This is a great album for Lionel Richie fans, and for all you people who were partying seriously through the eighties. It's got the songs that made you grab that special someone and head for that one single, special tile on the dance floor, where you remained swaying together for the entire slow session.

Hands up if you remember dancing to "Say You, Say Me", "Easy", "Three Times a Lady", "Still", "Endless Love", "Stuck on You" and "Hello".

Alright, now put your hands down before you ruin your circulation, remember you're getting on in age, old-timer.

However, before you rush off and buy this, maybe you should have a look at the UK version of this album, which consists of two discs packed with music. Here's the list:

Disc: 1

1. All Night Long

2. Say You, Say Me

3. My Destiny

4. Running With The Night

5. Dancing On The Ceiling

6. Don't Stop The Music

7. Love Oh Love

8. Ballerina Girl

9. My Love

10. Love Will Conquer All

11. Do It To Me

12. Cinderella

13. Tender Heart

14. Don't Wanna Lose You

15. Closest Thing To Heaven

16. I Forgot

17. Angel

18. To Love A Woman

Disc: 2

1. Three Times A Lady

2. Easy

3. Endless Love

4. Hello

5. Still

6. Sail On

7. Stuck On You

8. You Are

9. Truly

10. Just To Be Close To You

11. Sweet Love

12. Penny Lover

13. Oh No

14. Lady (You Bring Me Up)

15. Wonderland

16. Machine Gun

17. Brickhouse

18. Too Hot To Trot

19. Flying High

20. Zoom

It's available at Amazon.co.uk, and at a great price too.

Get the full story - cross the pond for the REAL collection.

Amanda Richards, December 10, 2004

Look, obviously this is a good collection, almost if not all the hits are here, fidelity is fine.

But if you love the ending of the version of "All Night Long" on the original album "Can't Slow Down," you won't find the full ending here. The editors have cut it 15 or 20 seconds early, starting the slow fade sooner. One of the nicest things about this track in its original form is the way it faded in the end with the horns. The original gave the horns full play and then slowly faded, while on "Definitive Collection" the fade out starts almost as soon as the horns begin playing.

I do wish people would stop dicking with songs on the margins on Greatest Hits Collections. It is happening everywhere. It's getting to the point where you just can't trust a Greatest Hits collection to deliver the full goods anymore.

Curses to whoever edited this album!

Hello. This is a great compilation of Lionel's music spanning a variety of musical genre. It includes songs from his days with the Commodores as well as the smooth ballads from the 80's that Truly revealed the Endless Love for his music. It is Easy to relax while listening to songs like Just To Be Close To You, Ballerina Girl, and Running With The Night. Being a longtime Richie fan, I purchased it without first looking at the songs included. His sexy vocals make me feel like Three times a lady when he sings his new song, To Love A Woman (featuring Enrique Iglesias). I can listen All Night Long to songs like Penny Lover, Say You, Say Me and Dancing On The Ceiling. His other new song will make you feel like the Angel he sings about and is guaranteed to get Stuck On You. I am sure he will Do It To Me one more time with his next release this fall. As you can see, there are no parts of the album I dislike, but if You Are not a fan, just Sail On and don't hate on it. Goodbye

The American version of this is not as good as the British version. The American version could have produced a far better compilation with more of Lionel Richie's hits in it. The British (UK) version is a far better version comprised of a double CD package with lots of Richie's hits along with several of the Commodores hits. This makes for better listening pleasure. The UK version covers Lionel's entire career not only as lead singer with the Commodores but as a solo artist. I would definately recommend the UK version of this compilation over the US version. If you can't get the UK version, then I guess you will have to settle for second best.

Lionel Richie finally gets a fitting retrospective with THE DEFINITIVE COLLECTION, which covers more ground than BACK TO FRONT and TRULY/THE LOVE SONGS did. Besides his trademark ballads (which to be honest, I love "Hello", "Easy", "Penny Lover", "Stuck On You", "Say You, Say Me", "Do It To Me", "Ballerina Girl", and "Goodbye"; I can't stand "Endless Love" and "Three Times A Lady" because they're too saccharine and so overplayed, and the rest are ok.) But the uptempo songs are just terrific. "All Night Long (All Night)" was the first Lionel Richie song I ever heard; that song brings back so many good memories. "Running With The Night" sounds like a great slice of 80's synth-pop with all those layers of keyboards and the obligatory guitar solo. And "Dancing On The Ceiling" is a guilty pleasure, a goofily infectious new wave dance track (back in '88 I bought the tape of DANCING ON THE CEILING and it reminds me of long road trips between Houston and El Paso that I used to take with my family.) The two new tracks are decent; "To Love A Woman" is a soulful duet with Enrique Iglesias which sounds like a leftover from Iglesias' ESCAPE, while "Goodbye" is a classic Lionel Richie Ballad in the mold of "Hello" and "Truly". The limited edition bonus disc contains 5 tracks: "Zoom", "Oh No", "Can't Slow Down" (early working version), "Lady" and, as an unlisted track, "Brick House", which makes the bonus disc a keeper. This collection could have easily been a full 2-disc collection, maybe that will surface in the future. Anyway, this is the best Lionel Richie CD ever.