Compilation Compilation Album Review: "The Best Of 100% Hits 93"

Compilation: The Best Of 100% Hits 93
Released: 1993 –Warner Music
Number of tracks: 19
Number one singles: 5 — "Informer" by Snow, "That's The Way Love Goes" by Janet Jackson, "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz, "Cat's In The Cradle" by Ugly Kid Joe and "Can't Help Falling In Love" by UB40
Other top ten singles: 14
Best track: "The Hitman" by AB Logic
Hidden gem: None, because I've heard them all.

Why the tautology in the post title? Because this is a compilation of a compilation – the 100% Hits series releasing a best-of for the end of the year. As such, this is about as successful a compilation as you can get: all 19 tracks here reached the top 10, with five number 1s. But, will the selections be to your taste?

Well, looking at said five number 1s above, they haven't dated terribly badly. My favourite at the time was "Informer", but that style of music rapidly faded from popularity and while I still enjoy listening to it, I much prefer "The Hitman" as a dance track. It still kicks, and you can't deny it! Leonard Kravitz and Ugly Kid Joe still sound alright, and UB40's cover (it's funny how so many number 1 singles in the '90s were covers) has that reggae sound which was everywhere in 1993 but is still a good listen. As for Janet Jackson, I didn't much care for "That's The Way Love Goes", her only number 1 in Australia (and then only for one week). I much preferred "If" and other 'deep cuts', as pretentious tossers say, on the janet album.

Other highlights include East 17's "West End Girls" (another cover), Chaka Demus & Pliers' "Tease Me" (more reggae) and "Tequila" by ALT & The Lost Civilization – cringeworthy lyrics in parts, but I 'dug it', as they used to say in the '70s, at the time. Then there's the somewhat rapey "Sweat" by Inner Circle which got to number 2 (I can't remember what denied it the top spot – probably bloody Meat Loaf, and thankfully that rubbish isn't on here, having taken up nearly 6 minutes on the previous release, 100% Hits Volume 10).

The only truly weak moment is the godawful, shambolic, irritating pathetic excuse for a song that is "What's Up?" by 4 Non Blondes. There are already numerous rants on the internet about how bad this song really is, so you can search for those if you want to hear someone more articulate than I excoriate this hideous song. How it nearly topped the charts here I'll never know. But skip that track and you'll be set for some decent pop n' rock from 1993!

Rating: 7/10

Compilation Album Review: "Yo!...Let's Go!"

Compilation: Yo!...Let's Go!
Released: 1991 – EMI
Number of tracks: 18
Number one singles: 3 — "That Ain't Bad" by Ratcat, "Joyride" by Roxette, "I Touch Myself" by Divinyls
Other top ten singles: 6
Best track: "That Ain't Bad" by Ratcat
Hidden gem: "Movies" by Hothouse Flowers

This is one of my favourite compilations! Aside from a couple of tracks which were decidedly non-hits and pretty much forgettable, this is largely late 1990/early 1991 in a nutshell. It opens rather unconventionally with a single by a German group sung in Latin and French. Never 'eard of it, you may say. Well, you have and it's called "Sadeness (Part 1)" by Enigma. Or is it called "Sadness Part 1"? I actually prefer "Sadeness", the original and correct title, as it's a pun on the Marquis de Sade who the French lyrics refer to. This understated (and excellent) tune wouldn't be my choice for the opening cut but it's essential nonetheless, and unlike the lyrics that were published in Smash Hits and Hit Songwords at the time, the Latin lyrics of the antiphon sung by the Gregorian choir are included in the lyrics of this CD. Phew!

Following Enigma are M.C. Hammer and Vanilla Ice, the two biggest rappers of their day. The overweening piousness of "Pray" sounds decidedly un-hip alongside "Play That Funky Music", but them's the breaks. By the way, there were two distinctly different versions of "Play That Funky Music"; the version that appears here is not the album version, but the 1989 single version which had "Ice Ice Baby" as its B-side (before the latter became a hit). Two of its three verses were completely re-written for the album. The lyrics for the wrong version appear in the CD booklet. There, don't you find that fascinating?

Cathy Dennis' debut solo single "Just Another Dream" isn't anything special (it certainly doesn't match her single with D-Mob "C'mon And Get My Love"), so let's move on to "Operaa House" by World Famous Supreme Team Show, an ace tune that still warrants repeat listens. Eight tracks in and Ratcat comes along – they should have been the opening track – for the album's clear high point and the highest-selling (and best) Australian single of 1991. All these years later this song just shreds. Bloody brilliant.

"Joyride" is likewise still pretty great! And The Screaming Jets, though I wasn't a massive fan of theirs, still turned out some rockin' tunes in the early '90s, of which "Better" was their debut single. Then comes Divinyls with the other Australian no.1 on here. If I recall, Rage only aired the video for its first two weeks on the chart until it was thereafter banned from airing. Didn't stop it from zooming to number 1, did it?

