"The Studio Albums 1978-1984" by VAN HALEN – Features Their Debut "Van Halen" (February 1978), "Van Halen II" (April 1979), "Women And Children First" (March 1980), "Fair Warning" (April 1981), "Diver Down" (April 1982) and "1984" (January 1984) – All On Warner Brothers Records featuring Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth, Michael Anthony and Alex Van Halen (February 2013 UK/EUROPE Warner Brothers 6xHDCD Clamshell Box Set of Remasters (2000 Chris Bellman Versions) in Mini LP Repro Card Sleeves) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...Hot For Teacher..."

 

Apart from the "Women And Children First" album (a no tunes go faster heavy metal bore) – I loved these VH platters when they first hit our ill-prepared streets on vinyl in the late Seventies and early Eighties. 

 

I was smitten (like so many of my mates) with the explosive self-titled debut – the underrated covers album "Diver Down" and their skip-a-heartbeat Rock-Pop masterpiece of big hair fun "1984". I was indeed Hot For Teacher. To this day, I have always seen Van Halen as a great Rock Band with a killer rhythm section, a guitarist in Eddie Van Halen that was quite possibly the only rival Jeff Beck or Stevie Ray Vaughn ever really had and a whole lot of tongue-in-cheek leap-frogging fun-cool in their mad as a melting ice-cream cone front man - Dave Lee Roth. To sweaty Waldo and his Little Guitars...

 

UK released 25 February 2013 - "The Studio Albums 1978-1984" by VAN HALEN on Warner Brothers 8122796893 (Barcode 0 81227 96893 9) is a 6CD Clamshell Box Set with Six Mini LP Repro Card Sleeves (no booklet) that use the July 2000 'Warner Remasters' Series transfers. It breaks down as follows:

 

CD1 (35:31 minutes):

1. Runnin' With The Devil [Side 1]

2. Eruption

3. You Really Got Me

4. Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love

5. I'm The One

6. Jamie's Cryin' [Side 2]

7. Atomic Punk

8. Feel Your Love Tonight

9. Little Dreamer

10. Ice Cream Man

11. On Fire

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut album "Van Halen" - released February 1978 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3075 and April 1978 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56470. Produced by TED TEMPLEMAN - it peaked at No. 19 in the USA and No. 34 in the UK.

 

CD 2 (31:57 minutes):

1. You're No Good [Side 1]

2. Dance The Night Away

3. Somebody Get Me A Doctor

4. Bottoms Up!

5. Outta Love Again 

6. Light Up The Sky [Side 2]

7. Span Fly

8. D.O.A.

9. Women In Love...

10. Beautiful Girls

Tracks 1 to 10 are their second studio album "Van Halen II" - released March 1979 in the USA on Warner Brothers HS 3312 and in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56616. Produced by TED TEMPLEMAN - it peaked at No.6 in the USA and No.23 in the UK.

 

CD3 (33:37 minutes):

1. And The Cradle Will Rock... [Side 1]

2. Everybody Wants Some

3. Fools

4. Romeo Delight 

5. Tora! Tora! [Side 2]

6. Loss Of Control 

7. Take Your Whiskey Home

8. Could This Be Magic?

9. It's A Simple Rhyme

Tracks 1 to 9 are their third studio album "Women And Children First" - released March 1980 in the USA on Warner Brothers HS 3415 and Warner Brothers K 56793. Produced by TED TEMPLEMAN - it peaked at No.6 in the USA and No.15 in the UK.

 

CD4 (31:17 minutes):

1. Mean Street [Side 1]

2. Dirty Movies

3. Sinner's Swing!

4. Hear About It Later 

5. Unchained [Side 2]

6. Push Comes To Shove

7. So This Is Love?

8. Sunday Afternoon In The Park

9. One Foot Out The Floor 

Tracks 1 to 9 are their fourth studio album "Fair Warning" -- released April 1981 in the USA on Warner Brothers HS 3540 and Warner Brothers K56899. Produced by TED TEMPLEMAN - it peaked at No.6 in the US and No.49 in the UK.

