Hits Album ’89 (Mercury, 1989)

Review
Rage against the dying of the light for the final entry in the Dutch Hits series. After a sequence of truncated or separate CDs, Hits Album ’89 comes as two discs in a fatbox. Mercury are the compilers and the inlay features advertisements for LPs by the artists.

Oddly there was a repetition from the previous volume, Hits Album 10 – Bobby Brown’s My Prerogative. Many other songs would also turn up on UK compilations like Now That’s What I Call Music 14 [Fine Young Cannibals – She Drives Me Crazy], Now That’s What I Call Music 15 [Holly Johnson – Americanos, Double Trouble and Rebel MC – Just Keep Rockin’, Gladys Knight – Licence To Kill, Jive Bunny and The Mastermixers – Swing The Mood], Now That’s What I Call Music 16 [Technotronic – Pump Up The Jam, Lil’ Louis – French Kiss], The Hits Album 10 [Bangles – Eternal Flame, De La Soul – Me, Myself And I, Edelweiss – Bring Me Edelweiss, Kon Kan – I Beg Your Pardon, Donna Summer – This Time I Know It’s For Real, Simply Red – If You Don’t Know Me By Now], Monster Hits [Kaoma – Lambada, Gloria Estefan – Oye Mi Canto, Alice Cooper – Poison].

Lisa #1: One of my most listened-to LPs of 1989 was Malcolm McLaren’s Waltz Darling. It’s co-credited with The Bootzilla Orchestra. An infectious mix of orchestral and classical sounds topped off with some tasty beats. Voguing before Madonna’s Vogue. Something’s Jumpin’ In My Shirt features Lisa Marie [Tim Burton’s ex-wife] on breathless vocal duty. It’s got a magical caribbean vibe. Also check out Fans for an operatic McLaren experience.
Lisa #2: Little Jackie Wants To Be Star. An aimless turgid lumpen track with Cult Jam.

John Hiatt’s Have A Little Faith In Me is a heartfelt and soulful ballad. No sign of Bonnie Raitt. Ben Liebrand is the uncredited DJ behind Dance Classics “The Mix” which includes The Whispers – And The Beat Goes On, Jimmy “Bo” Horne – Spank, First Choice – Let No Man Put Asunder, Michael Zagar Band – Let’s All Chant. The sun shines on Zeon Jones’ feelgood Spin Me Around before the appearance of dark metal clouds from Alice Cooper and Guns N’ Roses. Poison and Patience are perfectly matched power ballads; the latter playing as an acoustic epic from their controversial second album G N’ R Lies.

CD2: Some local rock from Rene Froger and De Dijk’s Nergens Goed Voor. Van Der Valk it ain’t. Miami Vice was just finished so time for Don Johnson to start crooning again on Tell It Like It Is. Sun sun sun: the Beach Boys’ breezy Kokomo; not one for the Friends fanboys but a pleasant drift nonetheless. Remember Elizabeth Shue in Cocktail. And for television, the mini-series Sins starring Joan Collins; the theme tune It’s Hard To Be Tender is sung by Carly Simon. Totally underrated classic. Euro trash time – the dreamy No More Boleros from Gerard Joling, the tribal We Are Growing by Margaret Singana and the sweet sound of Lois Lane. And a true rarity, The Birth Of Maudie credited to The Incredible E.G. O’Reilly, better known as Terence Trent D’Arby. Shame it’s execrable.

Favourite tracks
Malcolm McLaren and The Bootzilla Orchestra – Something’s Jumpin’ In Your Shirt

De La Soul – Me, Myself And I

Beach Boys – Kokomo

Carly Simon – It’s Hard To Be Tender

Lest we forget
Guns N’ Roses – Patience