A couple of years ago while on a trip to Nova Scotia my wife and I happened upon the little mining town of Spring Hill. Much to our surprise and delight this little berg turned out to be the hometown of none other than one of the most popular Canadian recording artists of all-time, Anne Murray. And smack dab in the middle of town we came upon the Anne Murray Center. Staffed by local townspeople, the Anne Murray Centre offers visitors a unique opportunity to view an impressive array of awards, photographs, memorabilia as well as audio and visual highlights of Anne Murrays remarkable career. If you are ever in that area I would heartily recommend it! We had seen Anne perform in our area just a few years earlier and were thoroughly impressed with her performance. She is the consummate pro. If you are a big fan like we are you might be wondering just what is the best available collection of the music of this talented lady. In my judgement "All of Me" would easily get the nod.

"All of Me" features 16 of Anne's all-time greatest hits. These are the original Capitol recordings that you would remember from the radio. The fact that they have been digitally remastered will only enhance your enjoyment of memorable tunes like "A Love Song", "Broken Hearted Me", her spirited remake of the Monkees "Daydream Believer" as well as her very first hit record "Snowbird" from all the way back in 1970. Anne Murray would be a fixture on both the pop and country music charts during the entire decade of the 1970's and for much of the 1980's as well. Among the dozen other hit singles included in this collection are "Just Another Woman In Love", "You Won't See Me" and the moving "Can I Have This Dance". And what Anne Murray package would be complete without her memorable 1973 hit "Danny's Song" which as you might recall was written by Kenny Loggins.

Now if that were not enough, Straight Way records has also included a seperate disc containing Anne's interpretation of 15 of the most beloved songs of all-time. I have to say I loved each and every one of them. Enjoy once again brand new versions of perennial favorites like "My Buddy", "As Time Goes By", "Over The Rainbow" and of course "All of Me". When my wife and I saw Anne Murray in concert several years ago she performed a number of standards. Her love for this music was quite apparent and it comes through quite clearly in these recordings.

And so to sum up, I can do nothing less than heartily recommend this 2 disc set. The sound quality is wonderful and the choice of material is superb. Add to that the fact that the price is quite reasonable and what you have here is a terrific collection that is also a great value.

You can safely ignore the Amazon Editorial Review. This CD is one of my very favorites. Not only does it include many of the songs that I grew up with and recall fondly to this day, but they are arranged in what I'd consider an almost perfect balance to both the lyrics and to Anne's presentation, complementing but not overpowering her singing. Very professional and creative arrangements. In fact, I listen to this CD as much for the arrangements as for Anne's performance. I hope she'll do another one like it, with some more of the old classics on it.

Anne is the tops and there are no others who can compare to this lady. She does everything to perfection. She can take a song and wrap her voice around it and make it a gem, no matter what....This album is full of wonderful suprises and the instrumentals are just out of this world. Anne is full of emotion on every note, what a tribute to a best buddy.

We love her and hope to hear more of her over the years to come...do yourself a favor and buy one of these albums for everyone you know......and when Anne guys on tour, make sure you catch her there too, because it is something you will never forget....

Anne, You go with your bad self............

We love ya....

Stace

By now (2005) many "old-school" artists have released albums of "standards", those great songs from largely our parents generation. It might be Rod, or Cindi, or Linda, or Carly, or others releasing CD's of these songs, but the fact remains, for as good as these songs are, they are not the songs that made any of these artists stars in the first place.

Now we have Anne Murray releasing a collection of some great standards, but as the appropriatly named CD suggests, she also gives us a disk of her own songs, and reminds us why she became a star in the first place.

Disk 1 includes a great mix of upbeat (Dream a Little Dream of Me, Smile, Over The Rainbow) classics, and the more meloncoly

(After Your Gone, What'll I Do, I'll Be Seeing You), and Anne's golden, velvetly pipes give all of these tracks a fresh vibe.

Disk 2 gives us a great career spanning collection of Anne's best known songs. I never tire of hearing such gems as Snowbird, You Won't See Me, Shawdows In The Moonlight, etc.

However some of her ballads included here are what really allow her to shine. The simple beauty of Could I Have This Dance, and You Needed Me, while made for the romantic in all of us, yeild to songs like A Little Good News (still a VERY revelant song today), Broken Hearted Me, and Time Don't Run Out On Me.

This excellent 2 disk collection is a great way to discover, or re-discover Anne Murray!

I have been a hugh fan of Anne Murray ever since I was a teenager. This CD not only has all of my personal favorites, but I love the songs on Disc One which are older songs. She captures the magic of those songs with a sophisticated style. I particularly enjoyed her rendition of "Over the Rainbow" and "I'll Be Seeing You". This is a classic edition of recordings which captures the whole personality and values of Anne Murray. I highly recommend purchasing this CD.