 

CD5 (31:27 minutes):

1. Where Have All The Good Times Gone? [Side 1]

2. Hang 'Em High 

3. Cathedral 

4. Secrets 

5. Intruder 

6. (Oh) Pretty Woman

7. Dancing In The Street [Side 2]

8. Little Guitars (Intro)

9. Little Guitars 

10. Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now)

11. The Full Bug

12. Happy Trails

Tracks 1 to 12 are their fifth studio album "Diver Down" (mostly cover versions with some originals) - released April 1982 in the USA on Warner Brothers BSK 3677 and Warner Brothers K 57003 in the UK. Produced by TED TEMPLEMAN - it peaked at No.3 in the USA and No.36 in the UK.

 

CD6 (33:28 minutes):

1. 1984 [Side 1]

2. Jump 

3. Panama

4. Top Jimmy 

5. Drop Dead Legs

6. Hot For Teacher [Side 2]

7. I'll Wait

8. Girl Gone Bad 

9. House Of Pain

Tracks 1 to 9 are their sixth studio album (last with Dave Lee Roth) "1984" – released January 1984 in the USA on Warner Brothers W1-23985 and February 1984 in the UK Warner Brothers 92-3985-1. Produced by TED TEMPLEMAN - it peaked at No.2 in the USA and No.15 in the USA. 

 

The Clamshell Box Set does only what it can get away with - five single card sleeves that repro the original US LP artwork - none were gatefolds, but inserts and inner sleeves are not here neither is there any kind of booklet. But it won't take genius to work out that these audio transfers are the July 2000 CHRIS BELLMAN 'Warner Remasters' Series that want to maraud around your living room with bad intent. Any track on the ashtonshing "1984" album - "House Of Pain" or "Drop Dead Jimmy" - and you hearing Eddie's unbelievable playing with al the kick-ass muscle you could hope for. Tracks like "Eruption" from the debut, the swing and swirl of those synths in their cover version of The Kinks classic "Where Have All The Good Times Gone" from Diver Down" -- the acoustic intro to "Little Guitars" following by that chunky riff that wants to bite your hand off when it goes into the "Little Guitars" song. Ediie's dirty but brilliant geetar playing throughout "Drop Dead Legs" - when you play "Hear About It Later" on "Fair Warning" or the American single "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love" taken off the debut - the whole shebang ROCKS! 

 

Like Prince, Tom Petty, David Bowie and Jeff Beck - Eddie Van Halen's loss hit lovers of great music makers hard and I find myself turning to this little thumper of a Box Set more often than I used to. Check out "Panama", "Hot For Teacher" or even the sheer balls and chug to their cover of that Roy Orbison Monument Records 60ts classic "(Oh) Pretty Woman" - how many bands would have done it proud like this. And they were fun too...

"Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd" by PINK FLOYD – Tracks from 1967 to 1994 on Parlophone and Harvest Records featuring Syd Barrett (60ts Only), Dave Gilmour, Richard Wright, Roger Waters and Dave Mason (1970 to 1994) with Guests Clare Torry, Dick Parry, The Children Of Islington Green School, Michael Kamen, Guy Pratt, Sam Brown, Jon Carin, Tony Levin, Sampled Voice of Stephen Hawking and many more (Nov 2001 UK EMI 2CD Compilation with 26-Tracks Housed in A Card Slipcase - Transfers by Robert Hadley and Mastering/Remasters by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Doug Sax) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

 

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Exceptional CD Remasters

Covering 1967 to 1977 - It Also Focuses On

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"...Learning To Fly..."

A very cleverly sequenced twofer that feels like it's always been there.

 

"Echoes..." takes it title from the side-2-long opus "Echoes" on their 1971 album "Meddle". The genius of this carefully correlated 2CD/4LP beast is that different periods segue into each other as if it was the most natural thing in the world and with the scrupulously transferred muscular Remasters (James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Doug Sax at Abbey Road) - it sounds the business too. Much to shine on, let's get to the crazy diamonds...

