Various Artists: Push It!
Various Artists appear on dance compilation Push It!
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Monday, 01, Mar 2010 10:10
UMTV/Universal, out March 1st.
What's it all about?
Even though the atrocious Jedward and the android-like cast of the moronic Glee are doing their utmost to destroy the classic pop of 1988 to 1992, this two-disc compilation goes back to the source and recaptures that strange, ragbag era that bridged the gap between 80s musical stuffiness and 90s Britpop, Euro-dance and Grunge.
Who's it by
Push It ! offers up sexy, sassy female pop-rap from Salt N Pepa, hilarious white boy pretending to be from da ghetto rapping from Vanilla Ice through to radio-friendly dance ditties from Rozalla, Stevie V and N-Trance.
There's also utterly bonkers classics from Black Box and Deee-lite nudging against curiously misplaced Lionel Richie with All Night Long, and Rick James' Superfreak, given a new lease of life in superb indie flick Little Miss Sunshine.
But you have to remember, it was the end of the 80s and the start of the 90s, and neither decade had any idea how to relate to one another, with the result being a musical potpourri resembling Heston Blumenthal's food combinations.
And at the time, clad in our Kickers, we didn't know any better and we didn't care either!
As an example.
"Money talks/Dirty cash, I want you/Dirty cash, I need you." - Dirty Cash by Stevie V
What the others say
"Let's party like it'[s 1989. Universal have raided their back catalogue and assembled a double disc compilation neatly divided into classic and party trax, although in truth there's no obvious difference in the two sets of songs. These 40 tracks have apparently been inspired by a recent revival in all things late 80s/early 90s thanks to vacuous X Factor lightweights Jedward and E4's Glee. This is such a diverse collection with plenty of hits and misses that there's more than enough here to keep any child of the 70s or early 80s more than happy." -AllGigs.co.uk
So is it any good?
If you have the good sense to skip over Vanilla Ice and 2 Unlimited (honestly, kids, move along. There's nothing to see here) you can get all misty-eyed over the rave-lite brilliance of N-Trance's Set You Free, which has some bizarre sound effects going on throughout the track.
At one point I'm convinced there's a toilet being flushed, however, the female vocalist's booming voice never fails to win you over.
There's also dreamy piano-led dance from Baby D's Let Me Be Your Fantasy and Show Me Love by Robin S, not forgetting stomping fun in the form of Livin' Joy's Dreamer, all transporting your mind back to iffy clubs in northern England or on the outskirts of Watford around 1993.
And feel free to don a sparkly catsuit for Rozalla's Everybody's Free, from the sub-genre that was 'uplifting' dance oozing with 'positivity', marred by the thought of some balding, ponytailed producer type clawing in the readies.
That was one of the contradictions of the time, and of the music industry in general, while the kids are groovin' on down and the zeitgeist appears to be transforming for the better, there's the corporate suits smiling like drunken Cheshire cats, looking for another hapless act to exploit.
Anyway, back to the music. Disc one's fun is wedged between Stevie V and Livin' Joy with the forgettable Ace Of Base and Tag Team's Whoomp! There it Is acting as the curled-up slices of bread to the tasty pop filling within.
Disc two kicks off with nasal-toned, R 'n' B bore Bobby Brown's chart-bothering Two Can Play That Game, surely the inspiration for jail-boy Mark Morrison later in the decade. Did he ever get his coat back?
The less said about Ini Kamoze's Here Comes The Hotstepper the better so we can all preen and pout to Mel & Kim's summer 1987 smash Respectable, still so much fun more than 20 years later.
Mad early 90s Euro-dance puts in an appearance on this disc with Culture Beat's Mr Vain, splendidly insane floor-filling that builds to a crazy crescendo.
Oh man, next up is the New Jack Swing silliness of Color Me Badd's I Wanna Sex You Up. Ah, Color Me Badd: male models with zero talent warbling out schlocky R 'n' B.
The Badd boys are followed by Rick James' infectiously funky Superfreak, the riff of which nicked by MC Hammer for Hammer Time in 1990. If you don't get on down to Superfreak, you are probably dead.
Disc two pumps out the classics with Walk This Way from Run DMC vs. Aerosmith, the Beastie Boys' Daily Mail-baiting You Gotta Fight For Your Right and codpiece-sporting funk pomposity from Cameo with September 1986 sizzler Word Up, a track given a second bite of the Top 40 cherry by Gun in 1994.
We also get one of the best party songs ever here with Yazz's The Only Way Is Up which lit up the rather rainy summer of 1988.
Still wanna party? Then skip over to Lionel Richie's All Night Long and turn of the decade psychedelic-pop curiosity Groove Is In The Heart courtesy of Deee-Lite.
Cheesy at times, awful at others but overall top quality pop fun that will get some serious caning at thirtysomething parties.
8/10
Lee Davis