Review-Billy Ocean Ultimate Collection
Billy Ocean burst on to the music scene in the early 80's with
his hit single Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run). The
singer from Trinidad enjoyed what only few artist could accomplish--success
on both top 40 stations and the R&B charts.
With it's solid track and memorable chorus "Caribbean Queen"
was one of the biggest hits of 1984. Many thought Billy might
go the one hit wonder route of another islander who had a big
hit and vanished, remembered Eddie Grant? The two have one thing
in common, they both lent hits to soundtracks for the Romancing
The Stone movies. Eddie sang the title track for the first installment
in the series and Billy Ocean lent the song "When The Going
Get's Tough" to the films sequel.
Billy Ocean Ultimate Collection does this artist great justice.
The 18 track collection was released by Jive Records in July of
2004. This compilation has all the hits. It wasn't until I picked
this up that I realized just how many hits Billy had. His ballads
"Suddenly" and "There'll Be Sad Songs" are
modern classics. Then who can possibly forget his comical song
"Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car." Nowadays it's
hard to believe such a quirky song would be a hit, but this was
the 80's around the same era of "Electric Youth" and
'walk The Dinosaur." This song also appeared on the soundtrack
to the movie License To Drive.
If you are a Billy Ocean fan this 18 song collection will suit
you fine. If you only want the hits, you can't miss either. The
songs that weren't big hits are decent. The booklet is a nice
addition. Billy Ocean has almost been forgotten in music history
but he contributed several hit songs to the 80's. The set is priced
a little high but it's worth it if you are a fan.