 

UK released 5 November 2001 - "Echoes: The Best Of Pink Floyd" by PINK FLOYD on EMI Records 5361112 – 7243 5 36111 2 5 (Barcode 724353611125) is a 2CD/4LP compilation with 26-Tracks. Original copies are housed in an outer Card Slipcase with a 'Peel Me' Sticker, have a 32-Page Colour Booklet and Audio Transfers from original tapes done by Robert Hadley with - Mastering/Remasters done by James Guthrie, Joel Plante and Doug Sax (Tracks segue into the next). It plays out as follows (all tracks in Stereo):

 

CD1 (76:50 minutes):

1. Astronomy Domine (1967 Debut LP, from "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn")

2. See Emily Play (1967 UK 45-single)

3. The Happiest Days Of Our Lives (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

4. Another Brick In The Wall (Part II) (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

5. Echoes (1971, from "Meddle")

6. Hey You (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

7. Marooned (1994, from "The Division Bell")

8. The Great Gig In The Gig (1973, "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

9. Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun (1968 2nd LP, "A Saucerful Of Secrets")

10. Money (1973, from "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

11. Keep Talking (1994, from "The Division Bell")

12. Sheep (1977, from "Animals")

13. Sorrow (1987, from "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason")

 

CD2 (78:36 minutes):

1. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1-7) (1975, from "Wish You Were Here")

2. Time (1973, from "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

3. The Fletcher Memorial Home (1983, from "The Final Cut")

4. Comfortably Numb (1979, from the 2LP set "The Wall")

5. When The Tigers Broke Free (1982, from "The Wall (Music From The Film)"

6. One Of These Days (1971, from "Meddle"

7. Us And Them (1973, from "The Dark Side Of The Moon")

8. Learning To Fly (1987, "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason")

9. Arnold Layne (1967, 45-single)

10. Wish You Were Here (1975, from "Wish You Were Here")

11. Jugband Blues (1968, from "A Saucerful Of Secrets")

12. High Hopes (1994, "The Division Bell")

13. Bike (1967, from "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn")

 

PINK FLOYD was

DAVE GILMOUR - Guitars and Vocals

ROGER WATERS - Bass and Vocals

ROGER WRIGHT - Keyboards and Vocals

NICK MASON - Drums and Vocals 

SYD BARRETT - Vocals and Guitars (60ts Only)

 

GUESTS: 

John Carin - Piano on "High Hopes", Keyboards on "Learning To Fly" and "Marooned"

The Children of Islington Green School - Child Choir on "Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)"

Michael Kamen - Piano, Arrangements and Conducting Orchestra on "The Fletcher Memorial Home" - Orchestration on "Comfortably Numb" 

Tony Levin - Bass on "Learning To Fly" 

Dick Parry - Saxophone of "Us And Them", "Money" and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond Parts 1-7"

Guy Pratt - Bass on "Marooned" and "Keep Talking"

Clare Torry - Lead Vocals on "The Great Gig In The Sky"

Doris Troy, Leslie Duncan, Liza Strike and Barry St. John - Backing Vocals on "Time" and "Us And Them" 

Stephen Hawking - Voice sampled for "Keep Talking" 

Sam Brown, Durga McBroom, Carol Kenyan, Jackie Sheridan and Rebecca Leigh-White - Backing Vocals on "Keep Talking"

 

Original issues of "Echoes..." come in a card slipcase with what's become known as the 'Peel Me' sticker and the windows within windows artwork is a masterclass in references - the cow and pig on the windowsill ("Animals"), the two steel faces barely visible on the inner room for "The Division Bell", the swimming man and blowing scarf for "Wish You Were Here", the bicycle and axe up by the wall on the inner booklet depicted Syd Barrett's period with Floyd in the 60ts (careful with that Axe Eugene), the patient on the steel-framed bed for "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" - the white-brick facia of the building for "The Wall" and on it goes. 

 

CD1 in the 36-page booklet takes up the first half of the inlay, you then have to turn it upside down and read the second half for CD2 from it's first page. All the lyrics are there, basic album references and guests highlighted - Clare Torry's voice-shredding turn in the beautiful "The Great Gig In The Sky" or Dick Parry's classy Sax contributions on both the "Dark Side" and "Wish You Were Here" albums. New and cleverly placed images fill up gaps in-between - again all of it referencing their back catalogue in some way. And the read is horizontal for the words of the songs, sideways for the LP references and so on - it's a masterpiece of typesetting for damn sure. All of it of course everything carrying the artwork of STORM THORGERSON - the designer so associated with the band and the HIPGNOSIS album artwork which are an iconic as the records.

