Greatest Hits [Import, Best of]

In the eighties, New Wave was one of the most dominant musical genres. Never before had it so widely dominated the musical spectrum, and never again would it. The vast majority of these artists were considered one-hit wonders (and because of this, this genre produced more one-hit wonders than any other genre(s) combined (with the possible exception of disco.) Falco is one of those who is written off as such, but he shouldn't be.

This guy's music is just too good. To call him a one-hit wonder is blasphemy.

Before I go on, I need to tell you something. If you didn't already know, nearly all of Falco's music is in German (something that was not uncommon in his part of the world in this era.) Accordingly, you'll need to listen with an open mind.

I admit, I bought this compilation for only one reason - I wanted to hear the original version of a certain track that After The Fire had covered in English. What track is it? I'll give you a hint - It's so cool a song, it's my Amazon name (for those of you who are too lazy to look, it's Der Kommissar.) In my opinion, Falco's version of this song is superior to ATF's. There is also a remix of this track as sort of an "extra," which is also good. And of course, we get the song that gave Falco his one-hit wonder status, Rock Me Amadeus. But, as other reviewers have stated, this is NOT the version you'll hear on American radio. This is the German Single Mix (the main difference between this version and the more common original version is that it has a different opening and doesn't have the woman's voice anywhere in the song.) And, of course, there is more to the compilation than just these songs. Vienna Calling is an excellent example of what New Wave should sound like. And Jeanny is an excellent ballad, which probably uses more English than any other track on here. As other reviewers have stated, the compilation is a bit lacking in the variety department. Falco's fourth and fifth albums receive ZERO REPRESENTATION here! Likewise, as another reviewer stated, the second half of the compilation is a bit lacking in comparison to the first.

Despire its shortcomings, this is a good compilation. Because Falco's music is extremely hard to come by in America, you'll be better off getting this instead of all his albums (unless you're willing to do a lot of internet shopping.) Falco was one of the superpowers of New Wave, and this compilation demonstrates that well.