Could be better collection
581867
Due to the naming of album, I would say it should avoid fast-paced music or percussion instruments, such as cymbals, drums, etc.  I personally think some music pieces should not be picked.  Although most of them are masterpieces, their styles are just not good fit for this album name:  8. Easy Blood, Polka Op. 319, 12. La Vie Parisienne Overture, 23. Wine, Women and Song, Waltz Op. 333, 29. The Bartered Bride: Overture, 32. Danse Bacchanale, 41. La Donna e mobile, 45. Love Songs, Waltz Op. 114, 49. Zapateado, 60. Orpheus In The Underworld: Overture.  And I strongly disagree that 19. Sabre Dance, 21. Aragonaise, 53. Mphistophles Rondo, should be in this album.  The good thing is, since they are all in individual mp3 files, I can exclude those I dislike in my CD.
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.
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  Such time-line deviations almost threaten to reduce the collection from an interesting pop-historical document to a mere novelty, but, luckily, most of the versions are on or near the original time of release.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.
4342090
I have no explanation for why some of these "Entertainment Weekly" hit collections have so many #1 songs from a particular year and why others, like this one, are so sparse.  I assume it has something to do with record contracts and such.  While I understand that you are not going to find really big artists here (e.g., Billy Joel, the Police), that usually does not matter because if you were into music in 1983 it was pretty much impossible not to have a copy of "Thriller" and its #1 hit songs.  Still, I was hoping this collection would have Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Sun," so this is a rare instance where I was actually disappointed not to find a particular song here.
Beyond that "Entertainment Weekly: The Greatest Hits 1983" is an above average collection in this series.  You do have a pair of #1 hits, with "Come on Eileen" by the one-hit wonders Dexy's Midnight Runners and the classic "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" that introduced the Eurythmics and Annie Lennox to the world (Will she win an Oscar tonight for her song "Into the West" in "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King?  She is the favorite, although I have a special place in my heart for "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow").
The question then is how many of these songs you remember from 1983 you already have in your music collection.  You should have "Hungry Like a Wolf" by Duran Duran, "Back on the Chain Gang" by the Pretenders, and "Do Yuu Really Want to Hurt Me" by Culture Club.  So the key tracks for deciding if this CD is worth getting will probably be Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science" and "Jeopardy" by the Greg Kihn Band, because if you do not have those they would make up for songs like Rich Springfield's "Human Touch" and Patti Austin's "Baby, Come to Me."  So far the 1980s is geared towards pop/rock on these collections, with only Dionne Warwick's "Heartbreaker" representing anything from the R&B/Soul side of the music world.
1767748
It does have some good pieces in it, but I agree with other reviewers that they should really have had more of a variety. Some poets are given well over 25% of the actual book, while others are barely given 10% of the text.
2023994
This is a short collection of porn mostly written by Anas Nin. That one word "porn" and the fact that it is not currently available for customers in the United States is all many of you need to know, please check helpful and move on. How much of this book is Ms. Nin's work and how much was contributed by her "friends" is not specified. Given that her friends included Henry Miller and a wide variety of the literati of post-World War I France, this information could be a story in itself.

Anas Nin was one of the better modern female writers. She was better than this book. Even her porn was better than this book. It would be nice to say that this is sexy based on a woman's point of view but I'm not prepared to make that presumption.

The title should be self-explanatory. Each of the short stories in this collection follows a slightly different model of erotic storytelling. This is a good thing as it lends variety.

The selection entitled "Loves Encyclopedia" parallels and clearly is meant to satirize the same discussion in the Sir Richard Burton translation of The Perfumed Garden. This section is the best chapter of this book. Should this volume again become available, at the price I paid (less than a dollar). This selection provides the highest portion of the value of the rest of the collection.
2577088
The bounty of songs are chronologically correct but have too many "B songs". If you want to hear songs you haven't heard since the late 40's and 50's - like listening to a radio station "during the day" - this is the collection for you.
I wanted a stronger collection of hits and major artists and did not get to see the song listing prior to purchase - had I taken the time to do so I would not have purchased. The collection of songs are great for what they are, just wasn't what I was looking for.
4106392
Nice collection but recording quality on many cuts is poor.
840743
I am huge fan of Duran Duran but I think this collection may be misleading if you are really looking to buy a collection that truly has the essential Duran Duran singles. This collection doesn't have the 3 most quintessential Duran Duran hits, namely "The Reflex", "The Wild Boys" and "A View To A Kill" and seems to cover only the songs from their first 2 albums&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Duran-Duran/dp/B00362DRNG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Duran Duran</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Rio/dp/B00005BJ9W/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Rio</a>&nbsp;(with the exception of "Is There Something I should know?" which was a single release).

