Gino Vannelli - Ultimate Collection (2000)

"COLLECTION" WEEK (JUNE 4-10, 2012)

I don't know much about Vannelli, however, I have an admitted weak spot for '70s soft rock and this collection is full of it. Vannelli charted 3 songs in the Top 40 during his career. This disc features 18 of his songs from the years 1973-87, most of which show his reliance the major 7th chord (e.g., Fmaj7/G). If you ignore the tracks where Vannelli tries to rock, this is a decent compilation. My only complaint is that there is no explaining the sequencing. It doesn't make sense either chronologically or artistically.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Song	Album	Year	Hot 100	AC
Appaloosa	Brother To Brother	1978	-	-
I Just Wanna Stop	Brother To Brother	1978	4	4
Living Inside Myself	Nightwalker	1981	6	5
Hurts To Be In Love	Black Cars	1985	57	6
The River Must Flow	Brother To Brother	1978	-	-
Fly Into This Night	The Gist Of The Gemini	1976	-	-
Crazy Life	Crazy Life	1973	-	-
Nightwalker	Nightwalker	1981	-	-
Brother To Brother	Brother To Brother	1978	-	-
One Night With You	A Pauper In Paradise	1977	-	-
Wheels Of Life	Brother To Brother	1978	78	24
Love Of My Life	The Gist Of The Gemini	1976	64	-
People Gotta Move	Powerful People	1974	22	17
Powerful People	Powerful People	1974	-	-
Mama Coco	Storm At Sunup	1975	-	-
Love Me Now	Storm At Sunup	1975	-	-
Black Cars	Black Cars	1985	42	-
Wild Horses	Big Dreamers Never Sleep	1987	55	33

Top tracks are I Just Wanna Stop, Living Inside Myself, and Black Cars. I even like the cheesy late '80s MTV comeback, Wild Horses. The rest are enjoyable soft-rock, with the exception of Appaloosa, Nightwalker, Powerful People, and Mama Coco.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I remember buying the 45 single of Living Inside Myself during my freshman year in high school.

In the summer of 1985, I was home from college working during the day and trying to enjoy my nights. One night, I was hanging out with a high school buddy (who I'll call Brent) when he got a phone call from another friend (who I'll call Steve) inviting us to a party where we were promised the presence of girls. Lots of girls. What 19-year-old boy could refuse? Brent and I traveled to some local apartments where we met Steve. As luck would have it, we were the only 3 males in a sea of females. I soon found out why - we were at a bachelorette party and Steve was the "entertainment." When he started dancing/stripping, I got uncomfortable and left. The song Steve chose to dance to? Gino Vannelli's Black Cars.