Billy Squier

If your into great rhythm, good vocals and classic rock, then you can't go wrong with this album. Don't Say No is a rare and beautiful piece of work. Nice drum work on this album.

Following Tale of the Tape, this is the release that had everyone listening to hits like "The Stroke", and "Lonely Is the Night", and "My Kinda Lover", just to name a few. I still remember hearing "In The Dark" for the first time on the radio. Moments later I was peddling my bike to the store to buy the 45 rpm. Every song on this release rocks. Billy is a fantastic song writer and musician. Happy listening!!

There are some solid, Zeppelin-esque hard rock songs on this disc, but the radio hits are the highlights of the album; the deeper cuts are more filler than hidden gems. Squier might not take home any awards for the depth of his lyrics, but that's not why you'd buy this album in the first place.
The production is overly biased towards the midrange and treble. This might have been ideal back in the day to help the small 4X10" speakers mounted under the rear deck of your Camaro cut through the rumble of a big block V-8 piped through glass-packs, but nowadays it sounds a bit harsh and annoying at higher volumes. It could stand to be remastered for better tonal balance.

The inside album art is a bit strange. Squier is wearing a leather jacket which has a seemingly disconnected female hand reaching out from inside. Both of his hands are in plain sight. Serial killer chic? Does he use the extra hand to play a double necked guitar? It's a question for the ages.

Mullets ahoy!

I have to say that this is probably one of the best albums ever released it was huge when it first came out and you'll have trouble naming a Billy Squier song that isn't on this CD. It's like buying Billy Squier's Greatest Hits. "In The Dark", "Lonely Is The Night", "The Stroke" & "My Kinda Lover" are all on this studio disc. Plus quite a few other gems. The only hit I can think of that's not on here is "Everybody Wants You" which is on Emotions In Motion. It's a must have.

Don't Say No by Billy Squier was one of the top albums of the 80's. It is still excellent by today's standards. I highly recommend this CD. This was Billy Squire at his peak! 5 Stars!

I love Billy Squire...is much underrated rocker. But, why can't they provide a complete hit cd? Where is "Lonely is the Night" one of his best? Also missing "Too Daze Gone" & Whatta do you Want From me". Nothing absolute about this at all.

No problem with a five-star rating. This selection is "cream of the crop" blending in most of Mr. Squier's top hits along with two live tracks which I found sensational. This release pulls together everything a Squier fan could want. Not a boring moment of rock 'n roll here. A nice compilation. Happy listening!!!

Even though I live in England I had to order this CD from those lovely folks at Amazon.com as Billy is not exactly a household name over here. In actual fact if I wasn't a massive Queen fan I wouldn't know him either as none of his classy rock songs are played on the radio over here. As the liner notes to the CD state Billy Squier not only toured with Queen but recorded with Freddie Mercury too. On the brilliant Love Is The Hero Freddie's distinctive background vocals lend support to the song perfectly.

Remastered in 2005, all the songs sound great and every one is a winner on this compilation. Although having two live songs added on to the end of an album can sometimes not merge well with the rest of the record, in this case they work well. Both well chosen songs as they are two of Billy's biggest Billboard hits. All an artist like Billy Squier needs is for one of his songs to appear in summer movie blockbuster and he'll be re-discovered by a new generation. Until then though I'd advise anyone reading this to buy this excellent compilation.

Billy Squire paid his dues before finally grabbing the brass ring. A pair of underlooked albums with Piper (both unavailable) before going it alone as a solo artist (The Tale of the Tape) and then exploding with his second album, Don't Say No. The big meaty guitars and catchy shout along of "The Stroke" made him ready to start filling the stadiums formally reserved for the likes of Foreigner or Queen.

Billy was also a tailor made MTV figure. Willowy good looks, bushy rockstar hair, tough-guy style with puppydog eyes, the videos soon became unavoidable. When they clicked, like "The Stroke" and "Emotions in Motion," they added to the star-power. But when they backfired, as they did in the universally derided "Rock Me Tonight," Billy suddenly found his momentum stopped like ramming the wall in a Mack Truck in overdrive. While there were still a few minor hits, Signs of Life was where the big success stopped.

The remaining tracks on this best of signal that record company malaise or just a changing of the times were more at fault than the quality of the music. Freddy Mercury's backing vocal on "Love Is The Hero" makes it a standout. "Don't Say You Love Me" barely missed the top 40 in 1989. By now, however, Robert Plant lite was being over-hauled by Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, and his co-contemporaries (think Def Leppard, who opened for Squire in their early career, and Queen, who were preparing their final bow with Innuendo) were suffering the same fate.

