Maxi Hit Sensation (Ariola, 1986)

Review
Maxi Hit Sensation – Das Maxi Power Doppelalbum was the first release in Ariola’s Maxi series. The double vinyl featured 16 tracks while the CD version came in a different sleeve – a somewhat plain design like the US Billboard chart – and just contained 10 tracks. CD buyers missed out on Dato Shake’s Let Me Be Your Number 1, Sandra’s Little Girl, Roxanne’s Charlene, Feargal Sharkey’s You Little Thief, Divinyls’ Pleasure And Pain and Simple Minds’ Sanctify Yourself. Nevertheless the CD version is still highly sought-after and is a quality listen all the way through.

It’s a flashback to my Italian holiday of August 1986 with the special long version of Modern Talking’s Brother Louie. Supercans of Coca Cola and Heineken and a heady introduction to Euro disco. The extended version of When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going is surprisingly chunky while Geil (Geilomatick Mix) is supremely silly. A sample of the 1812 Overture and a taste of Amadeus. Bring on the dancing horses. And Jeanny, Part 1; Falco 3’s unsung gem. 8:50. Amazing, sad and resigned but also uplifting in its own determined way.

There’s more electronic bliss with Bad Boys Blue. Kisses And Tears (My One And Only) is beautifully sung by the late Trevor Taylor. Dance the night away. The spirit of immortality burns with the throbbing vitality of ‘Cause You Are Young by C.C. Catch. This Italo wave continues with Den Harrow’s fantastic Bad Boy, a Machiavellian trip of stabbing synths. Some call Stefano Zandri the Italian Milli Vanilli. Over to Tom Hooker [the real deal]
“There was a small problem, however. He couldn’t sing. So the solution was to never let him sing, or to put his voice so low in the mix that it was non existent. He started as an image. He would work on his costumes and clothes and someone else would sing on the records. The truth is, vision is a more developed sense in humans than hearing. People tend to buy and listen what they like to see”.

Paul Hardcastle and Carol Keynon concoct an urban groove with the newly extended Don’t Waste My Time. This crucial cut is definitely my favourite version. Marietta Waters is a US-American vocalist of Latin descent. She had a brief solo career in the mid-eighties most memorably with the dramatic Fire And Ice which was produced by Harold Faltermeyer and appeared in the Willy Bogner movie Feuer Und Eis. Finally Silent Circle round things off with the sinister disco vocoder diamond Touch In The Night. Old gold.

“Quit living on dreams,
Life is not what it seems”.

Favourite tracks
Den Harrow – Bad Boy (Extended Version)

Falco – Jeanny (Part 1)

Lest we forget
Silent Circle – Touch In The Night (Crash Version)