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