Thus this 12 song plus 2 live extras CD sums up Billy Squire quite well. His albums have begun to see re-issue of late, so you can still eat from the whole platters on some of these songs, but for the casual fan of "The Stroke," this does a service to American Arena Rock of the 80's.

item arrived very quick and in brand new condition would recomend purchasing from here alot of hits on cd that everyone knows plus a couple of live versions.

This is one of billy's best albums.This is a must have to complete your collection.

This album still holds up after all of these years. I remember this album from high school and how much I loved it then. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Billy Squier. In Your Eyes is one of my favorites.

American Beat Records' reissue of Billy Squier's 1982 classic EMOTIONS IN MOTION is a great example of how everything that's old becomes new again. When I expressed interest in asking a young woman at my program in Connecticut for a dance to the poorly-mastered original version of this album (on cassette) in 1994, her staff told me to wait until this young woman got acclimated to her new surroundings first, and it turns out her counselor was right. I think the problem was that the original issue didn't use the original master tapes, which led to a somewhat tinny sound. This version's remastering, on the other hand, taken from the original masters, is warm and crisp, so get rid of your old copy ASAP and buy this version instead.

This album was one of my favorites as a senior in high school. Listening to it makes me feel 18 again. I love it!

I have had this as one of my favorite albums of all time. I was listening to this when I was still in high school and Listen To The Heartbeat is one of my favorite songs he did.

This is a best of collection from Squire's solo career that spans a little over 10 years from the early 80's to the early 90's. I had several of his studio albums on vinyl, but only one on CD, so I decided to pick up this collection to get some more of his stuff on disc. Pretty much every song on this album got at least some level of airplay which makes it somewhat surprising to remember just how popular Squire was at one time. Today Squire seems to be a bit of a forgotten artist, but he really did put out some great catchy little tunes. I have always found it a bit ironic that Squire's biggest hit "The Stroke" is a song that most people take to be about sex, but if you listen to the lyrics it is really a rather nasty swipe at the music industry. An industry that, for all practical purposes, would abandon Squire a few years after he wrote the song. All of Squire's big hits are here along with some album cuts and later singles. As in any single disc compilation there is much that is missing, but if you are just looking for a pretty decent collection of Squire's work this compilation is a good one. I believe there is also a two disc compilation album out there that is probably more comprehensive.

This compilation may be called The Best of Billy Squier but the title is inappropriate. The first six tracks, all from Don't Say No and Emotions in Motion, are hard rock heaven with the big hit "The Stroke", the killer riff rocker "Everybody Wants You", the funk/rock of "Emotions in Motion", and the dramatic "In The Dark", among them. Then the album really goes downhill. "Rock Me Tonight" is a good pop/rocker and would be his last big hit. The tracks "Don't Say You Love Me" and the power ballad "Don't Let Me Go", both from 1989's Hear and Now, are also very good. The rest of the album is really weak as the decent rocker "All Night Long" is ruined by the heavy keyboards while "Love Is the Hero" sounds like something John Parr ("Naughty Naughty") would have recorded. Other songs like "She Goes Down", "Tied Up", and "(L.O.V.E.) Four Letter Word" are extremely mediocre. There are so many great songs that could have replaced the cheesy tracks present ("Lonely is the Night", "Keep Me Satisfied", "Nobody Knows", "Learn How to Live", etc). Bottom line: Just pick up Don't Say No and Emotions in Motion and download the three other good songs here and you'll have the best of Billy Squier.

Billy Squier's anthology "16 Strokes" ought to be re-titled "8 Strokes and 8 Misses," for that more adequately describes the music contained therin. Squier scored success in the early 1980s as a shaggy-dooed and somewhat less polished Bon Jovi, starting with the 1981 album "Don't Say No," and the huge hit "The Stroke," (hence the title of the anthology). Arranged chronologically, the first half of the anthology is drawn from that album, as well as follow ups "Emotions and Motion" and "Signs of Life," which contain all of Squier's successful and semi-successful hit singles.

After that, there is little that anyone other than a diehard fan would ever want to hear more than once. The latter songs sound exactly like the earlier hits--minus the catchy hooks. Even the song titles (examples: "Love is the Hero," "Don't Say You Love Me, "Don't Let Me Go," "(L.O.V.E.) Four Letter Word") are tedious. Also, the CD booklet is remarkably skimpy, containing little information and no lyrics sheet.

