Lost in France: The Early Years

AMG Review of Lost in France: The Early Years

Thom Jurek
All Music Guide

This double-disc comp of Bonnie Tyler's early chart-happy period ranges from her first charting single, "Lost in France" in 1977, to 1981, when she was still a force at the beginning of the MTV era. It's a slew of A- and B-sides, and album tracks that give a solid picture of Tyler's career as a fine interpretive singer and an individualistic, if idiosyncratic, voice in pop. Her delivery is rugged yet vulnerable, assertive yet tender. She is capable of anthems such as her monumental worldwide smash "It's a Heartache," to the most lithe of love songs, as evidenced by her read of "Goodbye to the Island." There are some very compelling covers here as well, including Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City," the Goffin & King classic "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman," Gary Brooker and Keith Reid's "A Whiter Shade of Pale," and even Jerry Ragovoy's "(Take a Little) Piece of My Heart" so closely associated with Janis Joplin. Truly, the only thing missing here is her movie smash "Holdin' Out for a Hero," which has been compiled in numerous other places. There are 30 cuts here, ranging from straight-up-and-down pop, to ock, to hybrids, to post-disco '80s /p>

ew wave. All of them bear Tyler's indelible, utterly convincing stamp.