Compiled by James Guthrie and Pink Floyd, transfers from 1/4-inch original master tapes were carried out at Abbey Road by ROBERT HADLEY with the Mastering done by a team of three - JAMES GUTHRIE, JOEL PLANTE and DOUG SAX. They have even played the tapes back on old machines with all manner of EQ corrections done - in short these tracks sound amazing.

 

It won't take hardcore fans (or even the casually curious) more than 10-seconds to realize that huge swathes of their catalogue is missing from this twofer - the "More" Soundtrack from June 1969, the erratic but frankly rubbishy double-album "Ummagumma" from November 1969, their first real steps into Prog Rock with October 1970's "Atom Heart Mother" (holy cow) and more inexplicable for me - the wildly underrated June 1972 album "Obscured By Clouds" with the hit "Four Sails" on it. I'm amazed that say the lead-in big-synths title track "Obscured By Clouds" or "Wot's Uh The Deal" weren't used - but naught. 

 

On the upside - and for a band so closely associated with the Seventies - you might think Floyd songs from the trio of 80s and 90s LPs would stick out like a sore thumb - but three from "The Division Bell" (1994) and three from "The Final Cut" (1983) and "A Momentary Lapse Of Reason" (1987) sit rather well alongside their more celebrated earlier pals. This is also the very best I've ever heard them on CD anyway.

 

Hardly surprising to find that they begin and end the vault's trawl with two from the Syd Barrett line-up of Pink Floyd - both culled from the mighty-psychy 1967 debut album "The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn". But as you can imagine its the Seventies and to a lesser extend the Eighties that dominate both CDs. Clever segues include the World War II spoken diatribe of "When The Tigers Broke Free" from the movie version of "The Wall" (Roger Waters fronting a Michael Kamen conducted orchestra and choir) which then wind-intro swishes into the opening track of 1971's Meddle album - "One Of These Days" - it's a brilliant mishmash. And that Gilmour guitar solo in "Days" accompanied by the piano and band is fantastic (I remember you could never get any oomph out of the 1971 Harvest LP). That in turn effortlessly slithers into Dark Side's big ballad "Us And Them" from 1973 - that sexy saxophone still shimmering after all these years. 

 

Astonishing moments abound, but none more so that the brilliant sequencing of Parts 1 to 7 of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" from 1975's "Wish you Were Here" - an album I am sure often eclipses the mighty 'Dark Side' in the hearts of Seventies Floyd fans. Straddling  - that unbelievable Dick Parry Saxophone solo wailing away alongside Gilmour's beautiful guitar part. And a compilation like this allows punters to revisit the better cuts on "The Division Bell" like the piano-plinking string-laden "High Hopes" that makes for a weird-but-it-works strange bedfellow with Saucerful's "Jugband Blues" that preceded it.

 

Floyd are a peculiar band - for me a roller-coaster ride of genius and cack in inharmonious tandem with each other - yet as I said earlier - the sequencing here makes you enjoy it all but in a fresh way - no mean feat for a 'Best Of'. 

 

"I'm not afraid of dying...I don't mind dying..." says the mad Irishman during "The Great Gig In The Sky". And after hearing much of this (and enjoying it) - I think even he would stick around for the audio improvement on offer on here. Well done to all the lunatics in the Pink Floyd park... 

"Street Fighting Years" by SIMPLE MINDS - May 1989 Ninth Album on Virgin Records (Eight Studio Set) featuring Jim Kerr, Charlie Burchill, Michael MacNeil, John Giblin and Mel Gaynor with Guests Manu Katche, Lisa Germano, Stewart Copeland, Lou Reed and more with Trevor Horn Production (March 2019 UK Universal/Virgin 'Deluxe Expanded Edition' 2CD Reissue with 15 Bonus Tracks and Simon Heyworth Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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"...When The Belfast Child Sings Again..." 

 

Studio-album number eight by Scotland’s Simple Minds (including the stunning double "Live In The City Of Light" from May 1987, it was their ninth release overall) was a monster record that seemed to take the UK, Ireland and Scotland by storm (less so in the USA).

