The Greatest Hits Collection

by

Bananarama

Edit

All right, this class is BANM-52, for those of you into 80's music studies, and the required text here is Bananarama's Greatest Hits Collection. I would've recommended their first and fourth studio albums, whose key tracks comprise this compilation, but they are criminally hard to get and/or out-of-print. No matter, this single CD collection will do.

For most 80's music fans, their barn-burning cover of Shocking Blue's "Venus" and "Cruel Summer" are their two most famous songs. Don't worry--they're here. Their fourth album Wow boasted five singles, all here, and that was when they exploded, becoming part of the Stock-Aitken-Waterman bubblegum machine. However, I would like to point out that the single versions of "I Want You Back" and their cover of the Supremes' post-Diana Ross hit "Nathan Jones" are on this collection, and are much better than the originals on Wow.

The song distribution per album is as follows, with (C) indicating cover songs:

Deep Sea Skiving (4)--"Aie A Mwana" (C), "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'", "Shy Boy", "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" (C)

Bananarama (2)--"Cruel Summer", "Robert De Niro's Waiting"

True Confessions (2)--"Venus" (C), "Trick Of The Night"

Wow (5)--"I Heard A Rumour", "Love In The First Degree", "I Can't Help It", "I Want You Back", "Nathan Jones" (C)

(New) (2)--"Love Truth And Honesty", "Help!" (C)

That's consistent with how I feel--Wow and Deep Sea Skiving were Bananarama at their best, their self-titled album being the worst.

Of the new tracks, "Love Truth And Honesty" would've fit in their Wow album, which figures as it was produced by Stock-Aitken-Waterman. And speaking of S-A-W, notice that eight of the fifteen songs here are S-A-W productions, including their cover of the Beatles' "Help!" If one thinks about it, the original was also quick-paced, and the Rams' version is just as bouncy.

With the exception of the new songs, this features the original trio of Sarah Dallin, Keren Woodward, and Siobhan Fahey. The Rams at their best--what else can I say? Believe you me, you won't slip with this one. OK, class dismissed.

Unfortunately, this greatest hits collection borrows heavily from later albums, which weren't all that great. The best album remains their first one, "Deep Sea Skiving," which unfortunately is not available. The pure, unadulterated fun and girlish exuberance of that album was never equalled since.

Then came the album simply titled "Bananarama." It had "Cruel Summer" on it, but for me the slide had begun. Gone was the exuberant fun, replaced with a much slicker face (both in the music itself and in the girls' new glamorous appearance). It took away most of the fun for me.

If you can find "Deep Sea Skiving" anywhere, get it. That's the best Bananarama.