Customer Reviews

Monster Ballads: Platinum Edition (Spec)

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I just wanted to correct the reviewer "Tanya" who stated that the 2 CD Platinum Edition only contained 20 songs versus the 18 on this particular edition. The set with 2 CD's is a GREAT value because it includes 32 songs, not 20!!!! It helps to count the entire song list when comparing the CD's.

The 2-CD Edition includes the following songs that are not included on the edition with only 18 songs:

1. Angel Song - Great White
2. Don't Close Your Eyes - Kix
3. Fly High Michelle - Enuff Znuff
4. Honestly - Stryper
5. House Of Pain - Faster Pussycat
6. If You Needed Somebody - Bad Company
7. I'll Never Let You Go - Steelheart
8. I'll See You In My Dreams - Giant
9. Love Is On The Way - Saigon Kick
10. Miles Away - Winger
11. Only Time Will Tell - Nelson
12. The Flame - Cheap Trick
13. When I See You Smile - Bad English
14. When I'm With You - Sheriff

You can figure that each of these songs would cost $0.99 if purchased individually through a service such as iTunes, so I recommend paying the extra money for the 2 CD edition versus purchasing this CD with only 18 songs. This is the best collection of power ballads on the market.

No one has ever put these power ballads together like this on one single CD! Although there is a 34-song collection of this CD, the 18 chosen for this collection were pretty well chosen. But this was a strong subgenre from 1987 to 1991, when there were an increasing number of power ballads by heavy metal bands becoming hits. It seemed common for the ballads to peak at No.1 or 2, so very high, while their rockers finished lower at No. 6, 7, 8 or 10. Maybe some people were more comfortable with their ballads than the layers of loud guitars blasting over them. They surprisingly balanced well with the R&B ballads and pop dance hits back then. Most of these songs I've seen on other compilations, but this is the first one to include Carrie's Europe and Kiss' underrated Forever. This one is more balanced, from the acoustic numbers of Extreme, Tesla, Poison and Mr. Big, to the loud guitars of High Enough, I Remember You to even the bluesy Cinderella ballad which I still love. I still love Whitesnake's adventurous Is This Love. It's even message driven, even in Scorpions' Wind Of Change. And there's something about the quiet mood of Queensryche's Silent Ludicity that still is haunting today. Another favorite I like here is Kix' Don't Close Your Eyes, which avoids the typical formulaic approach of the other power ballad hits and has a strong musical performance all throughout. This is a dynamic collection to recall this solid music period in popular music.

As a huge fan of all things music from the 80s, I love these classic power ballad songs on one CD. While I like most of the songs, some of the ones they included were not that great(ex: "Silent Lucidity", "When the Children Cry") and could've been replaced by much better songs. I was surprised that Bon Jovi, Journey, and Motley Crue songs were not included as they were very successful during this time period. Overall, this was a good CD!

I absolutely love the compilation; however, I had to put the volume up to 28 on my JBL system in my car, just to hear the lyrics. The digital quality is terrible.