If it seems that getting eight CDs for the price of three is too good to be true, you're partially correct. While the packaging on this catalog presentation of Hot Chocolate's first eight recordings for RAK is handsome, it is strangely deceptive. Despite the box with photographic representations of all eight covers, the CDs are actually housed in a single four-disc jewel box. As for the music, there is little to argue with. This box contains brand-spanking-new 24-bit remasters of the RAK catalog -- a creative, commercially (as well as critically) successful run of hit singles and albums. Disc one packages Cicero Park and Hot Chocolate; disc two, Man to Man and Every 1's a Winner; Going Through the Motions and Class are on disc three; finally, Mystery and Love Shot close it out. There are 62 tracks in all. Some of the hit singles that were released during this period (all included here) are "Emma," "Disco Queen," "You Sexy Thing," "Put Your Love in Me," "Man to Man," "So You Win Again," "Mindless Boogie," "Don't Turn It Off," and many more. There is no unreleased material included in this package and the smash "Brother Louie" and other early singles are absent because they predate the album releases. Also lacking are the killer 12" mixes that were released in small numbers and/or to club DJs. What is here represents only the commercially issued album catalog. A second compilation of only alternate mixes, 12" versions, remixes, alternate takes, and demos is certainly warranted.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo