| CD Reviews Various Artistes:
School Reunion
By Phil Savva
School Reunion is a triple-CD collection of some of the best, worst and
downright cheesiest tracks to have been released over the past 25 years.
But then that’s the appeal of these School compilations — it’s a nostalgia
trip, reminding us of our youth and all those discos and parties we went
to.
If you’ve ever visited one of the School Disco parties around the country
then you’ll know exactly what I mean. You sometimes wonder how you ever
danced to any of them.
So this latest triple CD offers up a wide range of genres with offerings
from ’80s pop icons Wham (Bad Boys), Frankie Goes To Hollywood (Relax and
Two Tribes) Duran Duran (Wild Boys) to rock legends Genesis (That’s All),
Queen (Don’t Stop Me Now) and Whitesnake (Here I Go Again).
Dancefloor memories come from The Gibson Brothers (Que Sera), Black Box
(Ride On Time) and SOS Band (Just Be Good To Me).
Too many to list here but there are other blasts from the past from Spandau
Ballet, J Geils, Laura Brannigan, Snap, MC Hammer, Billy Idol, Blondie and
many many more.
Possibly one of the finest nostalgia collections to have been released.
Various Artistes: The Very Best Of Power Ballads
By Phil Savva
As Christmas fast approaches so does the annual rush to release the compilation
albums that are always snapped up for pressies.
The Very Best Of Power Ballads is another triple-CD collection of some
of the greatest, saddest and most enjoyable driving anthems ever!
The track listing reads like a veritable who’s-who of the rock world
ranging from such giants as Boston (More Than A Feeling), Chicago (Hard
To Say I’m Sorry), The Rolling Stones (Streets Of Love), Europe (The Final
Countdown) to the more popular faces of Robbie Williams (Angels), Simple
Minds (Alive And Kicking), Queen (We Are The Champions) and Billy Idol (White
Wedding).
But for every feelgood anthem there’s a sobfest classic. So grab the
tissues and relive the likes of Cutting Crew’s Died In Your Arms, Sinéad
O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U and Nilsson’s Without You.
A really excellent compilation that would compliment anyone’s collection.
Deep Dish: Sacramento EP
By Phil Savva
Deep Dish have had a pretty successful year with big chart success with
their single releases Flashdance and Say Hello and their second album George
Is On also receiving critical acclaim.
Sacramento is an extended EP single CD that contains various mixes of
the tracks Sacramento, Swallow Me and Bagels taken from that album.
While it will probably have a limited appeal to the mass market fans
of the duo will lap it up.
Sacramento is an almost middle-of-the-road type track while Swallow Me
has a harder edge to it and is much more consistent with the dancefloor
genre. Bagels is easily the most up tempo and best of the three with a distinctive
synths sound.
The Beastie Boys: Solid Gold Hits
By Patrick Foley
The thing with the Beastie Boys is that, contrary to popular belief,
they’re not really a singles band.
Sure enough, they’ve got some classics, but for every Fight For Your
Right, there’s an awful frat-rap by numbers Triple Trouble.
This record however does exactly what it says on the tin — it’s a collection
of their most famous songs, their hits.
It just doesn’t show how diverse this band really can be, playing much
more on their beer-boy past than the activists they’ve later become.
If you want nothing more than a Beastie Boys Party Album though you’d
be hard pressed to do better than this.
Even the most rabid fan would admit that they’re not the most prolific
band in the world, so there’s none of the track-listing disappointments
that you’d get with a single CD collection of the previous Mr John’s chart
smashes.
They’re all here, from No Sleep Till Brooklyn right up to last year’s
An Open Letter To NYC proving that no matter how far those Tibetan monks
lead them astray they’re always true to their New York roots.
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