Customer Reviews

Classic Masters

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Classic Masters" is a greatest hits collection that starts with songs from 1978's "First Glance" album, which was hardly a first glance at April Wine, since they had a whole string of albums throughout the early and mid seventies. From the "First Glance" album, included here are the radio rocker "Roller", and "Get Ready For Love", both top notch songs. The problem is that there were so many top notch songs from "First Glance" to choose from, like "Hot On The Wheels Of Love" and "Silver Dollar", which are not to be found here. This collection then includes songs from "Harder...Faster" like the Zeppelin like "Say Hello", the rocker "I Like To Rock", the ballad "Tonite", and the futuristic "21st Century Schizoid Man". Then comes songs from their most commercially popular album "The Nature Of The Beast" like the ballad "Just Between You And Me", and rocker "Sign Of The Gypsy Queen". But they left off "All Over Town", which was the most radio friendly single from that whole album. The remainder of this collection includes songs from the "Power Play", "Animal Grace", and "Walking Through Fire" albums.

Still, 24-bit Digital Re-Mastering is hard to beat for quality of sound, and all "Best Of ..." and "Greatest Hits" collections leave something to be desired by almost everyone. Take into account that most April Wine albums, especially "First Glance", are hard to find in the U.S., if at all, and this isn't that bad of a disc to start an April Wine CD collection with. This CD will ROCK, but won't rock your wallet either. At it's worst, this CD will leave you wanting more.

RECOMMENDATION: Start with the excellent 24-bit Digitally Remastered sound quality of "CLASSIC MASTERS" and keep your fingers crossed that Capital Records will begin remastering and releasing the rest of the April Wine catalog the same way.

First off, these Classic Masters CDs are top notch re sound quality. the remastering is excellent

Of course, the Cds should be longer (more tracks), but what are ya gonna do?

This is a nice collection, but I'm NOT buying it for this reason:

The CD DOES NOT include "LADIES MAN" or "ALL OVER TOWN" (not to mention some of the other great early material)

Both the above songs are very good, hard rocking April Wine tunes that DID receive radio play in the early 80's

So EVEN THOUGH this collection includes other greats such as I LIKE TO ROCK, SIGN OF THE GYPSY QUEEN and their excellent cover of King Crimson's "21st CENTURY SCHIZOID MAN", it's OMISSION of "Ladies Man" and "All Over Town" keep me from buying

It's a SHAME because these two very good ROCK songs could've replaced a couple of those lame, commercial, sappy MUSH songs like "Love Remembered Me" or "Tell Me Why"

This "could've been" a complete and most excellent hard rock example of April Wine.

But EMI needs someone who knows the band a bit better to compile the tracks

That being said, it's an okay introduction and you can be guaranteed that the sound quality is excellent

Just a shame it's not complete with essential songs from this band

Marc

CLASSIC MASTERS is a great collection of April Wine songs, but it's missing many great songs from the late 70s/early 80s, and doesn't even cover the stuff from the early years, such as "You Could Have Been A Lady" and "Bad Side Of The Moon." However, what's here is great, and, like any good hits collection, makes you want to get the original albums.

As the other reviewers have said, the Classic Masters collection just doesn't cover enough material to be worthy of the April Wine discography. I find "The Hits" much more palatable as a long time fan, but it too is missing some of the best material and has some "fluff" that doesn't belong. Although it is expensive and somewhat hard to find, the box set is the way to go. It covers the band's career from the early days through their hitmaking period and includes some excellent live performances. It's always tough to please all of the people all of the time on a greatest hits collection, but classic masters definitely misses the boat.

Good, tight, rock classics from an under-rated band.

The remaster is surprisingly stellar. Among the best of remasters. So much so that I was a little stunned at first that the master tapes could be coaxed into outputting a CD sounding this good. There are bands today in the 2010s that are not getting their work engineered this well. To my ears, it is (at least) on par with a Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs CD.

April Wine is a great classic band. They are just so underrated that its not fair. All the classics are on this one except for All Over Town. If you want a good taste of April Wine, get this one.

This was a great purchase! Took me back to when it came out on the radio when I was a teen! Service was great and very speedy delivery,too.

I purchased this C.D. because it included the song "Roller" which is hard to find. There are many other great songs on this album, though some of which I have never heard before from some of their earlier works. This is a great album for April Wine fans and even those who enjoy classic rock. I am very pleased, this is a great buy.

Classic Masters is a good collection of April Wine's biggest Capitol hits, but you could easily have a second volume of 12 more great tracks.
01. Fast Train
02. You Could Have Been A Lady
03. Oowatanite
04. Tonite Is A Wonderful Time To Fall In Love
05. Hot On The Wheels Of Love
06. All Over Town
07. Future Tense
08. Crash & Burn
09. Telling' Me Lies
10. Anything You Want, You Got It
11. Doin' It Right
12. Rock Myself To Sleep

The best way to get all of April Wine's essential tracks is The Hits and All the Rockers, but both of these are out-of-print, and are very pricey.

April Wine is a great Canadian rock group. Their sound is so unique and original. This CD, 'Classic Masters,' is a perfect collection. The sound quality is great, and it truly captures the greatness that is April Wine.

This CD is an excellent edition to anybody's collection. 'Roller,' 'Love Has Remembered Me,' 'I Like To Rock,' 'Just Between You and Me,' and their classic cover of King Crimson's '21st Century Schizoid Man' are all here. And it's really cheap too. But, in my opinion, it's worth every cent.

This CD is highly recommended. If you like classic rock, April Wine is a group you don't want to pass by. ENJOY!!!