★★★★★
The long-held shorthand suggests that Ocean is a product of the 70s disco scene and beyond, albeit a singer with deeper, more soulful strings to his bow.Having taken a 15-year break to raise a family, his 2008 return garnered enough interest for a comeback album to be followed by a greatest-hits collection that put him back in the Top 20...
- recordcollectormag.com
2013-06-20
★★★★★
After navigating a series of commercial peaks and valleys from the mid-'70s to the early '80s, Trinidad native Billy Ocean (born Leslie Charles) rocketed to international mega-stardom in 1984. A steady string of top-ten crossover singles such as "Suddenly," "Caribbean Queen," "There'll Be Sad Songs (to Make You Cry)" and "When the Going Gets Tough (The Tough Get Going)" cemented his appeal as a soulful crooner just as at ease with uptempo power-pop anthems as he was with heartfelt R&B ballads...
- www.soultracks.com
2013-06-01
★★★★★
Six years after The Ultimate Collection comes a Very Best Of from the Trinidad-born Londoner whose heart was in Detroit. Just as with its predecessor, which it closely resembles in content if not running order, it's a mixed bunch. Most successful are the frantic mid-70s hits that announced Ocean's arrival, such as Love Really Hurts Without You and Red Light Spells Danger...
- www.recordcollectormag.com
2010-12-21
★★★★★
Billy Ocean 's Because I Love You left me wondering...did he change or did I? One thing is clear. The Trinidadian is definitely capable of flipping the script. Ocean had been recording for about five years before his music finally reached my ears. And I have to admit that I liked what I heard. The year was 1981. I was a senior in high school, and Ocean and Denroy Morgan brought some Caribbean funk to us Yanquis...
- www.soultracks.com
2010-12-07
★★★★★
Jimmy Cliff he ain't, and Jimmy Cliff ain't all that much. But platinum-plus he is, and it's my considered guess that we'll be hearing more lilting, faintly West Indian tenors, the closest England comes to soul.
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-17
★★★★★
All second-rate soul singers are creatures of their arrangements; what makes it harder to pin Billy down is that these days a lot of first-rate soul singers are also creatures of their arrangements. "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" and "Get Outta My Dreams Get Into My Car" not only hold the record for the most uses of a verb other than "love" in a great hit and its de facto follow-up, they're also a great hit and its de facto follow-up. Many other fast ones are quite OK...
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Way before hook-smart pop/R&B; ditties like "When the Going Gets Tough" and "Get Outta My Dreams, Get into My Car" established Billy Ocean as an 80's radio icon worldwide, the singer was belting out 60's-laden soul workouts and ballads that mainly stuck a chord with UK audiences. This youthful debut outing boasts a nice balance of slow and fast numbers, and finds Ocean putting an abundance of energy into each track (at times perhaps a bit over-exerted)...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
Billy Ocean was on his way to superstardom with this album, his first big hit release on Epic. The title song was his first R&B; Top 10 record, and he got another couple of chart singles before beginning his run of R&B; and pop hits. It also demonstrated his equal ability doing exuberant uptempo dance tunes and convincing, if at times oversung and vapid, ballads. Epic was later left red-faced when an act they developed moved over to Jive/RCA and went platinum.
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
★★★★★
After achieving worldwide stardom in the '80s, Ocean took a three-year recording hiatus in the early '90s. This resulting comeback album found him offering strong melodies, lyrics, and vocals once again, yet on occasion also showed him falling victim to current production trends. The set's highlights are the numbers produced by Steely & Clevie, R. Kelly and Dorsey "Bob" Robinson, while the tracks done by club stalwarts Hula & K...
- music.aol.com
2008-08-28
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