It's hard to believe, but there hadn't been a Billy Ocean hits compilation released in the U.S. since the initial 1989 attempt Greatest Hits on Jive, so the 2004 release of BMG's Ultimate Collection would have been welcome even if it didn't live up to the expectations of the title. Thankfully, it does fit the bill quite nicely. There is one or two minor hits -- such as "I Sleep Much Better (In Someone Else's Bed)," the new song tacked onto Greatest Hits -- that aren't here, but the time was ripe for BMG to release a new disc, and this generous 18-track collection otherwise contains all of Ocean's hits, both big and small. It's also front-loaded, running through his biggest hits -- "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going," "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)," "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)," "Loverboy," "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car," "Suddenly" -- within the first six songs, so it's easy to think of this as a two-fer with the first half containing "The Best of Billy Ocean" and the second half being "More of the Best of Billy Ocean." It all adds up to the best Billy Ocean comp yet assembled, and it's likely that there never will be a better one than this. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize