Compilation: Hits Now '89 Volume Two
Released: 1989 – WEA
Number of tracks: 18
Number one singles: 3 – "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals, "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles, "The Living Years" by Mike & The Mechanics
Other top ten singles: 3
Best track: "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals
Hidden gem: "Veronica" by Elvis Costello
It's been a while since I added to my retro various artists collection, hasn't it? Well when you've collected as many as I have, they're going to get fewer and further between. That's just the way it is. So I was surprised to find one from the dim and distant year of 1989! At that time, I was 11 years old and had just started watching Rage on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings, so I remember about half of these songs, and their music videos. So, what did the pop world from the tail end of the '80s offer up?
It starts with "She Drives Me Crazy", one of the best songs of the '80s, let alone 1989. A song with an instantly-recognizable and brilliantly '80s music video to boot. I'm not going to use the dreaded I-word – that'd be 'iconic' – but it's right up there. This is immediately followed by "Ring My Bell" by Collette, one of the worst songs of all time, let alone 1989. I'm not sure this even deserves to be on here, let alone given the coveted position of track number 2, but perhaps it's worth it considering it's a fairly typical example of how bad pop music could get in 1989. Gawd, Collette's thin and reedy vocals are another atonal opus for the profoundly deaf.
Speaking of fashion models who try to sing but can't, near the end is Samantha Fox, and "I Only Wanna Be With You", a cover version from the olden days. That's kind of naff as well, but Samantha Fox is leagues ahead vocally, of Collette.
Next up is "Chained To The Wheel" by The Black Sorrows, their highest-charting single and the only song I like by them. I'm sure I've mentioned this on this blog before, but the opening seconds of this song always bring back memories of doing exercises on the lower playground in primary school. When I was in Year 6, the Year 4 teacher Mr. Jennings always used to make the whole school, even the little squirts, do weekly aerobics. He would always play the same two songs, and this was one of them. The other one was "Opposites Attract" by Paula Abdul, and for some reason I always expect that song to follow when I hear "Chained To The Wheel". I bet that cassette with just those two songs on it is still in the back seat of Mr. Jenning's army-green Moke.
In 1991 or so, an uncle from England visited my family in Perth, and my mum told him I kept up with the charts and the latest music etc. So he says to me, expecting to catch me out, "Have you heard of Tanita Tikaram?" I said yes, because I actually had, from reading Smash Hits. But I'd never heard any of her songs – until now. And, well, "Twist In My Sobriety" is rather dour and underwhelming. I'm sure she has plenty of other songs, though.
"One Summer" by Daryl Braithwaite is another song I remember from the final months of the eighties and although I wasn't much interested by it at the time, it has grown on me since. "Rise" is still my favourite song by him, though. And "The Horses" can go suck it.
Aside from Fine Young Cannibals, the other two no.1 singles on here are fairly well known, getting airplay on Smooth FM and the like even now. "The Living Years" sounds like the closing credits music to an '80s action flick. I've probably used that line before, but it applies to more than one song, okay? And if you don't think so, then I guess we don't see eye to eye. See what I did there?
"What I Am" by Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians seemed like the stupidest song I'd ever heard when I was 11. And, well, it is. The lyrics were certainly dumb, but they stood out from those of the typical vapid pop songs of the time. Is this actually deep philosophizing or hippie bulldust? I'll leave it with you.
"Downtown" by Petula Clark was a number 1 hit back in 1964, but the version here is a remixed version titled "Downtown '88". It peaked at number 58 on the Australian charts. I can't say I'm a fan of this song, in either version, thanks to it being used in a particularly annoying Coles ad ten years ago. Boy, that cacophonous wailing and the tagline of "Look for tha big red hand, 'Straya!" sapped my will to live back then – and probably killed any enthusiasm for the song that may have existed.
The remix has a nice beat and bass line though, for what it's worth.
Rating: 6/10
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