Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
17 of Leo's best in their full album versions, September 29, 2001
This compilation of Leo Sayer's Greatest Hits does contain all 10 of his US top 40 hits and 7 songs that were hits in the UK all in their full album versions. This collection does include Leo's original recording of "The Show Must Go On" which Three Dog Night would later have a hit with, "Giving It All Away" and "One Man Band" both of which Roger Daltrey would have a hit with alongside the obvious choices including "When I Need You," "Moonlighting," "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)," "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing," his covers of Buddy Holly's "Raining In My Heart" and Bobby Vee's "More Than I Can Say" and many others. Leo wrote comments for each of the 17 songs included in the compilation, chart info for the songs on the compilation and each of the original albums is included. Columbia House and BMG both still carry this compilation brand new or if you find it used, please pick this up. Many other CD's that include "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" do contain the 45 edit top 40 radio played at the time including a Time Life 70's compilation, Rhino compilations including VA comps, "The Very Best of Leo Sayer" and the 2 CD Anthology and the Charlie's Angels movie soundtrack. This is all the Leo you really need unless you are a the kind of fan who'd spend $25-50 on eBay for a CD copy of "Endless Flight" to replace the worn out vinyl (in other words, the diehard fan).
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Remembering the 70s, October 21, 2005
Leo Sayer's career followed a ballistic arc. His first hit, "The Show Must Go On," was released in 1973 and reached #2 in the UK. The last hit on this collection is from 1983, "Orchard Road," which hit #16 in the UK. As with some other reviewers, I too think that Leo's peak was with the #1 hit "When I Need You," released in 1977. Thus Leo had a number of hits that charted well until the release of "When I Need You," his last US hit was 1980's "More than I Can Say." After that hit Leo's releases continued to drop in the charts, seeming to slowly fade away from his peak.
This collection of seventeen songs also comes with a sleeve insert with notes by Leo Sayer on each of the songs and a listing of chart position for each of the tracks along with release dates. Any information I provide on chart position in this review is from the liner notes.
This CD opens with the 1973 release "The Show Must Go On" from the 1974 #2 UK album "Songbird." This song charted at #2 in the UK. I first encountered this song as a hit by Three Dog Night, which ironically happened as their career was winding down.
"Giving It All Away" is next. This song, from the album "Just a Boy," apparently did not chart. However, the album reached #4 in the UK and #16 in the US. Another song from that album is "One Man Band," which charted #6 in the UK and #96 in the US. The first significant US hit was "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)," also from "Just a Boy, and is the first Leo Sayer song that I remember hearing from Sayer in the 1970s. This song reached #4 in the UK and #9 in the US in 1974 and 1975 respectively. This song borders on being a novelty song, and reminds me of Mungo Jerry's song "In the Summertime." The songs are very different but for some reason there is a certain similarity to both of them that I am unable to explain.
From the 1975 album "Another Year" is "Moonlighting," a #2 hit in the UK in 1975. The album reached #8 in the UK and #125 in the US.
The 1976 album "Endless Flight" provided Leo Sayer with his greatest success. The album itself reached #4 in the UK and #10 in the US. "You Make Me Feel like Dancing" was a bouncy pop tune that was a perfect fit for the disco era. This song bounced its way to #2 in the UK and #1 in the US in 1976. "When I need You" may mark Leo Sayer's height of popularity. This 1977 ballad went to #1 in both the UK and the US. The song "How Much Love," also released in 1977, was yet another disco favorite, reaching #10 in the UK and #17 in the US.
The 1977 album "Thunder in My Heart" provided two relatively minor hits. The album itself reached #8 in the UK and #37 in the US. "Thunder in My Heart" was dramatic song that reached #22 in the UK and #38 in the US in late 1977. "Easy to Love" was more consistent with disco when released at the end of 1977. This song reached #36 in the US.
Leo Sayer's popularity seemed to be steady at the release of the 1978 album "Leo Sayer," which reached #15 in the UK and #101 in the US. "I Can't Stop Loving You," released in the latter half of 1978, reached #6 in the UK. "Raining in My Heart," also released in the latter half of 1978, reached #21 in the UK and #47 in the US.
The 1980 album "Living in a Fantasy," which reached #15 in the UK and #36 in the US, provided Leo Sayer with his last significant success. The 1980 song "More Than I Can Say" went to #2 in both the UK and the US. The 1991 release of the single "Living in a Fantasy" reached #23 in the US.
The album "World Radio" reached #30 in the UK and did not chart in the US. The single "Have You Ever Been in Love" reached #10 in the UK in and the single "Heart (Stop Beating in Time) reached #22 in the UK, both in 1982.
The final song on this collection is "Orchard Road." This 1983 release from the #27 album "Have You Ever Been in Love" reached #16 in the UK.
Unfortunately for Leo Sayer, his music failed to be cutting edge in any genre. He had a middle-of-the-road in style, often sounding much like other artists that preceded him. He was also unfortunate enough to be associated with disco, which became reviled in the 1980s. He will certainly be remembered for the songs that associate him with the disco era, when he was at the height of his popularity, particularly the song "When I Need You." I suspect that Leo Sayer has become a nostalgia artist, played in clubs that adopt disco music as their retro style. This music is very listenable, if you like this style, but the lack of anything to distinguish much of this music has made Leo Sayer somewhat of a forgotten artist, sometimes even for those of us who own his music.
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by Leo Sayer 