"More Than Words Can Say" by Alias sounds like a mid-'80s castoff and sounds about half a decade out of date, but it's a big power ballad. I'm not big on rock ballads – "What It Takes" by Aerosmith is one of the few I can think of that doesn't bore me silly – so I'll take a pass on this one. Sorry, Alias. You suck. (I've looked them up and found they are a 'supergroup', but I don't recognize any of the washouts' names. Also, they're from Canada, so my interest wanes pretty much immediately. Sorry, Canada. You suck also.)

Second-best track here after Ratcat would have to be E.M.F.'s "Unbelievable" which maintains a similarly high energy level and one of the best songs of 1991, which still sounds great even though it tends to get overused by lame sports promos and crap commercials. It's always depressing when an ace tune from your 'youth' is used to flog crappy products on the box, ain't it?

"Crazy" by Seal – another debut solo single, and while still good, doesn't match the heights of his appearance on Adamski's "Killer" – comes towards the end with its downbeat feel. "Sadeness" should have slipped in here to maintain the mood, but it's Jenny Morris doing a Janis Joplin cover – I can take it or leave it – and Chris Isaak who finish off proceedings. Meh. It doesn't really matter – there's enough ace stuff here to keep me entertained, and a few obscurities that don't sound too bad either, all these years later. If you want to own only one compilation from 1991, make it this one.

Rating: 9/10

Compilation Album Review: "U Can't Touch This"

Compilation: U Can't Touch This
Released: 1990 – EMI
Number of tracks: 18
Number one singles: 5 — "U Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer, "Blaze Of Glory" by Jon Bon Jovi, "Epic" by Faith No More, "Bust A Move" by Young M.C. , "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette
Other top ten singles: 6
Best track: "Epic" by Faith No More
Hidden gem: "Colour Of Money" by Ray Lyell And The Storm – well, it was the only song here I hadn't heard yet.

This is the first addition to my retro comp collection to be acquired via eBay. I believe it's the only compilation to use the title of one of the songs on it – and that song is the first track, as you'd expect. It's one of a massive five number 1s on offer here! Naturally, and given I'm a huge fan of Faith No More, "Epic" is the best. No idea why they put it as track 11 – heads should roll over that one. I'm deducting a point for it! Instead, the mediocre dirge "Joey" by Concrete Blonde – a completely atrocious song – was picked for the coveted track 2 position. Bah!

Not to worry – you can skip it and head for one of the other highlights, M.C. Hammer or Young M.C. perhaps, or the cheesy yet fun "Turtle Power" by Partners In Kryme. If you ever want to hear a movie's plotline recounted in a rap, this is the track for you.

Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" really grated on me after a while. Also, it knocked Aerosmith's "Janie's Got A Gun" off number 1 after only a week, so that's another point against it. Her follow-up "The Emperor's New Clothes", while not as big a hit (but who could match that), was much better, and that's the one that's on here. You want sappy ballads, go for Roxette.

But the special Cheeseariffic Cheeseballeroid Award MUST go to Tina Arena whose "The Machine's Breaking Down" features some of the most idiotic lyrics ever written. It didn't make the top 20, and deservedly so. It also ensured she wouldn't make it to the top 5 for another four years. But hey, we're all human, yeah?

Rating: 7/10

Compilation Album Review: "100% Hits '92/Volume 3"

 

Compilation: 100% Hits '92 Volume 3
Released: 1992 – EMI
Number of tracks: 18
Number one singles: 3 – "Let's Talk About Sex" by Salt N' Pepa, "Saltwater" by Julian Lennon, "Love You Right" by Euphoria
Other top ten singles: 3
Best track: "Love you Right" by Euphoria
Hidden gem: "Pandora's Box" by O.M.D.

Confusing title out of the way first: coming out at the tail end of 1992, this is 100% Hits '92, but it's also the 3rd volume of the series, so it's also 100% Hits Volume 3, so by your powers combined, I am Captain Planet! Er, I mean, 100% Hits '92 Volume 3. Got it now? No? Tough.

With the above mentioned three number ones – a safe-sex rap, an environmentally-aware ballad and an unexpected Australian dance track – there's some strong chart performers on here alongside some lesser-known, but still great, dance tracks of the day. I really like "Peace" by Sabrina Johnston, and I wish it had made the top 20. "Do Anything" by Natural Selection also didn't get anywhere near the top but is still good fun. 

There's some feel-good stuff here in UB40's "Kingston Town" and Ce Ce Peniston's "Finally", and the Spandau Ballet-sampling "Set Adrift On Memory Bliss" by PM Dawn is also good despite those guys being notorious sad-sack wussbags. Marky Mark's follow-up to "Good Vibrations", a Lou Reed-sampling rap, "Wildside" is also not bad, if only for use of the term "gang bangers". "Lovesick" by Gang Starr closes out the set, though I'm not sure why as it also appeared on the previous volume. Something of an oversight on the part of the compilers it would seem.

Rating: 6/10

Compilation Album Review: "100% Hits Volume 16"

Compilation: 100% Hits Volume 16
Released: 1995 – PolyGram
Number of tracks: 20
Number one singles: None
Top ten singles: 4
Best track: "Everything Zen" by Bush
Hidden gem: "Gel" by Collective Soul

Whoever compiled this one was on drugs. There, I said it.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing; it can lead to some rather, shall I say, unconventional track sequencing. There are no number one hits here, and out of the first six tracks, five of them are  instrumental dance tracks (with only sampled vocals). What was going on here? Did the compilers envision this as largely a dance party album? I'd really like to know.

