Album Review – Throwback Series – 80’s, 90’s, Covers & R&B (Warners)
Review by Geoff Jenke
Warners have released a series of compilation 4-CD sets called Throwback, covering music from all different genre’s.
THROWBACK – COVERS
Throwback Covers is 77 cover songs from the early 1960’s to almost current day. Why do artist release songs written and released by other people? Sometimes it is because they feel they can offer something new to the song and sometimes it is because they just don’t have enough of their own songs. We must remember even The Beatles and Stones first few albums were littered with cover versions. There have been some classic covers over the years and there are a lot on this 4CD set. The Ramones covering Baby I Love You is a Phil Spector produced classic. We go back to the 60’s with Otis Redding covering the Stones Satisfaction, taking the song and making it his own. Yes covering America, not the song by The Nice which one would expect from Yes, but the Simon & Garfunkel version, and doing it quite well. The Monkees doing (I’m Not) Your Stepping Stone is another classic.
Later covers include The Donnas, Dancing with Myself, Orgy’s pure brilliant cover of New Orders Blue Monday is a standout as is Frente! doing Bizarre Love Triangle. Faith No More’s version of Easy still sends shivers down one’s spine.
And these are just the tip of the iceberg. There is Jesus and Mary Chain, Supergrass, The Levellers, ZZ Top, Club Nouveau and Lisa Mitchell. Heck, even Dwight Yoakam (with Cheryl Crow) get a look in.
Covers don’t always work as in The Hollies version of Springsteen’s Sandy (4th of July) and The B52’s cover of Downtown, but these are just minor blips on what is an outstanding collection.
Rating 9/10
THROWBACK – 80’S
Confession time. Of all the decades since rock started, I rate the 80’s the worse time for music. However I am in the minority here. Throwback – 80’s is another 4CD collection, this time 78 songs, all naturally, from the 1980’s.
The set starts with Duran Duran doing Rio and is followed by Spandau Ballet, A-Ha and Deborah Harry all doing songs guaranteed to fill a dance floor.
For me things pick up on Disc 2 with Divinyls doing Boys in Town, Choirboys, Run to Paradise and David Lee Roth singing Just Like Paradise. Add The Cars, ZZ Top, Georgia Satellites, Whitesnake, Dokken and Rose Tattoo and you have one kick ass album.
Disc 3 and 4 are a mixed bag of classic rock, alternative bands and dance floor fillers. The beautiful Life in a Northern Town by The Dream Academy is as good as the 80’s get. Brilliant song. Yes perform their biggest selling single Owner of a Lonely Heart, The Stranglers move on from their punk roots with Golden Brown and Joy Division do the superb Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Australia is well represented also with Sunnyboys, Jenny Morris, The Saints, 1927 and Split Enz just to name a few.
Maybe I need to reassess my thoughts about the 80’s. A brilliant collection of not just the obvious hits of the 80’s (although the hits are well represented), but also the alternative bands of the era who had a lot to offer.
Rating 8/10
THROWBACK – 90’S
The 90’s came along and Grunge killed off the hair metal bands (for a while at least) and music seemed to come alive again. This 4CD set covers most genres of the 90’s in its 72 songs. Naturally there are the big hits like Supergrass’s Alright, Babybird’s, Your Gorgeous (and it is) and Babylon Zoo doing Spaceman.
But for me it is the lesser known songs and artists that make this set move. The absolute highlight is Sisters of Mercy screaming out More and not far behind is Nick Caves classic, The Weeping Song. Different styles but in reality, not far apart.
A few I had forgotten about like Francis Dunnery doing American Life in the Summertime, Marc Cohen’s Walking in Memphis, Snow’s Informer (although still trying to forget this one) and Collective Soul’s Gel just to name a few. Yes we do get John Paul Young’s remix version of Love in the Air, dragged out in the 90’s for the movie Pricilla, Queen of the Desert.
Honey, The Groove is in the Heart, I’m Addicted to Bass and yes I Kissed a Girl (no not that one). It’s the 90’s and it is good.
Rating 8/10
THROWBACK – R&B
76 R&B classics over 4CD’s from the 1960’s through to the 2000’s. We have it all here, soul, groove and bounce. This set includes 25 Australian Top 10 singles and more than 40 top 40 hits.
All the usual suspects are here, Brandy & Monica’s The Boy is Mine, Chic’s Good Times and even Sister Sledge’s We Are Family. There are even some you may not have expected like All Saints Black Coffee and New Edition’s Candy Girl. I was also surprised by the inclusion of Teddy Pendergrass’s You’re My Choice Tonight (choose Me) but hey it works.
If you’re looking to kick back with some slow jams, need some party starters or hitting the dance floor, this set has it all.
Rating 7/10
Having a party? You could do far worse than grab all 4 of these sets, put all of the songs from the 16 Cd’s onto a mp3 player and blast them out on random all night. Guaranteed to have people singing along, dancing, remembering songs and yes even occasionally cringing. All set for a great night.
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