last word on Bishop--for starters, there isn't a single track from Bish's best album, 1980's "Red Cab To Manhattan"; there are a pile of other great songs missing as well. Still, with all the disc's positives, including its careful avoidance of any of his weaker material, there's certainly enough here to win you over & make you a Bish fan.

I got aware of Stephen Bishop after the end of the film classic TOOTSIE.It was his voice that shattered me.Bishop is not a rockn Roller,his music concentrates on people who like quiet evenings at home or relaxing on the beach with your pod.The most memorable cues on this wonderfully remastered CD are ON AND ON,SAVE IT FOR A RAINY DAY,ONE MORE NIGHT,the great Beach Boys alike ANIMAL HOUSE and of course IT MIGHT BE YOU,which could easily be held as classic.
GREAT STUFF.

Bishop could sing the yellow pages and it would sound real and heart felt. Even when he throws in the "same old songs" in his albums, they touch the heart. His voice is pure and sincere and never dull and over done or forced. He sings about his life and holds nothing back.
The song "Hall Light" is straight from his pain and dosen't hold back. Having Eric Clapton on guitar and Phil Collins on drums really drives that song home(from "Bowling").
He emailed me and promised to continue his "warbling(and writing). And when I got married last year, he wrote, "Make it Last".Sound fimiliar? .....Jim.......

I bought this album for the the masterful Tootsie theme. I had never even heard of Stephen Bishop. His vocal on this great song - the only one on the album he didn't write - is quite simply awe-inspiring.
Little did I know he had written so many great songs.
'Madge' and 'Separate Lives' are quite simply masterpieces - as good as anything ever written - period. The only weak songs on the album are 'Save it for a rainy day' and 'Everybody needs love' - they get a bit tiresome. 'Animal house' is also a bit jarring as it's so different from the rest.
This album has been a revelation for me.
I would recommend it to any serious music lovers.

Worth it just to get CHAKA'S fire on Save It For A Rainy Day(otherwise bland song). She also adds character to Little Italy & Never Letting Go.

You can't really argue with the song selection here, but the sound is a step down from the other two Stephen Bishops CD compilations I own. The earlier MCA CD On And On / The Hits Of Stephen Bishop sounds warm and open and there is a nice natural level of hiss on the quieter acoustic tracks such as "Madge," which is one of my favorite songs. By contrast, the 20th Century Masters sounds a little "cold" and there seems to be some clipping in the high frequency transients, especially noticeable on the drums and cymbals. Also, I couldn't hear any hiss at all, which makes me wonder if they used noise reduction in the mastering of this CD. I would stick with either On And On or the earlier Rhino Best Of Bish which contains the single mix of "On And On" and the superior movie version of "Separate Lives."

The CD is a great collection of Stephen Bishop's work. It includes several of his love songs as well as some of his famous movie sound track songs like Animal House. The songs on the CD brings out alot of old memories without the old scratching of teh original LP Album.

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This CD is mostly tracks from Bish's first two albums, plus a couple of themes from movies.

Nothing wrong with that I guess. You can't argue with the quality of the music. Many of us grew up on those first two albums and hold them in great affection. They are, justifiably, classics.

The theme from Animal House is hardly recognizable as Bish, and really just a novelty on here, while the theme from "Tootsie" fits in nicely, even if Bish didn't write it himself.

Trouble is, this collection offers nothing new, so perhaps you'd be better sticking with the original albums while they're still available, or grabbing Bish's excellent new stuff from his website.

I had to play an old Stephen Bishop song for a wedding. I could find a few charts on line but I couldn't find the actual album in any record stores without a long delayed ordering porcess. Also the song wasn't on I-tunes. I needed to actually hear it. Amazon came through with a whole collection of his albums and FAST delivery. I heard the song and was then able to remain true to the spirit of it. The wedding went great by the way. Thanks!

Stephen Bishop is one of those artists that the Millennium Collection series is tailor-made for. A ... package of middling hits by an artist that you wouldn't think of qualifying for Greatest Hits status. There are really only 5 "hits" in this package but they are great hits.

"On And On" - the lyrics will help bring it back (since there are other songs sharing the title) - "On and on, he just keeps on trying, and he sighs when he feels like crying, on and on, on and on, onnnnnnnn and onnnn". A staple of late 70's MOR and a pretty little tune.

"Save It For a Rainy Day" was his other biggest chart hit. An uptempo horn-infused track similar to several other California album acts (Eagles, Ronstadt, Andrew Gold). "Looking for the Right One" is another classy composition.

Then there are two movie themes that could hardly sound more different. Bishop seemed an unusual choice to provide the theme for the raucous "Animal House", yet his combination of falsetto lead vocals with a thumping "animal house.. house.. house.." basso chant perfectly fit the mood of the anarchic teem-comedy pioneer. On the other had, "It Might Be You" from Tootsie is a top-of-the-line soft ballad.

5 out of 12 tracks doesn't allow me to rate this higher than 3 stars.