Loleatta Holloway

Charly's Runaway: The Best of Loleatta Holloway overlaps Capitol's Greatest Hits with just over half its selections and, like that compilation that was released just a year prior in the U.S., it concentrates on her '70s work as a disco diva for the revered Salsoul label. The differences between this U.K. release and Greatest Hits has more to do with what caught on in the respective countries than anything else. Both compilations do justice to Holloway's discography, but this one is slightly better in its track selection. For instance, this disc rectifies the major gaffe of Greatest Hits' exclusion of "Dreamin'," a single that hit number three on the Billboard club chart in the U.S. Apart from that, both discs include the most significant moments of this era of Holloway's career. Regardless of how the discs stack up next to each other, you'll get over an hour of exemplary '70s dance music either way. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide