Good collection with some flaws
587059
It's nice to have all of the hits in one place at a relatively cheap price.  However, many of the songs appear as single edits.  This may not bother some, but I do prefer the full-length versions.  I also think the sound on this set is lacking.  It's not awful, but I don't think it's been remastered.  It doesn't have the crispness that you find on the "Time Traveller" box set or the 1998 anthology.  But it does contain those early singles, so if the price is right, it's probably worth getting a copy.
3017083
I'm a huge Deadpool fan, specifically of Joe Kelly's run on Deadpool (which ran from issue #1 to 33 of the ongoing series).

The PROS of this collection:

+It collects some key early appearances of Deadpool and provides background for the new reader

+Marvel is finally acknowledging the popularity of this character

+This edition features the writing of Fabian Nicieza, Mark Waid and [briefly, for one issue] Joe Kelly, as well as art by Joe Madureira, Ian Churchill and [all-too-briefly] Ed McGuinness

The cons of this collection:

-Rob Liefeld's art is terrible (but at least it's only one issue). Liefeld is one of the biggest hacks in the industry and I usually avoid anything he's (crudely) drawn.

-The printing on Deadpool #1 (Kelly and McGuinness) is a little "off", by which I mean the lines are fuzzy and the art is slightly distorted

Overall, I hope Marvel collects the Deadpool run by Kelly and McGuinness because it is one of the few times I've laughed out loud while reading comics (right along with Ennis's Preacher and Arcudi/Mahnke's Major Bummer). It's also one of the storylines that I truly believe deserves the "Omnibus" treatment of being collected into one huge edition.

This TPB is a very good start for the Deadpool enthusiast or new devotee and despite its flaws I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
3555017
This entire series from England, which features more than 60 overviews of various record labels in the States and England, has lots of music at a great price. But it's sometimes irritating when they leave off obvious hits from the period covered, and then add insult to injury by putting on the B-side but not the successful song. The sound on all of them is good and the liner notes are usually accurate, but it would be nice if they spent a little more time getting more hits and less filler on these things.
3123952
A few wonderful stories make the collection worthwhile. Sometimes the whimsy of the story really worked - as in the first, which was really about storytelling. Other times the absurd just seemed absurd without any real point.
2348954
I love the collection of these three  books together in a hardbound form, but there are some bizarre new age mumbojumbo introductions added in that drains them of all of their true meaning and value.  Buy this, but scribble out the intros with a dharpie
511487
I must agree with the previous reviewer, that "American  Masterpieces" comprises a very thoughtful collection yet suffers  slightly from poor interpretation of certain pieces. But the presence alone  of the classic performance of William  Schuman's "New England  Triptych" by Andre Kostelanetz and the New York Philharmonic makes  this compilation all worth it. I have looked forward for this particular  version of Schuman's work to be released on compact disc for several years,  in the meantime not being entirely satisfied with other versions that have  circulated, i.e. Howard Hanson/the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra on the  Mercury Living Presence label, -very poorly executed with an off-key,  off-timed horn in the first movement, or the version on the RCA label by  Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symph. Orch. which is very well done, yet  to my ear still does not compare to the depth and lively energy with which  Kostelanetz and the New York Philharmonic presents this work.
I was  disappointed with the manner with which the first two pieces by Berstein  and Ives were conducted. The "Candide Orchestra" lacked the  sensitivity of the performance by Lukas Foss /Milwaukee SO on the Pro Arte  label, while Slatkin does a much better job with the Ives piece for  RCA.
But the remainder of colorful material following Schuman on this CD  - even with the overdone "Adagio for Strings" by Barber - makes  for a very rewarding listening experience, with the only disappointing  exception of the third piece ( "A Narrative") curiously missing  from Virgil Thomson's "Acadian Songs and Dances", yet present on  an old scratchy, mono LP that I have on the Decca label (Thomas Scherman  /the Little Orchestra Society). Did Thomson later revise this suite? Or did  this CD run out of space? If the latter is true, one can only wish that  Barber's overplayed "Adagio" would have been bumped to make room  for the entirety of Thomson's superb "Acadian Songs".
3968826
Elton's 2-disc greatest hits package is a good place to start if you're getting into Elton John, even though it falls short in some areas.

The Good: A great deal of Elton's best hits from the 70s and 80s are here: "Tiny Dancer," "Daniel," "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting," "I Don't Want To Go On With You Like That," etc.  The first disc and half of the second is toe-tappingly listenable.

The Bad: Around the middle of the second disc is where this collection loses steam.  It focuses too much on Elton's adult contemporary period, where frankly, his music declined in quality.

What I would have changed: I would have ditched the songs from The Lion King, Aida, and "This Train Don't Stop Here Anymore," for starters.  In their place I would have included 70s standards like "Take Me To The Pilot," "We All Fall In Love Sometimes," and "I Think I'm Going To Kill Myself."

Overall, a good collection that could have been stellar if not for the second half of disc 2.
2211660
Overall, I liked this collection. There were some typos, but the writing was good. There was one story that I felt didn't match the tone of the others (it was overtly and absurdly pornographic ... A talking, sentient anus? What the heck?) and shouldn't be in the collection. That and the typos is the reason for four stars and not five.
2920679
Large and decent collection of short story samples from a number of popular authors, compiled under the loose definition of "Space Opera".  Reminds me of the cheap old double LP compilations of "almost hit" songs from various artists, such as SCHLAGERS(1970).

I suggest folks ignore the early stories (they are mostly junk).  I also suggest ignoring most of the editors' attempts at defining "Space Opera", which are interspersed throughout the large book.

There are good short story samples out of David Brin's Uplift "universe", and Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan Series - which have definately got me interested in pursuing reading more books from these author's series (which I believe is the REAL intention of this book, much like the intention of the LP record compilations from the 60's/70's).
3490280
There have been innumerable Motorhead collections over the years, but this is one of the few that attempts to mix old with the new. On this collection, all the classics are present, and some newer material is thrown in as well. Unfortunately, there are some throw-away tracks, mainly the Girlscool and Headgirl tracks. (To be honest, these tracks are pretty much worthless.) Some live tracks are meshed in and fit well, and the newer songs help to add some variety to the old-scool stuff.

I would recommend this collection to listeners looking to get a nice, cheap collection of some of Motorhead's best just for the sake of getting into the band. But if you're wanting the prime collection of older material, save up some extra dough and buy "No Remorse" or "Stone Deaf Forever."
4810548
Some recordings are not the best of his career, so it's far from being the "Definite Collection"
4796275
First off a little perspective: I'm a jazz fan and I'm a swing dancing fan and occasional swing DJ. This collection is a fantastic collection of authentic hits from the swing period and most of them are eminently danceable. If you're just getting into swing, it's a fantastic introduction. If you're a beginning swing DJ, you could DJ a decent dance just from this collection.

There are a couple flaws. For swing music purists, there are a couple tracks that would more properly be categorized as Jump Blues or early R&B. Also, while most the recordings are cleaned up, some of them are not and sound as though they were recorded through a wet blanket.
3684350
About 75% of the tracks here are good ones. However, of these, a number are poor recordings. For example, on several tracks the background vocals almost overshadow the lead singer. The Georgie Fame track is sung in German. I think the collection is still worth having, but only worth four stars. Beatles are conspicuously absent.
655559
This is an excellent collection, worth having, but primarily for the first two CDs. (I wasn't aware any recording of Walt Whitman existed at all.)

Many of the recordings are surprising for the style of reading. Whitman's is one -- his accent made me gape. Likewise, the style of  Yeats or Eliot is a real insight into how poetry was received in a different time.

I give the collection 4 stars instead of 5 for its unevenness. I can think of vastly more interesting people than Rebekah Presson Mosby to compile such a collection. And the selection of contemporary poets is erratic with glaring omissions and curious (even pointless) inclusions. Why three selections of Amiri Baraka (whose work I do like) but only one of Seamus Heaney? Or A.R. Ammons or John Ashberry or Adrienne Rich?

