Varese Sarabande's 12 Classics is not a collection of Ed Bruce's original hits. As explained in small type on the back cover, this collection "contains new recordings of Ed Bruce's greatest hits, recorded April 1997," so it's not really a good substitution for Varese's regrettably out of print 18-track 1995 collection The Best of Ed Bruce, although most of these 12 songs were on that collection of 1975-1986 material. These aren't bad recordings by any means. They're a little too laid-back, perhaps, and the arrangements are a little limp, but Bruce is in good voice and they're entirely pleasant. Although they're nice to hear, they're not the kind of recordings you'd seek out unless you were a hardcore fan who might like to have these mellow re-recordings as part of your collection. But anybody who thinks this is indeed a replacement for the previous Varese collection should stay away. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine