VARIOUS: “The Very Best Of That Loving Feeling” (Dino); VARIOUS: “As Time Goes By” (Dino)

NOW MR. Sam Snort might like a solid diet of The Rolling Stones, Prince, Madonna and Wagner for those moments of sweet leurve in which he is so frequently embroiled (or then again he mightn’t – Ed), but for us ordinary folk who can only manage to do it twice a day and five times on a Sunday, music of a more downbeat, lazy, sensual nature usually seems more appropriate for setting the mood. Which I guess is what the good people at Dino had in mind when they were putting The Very Best Of That Loving Feeling together.

There is some powerful stuff in here, of a winningly romantic character. Marvin Gaye’s ‘Sexual Healing’, Al Green’s ‘Let’s Stay Together’ and Dusty Springfield ‘I Only Want To Be With You’ stand out, each a classic with a positive soulful uplifting message. There’s some powerful songs of love-gone-wrong on board too, notably Sinead O’Connor’s still powerfully moving ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, The Righteous Brothers’ superb ‘You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling’ and Ace’s powerful ‘How Long?’ But there’s 40 tracks, no less, on this double CD and while some of them are dispensable, and there’s a solid wedge of MOR cuts, it’s well worth checking out for those choice tracks you missed the first time around.

As Time Goes By is an even more consistent offering. There are some stone gems here: Patsy Cline’s extraordinary ‘Crazy’, Bobby Vinton’s sombre ‘Blue Velvet’, Nat King Cole’s luxurious ‘Unforgettable’, Peggy Lee’s sassy ‘Fever’, Billy Holiday’s sensuous ‘Loverman (Oh Where Can You Be)’, Marilyn Monroe’s languorous ‘I Wanna Be Loved By You’ and The Platters’ ‘The Great Pretender’. If you have all of these in your collection, then you’ll know that ‘As Time Goes By’ could make an excellent Christmas present for one of your parents. And if you haven’t, then maybe you should give it to yourself, eh!

• Chris Donovan