Customer Reviews

Maureen McGovern - Greatest Hits

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

 

 

How come 2 of Maureen Mcgovern's great songs like We may never love like this again(from the movie The Towering Inferno) and We could have it all are not included in this album?

Maureen McGovern - Greatest Hits is yet another mediocre and somewhat disappointing CD that purports to give us the "greatest hits" of Maureen McGovern. Unfortunately, we don't get enough of her great songs on this CD. Sure, the songs that we do get are wonderful; but it just isn't long enough to be a legitimate "greatest hits" collection. They could have--and should have--included at least a couple more songs on this disc. That's Curb Records for you! The quality of the sound, however, is very, very good although the artwork is just about par for this CD series.

The CD starts with one of Maureen's best song ever, "The Morning After;" this, as you probably know, comes from the movie The Poseidon Adventure. Maureen sings this with all her heart and soul; and just one listen proves it. The strings are used to great advantage and Maureen sings this through without a superfluous note. It's very impressive and it always makes me remember the movie when I hear it. "Different Worlds" has a more upbeat, catchy melody that Maureen McGovern handles with panache; she aces this easily and she handles the subtle tempo and key changes like the pro she always was! "Different Worlds" is an excellent tune and I predict that you'll like it very much; I always enjoy hearing this tune.

"I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" is a cover of a song by The Beatles; although some may not like this I think Maureen McGovern's disco treatment for this song really works rather well. Sure, she's not The Beatles; but she ain't half-bad, either! Maureen sings "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" with a lot of positive energy. In addition, "Carolina Moon" gets a much slower country flavored tempo that impresses me with its beauty; Maureen's voice is as clear as a bell and that's absolutely wonderful. What a great songbird Maureen McGovern was and still remains!

"He's A Rebel" is another cover of a song by one of the `60s girl groups called The Crystals; and when Maureen McGovern sings this it truly takes flight just as well as the original version did! The horn solo is very snazzy and Maureen sings this with great sensitivity; she also delivers this with lots of energy to make this number shine! "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" is also a cover of a song by Frankie Valli; when Maureen McGovern sings this it truly shines just as if it were fresh and new all over again! The disco beat is very typical for the `70s and Maureen sings this flawlessly--this is great music for dancing.

"In Too Deep" puts Maureen squarely front and center--right where she belongs! The CD also ends well with Maureen McGovern performing "Can You Read My Mind." "Can You Read My Mind" is a tender ballad and it makes a strong ending for this album.

All in all, Maureen McGovern could really sing out a tune and make it sparkle with her natural talent! It's such a shame that Curb Records is so stingy as to assert that a mere ten tracks can actually encompass "the greatest hits" of this remarkable songbird. This may be best suited to the casual fan; more diehard fans should seek out more substantial CDs available for sale on this website.

I bought this album for "Can You Read My Mind" and "The Morning After". OK, yes, and for the theme from 'Angie'! It's worth it for those tracks. Listening to the other tracks, I wondered what the studio execs were thinking. They obviously didn't know what to do with this incredible voice. I'm so pleased that Ms. McGovern was later able to establish herself as a peerless interpreter of Gershwin and popular standards.

Between the years 1973-1981, Maureen McGovern became the Queen of Disaster film scores reaching #1 with her first single The Morning After. The Oscar winning song was from the disaster film The Poseidon Adventure by Irwin Allen. Although she had 2 top 40 hits, she had 11 AC hits which only 4 are on this CD collection.



Paul Williams' I Wont Last A Day Without You was the follow up to Morning After and charted #89 pop and #14 AC charts, and missing here. Following that hit was Nice To Be Around from Cinerella Liberty, #28 AC #101 pop, and not included here. Following that hit was the #12 AC and #71 pop hit Give Me A Reason To Be Gone, also not included. Then came We May Never Love Like This Again from Irwin Allen's Towering Inferno in which Maureen actually sings in the movie. The song charted #20 AC & #83 pop and won another Oscar, but still...not included here!



Other hits include Love Songs Are Getting Harder To Sing, #24 AC hit not included. Can You Read My Mind from Superman which reached #5 AC & #52 pop and is finally included here...lol.
Then came the upbeat Different Worlds from the Angie TV series and became #1 AC & #18 pop hit which you may find here! She did a remake of Franki Valli's Can't Take My Eyes Off You. The single was backed with Very Special Love, both included on here and reached #27 AC. Finally, the last 2 missing are We Could Have It All from The Last Married Couple In America (#16 AC) and Halfway Home from The Earthling (#24 AC)in 1981.



