Search - April Wine :: Classic Masters

SOUND QUALITY HARD TO BEAT!

Michael G. King | LOUISVILLE, KY United States | 04/06/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

""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."

Needs "Ladies Man" and "All Over Town"

Marc Lahn | Southern New Jersey, USA | 03/09/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"First off, these Classic Masters CDs are top notch re sound quality. the remastering is excellentOf 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'sSo 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 buyingIt'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 tracksThat being said, it's an okay introduction and you can be guaranteed that the sound quality is excellentJust a shame it's not complete with essential songs from this bandMarc"

An Excellent Collection, But Missing Many Great Songs

Marc Lahn | 11/17/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"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."