AKA " Forever Running"
Troy Rexroth | Vancouver, Wa. United States | 07/29/2006
(3 out of 5 stars)
"It's about time "Forever Running" has been released on cd including bonus songs that were not on the original album but on various singles.
Interestingly enough though, the morons at Warner music decided to change the original title to "The Platinum Collection" from it's original title "Forever Running" and change the cover as well for reasons only they know. Maybe they were trying to fool people into thinking this was a best of compilation since it does contain classic songs like "Remembrance Day" and "Nowhere Girl". Unfortunately, both of these songs were completely rerecorded for this album and are totally watered down and completely ruined in comparisons to the versions that were first released as singles.
This album is probably the only proper album B-Movie ever released as all of their other releases have been collections of singles and/or radio sessions. But those releases are far stronger and more raw than the overly slick production and cheesy 80's cash-in sound of this album. Songs like "My Ship Of Dreams" aka "Amnesia" (on BBC Radio Sessions), "Remembrance Day" (on Remembrance Days), "Nowhere Girl" (differing versions found on both Remembrance Days and BBC Radio Sessions) and Polar Opposites (on Radio Days and BBC Radio Sessions) were far more catchy and raw on their original releases than on this one. In fact, the version of "Nowhere Girl" that was heavily rotated by radio stations back in the 80's like KROQ has never been properly released on any of their CD's. It can only be found on it's original 12" and a crappy quality bootleg called "Nightmares In Wax" (which is a small collection of unreleased vinyl only tracks).
While the overall sound quality of this release is great and it's a full cd clocking in at over 79 minutes of music, it is a shame that the overall packaging is completely lacking. As I noted before, the cover art has been completely changed as well as the title and the cover booklet is devoid of any worthwhile information or lyrics other than the song credits. At least all of their earlier cd releases contain liner notes and the "BBC Radio Sessions" even includes a pretty complete discography along with photos. The one redeeming quality of this CD is that it includes 6 bonus songs, but even these bonus songs are incomplete to their original vinyl release counterparts. In fact, the track listing has slightly been altered from it's original vinyl release opening with the song "Letter From Afar" which was released as a single only and not included on the original release.
If you are a B-Movie fan or completist, the low price of this release is definately worthy of purchasing. But for those that are new to B-Movie, I highly recommend all of their previous releases before purchasing this one, unless you really dig over the top production that ruined many great bands of the 80's."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1