There have been many Bonnie Tyler compilations, but to use a line from one of Bonnie's songs, this one is simply the best. And, yes, it is one of Bonnie's songs - she recorded it a year before Tina Turner. I'm not clear why Bonnie's version failed as a single, but it isn't anything wrong with Bonnie's recording.
There have been three distinct phases to Bonnie's career.
The early RCA work, which yielded the hits Lost in France and It's a heartache, is represented by those two songs, plus her wonderful cover of Whiter shade of pale. I really enjoy her early music, which made me a huge fan while she was still making those records. For a more detailed study of this period, you need a different compilation - but you can still buy this before you do that.
The second phase of Bonnie's career was her eighties music on what is now the Sony label. This is well-represented here (about half the tracks), including all the hits (Total eclipse of the heart appears in it's full length version) plus some originals which should have been hits, including The best, already mentioned. There are great covers of Have you ever seen the rain and To love somebody. I'd like to have seen Band of gold included too, but you can't have everything even on a double CD. One of Bonnie's most inspired recordings was Islands, which first appeared on a Mike Oldfield album, and it's one of my favorite tracks here.
The third phase of Bonnie's career is perhaps the best of all, but is largely unknown in Britain and America, and from which the remainder of these tracks are taken.
In 1991, Bonnie signed to a German record label. Apparently Bonnie's popularity was stronger in Germany than anywhere else, despite the language difference. The Germans obviously have good taste. She continued to record in English throughout the nineties and made three brilliant albums (Bitterblue, Angel heart, Silhouette in red), none of which was ever released in Britain or America. She later recorded one album which was not quite up to the standard (Free spirit) but which did get released in Britain and America. None of the Free spirit tracks are included here.
Since Free spirit, there has been just one album of new material (All in one voice, also not represented here) but I'm hoping there is still more to come. Bonnie has never achieved the consistent success that she deseved, but this is a very formidable collection which stands comparison with anybody else.
The title (The power and the passion) says it all. Bonnie has both - and much else besides - in abundance.
If you've already got what you want from the seventies and eighties, there is a fine compilation devoted almost exclusively to her early nineties music (The comeback collection 90-94) although they couldn't resist including It's a heartache and Lost in France on that CD.
