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PRODUCT REISSUES NEW REISSUES / CATALOGUE ALBUMS
LISA STANSFIELD • The Collection 1989-2003 (Edsel LSBOX 1)
Hot on the heels of her album chart comeback with Seven - which reached No.13 earlier this year -
and an impressive acting cameo in Elaine Constantine’s film Northern Soul, Lisa Stansfield is the subject of this impressive box set from Demon’s Edsel label. With the 10 year old Complete Collection - which anthologised her five Arista albums - now out of print, The Collection 1989-2003 covers the same ground in much greater and more impressive detail. Newly remastered and massively expanded to 13 CDs and five DVDs by the inclusion of rare tracks, remixes, promotional videos, concert footage and exclusive new interviews conducted by Mark Goodier, the albums come with 28 page booklets and are housed in a chunky slipcase. Also released simultaneously in standalone deluxe three disc (2 CD + 1 DVD) editions, they are 1989’s Affection (EDSG 8053), 1991’s Real Love (EDSG
8054), 1993’s So Natural (EDSG 8055), 1997’s Lisa Stansfield (EDSG 8056) and 2001’s Face Up (EDSG 8057). Also in the box, People Hold
On...The Remix Anthology (EDSX 3025) is a triple CD set crammed with extended 12-inch mixes by the likes of Frankie Knuckles, David Morales, Coldcut and The Orb. First coming to notice as the featured singer on Coldcut’s People Hold On, Stansfield got into her stride immediately, scoring with a succession of tracks which were both extremely soulful and danceable. Affection was a remarkably assured and hugely commercial debut album that boasted the No.1 smash All Around The World and the hits This Is The Right Time, Live Together and What Did I Do To You. It laid the foundations for what was to be a remarkably successful career, which saw all of the first four albums make the Top 10, while spinning off 15 hits, including the sophisticated All Woman, the cinematic John Barry collaboration In All The Right Places, the irresistible The Real Thing and the incredibly sensuous Time To Make You Mine, whose promotional video - showing a naked Lisa rolling around in flowers - is also included. An
extremely well executed and welcome release, with around 20 tracks new to CD, it does, however, fail to include the Barry White duet version of All Around The World (the flip to Time To Make You Mine) and, although excellent live gigs from 1990, 1997 and 2002 are included, the excellent 1992 VHS video of Lisa At Wembley: Live fails to make its DVD debut.
JOHN KONGOS • Kongos (Esoteric ECLEC 2466)
Father of the quartet Kongos who have had Top 40 success in America recently, John Kongos
was a South African musician who was fleetingly popular in Britain, scoring consecutive No.4 singles with 1971 releases He’s Gonna Step On You Again and Tokoloshe Man. Home to both, this album subsequently provided Kongos with his only album chart entry, reaching No.29. It has now been digitally remastered, expanding from 10 to 19 tracks in the process, and released with a 16 page booklet providing
copious amounts of information and illustrations. Produced by the trusty Gus Dudgeon, it turns out to be a surprisingly eclectic and enjoyable listen with the driving Tokoloshe Man boasting a busy and full arrangement, as it develops from an almost tribal beginning into a propulsive, slightly fuzzy anthem. Perhaps better know at this distance, He’s Gonna Step On You Again provided the sample and inspiration behind Step On - Happy Mondays’ biggest hit. Fading in, and also tribal, it develops into a slick pop song before subsiding again at the end with tribal drums and chanting to the fore. Other highlights include Sometimes It’s Not Enough and Gold - good singer/ songwriter fare - and Jubilee Cloud, a rollicking boogie track.
VARIOUS • TV Is The Thing - Fifties And Sixties Television Themes (Croydon Municipal CR 9012)
TV theme albums have been fairly commonplace over the years but as you might expect with Saint
Etienne’s Bob Stanley curating this selection for his own Croydon Municipal label with DJ Martin Green, TV Is The Thing turns out to contain more than just the usual suspects. There are a few familiar tracks, of course - for example, Champion The Wonder Horse by Frankie Laine, Johnny Dankworth’s original Avengers Theme and Las Vegas, Laurie Johnson’s theme for Animal Magic. But it is more interesting and intriguing to hear the theme to Eggheads - a 1961 sitcom that ran for one series not the current cerebral quiz show - and The Cambridge Strings’ theme for Desperadoes, a show so obscure that Stanley has come up with no information on it for what is otherwise an educational booklet. Worth buying for the 23 TV themes alone (Dinah Washington’s excellent title track fits nicely but wasn’t a TV theme) but the compilers have sold themselves a little short by not listing the 19 TV commercials - for everything from Outspan Oranges to Zal Disinfectant and Eskimo Frozen Foods - that preface all but a handful of tracks.
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