Bruce Hornsby - "Greatest Radio Hits"

Bruce Hornsby is one of those artists that despite a number of excellent songs, a fair amount of success, a decent fan following, and a couple of great albums, is remembered by many for a single song: "The Way it is." His first hit, a comment of the social problems of America, set to a pop beat with incredible melody and Hornsby's distinct piano lines.

Hornsby and his great back up band The Range (I love that band name) released two hit albums 1986's "The Way it is" and 1988's "Scenes from the Southside" both of which are excellent and focused on slices of Americana. The music on both is highly melodic, highly pop oriented, and feature Hornsby's strong voice and excellent piano skills. The pattern basically continued with "A Night on the Town" though with a  more rock oriented touch. In 1993 Hornsby left the Range behind and continued as a solo artist. The rest of his albums took on a heavier Jazz Pop influence, which was not bad actually.

Like I said earlier Hornsby made a number of strong albums (his first four maybe five albums are essential for big fans) he is often best showcased on individual songs and this long overdue hits collection shows his excellence. Of the 15 tracks eight are with The Range and seven are solo works. Though they are not necessarily huge hits they are his best songs and all his chart singles. Included is the wonderful "Set Me In Motion" from the film "Backdraft" and two live renditions of Hornsby penned songs that were hits for others. An accordion led rendition of "Jacob's Ladder" (a huge hit for Huey Lewis and the News) and a spare almost unplugged version of "End of the Innocence" (a big hit for Don Henley).

There are some good liner notes and the songs show what a great musician and songwriter Hornsby is. A perfect single disc career retrospective and hits compilation for a too often over looked artist.