Sadly missing (a partial list and in no particular order): Louise Gluck, Nikki Giovanni, Mark Doty, Thomas Hardy, Marianne Moore, Philip Larkin, W.S. Merwin, Michael Ondaatje. (Of course, I have my own biases.)

And it would have been wonderful to hear some poets back to back on the same work. For example, William Butler Yeats and Galway Kinnell reading "The Lake Isle of Innisfree" (Yeats's work and one of Kinnell's favorites). Admittedly, this might be asking too much.

So, on balance, very worth having for the recordings of the late poets.
2141241
While this collection is not all it can be, it deserves an A for effort (which, in this case, translates to three stars).  My first complaint is without merit--namely, that most of the covers are British.  This is to be expected from a British compilation, after all.  But my second complaint is a valid one, I think--namely, that too many of the "covers" aren't contemporaneous.  For example, "A hard day's night" is one of the most-covered Beatles songs, yet here we get a 1979 jazz version by Max Bygraves.  What's up with that?  Similarly, we are treated to a 1976 "Strawberry Fields forever," a 1981 "I want to tell you," and a 1970 "I don't want to spoil the party."  Such time-line deviations almost threaten to reduce the collection from an interesting pop-historical document to a mere novelty, but, luckily, most of the versions are on or near the original time of release.  Thus, we are given the chance to experience the evolution of Beatles coverdom, from the mostly inept earliest interpretations (with the exception of Petula Clark's excellent 1963 French-language "Please please me") to the more idiomatically-correct efforts of later years.  That is to say, as time went on, musicians seemed to possess more of an idea of what the Beatles sound was, even when putting (or trying to put) their own stamp on it.  Some of the earlier interpreters seemed to have operated without this advantage--in particular, the Kestrels, whose version of "There's a place" might be the worst item in the collection.  On the other hand, the Trends' 1964 reading of "All my loving" is almost sound-alike in its accuracy.  Was Paul McCartney moonlighting?
The most bizarre cover is a toss-up between Hair Rave Up's 1989 live version of "Birthday" and The 1970 England World Cup Football Squad's sensitive rendering of "Ob-la-di ob-la-da."  The Dionne Warwick Sound-alike Award goes to P.P. Arnold for her pseduo-psychedelic and soulful "Yesterday," and she might deserve a second award for staying audible above the backing musicians, none of whom seem aware of the presence of a vocalist in the studio.  The restored sound is adequate, much of it probably straight from vinyl.  This is not your usual collection, to be sure.
107353
Like all anthologies, this collection is a bit hit and miss.  There are truly enjoyable moments while others that are somewhat meh, but over all, there is more excellent than mediocre.

There is not a super obvious flow between these stories, and as such it took me quite a while to figure out why theyd been grouped together.  Yes, they are all vaguely xmas-y and kinky, but thats not really enough to tie six stories together into a cohesive whole.  Near the end I finally realized that while some are very d/s or bdsm heavy, and others have mere flavors of kink, they are all inherently about control.  When to hold onto it and when to let it go, when it needs asserting and when you can allow someone else to take the reins.

As this is a collection of previously available single titles, you might want to check your e-book archives to make sure you aren't purchasing works youve already acquired.  But honestly, at the bundled price its well worth it, even if you do already have one or two of the stories.

One final note unrelated to the actual review:  I have to say, I think potential readers of this collection could benefit from the addition of a trigger warning in the book blurb, as two of the six stories (All He Wants and One Gold Heart) deal with the aftermath of rape.

**For the sake of full disclosure it must be stated that I received this book, free of charge, from Netgalley.**
1660301
A decent selection of the great catalogue of songs that Cowboy Junkies have created over the years.  Unfortunately, there are some music industry-related issues involved that spoil the fun.  Check out the band's website for more information.