Speaking of those six dance tracks that Volume 16 starts with – number 11 hit "The Bomb!" by The Bucketheads is easily the best of the bunch, followed by "Speed" by Alpha Team, although the mix I'm familiar with (the one used in the music video) isn't the one that's used here. "You Belong To Me" by JX is pretty good, although those sampled vocals get on my nerves. And another one of the six is Clock's version of "Axel F", which leaves out the jazzier B-section of Harold Faltermeyer's original, but is still an okay version. It came ten years after the original and ten years before that fucking awful Crazy Frog version which helped kill it stone dead. Thanks a lot, primitive ringtone culture.

There's a bunch of other weird stuff – I thought Janet Jackson's "Whoops Now" was a hidden track at the end of the janet album. What's it doing here? Was it released as a single or what? Looks like it was, although who the hell knows why, it's twee rubbish. Sorry Janet, but it is. "Let It Rain" by East 17 made the top 15 here, but it's hardly one of their best tunes. There's the obligatory wussy Boyz II Men slow jam™, a track from Joshua Kadison that sounds like an '80s American soap's end credits music, and Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough" which I would probably like if it wasn't by Sheryl Crow.

"Sukiyaki" by 4PM, which reached number 3, is also here. Why the hell is it called that, you may ask. It's actually a cover of a great '60s Japanese tune called "Ue O Muite Arukou" (which means something like "walking looking up") by Kyu Sakamoto. I hate hearing it being referred to as "Sukiyaki", but it had been for decades. And 4PM just kept that title even though they substituted all their own lyrics which don't equate to the meaning of the Japanese lyrics in any way.

As you can see I chose "Gel" for the hidden gem, a pretty rockin' tune I hadn't heard before, but I almost chose "Funtime" by Boy George, and I would never have guessed this was one of his songs without the track info. Like the compilers, this song sounds like it was conceived (and recorded) in a druggéd stupor. Not that it's a bad song, it actually isn't, and it has a mega-weird ending, which only furthers the bizarreness on display here.

But it's not all bad! Down the back end of the tracklisting, where all the shifty weirdos hang out, Tumbleweed bong on once again with a pretty cool tune called "Hang Around", Max Sharam's "Be Firm", while not as good as "Coma", has a nice piano solo, and Bush closes the album with their 'grunge'™ debut single which I've picked as the best on offer here (although Duran Duran's "White Lines" came close).

I'd also like to make mention of "When I Was A Sperm" by Master Wel (chart peak: number 26), a thought-provoking listen, but its subject matter probably precluded chart success in those innocent days of 1995. It's too bad there aren't more songs these days like that.

Kids: say no to drugs.

Rating: 4/10

Compilation Album Review: "Beat The Heat"

Compilation: Beat The Heat
Released: 1990 –Warner Music
Number of tracks: 17
Number one singles: 1 — "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite
Other top ten singles: 6
Best track: "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite
Hidden gem: None, guv'!

Here we have the third addition to my little compilation collection from the early '90s. Beat The Heat – so named because it came out at the end of 1990 during the summer. These are all songs from the tail-end of my last year of primary school, most of which I had taped off Rage onto an audio cassette using a weird audio output cable connected to my family's fake-wood panelled Mitsubishi TV, probably with a glass of Koola Lime cordial within easy reach.

Two of the biggest names in Oz Rok™ at the time are on here – INXS, coming back for the first time since all that Kick bizzo with "Suicide Blonde", and John Farnham, coming back for the first time with "Chain Reaction" since all that Whispering Jack bizzo. One was a raucous harmonica-infused track about some woman and the other was a more understated acoustic-rock outing. You can figure out which is which. What, I look like the frig'n Wikipedia to you??

Deee-Lite are easily the best of the bunch, but there was a rapper straight outta the UK with her first solo single "Doin' The Do". Betty Boo didn't have the longevity as some might have hoped but actually she was a force to be reckoned with with this one. Still a guilty pleasure after all these years, as is Snap!'s massive second single "Ooops Up", chart peak number 4, still an absolute smash. Another essential inclusion is Technotronic's "Megamix", still the best of the megamixes put out during this period (Snap!, Paula Abdul, Bobby Brown, Black Box and a couple of others). It was definitely the best performer chart-wise (number 13).

For those people who like their music thoughtful, introspective with a dash of melancholy, and powerful yet understated, there's "Cherry Pie" by Warrant. Tawdry rubbish, or fratboy party anthem? Hey, can't it be both?

Doctors recommend your eardrums must only be subjected to one song by Taylor Dayne. I'd choose the one that's on here, my favourite song by her, "I'll Be Your Shelter". The singles reviewer at Smash Hits at the time hated it, I have no idea why. And speaking of said pop mag, you not only get New Kids On The Block to finish with, but that godawful duet between Donnie Wahlberg and Seiko! And it's before "Megamix" in the tracklisting! A point off for that!

Rating: 6/10