Overall, an overly generous anthology from a relatively minor hard rock artist.

Billy Squier rocked in the 1980's. "Don't Say No" came out in 1981 and most of America was hooked. "Emotions In Motion" followed soon there after and Squier was riding the huge wave of success. His hits have been far and few between since then. Squire does rock on "In The Dark", "My Kinda Lover", "Everybody Wants You", "Don't Say You Love Me" and a few others. Easily his best and most popular release, "Don't Say No" suprisingly only has 3 cuts here on this "16 Strokes (Best Of)" disc. This is a shame. One of his best hits "Lonely Is The Night" is strangely absent... as are great rockers "Too Daze Gone" and "Whadda You Want From Me". From "Emotions In Motion", possibly the best song (and a big hit for him) "Learn How To Live" is missing here. Also, if you want to give Billy Squier his just dues, how about throwing a few tunes on this disc from "Tale Of The Tape" (1980) or anything from his Piper days. Any way you slice Squier you get some fun rocking songs, plenty of finger snaps, and drum sticks clinking together. He knows how to write a good pop tune. All 16 songs here bare his name as writer/creator. I give this disc 3 stars due to 2 missing classic songs (mentioned above); absolutely NO liner notes - you'd never know who his bandmates where, which songs came from which albums, the year they were released... etc; and 5 throw-away songs (tracks 12-16). Squier's "Reach For The Sky (Anthology)" is very good... it includes ALL his best work... but 2 discs is probably too much.

Ah, it is shameful to love this pop-wanna-be-hard-rock pretty boy. AT LEAST half of the songs on this CD could be smitten from known recorded music and never missed, but I do have to admit I like In The Dark and My Kind of Lover enough to have bought this. If these two songs make you reminisce fondly on that kind of 80's [crud], this is work picking up off the [...] bargain rack for a cheesy road trip sing-a-long. If not, don't bother...

I picked this holiday collection up a few years ago & it quickly became a MUST-PLAY Christmas cd. Some of the tunes are true rock & roll yuletide classics-such as Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer by The Smithereens, Rock & Roll Christmas by George Thorogood, along with Christmas Is The Time(To Say I Love You)by Billy Squier. However, I was thrilled upon first hearing Lovin' Little Christmas by Danny Tate! This song immediately caught my attention & I found myself playing it at least another 3 times before letting the cd play to the end. I wish Danny Tate had recorded an entire album of Christmas songs, also that Lovin' Little Christmas would receive some air-play around holiday time! This guy is a major find & while I did see 2 albums for Danny Tate here on Amazon, I can't help wondering why he's not up there with other major rock acts. Anyway, while I'm not too crazy about The ... Surfers or The Red-Hot Chili Peppers, it is a fun album all in all and you can't go wrong by sending for this collection & listening to it for years to come. Very highly recommended.

At last, this 80's gem is available on CD! It's one of his best, and some may argue his absolute best. For sure, it has no filler. I disagree with the editorial review, for every fan of Squier has always agreed that this album is great. It seems that Billy was only getting even better after "Don't Say No". Certainly, the three "must-have" CD's of his would be that one, 'Emotions in Motion', and this one, "Signs of Life". Unfortunately for Billy, video truly did 'kill the radio star', since his huge fan base was mostly young heterosexual males who were shocked with that one video release. It destroyed his credibility virtually overnight. Still, that song is actually excellent, as is this entire album. So come now, rock music fans, stop making Billy pay for his one mistake, and do yourself a favor. PIck up this awesome slab of 80's rock done right.
Peace, Billy!
:rock:

SIGNS OF LIFE is a great Billy Squier album which features a number of guests, including guitarist Brian May on the song "(Another) 1984)", as well as Jim Steinman's larger-than-life production. Unfortunately, previous issues of this album, which has been out of print for years, didn't come close to doing justice to Steinman's abilities as a producer, a situation corrected by the guys at American Beat Records through warm, crisp remastering. The inspirational/cautionary lyrics of "Reach For The Sky" come through crystal clear on this CD, which is a wonderful thing. The reissue producer's kids should be exempt from high-school community-service requirements as a reward for the great job their father has done bringing two of Billy Squier's much-maligned classics back to life.

