All the Best certainly lives up to its title, offering 17 of
Leo Sayer's most popular
pop efforts, including each of his Top 40 singles. Beginning with "The Show Must Go On," a frolicking
vaudeville-type number with
Russ Ballard playing banjo and a number four hit for
Three Dog Night, the set entertainingly works its way through the years to reveal
Sayer's adeptness at singing ballads and his overly effective
pop melodramatics. The
disco-flavored "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" was a number one hit for him in 1976, followed by the syrupy "When I Need You," which accomplished the same feat only four months later. Both singles came from Endless Flight, a platinum seller that also yielded a minor hit with "How Much Love," and would prove to be
Sayer's strongest album. "One Man Band" is one of this set's finer points as well, covered more enthusiastically by
Roger Daltrey on his 1973 Daltrey album, as was "Giving It All Away." The number two charted cover and number one
adult contemporary hit of
Bobby Vee's "More Than I Can Say" stands as one of
Sayer's best-sung tunes, and introduced him into a new decade. His early-'80s material, represented by "Living in a Fantasy" (his last Top 40 single), "Have You Ever Been in Love," and the solidly written "Orchard Road," reveals a more mature-sounding side to
Sayer but is still anything but unappealing. Out of the numerous compilations that have been released from
Leo Sayer, All the Best covers the most entertaining ground. ~ Mike DeGagne, All Music Guide
