Audio CD review:
Bananarama - Bananarama - The Greatest Hits Collection

Bananarama - Bananarama - The Greatest Hits Collection

Band: Bananarama Title: Bananarama - The Greatest Hits Collection Rating: Release Date: 15 March, 2000 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Venus 2: I Heard A Rumour 3: Love In The First Degree 4: I Can't Help It 5: I Want You Back 6: Love, Truth And Honesty 7: Nathan Jones 8: He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' 9: Shy Boy 10: Robert De Niro's Waiting 11: Cruel Summer 12: Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) 13: Trick Of The Night 14: Aie A Mwana 15: Help!

Customer Reviews Go Bananas The album is overall a fun listen; it's good 80s girl band pop. Good collection of Banarama's music. The ones that got the big radio play are here [Venus, I Can't Help It, Cruel Summer] as well as some lesser knowns that are nice and pleasant discoveries [Love Truth and Honesty, Nathan Jones, and Shy Boy]. The album gets kind of weak toward the end, and the remakes of Na Na Hey Hey and Help are not appealing. Good pop overall though. This collection is great, but... Although they hit the Hot 100 11 times, only 3 of those songs made the Top 40 (Cruel Summer, Venus, and I Heard a Rumour). I love Bananarama and this collection of their biggest hits before Siobhan Fahey left the group is excellent. Those songs plus many of their other hits are included here. However, one thing I do hate is when a record company puts out a Greatest Hits package and leaves off some of the songs that were released as singles. Most Greatest Hits packages do this, and this one is no exception. The key tracks missing here are the title song from the movie "The Wild Life" (which peaked at #70 in 1984) and "More Than Physical" (which peaked at #73 in 1986). Since this was issued, they have issued a package called "The Essentials" which includes all of their Hot 100 hits (including the 2 songs missing on this CD). So, if you want all the Hot 100 hits, skip this one and buy "The Essentials". If you just want the Top 40 hits plus some great dance tunes, this will suffice. . Bananarama--A Tasty Guilty Pleasure 5 stars) Everyone's got to have their musical guilty pleasures, and I am certainly no exception. (3. Right up there on my list is Bananarama, a band that produced music that no one would describe as deep, sophisticated, or consequential. But, you know what? There are times when I don't want to listen to music that is challenging or probing but merely want to be entertained. And when those moods hit me, there's a good chance you'll find me tucked away in a dark recess of my home tapping my toes to the bouncy pop of Bananarama, all the while looking around nervously to make sure no one catches me in this indiscretion. That I would like Bananrama is curious considering that I despise boy-band and girl-group bubble-gum pop, which to me is nauseatingly cloying and pre-fabricated and sounds as if it's performed by automatons, not humans. By contrast, Bananarama's music is brimming with exuberance and coquettish playfulness and full of engaging hooks. Listening to Bananarama is the musical equivalent of flirting with a saucy minx whose come-hither enticements are just a tease. Insubstantial? Yes. Meaningful? Hardly. Fun? Absolutely. The Greatest Hits Collection contains all the Banarama that you'd ever want (or need) to hear, including: the dance-`til-you-drop version of "Venus"; the catchy "Cruel Summer"; the glossy "I Heard a Rumor"; the jaunty "Shy Boy (Don't It Make You Feel Good)"; and the frothy "Love in the First Degree. " Even the most cold-hearted cynic couldn't resist these lively tunes. So go ahead and indulge yourself in this guiltiest of pleasures. Don't worry; your secret's safe with me. . You can see a complete list of all Bananarama discography, or go back to the Bananarama tabs