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Savage and his greatest hits!

A. Law | New York, NY | 09/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a jewel piece for those that know who Savage is. The greatest hits are nice with some very repetitious beats but then again, that applies to a lot of dance music in the 80's.



This album also contains another CD with all the mixes made for their ever-greatest-hit song 'Don't cry tonight'. The quality and sound of the CD's are great.

For those who are listening Savage for the first time, just accept the fact that this was an italian hit that went cross America and it was very popular in the 80's.



"

Like a Long Lost Friend . . .

Timothy J. Johnson | Minnesota | 09/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I can't recall exactly how I came across this CD on Amazon . . . I'm thinking that somehow my searches and wish list must've been on course and it came up as a recommendation. How ever it happened, I'm sooo glad that it did! Back in the '80's ("my prime of life" as I so often call that decade), I purchased a couple of volumes of "The Best of Italo Disco" without really knowing what "Italo Disco" was. In my neck of the small-town-woods, the only dance music we were exposed to by way of radio and other sources involved the standard American pop hits. As it turned out, Italo Disco was exactly what the genre name implies . . . European disco music specifically from Italy. It was so refreshing to hear a European sound with the good old four-on-the-floor beat carrying each song through! I eventually learned that while American music producers followed their well-known fickle trend of becoming bored with and disowning music that had been "the big thing" a year or two before, European producers and especially those of Italo Disco did not. Whereas American Disco music was "the thing" for approximately three years, Italo Disco survived and prospered in the mainstream for another ten years or more! Following 1979, American dance music developed the need to leave the four-on-the-floor beat behind and incorporate more complicated rhythms and styles. Ironically, this often caused domestic club music to become more "work" to dance to than it was worth in my experience. The Italians were able to retain the solid, steady 4/4 beat in their music and at the same time, were able to embellish the beat and keep it interesting by incorporating additional rhythms, vocals, instrumental sounds, etc. When I first discovered the Italo Disco sound, I was a bit disappointed that the majority of the vocals were recorded in English as I felt that Italian lyrics would be more charming. But over time, I realized that the vocalists lended their own special charm by way of their thick accents. It was a sound that I completely fell in love with. As with many passions, I gradually forgot about the Italo sound as CDs took over vynal and sounds that I previously loved were not as available on compact disk . . . Until this recording appeared in my "recommendations" . . . Like a long-lost friend!



But enough of an introduction. On to the review. The ultimate song on this CD is "Don't Cry Tonight". This opening track is most certainly "the song that sold the record"! I consider it to be among the shining examples of Italo Disco. The straight-forward 4/4 beat is just the right tempo and moves the vocals and instrumentation through the song at a smooth pace. As the old addage states "it's got a good beat and you can dance to it". At the same time, the tempo is moderate and is very dream-like . . . Very haunting and hypnotic, actually. It's very infectious and one of the few songs that I *never* tire of. When the song begins to fade away at the end with the chorus repeating " . . . Don't let me go . . . Don't cry tonight . . ", I always find myself thinking "Aw c'mon!! Keep going! Don't end yet!!" (In fact, I'm listening to it as I type this and just now hit the "replay" button on my stereo as the song was ending.) This Italo Disco sound continues through track 7. Then, even though the music retains a European quality, it begins to take on a different feeling. Some of the songs are basically covers from other groups. The most obvious is "I Just Died In Your Arms". Don't misread me, this is actually a good cover. Just not what I'm in the mood for when I put on this CD or others like it. A bonus CD is included with eleven different versions of "Don't Cry Tonight". They are not all that bad, but the tempo is increased in most cases and the original feeling of the song is lost in all of these remixes. The only one that I truly like is track 6, the original but extended version of the song. In fact, this is the version which was included on my vynal "Best of" album.



My bottom line is that with tracks 1 through 7 on disk one and track 6 on disk two, this CD is well worth the price. In fact, I consider the classic "Don't Cry Tonight" to be worth the cost of the CD. If you are budget minded and new to this style (and there is certainly nothing wrong with that), it might be best to purchase an Italo Disco compilation. I would just highly recommend that it includes this track. I do have to admit that it is my primary motivation for giving this CD a five-star rating!!! And so begins my Italo Disco music spending spree . . ."