The Best of Branigan

Last updated
The Best of Branigan
Laura Branigan - The Best of Branigan.png
Greatest hits album by
ReleasedJune 6, 1995
Recorded1982–1995
Genre Pop, rock
Label Atlantic
Laura Branigan chronology
Over My Heart
(1993)
The Best of Branigan
(1995)
The Essentials
(2002)
Singles from The Best of Branigan
  1. "Dim All the Lights"
    Released: 1995
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Knoxville News Sentinel Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Spin (favorable) [4]

The Best of Branigan was the first greatest hits compilation by singer Laura Branigan to be released in the United States. The 1995 anthology collection also marked the end of Branigan's relationship with her record label, Atlantic Records. Of the thirteen tracks, eight had charted, including her major hit singles "Gloria", "Solitaire", "Self Control", "Power of Love", and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You".

The album features two new recordings: "Show Me Heaven" and a cover of Donna Summer's "Dim All the Lights", the latter which was released as a single in late spring 1995 and became a Billboard Top 40 Dance hit. Remaining tracks were taken from her 1993 album Over My Heart , which had been largely overlooked by audiences.

In terms of her global music releases, Best of Branigan had already been preceded by other greatest hits anthologies outside the United States, all with very similar titles, beginning in 1988, and again in 1992, for listeners in much of the rest of the world.

Prior to its April 2007 re-release on Rhino Records, the compilation had sold 147,000 copies in the U.S. [5]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Solitaire"Martine Clemenceau, Diane Warren 4:07
2."Show Me Heaven" Jay Rifkin, Eric Rackin, Maria McKee 4:11
3."Ti Amo" Umberto Tozzi, Giancarlo Bigazzi, Warren4:16
4."Spanish Eddie"Dave Palmer, Chuck Cochran4:15
5."Power of Love" Candy DeRouge, Gunther Mende, Jennifer Rush, Mary Susan Applegate5:22
6."Is There Anybody Here But Me"Kevin Wells, Andre Pessis4:52
7."Dim All the Lights" Donna Summer 4:44
8."How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" Michael Bolton, Doug James4:30
9."Over You"Laura Branigan, Billy Branigan5:21
10."The Lucky One" Bruce Roberts 4:10
11."How Can I Help You to Say Goodbye" Karen Taylor-Good, Burton Collins4:30
12."Self Control"Bigazzi, Raffaele Riefoli, Steve Piccolo4:07
13."Gloria"Tozzi, Bigazzi, Trevor Veitch 4:49

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belinda Carlisle</span> American singer

Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer. She gained fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, the most successful all-female rock band of all time, and went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist.

A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be created by record companies without express approval from the original artist as a means to generate sales. They are typically regarded as a good starting point for new fans of an artist, but are sometimes criticized by longtime fans as not inclusive enough or necessary at all.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Rush</span> American pop singer

Jennifer Rush is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums including the million-selling single "The Power of Love", which she co-wrote and released in 1984. Her greatest success came in Europe, particularly Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Branigan</span> American singer and actress (1952–2004)

Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 single "Gloria", stayed on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist, peaking at No. 2. It also reached number one in Australia and Canada. Branigan's "Gloria" was a cover of a song written by Italian singer-songwriters Giancarlo Bigazzi and Umberto Tozzi. In 1984, she reached number one in Canada and Germany with the U.S. No. 4 hit "Self Control", which was released by Italian singer and songwriter Raf the same year. Both "Gloria" and "Self Control" were successful in the United Kingdom, making the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart.

<i>Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some</i> 1994 greatest hits album by Cyndi Lauper

Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some is a greatest hits album by American singer Cyndi Lauper. It was released on August 22, 1994, through Epic Records. The album contains the most successful singles from the singer's first four studio albums, in addition to three new songs: "(Hey Now) Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "I'm Gonna Be Strong" and "Come On Home". To promote the record the singer embarked on a worldwide tour as well as releasing music videos for two of the new songs. A video album was released in parallel and contained videos of fourteen songs included in the audio version and also an interview with Lauper.

<i>Greatest Hits</i> (Mariah Carey album) 2001 greatest hits album by Mariah Carey

Greatest Hits is the second greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey, released in the United States on December 4, 2001, by Columbia Records. It is a greatest hits double album: CD 1 is primarily a collection of Carey's hits from 1990 to 1995, while CD 2 is primarily a collection of hits from 1995 to 2000. In 2011, the album was re-issued outside the US with the same track listing, titled The Essential Mariah Carey.

<i>Bob Dylans Greatest Hits</i> 1967 greatest hits album by Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits is a 1967 compilation album of songs by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Released on March 27, 1967, by Columbia Records, it was a stopgap between Dylan's studio albums Blonde on Blonde and John Wesley Harding, during which time he had retreated from the public eye to recover from a motorcycle accident. It was Dylan's first compilation, containing every Top 40 single Dylan had up to 1967, plus additional album tracks which had become popular singles as recorded by other artists. It peaked at No. 10 on the pop album chart in the United States, and went to No. 3 on the album chart in the United Kingdom. Certified five times platinum by the RIAA, it is his best-selling album in the U.S.

Joi Cardwell is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she performed in various singing competitions as a child and rose to fame in the early 1990s as a guest vocalist for Lil Louis on the number 1 Dance singles "Club Lonely" and "Saved My Life". The release of Cardwell's debut album, The World Is Full of Trouble (1995), established her as a solo artist worldwide and featured the Billboard Dance top-five singles number-one singles "Jump for Joi" and "Love & Devotion". Her second album, Joi Cardwell (1997), spawned the top-charting singles "Soul to Bare", "Run to You", and "Found Love".

