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24.01.14 MusicWeek 39


NEW REISSUES / CATALOGUE ALBUMS


DODGY •Good Enough - The Very Best Of (Spectrum SPECD 2150)


A Brit-pop trio with a bright and breezy sound, Dodgy were both influential and successful, and


this low price 19-song CD includes all 11 of their hits, and spans 20 years, from their earliest recorded songs to some impressive newer material included on their 2012 comeback album, Stand Upright In A Cold Place. Prime among their hits, of course, is the Good Enough, an uplifting and impossibly catchy anthem that was to prove their biggest hit, reaching number four in 1996. Staying Out For The Summer - a hit in both 1994 and 1995 - was another killer cut but perhaps their finest four minutes came in the form of Good Enough’s follow- up, If You’re Thinking Of Me, a slow, atmospheric almost Beatlesque song decorated by strings and backing harmonies that is right up there with the best songs of their admirers, Oasis.


VARIOUS •Britain's Greatest Hits(Acrobat - see below)


A simple concept, Acrobat’s new Britain’s Greatest Hits double disc sets - covering the years 1953 to


1962, and sequentially numbered FADC2026 to FADCD 2035 - each have a picture of a different record player on the front, and are populated by 40 Top 10 hits from the year in question. This being the decade prior to The Beatles breaking big, there is a great deal of variety and absolutely no fillers, although the quantity of number ones on offer ranges from a low of eight to a high of 16, the latter tally enlivening the contents of the 1961 disc, where the The Allisons’ Eurovision entry Are You Sure, Shirley Bassey’s powerful Climb Ev’ry Mountain and the Brill Building brilliance of The Shirelles’ Will You Love Me Tomorrow and Neil Sedaka’s Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen all find a home. A highlight year is 1958 where early Bacharach masterpieces The Story Of My Life (Michael Halliday) and


Magic Moments (Perry Como) keep company with rock’n’roll classics like At The Hop (Danny & The Juniors), Jailhouse Rock (Elvis Presley) and Good Golly Miss Molly (Little Richard) as well as the more staid but well-crafted It’s All In The Game (Tommy Edwards), A Certain Smile (Johnny Mathis) and Twilight Time (The Platters).


THE EAGLES: 1972-1999 •Selected Works(Asylum/Elektra 8122796239)


Previously released in 2000 at a higher price point, this four- disc set covers the period from


the Eagles’ recording debut in 1972 to that point. Priced to sell for less than £10, it is impossible to deny that it offers great value for money at under 20p a shot for the 53 tracks and some nice packaging that includes a slipcase and a densely detailed 24-page booklet. The Eagles’ unmatched mastery of the country/rock genre is apparent throughout. The first CD, The Early Years, clearly showcases a band


on the rise, with drummer Don Henley’s vocals spellbinding on Witchy Woman, group harmonies shining on Peaceful Easy Feeling, and Glenn Frey’s Tequila Sunrise being a suitably heady delight. CD2 - The Ballads - demonstrates the band’s mastery of more delicate songs, with I Can’t Tell You Why, The Best Of My Love and Take It To The Limit all excellent, while CD3 - The Fast Lane - wheels out big hitters like Hotel California, Heartache Tonight and One Of These Nights. The last disc captures the band at the peak of its live powers in 1999, performing a dozen selections at its Millennium Concert.


VARIOUS • Echoes Of France Volume 2 (Fantastic Voyage FVDD 184)/Francoise Hardy &


Her Contemporaries (El ACMEM 2562CD)


With a distinctly Gallic flavour, these two albums are complementary but rather different. Although they both include Francois Hardy’s Ton Meilleur Ami (a pleasant little


bon-bon that sounds rather redolent of A Little Bit Of Soap) and Brigitte Bardot’s folky first single Sidonie, Echoes Of France takes a much broader view of the French scene, with 50 recordings covering the 1930s to 1960s via a who’s who of French talent, including Edith Piaf, Sacha Distel, Michel Legrand, Gilbert Becaud and Leo Ferre. Francoise Hardy & Her Contemporaries is not particularly well-named - it includes only two songs by the titular talent - but it is otherwise a real delight, with the vast majority of the 31 songs that are crammed onto a single CD dating from the turn of the 1960s. All are vehicles for female vocalists and were recorded in France, though their perpetrators include Danish born Anna Karina, Italy’s Mina, Bulgaria’s Sylvia Vartan and Britain’s Gillian Hills. American actress Sue Lyon - who starred as Lolita in Stanley Kubrick’s film of the same name - is the only artist who sings in English, contributing a spirited Turn Off The Moon.


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