Search - Chris Rea :: Very Best of

Like the title says...

Nse Ette | Lagos, Nigeria | 09/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Chris Rea is a UK singer/songwriter/guitarist with a beautiful gravelly, nasal, emotion laden voice. This is a wonderful collection of his hits dating from 1978 (the beautiful midtempo `Fool if you think it's over' a US #12 hit) to 2001.



His style is more like a blues/folk/rock hybrid, much like Dire Straits and Mark Knopfler. Very calm with subtle Caribbean, and even jazz influences.



Contained here are songs like the gorgeous summery `On the beach' (which became a huge UK hit when re-released in 1986), the sweeping epic ballad `Tell me there's a Heaven' (a touching tale of reassurance to his kids), `All summer long', `The blue Café', the stunning `Driving home for Christmas' (suitable for play all year round), the blues tinged ballad `Nothing to fear' with a beautiful weeping guitar lick, the classical tinged `Saudade Part 1 & 2, and the upbeat rock of `The road to hell (Part 2), a UK top 10 hit about the sorry state of the world, and featuring some great slide guitar.



All lyrics to the songs are contained in the CD booklet, something rare in a greatest hits/best of collection. In my opinion, there are lots of great songs that didn't make this CD; `Looking for the summer', `I just wanna be with you', `You must be evil' to name a few. Still, a stellar collection.



This is a great introduction to the music and soothing voice of Chris Rea. I also recommend the masterpiece `The road to hell'.

"

Very Best of Chris Rea

William J. Mcguire | Bryan, TX USA | 05/27/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was introduced to Chris Rea by a friend with "The Road to Hell" cassette (no cds back then)..probably around 1995..loved "Texas" and couldn't figure out why others hadn't discovered Mr. Rea. I forgot about that music over the years, but the other night while watching the intro to a new tv series, I could've sworn the song had Chris Rea singing. Afterwards, I watched the credits to no avail, went onto the Amazon site and did some searching around; ordered "Road to Hell" cd. When i received the cd, i listened to it intently and decided i needed more of his music. I ordered the Very Best of Chris Rea from Amazon...and I've had it about 2 weeks. I fall more in love with it the more I listen to it. Do yourself a favor and buy it for yourself. Heck, buy it for any of your relatives or friends who you owe a present to. This is music for the ages and you shouldn't pass it by. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to be able to recommend a superior cd or movie to someone. Enjoy!"

An overlooked artist

Rondini | Ontario Canada | 02/16/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was slightly aware of Chris Rea from occassional airplay/videaos, but only really heard a lot of his music on my XM, the XM Cafe channel in particular. I enjoyed it enough to actually BUY his CD. This album is an excellent sampling of his work over the years, with much variety. Bluesy rock tunes, nice ballads, etc. I particularily like his vocal delivery compbined with some very nice guitar work. I think that comparisons with the style and content of Leonard Cohen can be made, only Chris is more musical, in my opinion. Or maybe I just like the small night club groove with the wonderful Strat guitar rythyms. I used my free Pepsi iTunes winner to get another song I liked that isn't on this album, "Looking for the Summer"."