Loverboy - Loverboy Classics

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Music reviews of Loverboy Classics

Music Review: A good introduction, but in no way perfect
Rating: 4 Stars

The early 80s were a huge time for radio bands. With the start of MTV and new wave music, any band that could craft a catchy pop rock tune was almost guarenteed to be a staple on the radio during that time. Loverboy were experts on the genre. Coming from Vancouver Canada, Loverboy took the world by storm with their breakthrough album Big Ones(1981) and unleashed their signature smash hit 'Working For The Weekend'. Their career instantly took off and the band managed to score many hits throughout the first half of the decade. Come the later half of the 80s, the band's popularity died down, and since Loverboy thrived on their "hit" songs, they were gone by 1989.

The general consensus I've gathered from people is that you either like Loverboy or hate them. Thankfully, I fall into the "like" category. To me, Loverboy was one of the first bands that got me into rock 'n roll music, so for that I thank them. It also never hurt that their popular songs were incredibly catchy and well-crafted for the time. These guys were generally considered a pop-rock band, though not quite the light-weight pop that new wave music was. More along the lines of Eddie Money and Bryan Adams. Their songwriting style is actually done well, and not in a cheesy manner. There's really not much originality to the music, but the band does write most of the material and they know how to play it well, so I don't really mind at all. Loverboy's music was all about the good times of rock 'n roll, and it continued to be until the eventual downfall of the band late in the 80s.

Now let's look at this compilation. Read on for the highlights and flaws that Loverboy Classics has:

THE GOOD
-You'll find most of the band's major hits here. That includes 'Turn Me Loose', 'Working For The Weekend', 'Lovin' Every Minute Of It', 'Lucky Ones', and several others.
-There are also many overlooked masterpieces on here that weren't hits as well. These include the outstanding 'Jump' (NOT the Van Halen song), the Bon Jovi-written 'Notorious', 'It's Your Life', 'Gangs In The Street', 'The Kid Is Hot Tonite', and 'This Could Be The Night'. Glad to see all of these here.
-The band actually included the Top Gun smash hit 'Heaven In Your Eyes'. Even though the band doesn't think highly of this ballad, I'm still glad they decided to include it.
-Though the songs aren't in chronological order, I do like how they were placed so that the collection flows well.

THE BAD
-The first thing I noticed about this collection were that it has 3 glaring omissions. WHERE ARE 'QUEEN OF THE BROKEN HEARTS', 'DANGEROUS', AND 'STRIKE ZONE'??? Those three songs were some of my favorite songs of theirs and it pains me to see that these weren't included. There's no excuse for not including 'Queen Of The Broken Hearts', considering is was a BIG HIT for them in 1983. Though the Super Hits compilation is definitely worse than this one, at least it contained those three tracks.
-The Footloose track 'Almost Paradise' is a good ballad, but because it only featured Mike Reno and Ann Wilson, it really doesn't belong here.
-'Destination Heartbreak' wasn't one of their better songs, so it could've made room for the aformentioned omissions.
-Big Ones had a lot of coverage, but there was almost nothing from the albums Lovin Every Minute Of It(1985) and Wildside(1987). They aren't the band's best albums, but I wish there could've been more from them.

Overall, this Loverboy collection is a decent overview of the band, though it's definitely not perfect. If many of their albums weren't out of print, I'd suggest hunting those out, but since they aren't readily available, then this collection will serve as a decent starting point. If you do see the albums, I recommend picking them up though because they have several tracks not featured here. Still, this is the best Loverboy compilation to date, so if you have to go with one, make it this one. RECOMMENDED TO CASUAL FANS.

Description of Loverboy Classics