I must say I am thrilled that Billy Squier's " Signs Of Life " has been re-released and remastered.I have thought about purchasing this cd for years,but just could not bring myself to pay the high price used resellers wanted.This cd is not stop rock n' roll.The song that got all the hype on this cd was" Rock Me Tonight ",the song is awesome!!Track 6 "(Another )1984,is great,and also features Brian May from Queen.From start to finish the cd is well worth owning,and should not be passed over.The packaging is very nice,and the sound quality will blow you away.Also pick up Tale Of The Tape,and Emotions In Motion.I promise you will not be disappointed.

This is a great CD! I've been trying to purchase this CD for many years. I didn't want to pay the ridiculous used prices people wanted for the then out-of-print release. I finally settled on purchasing a used ALBUM and ripped it to CD on my own. I'm very happy to see this CD has now been re-released and I quickly put my pre-order in. Upon receiving it, I quickly popped it in the CD player and boy does it ever sound good! I also ripped it to my Zune MP3 player along with the other essential Billy Squier CD's (Tale of the Tape, Don't Say No, Emotions in Motion). If you don't have these, you'll need to pick them up too because they've all been remastered. Rest assured, if you buy Signs of Life, you will NOT be disappointed.

Billy Squier's career peaked with the release of SIGNS OF LIFE. Unfortunately, it was short lived with the release of the video for Rock Me Tonight. You can not deny, however, the brilliance of this music. I am extremely happy to see this one finally come out on CD as it is very expensive on sites that sell it used. I will be rockin' this CD for a long time.

Tape of the tape is much like Don't Say No
but not as rocking. It has rocking moments.
The Big Beat, Rich Kid and You should be
high love. Songs like Calley oh and Who's
your boyfriend are great catchy pop tunes.
Squier first solo album should've had more
hits but he did great on all his albums even
without the hits that avoided him after MTV
killed it with the Rock me tonight video.
The song was and is still great! MTV ruined
many a carrer but Squier still has die hard fans.

The Tale of the Tape offers a rare glimpse into the early, post-Piper years of Billy Squier. In my opinion, Squier is a highly underrated, straightforward rocker. His unique vocals perfectly compliment a stripped-down accompaniment of raw guitars and thundering drums. This CD contains a lot of little-known, yet catchy tunes. Not really a bad song on here. Standing out particularly is the anthemic "The Big Beat" and the girlfriend-gone-astray "Who's Your Boyfriend". If you like simple, gritty hard rock, then I'd highly recommend this.

...it's missing one of his best songs ever. That song is "Lonely Is The Night". It's off of the same album (Don't Say No) that "My Kind of Lover", "The Stroke", and "In The Dark". Still, if you like good, hard rockin' but not heavy music that will take you back to the skating rink or put you back in your (or your older brother's) Trans AM then this is disc is a must.

For a short time in the mid-80's Billy Squire was all over AOR and to a lesser extent top 40 radio. The former lead vocalist / guitarist for the band Piper struck out on his own and had a formidable solo career. A lot of people never seemed to take Squire too seriously. Looking at some of his old videos today it is easy to see why. I always liked him though and he was a great live performer. "Hear And Now" came out at the end of the 80's when Squire's commercial success had started to slide. The album produced two modest hits the rocking "Don't Say You Love Me" and the power ballad "Don't Let Me Go", but on the whole Squire's career was on the downside by this time. I still enjoy this disc when I occasionally pull it out. Squire had a unique voice and was underrated as a guitarist. Besides the two singles (which are both great songs) the album also contains the goodies, "Stronger", "G.O.D.", "Mine Tonight", and "Your Love Is My Life". If you are a fan of Squire and don't have this one, it is worth checking out. You can by this album used from Amazon for under $3.

**** 4 OUT OF 5 STARS ****

Billy Squier became an instant radio and MTV superstar with his first two solo albums: 1981's Don't Say No and its 1982 follow-up Emotions in Motion. While videos drove his success in the early 80's, it was his "dancing and prancing" in the video for the hit "Rock Me Tonite" from his 1984 album Signs of Life that began the downward trend of Squier's career. With each ensuing album, the talented singer/songwriter received less and less support from his label, Capitol Records, and thus less aiplay on radio and TV alike.

