www.musicweek.com PRODUCTREISSUES NOW! No.1s • TONY BLACKBURN • PHIL HARDING • ETTA JAMES
VARIOUS: Now That’s What I Call A No.1(Virgin/EMI TV VTDCD 1047)
To mark the upcoming 60th anniversary of Britain’s first singles chart, the
country’s most successful album franchise, Now That’s What I Call Music is issuing this triple-disc set which (natch) contains 60 hits. There is no doubt that the tracks selected – including million-sellers like My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion, Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet, Gangsta’s Paradise by Coolio and Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye – will attract a large audience but rather than having one track from each year, the set panders very much to current tastes with a preponderance of 21st century tracks at the expense of earlier hits. There is no sign of the first ever No.1 – Here In My Heart by Al Martino – and, indeed, the only No.1 among the 94 that occurred in the 1950s is Elvis
Presley’s 1958 chart-topper Jailhouse Rock. At least Presley is here – there’s no sign of the group with most No.1s (The Beatles),the female with most No.1s (Madonna) or the UK’s most successful solo artist (Cliff Richard). Maybe the others were unavailable for licensing. If that’s the case, it’s a great shame that those responsible for making such decisions couldn’t be persuaded to participate.
TONY BLACKBURN: The Singles Collection 1965-1980(Collector COLLCD 1)
DJ Tony Blackburn often used to joke that records he felt were of poor quality hadn’t
been released, “they escaped”. It’s something that could possibly be applied to this, the first ever CD from the affable Blackburn, and the introductory release on his Radio 2 producer and old friend Phil Swern’s label, The Collector. It is simply a collection of singles
A&B sides that Blackburn released on a host of labels between 1965 and 1980. A former band singer, Blackburn was riding high as the DJ of Radio 1’s breakfast show when he released his passable version of the Goffin/King classic So Much Love in 1968. It became his only Top 40 entry, reaching No.31. Previous and subsequent singles met with less success, whether issued under his own name or under pseudonyms like Big Daddy, Brandy Snaps, Heart and Lenny Gamble. However, Blackburn remains popular, and this should pick up sales.
VARIOUS: Phil Harding: Club Mixes Of The 80s (Cherry Pop CRPOPD 100)
While the newly released Pete Waterman compilation may grab the headlines
and sell to the masses, this complementary Cherry Pop release gives Stock/Aitken/Waterman
enthusiasts a much meatier treat. Together with Ian Curnow, Phil Harding engineered and mixed the vast majority of recordings originating from the PWL studio, and a great deal more as well. This double-disc set contains 25 newly mastered classic remixes and rarities. Among the SAW-related songs here, there’s the Murder Mix of Dead Or Alive’s You Spin Me Round, the pleasingly chilled R&B mix of Rick Astley’s She Wants To Dance With Me, and Sinitta’s Body Shopping in a New Vogue mix. Harding also helped to remix several Motown classics in 1988, including The Jackson 5’s I Want You Back, and Diana Ross’ Love Hangover, which appears on CD in said mix for the first time. Add Eighth Wonder’s I’m Not Scared, Pepsi & Shirlie’s Heartache and Five Star’s Rain Or Shine, all in muscular dance mixes, and you have quite a feast. As a companion to the CD, there is an impressive 600-page book by Harding entitled PWL From The Factory Floor.
ETTA JAMES: Queen Of Soul (Kent CDKEND 377)
Etta James’ demise earlier this year has unleashed a lot of opportunistic
releases, but this isn’t one of them. The Kent/Ace stable already had a keen appreciation of James’ talent, and this newly expanded version of her classic 1964 album Queen Of Soul joins five others in their catalogue. On CD in its entirety for the first time, it finds James at the top of her form, with scintillating vocals – some effortlessly soulful, others raucously raunchy. The original 10 tracks – which include a fine version of Ed Townsend’s Mellow Fellow, and a take on Irma Thomas’ I Wish Someone Would Care that overshadows the original – are supplemented by 13 contemporaneous recordings, among them the corny Stop The Wedding and poppy, uptempo Two Sides (To Every Story).
06.07.12 MusicWeek 49
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