Compilation Album Review: "Hit Machine 8"

Compilation: Hit Machine 8
Released: 1995 – BMG
Number of tracks: 20
Number one singles: 1 – "Another Night" by M.C. Sar & The Real McCoy
Other top ten singles: 8
Best track: "Dead Eyes Opened" by Severed Heads
Hidden gem: "Can't Get Enough" by Supergroove

Hit Machine 8 is a pretty solid compilation, and there's only one song that is eminently skippable, which I'll get to. These are all songs that charted at the tail end of 1994 into early 1995. When I was watching Rage and found that M.C. Sar had entered the charts with "Another Night", I thought hey, these are those same guys who did a cover of Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam" back in 1990 with a dodgy German-accented rap (and I actually bought the cassingle of it!). When "Another Night" shot up to number 1 I'll bet few people knew them from that cover — and it's this song that opens the CD. It's nice and catchy enough, but it's always seemed like a somewhat sad song to me. "When the night is gone I'll be alone", the lyric that ends the first stanza of the chorus, is a rather depressing sentiment to be expressed in such an up-tempo song. But, as has been proved, techno and dance music isn't 'happy-clappy' all the time. "Mr. Vain" is another example of a lyrically dark techno song.

Next comes the song that you should skip if you hear this album: "Short Dick Man" by 20 Fingers feat. Gillette. I don't know who Gillette is or was, and I don't much care, but the song is repetitive, irritating, and about two minutes too long. Then there's the offensive aspect to it; just imagine if it was a dude singing about a woman's anatomy! The song would never be a hit and he'd be pilloried for it. But that aside, there are a fair bit of explicit lyrics in this song which aren't cut out, and there was even a 'radio friendly' edit of this song which they called "Short Short Man". I'm not the type who insists that swearing should be edited out on pop music compilations, but it has been on past releases — The Steppers, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Cypress Hill and Denis Leary have all had singles with the 'F-word' censored on albums like these, so why should bloody Gillette, of all people, be the one who gets away with it?

There at least two dance covers on here: "Total Eclipse Of the Heart" (Nicki French) and "Sky High" (Newton, which seems to rip off Corona's "The Rhythm Of The Night" in its intro). Possibly "Cotton Eye Joe" (Rednex) as well. Then there are updated versions of two '80s hits. The first of these is Arrow's reworking of "Hot Hot Hot", a song which always reminds me of a pool party I went to circa 1995, and the remix of Severed Heads' "Dead Eyes Opened" — I would definitely not have chosen it as the best out of these 20 songs if I'd listened to it in 1995, but I've come to appreciate it more over the years.

I'd forgotten Londonbeat's "Come Back" even though it reached the top 20 here, and "Sooner Or Later" by gf4 (the 'sexier' version of Girlfriend) was actually better than I remembered, even if the lyrics could be a little less middle-of-the-road. And it's good to hear Ya Kid K (is the one) on Technotronic's "Move It To The Rhythm", a song I don't remember hearing at all back in '95, and only tracked it down thanks to the internet, but that was ages later, dude.

Ween's "Voodoo Lady", one of my favourite songs by them, is also on here, with its great manipulated feedback breakdown in the middle. Ween were geniuses and I'll see anyone outside who disagrees! Boom Crash Opera remind us they were a damn fine rock/funk outfit with "Tongue Tied", but my hidden gem "Can't Get Enough" is the clear rock winner. What happened to Supergroove? They clearly had a lot of talent and deserved to be bigger than they were.

An entertaining enough way to spend 75 minutes! (But skip that Gillette track, it sucks.)

Rating: 7/10