Search - Laura Branigan :: Best of Laura Branigan

If you want to have a single "Greatest hits" of Laura Branig

Kokegg | Austin, TX | 03/26/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"This is the same as The Best of Branigan package as "Greatest Hits"



If you want a "Greatest hits" compilation of Laura Branigan, you should look somewhere else. This compilation lacks "All Night With Me"," Satisfaction", "Shattered Glass", "Moonlight on Water", "I Found Someone", "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", "Never in a million years", "Shadow of Love", and several more.



This compilation opted to add new tracks("Show Me Heaven", "Dim all The Lights"), which should not be qualified as her Best/Great hits, the compilation should have opted to add more hits from her career instead of something new and untested as "Best/Greatest" hits. May be the new songs could have been added as Bonus tacks at the end of the CD, but they were scattered in the middle of the other hits songs.



If you want to have a "Greatest hits" compilation, I recommend "Laura Branigan Platinum Collection" or "Very Best of Laura Branigan".

"

Big Voice, Big Heart

Steven Haarala | Mandeville, LA USA | 03/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Who can imagine the 80's without Laura Branigan? Few will deny that she had a big voice; she could belt with the best of them. But these recordings show that she had the heart to validate the power of the voice.



The CD opens with "Solitaire", which just might be my favorite track by Laura. I love the way she builds the song from quiet vulnerability to victory of operatic proportions. It rivals "Gloria" in sheer force. "Ti Amo" is a ballad in which she cries out in pain over the loss of someone she still loves desperately, as she does in her hit "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?" "Spanish Eddie" and "The Lucky One" are more upbeat musically, along the lines of "Gloria". "Is There Anybody Here But Me?" is a smooth mid-tempo number with a light Latin beat, decorated with romantic sax and atmospheric synths. In "Over You" Laura goes to great lengths to convince herself, us and her ex that she is over him. But is all that drama really denial? Does she protest a little too much? In "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye?", Laura is gentle and nurturing, rather uncharacteristic for her songs, which makes it all the more beautiful.



Two songs were hits by other artists. Laura sings "The Power Of Love", and I am amazed at the similarity of the vocal and instrumental arrangements to Celine Dion's version. I wonder how many people know that Laura's came first? Her emotional expression is a little more raw than Celine's, and frankly much better than I had expected. The other cover, "Dim All The Lights", follows Donna Summer's original pretty closely, and Laura acquits herself very well in this hit written and made famous by the Disco Queen.



The collection closes with Laura's 2 biggest hits: "Self Control", in which she paints a picture of a rather sinister but alluring and exotic nighttime world, and, of course, "Gloria", the unforgettable warning to someone who is indeed "...headed for a breakdown."



I read that at the time of her death, Laura had been planning a comeback. I believe she had it in her to succeed, and I am very sorry that we were denied the pleasure of witnessing that."