With the release of Hear & Now at the end of the decade, however, Billy Squier became a rock-radio staple once more. The single, "Don't Say You Love Me" was the first true hit he had had in years, and the video was shown often in the MTV rotation. Fans who had never deserted Squier and new fans alike enjoyed a very strong, guitar-led album which rocked a little harder than his last couple of releases:

(1) Rock Out/Punch Somebody" sets the stage for a hearty serving of straight-ahead rock n' roll. Squier's easily-identified vocals are as charged as ever, and the guitar solos are still above par.

(2) "Stronger" is a solid pop-rocker with Squier's oft-used mix of relationships and emotions.

(3) "Don't Say You Love Me", as mentioned above, is a powerful, no-frills rocker, and has an "Everybody Wants You" kind of vibe.

(4) "Don't Let Me Go" is a slower, thoughtful, and solid rock ballad. A cool, somber video exists for this one (check youtube) - the anti-video to "Rock Me Tonite".

(5) "Tied Up" picks up the pace with some solid rock riffs added to Billy's love-em-or-leave-em lyrical poser.

(6) "(I Put A) Spell On You" is the surprise gem of Hear & Now. With the title borrowed from Screamin' Jay Hawkins' 50's blues/rock lament, it is a song that brings you back again and again to hear something a little different.

(7) "G.O.D." is much more a tribute to female charms than to theology, and gathers force as it moves through some well-written lyrics and competent riffs.

(8) "Mine Tonite" is a decent love song, but a forgettable one in Squier's extensive catalog.

(9) "Work Song" has some catchy lyrics and a good rhythm, but isn't one of the strongest here, either.

(10) "Your Love is My Life" is a beautiful, touching ballad, and is a refreshing love-song "with no stings attached", unusual for Squier.

Overall, Hear & Now launched a nice mini-comeback for a very underrated artist, although it marked the beginning-of-the-end for Billy Squier's relationship with Capitol. His next two albums, 1991's Creatures of Habit and 1993's (completely overlooked) Tell the Truth would receive little support from the label, and would lead to Squier walking away from the music business for years. For a brief moment, however, he relived the success of the early 80's, much to the delight of his fans.

While only "Don't Say You Love Me" may be familiar to the casual fan, Hear & Now is a must-have for die-hard fans of Squier. His amazing songwriting skills, powerful voice, and outstanding guitar work are all here for any real rock n' roll fan to enjoy.

Shane McMeans
- an admitted, long-time, die-hard Billy Squier fan

This was an excellent album, the last true rocker Billy Squire released. The whole thing is good. If you like Billy Squire at all, you should get this one. It's my favorite Squire album.
"Dont say you love me" was all over the radio in 1989, a lot of the remaining songs should have been too.

Just love re-discovering these vintage King Biscuit live performances of many days gone by. This fourteen track CD is of a gig that took place in March, 1983 in Worchester, MA. If I remember correctly, Def Leppard opened for Squire on that stateside tour. Damn fine arena rock to experience here. Best tunes {without a doubt} are the uplifting "Everybody Wants You", What Da Ya Want From Me", "My Kind Of Lover", "Emotions In Motion", the super radio friendly "Lonely Is The Night", "The Stroke" and {haven't heard this song in ages} "Rip This Joint". Line-up: Billy Squire-guitar & vocals, Jeff Golub-guitar, Alan St. Jon-keyboards & backing vocals, Doug Lubahn-bass & backing vocals and Bobby Chouinard-drums. Great work, King Biscuit. I can still think of several (very cool) shows they had on the weekly radio show every Sunday night but will never likely see a legit release. A must-have.

Billy Squier was the first live concert I ever attended and it was during the "Emotions In Motion" tour, so this CD is also a keepsake for me. I remember listening to The King Biscuit Flower Hour when I was younger and I am not sure if this was intended to be put on a CD when it was recorded for radio airplay, but I feel like the quality is pretty good over all. I am no sound engineer, but I found the sound to be good quality. I saw Billy Squier on the Ringo Starr tour and it made me yearn for his music, so I bought this as well as "Happy Blue" and I have been listening to both almost non-stop. If you are a Billy Squier fan, you should definitely buy this CD.

Recorded in 1983, this collection includes all of Squier's major hits up to that point, including "Everybody Wants You", "Learn How to Live", "My Kinda Lover", "Lonely is the Night', "In the Dark", & of course, "The Stroke." If it had been recorded just a couple of years later, to include a few later Squier essential hits, it surely would have been a classic.

This live concert CD is great. I loved Squier's slightly different interpretations of some of his music. A classic rock CD. The energy is electric in this concert.