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Jason Maloney reviews
Greatest Hits
Mercury 
- Track listing :
- 1. I Don’t Want A Lover
2. In Demand
3. Say What You Want
4. Summer Son
5. Inner Smile
6. So In Love With You
7. Black Eyed Boy
8. So Called Friend
9. Everyday Now
10. In Our Lifetime
11. Halo
12. Guitar Song
13. Prayer For You
14. When We Are Together
15. Insane
16. Tired Of Being Alone
17. Put Your Arms Around Me
18. Say What You Want (All Day And Every Day)
Texas, the Scottish band fronted by Sharleen Spiteri, first appeared on the scene almost 12 years ago with I Don’t Want A Lover – a thundering bluesy stomper that had enough immediacy about it to swiftly climb into the UK Top 10. After that, however, came a succession of near-misses and an eventual slide into the rock wilderness by 1994.
The previous year’s Ricks Road album – despite housing the minor Top 40 hit So Called Friend – lacked a sense of purpose, and the formula had all but run its course.
Having re-invented themselves with such staggering success in 1997 thanks to the White On Blonde album (and its hit single Say What You Want), Texas have taken the natural, and obvious, approach with this this perfectly-timed Greatest Hits CD.
1999’s The Hush proved that White On Blonde‘s achievements were no fluke, and wisely this CD plays to their commercial strengths, even if it does attempt to rewrite their past in the process.
With a bounty of recent Top 20 hit singles to choose from, it was never on the cards that Texas would seek to include some of their earlier, rockier, releases. And so the absence of In My Heart, You Owe It All To Me and Thrill Is Gone is not unexpected.
The 3 new recordings, including the so-so Top 10 single In Demand, all point towards a greater emphasis on club sounds in their music, with Inner Smile bordering on joyous disco.
By arranging the tracks in a mon-chronological order, the progression from blues and country-tinged power pop to the slick model of nowadays is muddied. Although the sequencing isn’t as poor as on the recent Blur Best Of (the CD that is, not the Best of Blur DVD – Ed), it’s rather predictable and I’d have preferred to hear these songs in the order they were hits. Aside from the the unnecessary 1998 revamp of Say What You Want featuring members of the Wu-Tang Clan, the music is always strong enough to shine through and with 18 tracks in all, this is excellent value.
Nothing revolutionary about the presentation, packaging or track selection, then, but it’s quality stuff and will sell by the shedload. Deservedly so.
Review copyright © Jason Maloney, 2000. E-mail Jason Maloney
Check out Jason’s homepage: The Slipstream.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.