Released less than a year after Joe Dolan's death, The Platinum Collection is a comprehensive greatest-hits collection that spans five decades over the course of 59 tracks. Dolan hit the Top Ten in five straight decades, from the 1960s to the 2000s, and remained not only active but relevant up until his death in 2007. While there's no shortage of Dolan compilations on the market, The Platinum Collection is the best and most comprehensive to date. Sequenced in chronological order, it opens with his first single, a cover of Del Shannon's "The Answer to Everything" that was a Top Five hit on the Irish charts in 1964. He continued to score hits throughout the mid- to late '60s, and many of them are compiled here, including "I Love You More and More Everyday," "My Own Peculiar Way," and "Aching Breaking Heart." The 12th track, "Make Me an Island," marks a turning point in his career. Written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, the song was his biggest hit to date; it reached the Top Five of the U.K. singles chart in 1969 and was also a hit in many other countries. Another turning point comes at track 20, the 1974 hit "Sweet Little Rock n Roller," the first of many songs written for him by Roberto Danova and Peter Yellowstone. The biggest hit of his career, "Lady in Blue" from 1975, one of those Danova/Yellowstone songs, shows up a couple tracks later. One of his last international hits, "I Need You" from 1977, is sequenced halfway through the compilation at track 26. From this point onward, the material steadily lessens in quality. Dolan continued to score hits in the 1980s, but it wasn't until the late '90s that he turned his career around with Joe's 90's (1998) and 21st Century Joe (1999). Comprised of contemporary pop covers such as Blur's "The Universal," Pulp's "Disco 2000," and R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" (all three of which are compiled here, along with a few others), these albums introduced Dolan to a new generation of listeners. Lastly, The Platinum Collection closes with a handful of post-millennial hits by Dolan that were released up until his death.
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