The sun goes down and the moon comes up

Continuing my trip back in time through the album charts

28/07/96 : Wildest Dreams - Tina Turner


I've never been a big fan of 80s Tina ("Thunderdome" Tina) - I admire her voice, but the songs just feel a bit too US radio rawk to engage me.  I cant say I was really aware there was a 90s Tina incarnation, but I'll be surprised if I'm going to like it.

Well mostly, no - but there are plenty of discussion points.  "Missing You" is a fine song, but adds nothing to John Waite's original - if anything, the longing of the original is replaced by mere vocal gymnastics (but it did make me add the original to my playlist, so it's been good for something).  "Silent Wings" is an odd one because it features Sting singing far lower than he usually does and then we have "In Your Wilidest Dreams" featuring (obviously) Antonio Banderas - it's REALLY not a good track.  We then get to probably the entire reason for the album - "Goldeneye", which reminds me there was a 90s Tina.  And then, Massive Attack's "Unfinished Sympathy" which isn't terrible (except for the spoken bit), but it does sound like Tina doing karaoke.  But, all these are merely points of interest - none of the album is, for me, musically worthy of any consideration.  Sorry!  And no, I've never owned it - 9/23.

We're at the dizzy heights of #7 this week on her 17th week of a 43 week run (there's no way it deserved that long!) having peaked at #4 in its debut week.  The top five were a surprisingly familar Alanis, Ocean Colour Scene, The Smurfs, Crowded House and Celine Dion and the highest new entry was The Black Crowes (#17) - not my cup of tea, but I know they have their fans.  The next new entry was Amanda Marshall (#47) and it's rare a name pops up from this era that I have absolutely no recollection of, but she's definitely one of them - Canadian pop-rock apparently, who got a single to the dizzy heights of #79 in this year.

Wikipedia doesn't have a lot on the album but lists some interesting names involved in it - Taylor Dayne, Sheryl Crow, Anne Dudley, John Altman, The Pet Shop Boys, Trevor Horn and The Durham Cathedral Choir.  I also never knew (or, quite possibly, had completely forgotten) that "Goldeneye" was written by Bono and The Edge and "Private Dancer" (which is on one of the deluxe editions) was written by Mark Knopfler.  The album was top 5 in a lot of countries, but surprisingly only got to #61 in the US - but still managed to sell over 6 million copies globally.  Which feels waaaay more than it deserved.

"Customers also listened to" Madonna, Jennifer Rush, Joe Cocker and Prince - well, that's an odd mix, isn't it?  I'm not a huge Tina fan, but this feels very inconsequential to me - I struggle to imagine anyone listens to it these days.

21/07/96 - Inoffensive but inessential
04/08/96 - A nostalgic revisit

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