www.musicweek.com PRODUCTREISSUES SWING OUT SISTER • HITS ITALIANO! • DAVID CASSIDY • BASS CULTURE
SWING OUT SISTER: It’s Better To Travel (UMC Re-Presents UMCREP 2014)
Universal’s new reissue imprint marks the 25th anniversary of Swing Out Sister’s
classic, chart-topping 1987 album with a deluxe edition featuring newly remastered audio, new liner notes by the band and a plethora of B-sides, alternate mixes, extended versions and edits spread over two CDs. Slick and sophisticated but warm and uplifting, it was an awesome debut, housing the memorable Top 10 hits Breakout and Surrender, plus much more in the same vein from the personable Corinne Drewery and bandmates Andy Connell and Martin Jackson. Tight, intelligent, accessible music with sweeping strings, stirring synths and haunting horns, it remains a masterpiece of modern pop.
VARIOUS: Hits Italiano! (Harkit HRKCD 8399)
For a period in the 1960s, British and US artists weren’t averse to recording English
langauge versions of Italian hits. Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, Engelbert Humperdinck’s Quando Quando Quando and Shirley Bassey’s I (Who Have Nothing) all came via that route – and even more artists whose native tongue was English cut Italian language versions of their own hits. This album comprises 18 examples of the latter, all newly remastered. The result is should earn Harkit sufficient sales to guarantee a second helping. Even for those who don’t understand Italian, it is an interesting album, which includes Chubby Checker’s Bailamo Il Twist - which, even in its original version as Let’s Twist Again is difficult to find on CD - Herb Alpert’s Un
Ragazzo Che Ti Ama (This Guy’s In Love With You) and 1910 Fruitgum Company’s Semplicissimo (Simple Simon Says). It’s particularly fascinating to here the different intonations and syllables, which give a completely fresh sound to old favourites – and how well or not the artists cope. Marianne Faithfull, for example, delivers a delicate but fluent and flowing performance of Un Piccolo Cuore (This Little Bird), while Georgie Fame sounds stilted and ill at ease.
DAVID CASSIDY: Cherish/Rock Me Baby(7T’s GLAMCD 134)
Spreading its tentacles far beyond the glitter of glam rock which dominated its
early release schedule, the 7T’s label focuses its attention on a pair of number two albums by David Cassidy: Cherish from 1972 and Rock Me Baby from 1973. Previously hard to find on CD, Rock
Me Baby and Cherish are finely honed pop albums, with pleasing and well-written songs by polished professionals like Tony Romeo, Wes Farrell and Bobby Hart, with slick backing from session deities The Wrecking Crew. Cassidy’s husky vocals were an excellent match for songs like Could It Be Forever, Cherish, How Can I Be Sure and I Am A Clown, all of which made the upper reaches of the chart and all of which are included here. Cassidy also proves he was no slouch as a writer, contributing the excellent Cherish closer, Ricky’s Tune.
VARIOUS: Bass Culture Volumes One, Two, Three, Four (Nascente NSBASS 001/002/003/004)
Respectively sub- titled This Town Is Too Hot!: Ska & Rocksteady, Original 1960s
Recordings Boss Sounds: Early Reggae 1968-1972, When Reggae Was King: Roots, Rockers,
DJs And Dubs 1970-1980 and Mash You Down: The Birth Of Dancehall 1978-1985, these are the introductory releases in Nascente’s Bass Culture reggae series marking the 50th anniversary of Jamaica’s independence. Chronologically sequenced and sourced from the best masters available, the albums – all double-disc sets – come with extensive liner notes which go some way to explaining the musical proficiency of a tiny island with a population less than a 20th of the UK’s. Track selection is excellent, balancing the need to include rarer, less heard recordings and familiar favourites. A perfect antidote for those who think all reggae is the same, the albums cover a lot of styles with volume three alone including examples of dub, lovers rock, DJ, funk and many more via an impressive roster that includes Bob Marley, Gregory Isaacs, Sly Dunbar, I Roy, Sugar Minott and Prince Far I.
20.07.12 MusicWeek 43
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