Customer Reviews

Definitive Collection CD Extra

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After having purchased two collections in a local store, I had to have more material from Bonnie Tyler. I decided to order this, and a few other compilations. This is my favorite so far. It includes Bonnie's earlier works, including It's a Heartache, Lost in France, and Married Men. It also has her work from the 1980s such as: Total Eclipse of the Heart, If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man), Holding Out for a Hero, Save Up All Your Tears from the rare Notes from America, etc. Also included is a bonus disc which includes the full versions of a few songs, as the first disc has edits. And there is an excellent remix of Holding Out for a Hero, which is on the second disc as well. The booklet is less than informative, with just the track listings of disc one; but the music here is great, and that's what is most important. There are enough tracks here to satisfy until you can search for Bonnie's original albums. Overall, I would easily recommend this to a collector, or to a beginner who wants a collection of Bonnie Tyler's works.

This one falls a little short if you're looking for a truly definitive collection of Bonnie's ENTIRE career, but it certainly serves as an excellent compilation of Bonnie's biggest hits and stand-out album tracks from her three albums on Columbia Records. Four of her early RCA songs, including "It's A Heartache", are also thrown in for good measure. This would be the CD most casual fans would want to check out first, as her Columbia years provided Bonnie with several career highlights, as well as some of the biggest hits she's ever had (and a few that got away!). Loyal fans will also want to have this one in their collection for the inclusion of the rare single edits and mixes. Disc One includes the massive hits "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" and "Holding Out For A Hero," as well as "Here She Comes", "Have You Ever Seen The Rain", "The Best" (later a huge hit for Tina Turner), "To Love Somebody" (a breathtaking recording of the old Bee Gees chestnut), and "Save Up All Your Tears" (which was later a hit for Cher, and appears here in its very rare single remix). Disc Two features the original album versions of "Total Eclipse Of The Heart", "Faster Than The Speed Of Night" and "Loving You's A Dirty Job But Somebody's Gotta Do It". Also included on Disc Two are "Band Of Gold" (a cover of the old Freda Payne classic), and famed remixer Jellybean's re-working of "Holding Out For A Hero", which serves as an excellent precursor to Bonnie's version of "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad", which can be found on her later album, 'Free Spirit.' All in all, this is a highly recommended collection.

Bonnie Tyler was twice highly successful on both sides of the Atlantic for two seperate three year periods - 1976-1979 & 1983-1986. Bonnies 'It's A heartache' made the the U.K. top five and went on to sell a million copies in the U.S., peaking at number 3. The Album 'Natural Force' was a huge success in the U.S. -going Gold. Bonnie released further albums including one which won the 'Yamaha Music Awards' for the album - 'Goodbye to the Island' in 1981. Bonnie re-appeared with a different record company in 1981 - CBS and it was then that the producer/songwriter - JIM STEINMAN - wrote and produced many trans -atlantic hits, including the now classic single -' Total Eclipse of the Heart,'which sold over 6 million copies worldwide making it one of THE most successful rock ballads of all time!!! The album 'faster than the speed of night' went straight into number ONE - she was the second British female vocalist to do this - (after kate Bush with ''THe Kick Inside'' album.)

Bonnie went on to have further major hits e.g. -with the song 'Holding out for a Hero, ' and duetting with 'Todd Rundgren' on - 'Secret Dreams and Forbidden Fire'. Bonnie Tyler has since gone on to achieve double platinum status for three album releases in EUROPE. The album - 'Bitterblue' being a MAJOR hit in northen Europe . The Album - ' Definitive Collection' is a relatively good portrayal of Bonnies' career to date - (although the media has ignored much more of her success in Europe.) Buying this album is your chance to find out about it!! Over 20 top 40 singles have been released in Europe, and here, on this album , you can hear Bonnies powerful , gutsy voice, belting out songs that are not only well known classics, but others that are less well-known, still, they are teasures.

This Bonnie Tyler's two-CDs package is worthy. Althought she has not had a large collection of big hits like Streisand or Madonna, this collection includes all her 5 chart hits plus some excellent renditions of other artists' songs along with more songs of her own albums where she shows the great rock singer she is. The second CD includes long version of some of her "classics". In total 23 excellent tracks. It's really worthy
The CD is excellent and that's why I ranked it 5 stars

Of all the Bonnie Tyler collections there are (and there ARE plenty!), this one is my favorite! It has everything but her top 50 hit Take Me Back(the follow up to Total Eclipse...)Don't Turn Around was originally a reggae song by Aswald and latter made famous by Ace Of Base. It covers all grounds from her first Country hit It's A Heartache to her rock classic Total Eclipse Of The Heart. Her covers of Cher's Save Up All Your Tears and Tina Turner's The Best. She also did the original version of Bette Midler's top 40 pop/top 20 dance hit Married Men, which is included as well! Enjoy the diversity and memories!

This compilation focuses on Bonnie's eighties music recorded for CBS, but her four UK hits for RCA (Lost in France, More than a love, It's a heartache, Married men) are also included under license, so this collection contains all of Bonnie's UK hits, plus a selection of her other tracks from the eighties.

Apart from the RCA hits already mentioned (two of which made the UK top ten), Bonnie's other UK hits to be found here are Total eclipse of the heart (a number one hit), A rocking good way (a top five hit duet with Shaking Stevens), Holding out for a hero (a number two hit) and three minor hits, these being Have you ever seen the rain (a cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival classic), Faster than the speed of night and Loving you is a dirty job.

Bonnie had less success in America although Total eclipse of the heart made number one while It's a heartache made the top ten in both pop and country charts. Three other singles (all included here) also charted..

Also here is Bonnie's original recording of The best. Generally known as Simply the best, it completely missed the charts, but Tina Turner covered the song a year later and had a major international hit with it. Another song that you may be familiar with is To love somebody. Originally written and recorded by the Bee Gees, the song has been a hit for several different singers around the world. Nina Simone (in 1969) and Jimmy Somerville (in 1990) both took it into the UK top ten.

The bonus CD includes the album versions of three of Bonnie's classic hits together with a re-mix of another and her excellent cover of Band of gold.

There are many Bonnie Tyler compilations (both double and single CD's) to choose from. I wouldn't describe this as the strongest but it contains all the essential tracks that most people expect. The first CD has been released on its own at a lower price with different packaging - you must decide if the bonus CD is worth the extra cost.

I cannot claim to be a Bonnie Tyler fan. I love some of her hit songs such as TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART, however the pompous synthesizer style of music from the '80's grates on me. With that being said, their are some great tracks on this cd and some tragically lame ones as well. The bonus disk with the 12 inch releases makes this compilation worth buying. The extended version of TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE HEART is fabulous (if not pompous and annoying.) Furthermore, the sound quality of the bonus disk is vastly superior to the primary disk, which detracts from my evaluation of this release. And if you are one who appreciates liner notes... do not buy this release. The liner notes (if you wish to call them that) consists of a fold out advertisement for a SONY walkman player.

...know most of her music. I enjoyed this CD. well worth the cost.

Bonnie Tyler is simply put... a great singer.

She is one of the great female vocalists, and perhaps one of the most underrated.

Definitive Collection is really, that, the definitive collection of great songs by a great vocalist.