 

This was helped in no small part by their extraordinary take on a Traditional Folk Ballad called "She Moved Through The Fair" (associated with Northern Ireland) that became "Belfast Child" - an unlikely but deeply emotive No. 1 on the UK singles chart in February 1989 - months before the album's release at the beginning of May. Labelled at the "Ballad Of The Streets EP" on seven-inch, twelve-inch and 3" CD single (pictured) - its sales figures were huge. 

 

But its not been without its detractors... Critics have called "Belfast Child" overblown Frankie Goes To Hollywood Trevor Horn DDD pseudo polish, coffee-table Rock mush for a generation just waking up to political horrors on their Emerald Isle doorstep and around the world (Apartheid covering by both "Mandela Day" and their version of Peter Gabriel's powerhouse "Biko"). In fact, the whole slickly produced album was their reach for U2 stadium-rock status. 

 

But I remember it differently. I recall the chills going up my Irish arms when the gorgeous arrangements and feel to "Belfast Child" hit my ears (and my heart) - followed by the unbelievably good B-side to the single - "Mandela Day" - the Scottish band's plea for Nelson Mandela's freedom from the sickening Afrikaner regime in South Africa. Maybe as an Irishman, we were longing for peace in the Six Counties when in fact the following four years would their worst in that horrible war. But I thought "Belfast Child" – partnered with "Mandela Day" and "Biko" was magnificent and still do - a Traditional they had somehow made sound like it a Simple Minds song and a rolling guitar refrain in "Mandela Day" that slaughtered audiences whenever it was played. 

 

I loved the album too that showed in May - I ate it up embracing its polish as progress and not regression. So this 2CD 'Deluxe Expanded Edition' variant gives me exactly what I need - a tasteful Remaster of the album on CD1 (including the bonus cut of "When Spirits Rise" on the original May 1989 Virgin Cassette and CD) and a fabulous line up of to-the-point 'Single Edits' of key tracks on a 15-cut CD2 including the thumping "Waterfront '89 Remix" (yum yum).

 

The 6 March 2019 anniversary issue came in an LP, single CD, this 'Deluxe Expanded Edition' 2CD version and an elaborate 'Super Deluxe' edition 4CD box set. We're dealing with the two-disc variant that in March 2023 is available from many online sites for under seven English quid. To the land that is yours... 

 

UK released 6 March 2019 - "Street Fighting Years" by SIMPLE MINDS on Universal/Virgin 7701565 (Barcode 0602577015656) is a 'Deluxe Expanded Edition' 2CD Reissue with 15-Bonus Tracks and New Remasters that plays out as follows: 

 

CD1 (61:39 minutes):

1. Street Fighting Years (6:26 minutes) [Side 1]

2. Soul Crying Out (6:07 minutes)

3. Wall Of Love (5:20 minutes)

4. This Is Your Land (6:22 minutes)

5. Take A Step Back (4:23 minutes)

6. Kick It In (6:11 minutes) [Side 2]

7. Let It All Come Down (4:56 minutes)

8. Mandela Day (5:45 minutes)

9. Belfast Child (6:42 minutes)

10. Biko (7:34 minutes)

11. When Spirits Rise (2:01 minutes)

Tracks 1 to 10 are the Vinyl LP Version of their eight studio-album "Street Fighting Years" (ninth release overall) - released 8 May 1989 in the UK on Virgin MINDS1 (LP). Tracks 1 to 11 are the Cassette and CD Versions (MINDSC1 and MINDSCD) that both contained "When Spirits Rise" - a Track 11 instrumental of 2-minutes that effectively acted as a 'Bonus Track' on both formats. Produced by TREVOR HORN - the album peaked at No.1 in the UK and No.70 in the USA. All songs are Simple Minds originals except "Belfast Child" which is based on an Irish Traditional air and "Biko" which is a Peter Gabriel cover version.