"Anyone Out There" and "Sound of Thunder" from 1st album&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Duran-Duran/dp/B00362DRNG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Duran Duran</a>&nbsp;and "Hold Back The Rain" and "Last Chance on The Stairway" from&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Rio/dp/B00005BJ9W/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Rio</a>&nbsp;are interesting choices to include in the Essential collection as well as some of the B-Sides hits like "Like An Angel" and "Come and Make Me Smile". Don't get me wrong, these are all great songs and you can enjoy them but if you wish to build a serious collection for Duran Duran, you may be better off buying Duran Duran, Rio and Seven and The Ragged Tiger albums or if you wish to buy a greatest hits collection, you may be better of buying&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Greatest/dp/B00000DG1R/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Greatest</a>.

Also, if you are big enough a fan, you should consider buying&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Singles-Box-Set-1981-1985/dp/B00008NEGG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Singles Box Set 1981-1985</a>&nbsp;which includes a lot of the B-sides hits which were not available on any previously released studio album; they are a great treat especially to people like me who never got to hear them because they were not released in any format in my country. They also have&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Singles-1986-1995/dp/B0002HUXI0/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Singles 1986-1995</a>&nbsp;which are also great but doesn't have the same 80s sound you used to hearing on their first 3 studio albums and&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Arena/dp/B0001QNNYI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Arena</a>&nbsp;which is their concert/concept album from 1985.
1335351
This collection is an improvement over the 25th anniversary collection, but, it doesn't come close to topping the 20th anniversary CD's.  The 30th anniversary collection lacks the mixture of old and new as the 20th had,  sticking more with contemporary numbers.  But, a few great oldies like Phil  Harris's "The Thing" spice up the mix.  Weird Al's "Biggest  Ball Of Twine" was certainly welcome, but, a rather odd choice from  the Weird One, given the other Al pieces.
  And, where's Spike  Jones?
  All in all, a decent collection, but, you're probably better  off if you get this collection only if you're aware of the tracks already  and you know/want/like them.  And, if you're looking for a good sample of  contemporary dementia, it's here.
4693833
Its like with any variety pack there are some favorites and some losers.  Would have been nice if they were organized rather than just dumped in the box.  Hard to keep track of the ones you like to reorder.
1032028
Generally a good way to catalog a collection, but some categories seem redundant. Also, it needs to include more pages or make it easy to order more pages.
34538
Selena Gomez's greatest hits compilation compiles most of her singles from her past 4 albums and closes a chapter as she moves to her new label Interscope. Is this a great greatest hits? In my opinion, not really. But it isn't a bad collection either.

First, the good stuff. "For you" collects most of Selena's big hits from her time in Selena Gomez and the scene through to now. There is also two new songs "do it" and single "the heart wants what it wants" a good mid tempo ballad. Listeners who were casual fans but didn't buy Selena's albums or download the singles can scoop up a nice collection of songs.

Now, the bad stuff. First, the collection is missing some singles. The track "hit the lights" is noticeably absent and fans expecting her theme to Disney's "shake it up" will be sorely disappointed. More disappointing than that is the fact that some of her bigger tracks offered her are dance remixes and not the hit versions people would expect. Her breakthrough single "naturally" as well as "a year without rain are the Aude remixes which while enjoyable are not the songs heard on radio or video. Also album track "Dilemma" has been tweaked and re titled "dilemma 2.0".

For me personally this an okay album. I would have liked to have had all her artist singles and a decent album cover ( you can barely see her under all the pink) but this a okay hits package.
2376968
Needs a better variety of colors; this collection is limited.  Sargent should add some purples and make sure the red is really red--not orange.
3028649
I was disappointed in the collection overall.  Many sketches seem amaturish, sophmoric.  Some, however are very nice.  I was looking for a few images that might be suitable for framing.
1385615
I have read two of the six books contained in the collection and they were terrific. I am sure the remaining books will be just as good. I took away two stars for a couple reasons. Neither reason has anything to do with the content, Mc Bain books are a known entity and can always be counted on for a good old fashion mystery. The first thing that was immediately noticeable to me was the size of the type used in the book collection. It is tiny and I am sure that the fact that the book is over 700 pages drove the publisher to use the smallest type possible to make the book as small as possible. I have correctable vision and wear bifocals so I normally have no trouble reading late at night but the small type used in this book is really tough to read when my eyes are tired. The second thing that annoyed me is that the books are not in the order of publish dates. For example "Cop Hater" is the first 87th Precinct book but "Give the Boys a Great Big Hand" was about the sixth or seventh in the series. The others are out of order also. I enjoy reading books that were written in a series in order so I make the effort to do that. As I say, either reason does not affect the quality of the work but they do impact on your enjoyment while reading the collection contained in this volume.
3808090
I like picking up these sorts of collections, as it's always curious to me to see how people start telling stories. Life is short, and I'm cheap, and honestly if a book doesn't grab me in the first chapter I don't buy it in a bookstore.

This is a collection of hits and misses. The misses are right up front, with the sort of stories that represent death by lengthy exposition. But then there were a couple of gems in Leone Moyse's God in my Pocket, and then Steven Evets' Case of the Curious Competition. I think I would have purchased both of those books, if that was all I had to read of them.

Fun stuff. Not fun stuff. Writers of the world - think hard about whether we really need yet another new fantasy setting. That is all.

I hope to see more of these sorts of things online.