Greatest Hits

by Rupert Holmes

Overview

Rupert Holmes' swinging '70s sound only occupied a small portion of his career, as Hip-O's 18-track 2000 collection Greatest Hits illustrates. He had a yen to be a little bit more than a soft rock craftsman -- he drew heavily from Brill Building and Tin Pan Alley, plus Hollywood musicals, wryly obvious social commentary, and soft pop to create a distinctive blend. It's often overly ambitious -- even his biggest hit, Partners in Crime, is a sociological portrait of Me-era dating -- and it can be a little fussy, particularly in the years after Partners in Crime, when his recordings gained the antiseptic cleanliness of '80s adult contemporary (even on his nostalgic theme song for "Remember WENN"). Greatest Hits contains all these aspects, perhaps downplaying the appealingly weird early '70s recordings a bit too much (those are collected on Varese's Epoch Collection), but giving a good idea of what Holmes' career was all about. And be forewarned -- it's not just about Pina Coladas, and not a lot of these songs sound like that. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	07/25/2000
Label:	Hip-O
UPC:	0731454155724
Rank:	7048

Tracks

1. Remember When
2. Second Saxophone
3. Terminal
4. Escape (The Pi¿¿a Colada Song)
5. Him
6. The Last of the Romantics
7. The People That You Never Get to Love
8. Weekend Lover
9. Answering Machine
10. Speechless
11. I Don't Need You
12. Let's Get Crazy Tonight
13. Less Is More
14. Widescreen
15. Studio Musician
16. Morning Man
17. Talk
18. Town Square & The Old School

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Rupert Holmes   Primary Artist,Conductor
Jeffrey Lesser   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Jim Boyer   Producer
Jeffrey Lesser   Producer
Pat Lawrence   Executive Producer
Laura Graven   Project Coordinator,Art Direction
Jim Phillips   Mastering
Dana Smart   Project Coordinator
Mike Ragogna   Compilation Producer
Rupert Holmes   Liner Notes,Producer,Composer,Arranger