 

CD2 (74:54 minutes):

1. Belfast Child (Edit, 5:11 minutes)

2. Mandela Day (Edit, 4:08 minutes)

3. This Is You Land (Edit, 4:45 minutes)

4. Saturday Girl (6:08 minutes)

5. Year Of The Dragon (Instrumental, 3:07 minutes)

6. This Is Your Land (DJ Version, 5:05 minutes)

7. Kick It In (Edit, 4:52 minutes)

8. Waterfront ('89 Remix, 5:21 minutes)

9. Big Sleep (Live) (6:39 minutes)

10. Kick It In (Unauthorized Mix, 7:05 minutes)

11. Sign O' The Times (Edit, 4:12 minutes)

12. Let It All Come Down (Edit, 3:37 minutes)

13. Sign O' The Times (Full Version, 5:35 minutes)

14. Jerusalem (Instrumental, 2:57 minutes)

15. Sign O' The Times (C.J. Mackintosh Remix, 6:15 minutes) 

 

The four-flap-panel foldout card Digipak is so easily crushed and while it looks 'ok' - you can't help thinking it could have looked so much better. The 24-page booklet features new interviews with the band's two main men - Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill - where they explain it's history and give explanations for most of the songs (not the extras). It pictures the four Singles and EPs that surrounded the album and produced the myriad of cuts on CD2. There are period photos, musician credits and so so forth but it all feels just a little too much like 'so what'. 

 

Originally mastered by the legendary BOB LUDWIG - the long album has had SIMON HEYWORTH do the hugely punchy New Remasters at Super Audio Mastering and they wallop your speakers. I understand how some people feel the DDD recording is too clinical sounding - but it is upped and better for it. 

 

The album opens with the immediate hook of "Street Fighting Years" - a lone double bass note is soon joined gorgeous floating piano and soft acoustic guitars - its melody soon joined by keyboards and Kerr's almost whispered lyrics about paradise and hurricanes. It's Simple Minds having a bit of a Yes via Trevor Horn Prog-Rock moment that works - and the Remaster is a beast on those slide guitars. Next up is a 'cold wind blowing up the street' - the government asking you to pay in the brilliant "Soul Crying Out" - another great layered SM song with 'that sound'.

 

"Wall Of Love" is over-produced, too noisy and cluttered and trying so hard, you want to turn it off - even if the sound wafts across your mansions. Better is "This Land Is Yours" - the kind of guitar-message song that builds into great Tears For Fears keyboard moments - churches and steeples made into sound. And you've got to love those unexpected Lou Reed spoken lines - his cameo appearance slight and yet electrifying. Side 2 has that guitar/organ lingering opening to "Kick It In" before it goes into a very ABC "Lexicon Of Love" groove. Better for me is the trio that ends the album - "Let It All Come Down", "Belfast Child" and "Mandela Day". New days dawning, children singing again in an embattled city and a man of principle seeing the sunlight of freedom again for the first time in decades. Gorgeous stuff...

 

I'm kind of shocked at how I reach for 'CD2' every time I drag this twofer out for a spin on the old Stereophonic Gramophone type thingy. For me stuff like the big mickey bombastic guitar fest that is "Waterfront ('89 Remix)" and "Big Sleep (Live)" and the sharp as a drill sergeant's buttoned uniform edits of singles like "This Is Your Land" and "Mandela Day" - make the listen utterly brilliant. For sure instrumentals like the Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence sounding "Year Of The Dragon" are trinkets and the vapid FGTH Beats-Per-Minute 'unauthorized mix' of "Kick It In" is so 80ts it hurts. But I have always played "Saturday Girl" and their slightly awkward girl-covering cover of Prince's "Sign Of The Times" feels better when you give it a chance - especially when the tune goes into guitars and synths (full length cut or edit).

 

And again, the pretty "Let It All Come Down" is tighter for the shaving even if it is overproduced with that 'new day dawning' build up - acoustic, lead electric and keyboard stabs - cool. You could probably safely say too that most SM fans will happily live without their ELP-induced instrumental cover of "Jerusalem" from "The Amsterdam EP" – but I have to say I am so up for some bass-thumping in the utterly brilliant piano-and-funk Mission Impossible cool C.J. Mackintosh Remix of "Sign Of The Times" – a version of the Prince masterpiece that doesn’t actually use that much of the song’s lyrics but would get any dancefloor heaving and wondering – who is this!

 

Die-hard fans will of course opt for the Super Deluxe Edition of "Street Fighting Years" by Simple Minds, but for those who would see that as a wallet-depletion too far – make a beeline for this. A great remaster and a CD2 that is a sweetheart shimmying in the distance...