Love songs really don’t have to be that drippy and soppy, right? Ballads can be cool. Ask Nick Cave or the Tindersticks. Yet when every Valentine’s Day swings around, one of the most amusing things about it is the amount of cash-in compilations (Forever Love Vol. 26, Greatest Ballads of All, etc) that seem to clutter up the music racks. It’s just the average cheese recycled year in, year out.  

Tune in to radio today and you’re guaranteed an endless slew of Phil Collins, Westlife, Josh Groban and if Crazy Frog could gurgle a Mariah Carey tune, you bet that pesky amphibian would break the bank again. Thankfully, we’re spared the torture.