Various Artists - Radio Waves Of The 90's: Pop Hits / Various (CD)

All Music Guide

The two questions here are why and why. By the time Radio Waves: Pop Hits Of The '90s was released in late 2002 people had grown weary of arbitrary compilations of this sort. During a few moves in the late ‘90s and early ‘00's, Universal had indeed quite a backlog of hits and label acquisitions. Again, like so many others this does include a few essential songs from the ‘90s. Cathy Dennis's “Too Many Walls" is the most undervalued song here and a smart instance of soulful pop A/C. Aaron Neville's cover of “Everybody Plays The Fool" however is the nadir of that style. The relative innocuousness of Pop Hits of the ‘90's seemed to embolden the compilers to put three of the most obnoxious and overplayed songs from the decade. But then again it takes brass ones to put “Tubhumping", “This Is How We Do It" and Billy Ray Cyrus's “Achy Breaky Heart" in the same sentence let alone the same CD. Extreme's “More Than Words" and Shanice's “I Love Your Smile" surely won't win over those who hated the...m at the time of their release. If there was a thing as really hitting the mark in a comp this flighty, that distinction goes to Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch's “Good Vibrations". It almost saves the CD. Skimpy, odd and cheesy sums this up and this could have been much worse. - Jason Elias, All Music Guide Read more Less