Paul Anka - Five Decades Greatest Hits

Sonic abomination

Here it is.

The horror.

The sonic abomination.

The hell spawn that was released by Anka onto AM radio in 1974 and makes us envy the deaf today.

Yes, I am speaking of Paul Anka & Odia Coates duet "(You're) Having My Baby."

Upon Anka's release of this atrocity, William Shatner need never fear again that his "Mr. Tambourine Man" cover will go down in history as the world's worst song.

Despite his other achievements, Anka buried his credibility with this repulsive treacle. Even Frank Sinatra's "Mama Will Bark" has a redeeming note in it, unbearably absent from Anka's sonic turd. It manages to combine the worst features of Captain & Tennille's "Muskrat Love" and the base carnality of any song by Mr. Meat Loaf.

Perhaps George Orwell's prophetic "memory holes" cannot arrive soon enough. Would that we had them now and could confine every copy of this album to the flames, and had the cheap gin to wash the memory of ever hearing it from our damaged grey sludge. October 7, 2005

The REAL Reason For This CD!

I've read previous reviewers and agree with them. Obviously, Paul Anka has a lot more than 12 hits during his singing career so this is NOT ideal for the Anka fan who would take this collection as an affront.

This is why the CD was made: It was intended for the CASUAL music fan that only wants ONE CD of Paul Anka. That's it! It does have the major highlights from his earlier years to his most recent.

This is one of many reasons why most artists have multiple collections of "Greatest Hits" albums. They play around the song list changing one song and adding another song to another collection. They realize too that they want to make a collection for Anka fans, middle-of-the-road fans, and casual fans. They claim that the songs are originals or that they are re-mastered originals, or re-mastered re-recordings of the originals.....Sound confusing? Yes it is! February 20, 2004

Paul Anka Gold

What I want to know is does anyone know of a CD collection that contains Paul's original ABC hits from 1957-61? There used to be a label called Sire which had such a collection but unless one can find it as vinyl in some used record store, its unavailable. Its a shame, because the CD thats on my left, the "21 golden hits" version on RCA are all remakes, which sound terrible. Even Paul, I've read, regretted making it. April 27, 2003

Curb--as always, the Worst Reissue Label In The Universe

In which the record company implies that the artist has only turned out 12 songs worth compiling in five decades. Does this disc even run longer than 30 minutes? The dumbness within the dumbness is that these songs actually span about 30 years. Which according to most number systems is kinda not five decades.

If you're this interested, go for Rhino's 30th Anniversary Collection. For five bucks more, you get 24 hits instead of the 12 Curb parcels out. All but the last three tracks here are there as well. Frustratingly, Curb manages to include one key hit (to these ears, anyway) not on the Rhino set--"Hold Me Til The Morning Comes" is a great ballad (to these ears, anyway) featuring Peter Cetera on backing vocals. It nicked the Top 40 (peaking at #40) in 1983, making Anka one of the few artists to hit in the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's. Its presence here justifies, unfortunately, the existence of this skimpy thing. October 8, 2002

Where are the rest?

For the most part, I am pleased with this compilation. Paul Anka has one of the most distinctive voices in pop music and his popularity has stood the test of time. Each major hit on this CD is a piece of pop music history. So, why do I only give this CD three stars. I find it hard to believe that a man of Mr. Anka's distinction can not get a more comprehensive CD to showcase his talents and the musical changes he went through during the span of his career. This CD says FIVE DECADES. So, where are the rest of the songs? This CD is missing major Anka tunes from his Columbia, RCA and Buddha years. His ABC-Paramount years are covered fairly well with his major hits. The United Artists years are also well represented, although this CD should have included "Happier" and "Closing Doors" from his standout LP "The Painter" (why that LP is not available on CD boggles my mind. It is perhaps his best next to "Feelings" which is on CD and does contain as a bonus track, "Happier." But nowhere can you get the best track on that LP - "Closing Doors.") His Buddha years are totally ignored on this set and his major hit "Jubilation" during those Buddha years is an obvious missing track in my eyes. Columbia songs such as "Second Chance" with Michael McDonald is also missing. "Love Makes The World Go Round" during the RCA years is not here. I could on and on and I'm sure others have favorites which are not included in this compilation. That is my point - a man of Mr Anka's caliber deserves a better, more rounded salute to his career and FIVE DECADES should have included more songs from each decade. One major plus with this set is the inclusion of the moving and emotional Anka tune "Freedom For the World." All shortcomings of this CD aside, that one song is worth the price of this CD and, as for as I know, is the only CD on which this favorite Anka song of mine is included. So, go ahead and buy this CD in hopes that someone will soon decide to give Mr. Anka a better CD package. June 29, 2002

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