Lionel Richie & the Commodores - Definitive Collection (Bonus CD) (CD)

All Music Guide

It's hard to believe, but prior to the 2003 release The Definitive Collection there wasn't a proper hits collection Lionel Richie's catalog. A decade earlier, Motown dipped their toe in the water with the jumbled Back to Front, which tried desperately to camouflage its nature as a comp with three new songs; which, at 14 tracks, hurt the hit quotient dramatically. This, however, gets it almost all right. Spanning 20 tracks (only two of which are new, tacked onto the end; while not especially memorable, neither are bad), this collection has nearly all the big hits from his solo recordings (the Top Ten "Love Will Conquer All" is notably absent, but that's the only charttopper not here), along with five Commodores ballads that showcase Richie the balladeer at a peak: "Just to Be Close to You," "Easy," "Three Times a Lady," "Still," "Sail On." Since these were the first tracks to showcase Lionel Richie as a talent separate from the Commodores, their presence is welcome on a collection of hi...s solo hits, and they indeed make this a fuller experience, since this now has all of Richie's soft rock hits in one place. Taken, together, it's a formidable body of work, making a clear case for him as one of the preeminent soft rock craftsman of the early '80s. True, the collection might have benefited slightly from a chronological track listing, but by jumping between albums, and between Commodores and solo material, the consistency of his records becomes evident. Few of his peers created singles as memorable as "Easy," the infectious "All Night Long (All Night)," "Truly"; as sweetly melancholy "Hello," the insistent, gently ominous "Running With the Night," "Just to Be Close to You" and the ebullient "You Are," as delightful as 45s came in the early days of the Reagan administration. Not everything here quite reaches those standards admittedly, those are the hits upon his reputation lay, plus they're the best soft pop got in the '80s the rest is all wellcrafted and easily enjoyable, proving that Lionel Richie is a singular adult contemporary talent. He may be sappy, but he's got skills. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Read more Less