<i>The Best of Brandy</i> 2005 greatest hits album by Brandy

The Best of Brandy is the first greatest hits album by American singer Brandy. It was released on March 28, 2005 by Atlantic Records, completing her contract with the label after being signed since 1994. The album comprises nearly all of Norwood's 1994–2004 singles, compiling her first four studio albums Brandy (1994), Never Say Never (1998), Full Moon (2002) and Afrodisiac (2004), as well as songs she contributed to film soundtracks such as Waiting to Exhale (1995) and Set It Off (1996). While it features no original material, the album includes rare tracks such as a 1995 cover of Michael Jackson's "Rock with You", her international single "Another Day in Paradise" and the single remix of "U Don't Know Me ".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Power of Love (Jennifer Rush song)</span> 1984 single by Jennifer Rush

"The Power of Love" is a song co-written and originally recorded by American singer-songwriter Jennifer Rush in 1984. It was released as the fifth single from her debut album, Jennifer Rush (1984), and has since been covered by Air Supply, Laura Branigan and Celine Dion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Found Someone</span> 1986 single by Laura Branigan

"I Found Someone" is the name of a chart single originally written and composed for Laura Branigan by Michael Bolton and Touch keyboardist Mark Mangold. The song was a bigger hit for Cher in 1987, reaching the Top 10.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna Summer discography</span>

The discography of American singer Donna Summer includes 17 studio albums and 89 singles, plus several other releases. Her first single, "Wassermann", a German version of the song "Aquarius" from the musical Hair, was released in Europe in 1968 under her maiden name, Donna Gaines. She would become known as Donna Summer from 1974 onwards. Her first full-length album under that name was Lady of the Night.

<i>On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II</i> 1979 greatest hits album by Donna Summer

On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II is the first greatest hits album by American singer Donna Summer, released on October 15, 1979. It was her fourth consecutive double album, and also made her the first person ever to take three consecutive double albums to the number one spot on the U.S. album chart. This would become Summer's third multi-platinum album to date.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dim All the Lights</span>

"Dim All the Lights" is a song by American recording artist Donna Summer released as the third single from her 1979 album Bad Girls. It debuted at number 70 on August 25, 1979, and peaked that year at number two on November 10 and November 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was blocked from becoming the third number one hit from the album first by "Heartache Tonight" by the Eagles for one week, then by "Still" by Commodores the next week. Produced by her longtime collaborator Giorgio Moroder with Pete Bellotte, the track combines Summer's trademark disco beats with a more soulful pop sound. It was the third Hot 100 top-two single from the album and her sixth consecutive Hot 100 top-five single.

<i>Barbra Streisands Greatest Hits</i> 1970 greatest hits album by Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits is the first greatest hits album recorded by American vocalist Barbra Streisand. It was released on January 1, 1970, by Columbia Records. The record is a compilation consisting of 11 commercially successful singles from the singer's releases in the 1960s, with a majority of them being cover songs. The songs on Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits originally appeared on one of the singer's eight previous albums and span in release from 1963 to 1968. It contains her most commercially successful tracks, including her first Billboard Hot 100 top ten single "People" and top 40 entry "Second Hand Rose". The album was distributed on compact disc in 1986 and rereleased under the title The Hits in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solitaire (Martine Clémenceau song)</span>

"Solitaire" is a 1981 song sung and written by Martine Clémenceau. The English version was later released in March 1983 as the lead single of American singer Laura Branigan's second studio album, Branigan 2 (1983). It was lyricized in English by Diane Warren and produced by Jack White and Robbie Buchanan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">How Can I Help You Say Goodbye</span>

"How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" is a song written by Karen Taylor-Good and Burton Banks Collins. It was first recorded by American country music singer Patty Loveless for her 1993 album, Only What I Feel and released in March 1994 as the fourth single. A version by American singer, songwriter, and actress Laura Branigan was released later the same year on her final studio album, Over My Heart, also being released as a single. The song was later included on Branigan's 1995 greatest hits album, The Best of Branigan.

<i>Shine On: The Ultimate Collection</i> 2010 greatest hits album by Laura Branigan

Shine On: The Ultimate Collection is a digitally remastered two-disc greatest hits compilation album of American singer Laura Branigan. It is the Grammy-nominated vocalist's first multi-disc collection and her first music video compilation. It was released on June 15, 2010 by Gallo and Warner Music in South Africa and is available as an import in other regions through Branigan's official website. Nearly all the tracks on the first disc are edited versions.

<i>The Collection</i> (Belinda Carlisle album) 2014 greatest hits album by Belinda Carlisle

The Collection is the third greatest hits album by American singer Belinda Carlisle, released in the UK on March 17, 2014 by Demon Music Group.

<i>Tammys Greatest Hits, Volume II</i> 1971 greatest hits album by Tammy Wynette

Tammy's Greatest Hits, Volume II is a compilation album by American country artist, Tammy Wynette. It was released on September 6, 1971 via Epic Records and featured 11 tracks. A majority of the album compiled previously-released singles from the late sixties and early seventies. Some tracks were new material, including "Good Lovin' ". Released as the disc's lead single, it topped the country charts in 1971. The album itself reached the top five of the American country LP's chart in 1971 and later certified gold in the United States.

References

  1. The Best of Branigan at AllMusic
  2. Campbell, Chuck (30 June 1995). "'Power Rangers' Soundtrack Aims To Please Some Adults". Knoxville News Sentinel .
  3. Q magazine review
  4. Bernstein, Jonathan (September 1995). "Heavy Rotation". Spin . p. 44. Retrieved 28 January 2023.
  5. Ask Billboard by Keith Caulfield: May 04, 2007