ROCK N ROLL FANTASY: THE VERY BEST OF BAD COMPANY

Prior to the 2015 collection Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy: The Very Best of Bad Company, there were only two Bad Company compilations in release: the lean 1985 set 10 from 6, arriving a full six years after their last hit album, and 1999's The Original Bad Company Anthology, a 33-track double-disc set that dug deep into the group's golden years of 1974-1982. Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy occupies a much-needed middle ground, providing 19 songs on a generous single disc. This, like The Original Bad Company Anthology, focuses solely on the six albums Bad Company cut for Swan Song, which means there's nothing from their late-'80s/early-'90s run on Atco, even though "No Smoke Without a Fire," "Holy Water," "If You Needed Somebody," and "How About That" are also owned by WEA and could easily have been included. So, this is all a matter of aesthetics: a decision to highlight the band's big, brawny arena rockers, the best of which ("Can't Get Enough," "Bad Company," "Ready for Love," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Shooting Star," "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy") are quintessential classic rock staples. The remaining 13 songs here -- including lesser-known singles "Movin' On," "Good Lovin' Gone Bad," "Honey Child," and "Gone, Gone, Gone," along with a representative portion of album cuts -- show how Bad Company offered more than those well-known songs, how they moved with a steady macho assurance that stripped British blues-rock down to the loud, churning basics. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine