Customer Reviews

Chris De Burgh, Best Moves

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Of all the "Best Of" compilations released by Chris De Burgh over the years, this is the only one that does justice to Chris De Burgh's early career, when he presented himself as more of a storytelling bard than an adult contemporary pop star. No accident of course, since this compilation was released in 1981, before the successes of songs like "Don't Pay the Ferryman" (from De Burgh's brief period as more of a straight-up rocker), "The Lady in Red," (his soft-rock smash) and "Missing You" (more soft rock).

In the 1970s, however, De Burgh favored acoustic and orchestral arrangements, and his songs would often evoke pastoral imagery and/or period moods, with some religious-themed supernatural elements thrown in for good measure. The best known songs from this period are "Spanish Train," "In a Country Churchyard," "The Traveller," the Christmas-themed "A Spaceman Came Travelling," and the jokey "Patricia the Stripper."

To properly represent this period, any compilation of this period must include "Crusader" (an epic but grossly historically inaccurate art-rock suite). The song is nine minutes long, however, and its inclusion takes up a lot of room on an LP-length collection, which is limited to 40 or 45 minutes. Throw in two new songs (one of which, "Waiting for the Hurricane," fails to leave any impression whatsoever), and that means that a lot of excellent material was crowded out. A perfect collection would have included "The Tower" from "Spanish Train," "Sailor" from "Eastern Wind," and "Carry On" and "The Girl with April in Her Eyes" from "Crusader."

But, even without those songs, this is still an excellent collection, with the added bonus of a live version of "Broken Wings" that is slightly superior to the studio version. A delightful listen for fans of this kind of music, and the only option for anyone wanting material from De Burgh's early career, but not wanting to spend a fortune on five expensive import discs.

This is the best of the best of Chris DeBurgh! It contains his earlier music, when his lyrics were stories and his music eternal. This is the CD every true DeBurgh fan has to own....the one that hooked me over 15 years ago and has kept me a DeBurgh fan for life. There is no other.

I grew up on this album and it still has a fond place in my heart even now. Essentially this is an early `Best of' collection from de Burgh, but what makes this special is that this covers his early career when most of the songs he wrote weaved a story throughout them. As a result listening to this (and subsequently re-listening again and again) is like sitting down with an old friend and reliving those stories that excited and formed you as you grew up. This has some of his well known hits like `A Spaceman Came Travelling' and the hilarious `Patricia the Stripper', but also some more hidden gems like `Waiting for the Hurricane' and `Crusader'. This last track finishes the album and you will never hear a more epic way to finish an album on. `Satin Green Shutters' is haunting and beautiful and never fails to move me and the story weaved in `Spanish Train' used to delight and give me shivers in equal measures. I could go on like this about all the tracks on offer, but suffice it to say they all have their high points to commend them. De Burgh is a vastly underrated artist and unfortunately the success of `Lady in Red' and subsequent albums have dampened his talents in my view. If you go back to early work you can see just how impressive his song writing abilities are and this is an excellent place to go to introduce yourself to them.

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BEST MOVES is a great anthology of the early work of British singer-songwriter Chris DeBurgh. The obvious influences here are Donovan and the Moody Blues, and the songs are very relaxing. This is true even of the more intense numbers such as "The Traveller" and "Spanish Train." Granted, there are moments that might appeal more to devout Christians than to the average person, and DeBurgh would improve by adding a Steve Miller/Bob Seger influence on the harder-rocking THE GETAWAY and MAN ON THE LINE, but if you want to hear his early work, this is the CD to get.

This album was my first exposure to Chris de Burgh, given to me by a friend who had returned from Germany, where he is much better known. It was this album and his even better "Man on the Line" that made me a life-long fan. His music seemed to have been written especially for me, but everyone I have introduced his music to has also become a fan--my wife, my college roommate, even my parents (yes, it's music that spans the generation gap).

Okay, so if you know anything about Chris de Burgh, you know all the words to "Spanish Train", and you can bawdy down with a boa and a high-volume version of "Patricia the Stripper" when you've had enough to drink. Maybe you even played "In a Country Churchyard" at your wedding. If you already are, or applying to be, a CDB fan, then this album is a must for you. It's got enough to get you moving in the right direction, at least, since there are so many to collect if you are a die-hard. Buy this and turn it up in the car -- at least the cop who pulls you over for speeding to "Spanish Train" will be impressed.