Best of

One more band whose albums I never considered worth buying until the collection. Oh, absolutely the best thing about the was the Charlotte Church interview in TV news years ago, in which she mentioned them as her favourite band and the Finnish subtitle said "The Koos"... Should've been "The Cows", right?

#1 Would You Be Happier? 9½

It's funny but I seriously think this might be the best track of the whole thing. But then again, I almost used to think that about C'est la vie on AoB's collection as well... The background is totally stolen from some children's song but which one? Remember your Mixed-up Mother Goose now... Jack And Jill Went Up the Hill? Or something like that.

#2 So Young 7½

Speaking of AoB and C'est la vie... I wonder if the Corrs are also starting to "get older every day".

#3 Runaway 8½

This I always remember from the MTV (or Pepsi Chart) mention that it was first published many years ago but without much success and then later on once again and it made its way to number 1 (or was it 2?). Anyway. At first I didn't like this at all but nowadays I guess I kinda do. Except for the part towards the end where the violins go out of tune.

#4 Breathless 9½

It was already documented long ago that I'm definitely more a fan of their newer, less ethnic style, like the one from their album... (now a guess:) In Blue? I just adore the planey sounds.

#5 Radio 8

Kinda funny and not too disturbing. Hard to notice it's a live version.

#6 What Can I Do 7½

Quite boring.

#7 The Right Time 5½

This is already annoying.

#8 I Never Really Loved You Anyway 7½

Aha! Here it comes what I already predicted - didn't remember this coming beforehand, honestly: "I can't believe that I'm 34 as long as I..." When it comes to the message, this is a song that's good to have up your sleeve and hope it'll stay there without need to use it.

#9 Irresistible 9

It seems that the best songs on the CD are all from the same album (except for WYBH, exclusive to this). Quite similar to Breathless, even too much so, as I thought back when (not "your sweet love was mine" as allSTARS would say) this was new.

#10 Forgiven, Not Forgotten 5½

Oh no, now someone has clearly b*witched them. Or the other way round, if the B*Witched were "corred" instead? Anyway, both are boring.

#11 Lough Erin Shore 7

Trying to remember what this was called, the first thing that came to my mind was "Old Irish Mould" but I doubt that's correct. Oh, oh, now I think I may remember it correctly: "Lough Erin Shore"? At least it has to be something like that. An association with Nocture and The Voice saves this somewhat.

#12 Only When I Sleep 8

This lingering track begins with a nice line: "You're only just a dreamboat sailing in my head". I thought this would've been called "Talking in Your Sleep", don't know if that would've been any better. Somehow I like this, despite all the lack of excitement.

#13 I Would Love to Love You 6½

Now then, lyrics have taken a turn for the simpler. Okay, okay, I confess to once having started a song with a title of the same type, "I'd Love to Write a Love Song"...

#14 All the Love in the World 8

And no relief there lay ahead in the lyric department... Speaking of departments, today I realised the teaching information had been published even for the small humanistic departments. The D part is surprisingly good, though it doesn't quite fit in, but anyway, it gives a whole extra point.

#15 Everybody Hurts 6

I never really liked this anyway, in the first place, so I can't even make comparisons with the REM original. Why do so many people consider this so special? Even Will & Grace. It would be much better if they said "everybody hurts somebody" instead of "sometimes". Booh-ring. Ah, this was one more live performance.

#16 Give Me a Reason 8½

[insert here my regular phrase beginning with "At first"], maybe partly because of the nicely coloured video, especially remarkable for featuring an appearance by a horse that I like. You see, usually I'm not too fond of horses and their appearances. I could live in the house in the video. One more In Blue single.

#17 Dreams 9½

Oh, this I always try to forget! Could almost be my favourite. There's a great atmosphere of flowing water that I always so like. But why oh why isn't this called for example "Thunder" or "Players"? "Dreams" sounds sooo lame...

#18 When the Night Turns Over 7½

Was this the other new track of this collection? Quite fair. Oh, typing the timestamp once more reminds me it's the closing date of SunDew Melodic Compo 2003.