After this time period, Maureen went on to sing and star in Broadway productions and is still singing. This CD should fairly represent her beginnings, but falls short. I hope that someone hears what I'm saying and a new revised edition will be on it's way.

Greatest Hits? Well not quite, many songs are missing from this condensed compilation. Maureen McGovern's voice is irresistible, grand and rich... She's been often overlooked, but her stylish voice is portrayed within this little collection.
Includes: 1) The Hit track «The Morning After» from the best Disaster Flick of the 1970's (The Poseidon Adventure) 2) «Different Worlds» (Taken from `Angie') a classic pop/disco, an infectious tune. 3) «Very Special Love» is a soft/ mellow ballad, while 4) «I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" is an up-tempo pure dance disco track. 5) «Carolina Moon» is the weakest track on the album, downbeat/country tune. 6) «Yes, I'm Ready» is a great sensual track with nice back-vocals. 7) «He's A Rebel» perhaps the best track on the disc, 8) «Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You» this classic songs has been performed by so many artists, this version remains one of the best. «In Too Deep» another good disco track. 10) «Can You Read My Mind» another hit this time recorded for the blockbuster movie `Superman' starring Christopher Reeve & Margot Kidder, a standout performance by Maureen McGovern.

Being a long-time Maureen fan since "The Morning After", I have no idea why when the powers-that-be at Curb decided to issue this as a "Greatest Hits'. What were they thinking? Diehard Maureen fans know from the photo used that 99% of these songs come from the 1979 Warner/Curb album, MAUREEN MCGOVERN. The actual hits from that album were "Can You Read My Mind" (love theme from Superman, The Movie) and "Different Worlds" (from the TV comedy, Angie, that featured Donna Pescow and a pre-Marie Barone Doris Roberts). The rest were the other album tracks, most worthy to be additional singles from this original vinyl LP. Actually, "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" was a third single and an AC charter. Pulling "The Morning After" from now Universal's vaults and eliminating the album track "Life's A Long Way To Run" to call this a Greatest Hits package is a disgrace. Maureen herself does not acknowledge this CD because it is so inacurate.

The new Millenium Collection - Best Of Maureen McGovern from Universal Chronicles/Mercury rectifies part of it, putting "The Morning After" where it belongs, together with 11 additional 20th Century label tracks.

This Curb fiasco needs to be totally redone, fully digitally remastered, restore "Life's A Long Way To Run" to the line-up, put the line-up in original order, and add bonus tracks of the post-LP singles through 1981, inclusive of "We Could Have It All", "You Love Me Too Late (original B-side to "Can You Read My Mind" single that didn't make the album), "Bottom Line", and the duet of "Don't Stop Now". Special bonus tracks could also include two tracks from guest duets Maureen did on a Jack Jones MGM album at the time, one track being Kenny Loggins "This Is It", and another version of "Don't Stop Now", only with Jack instead of the original partner from the B-sides of the singles (it was used on both "We Could Have It All" and "Bottom Line").

My 3 Stars are strictly for the caliber of the songs, even if not all hits. Whoever put this together originally did a slop job, and it needs to be rectified.

Not a bad compilation if I do say so myself. In addition to her trademark recordings of "The Morning After" and "Can You Read My Mind" , this album offers a fairly decent take of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", as well. Acting as the CD's optimum gem, McGovern's discofied rendition of "I'm Happy Just Dance With You" provides for a pleasant, upbeat deviation from her ordinarily mellow repertoire.

I bought this one just for John Williams' song from the Superman movie "Can You Read My Mind". And then there's the theme from "Angie" both good songs. Maureen's voice is always right on pitch with the piano. Everyone knows she is the singer's singer. Try it you just might like it.

In this collection of Maureen Mcgovern songs, we are presented with only a handful of songs that showcases her voice. What is missing here is the song from 'The Towering Inferno' which became of her biggest hits. Ms.McGovern has come a long way now and very much prominent in the musical theatre genre and this early complilation features songs from the 1970 and early 80's.
This is very much a sampler of her talents. I do enjoy the songs but try her other albums which are just simply fab!

The 3 star rating is for the CD as a whole. I bought this just for "Different Worlds," a rare classic (which would be a 5-star on its own). The song was a top-40 charter, but it only survived a short stint on the Billboard Top 40.