Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Before the Spice Girls and Girls Aloud and their calls to arms via the slickness of the then modern media presentation, came a trio of women who truly understood the message and the reality of 1980s Britain and who would achieve success over the following 40 years without the need to fall back on the appearance of fashionable exploitation of their younger fans.
Glorious is the effect that Bananarama had on the young 80s teenager, the act of rebellion that shone through their individual personas was one of positive truth, and there was no sense of pretence in the way they presented their songs, this was a trio who shook the British music scene in a way that Punk arguably did just a few short years before, by being authentic, by being on side with those who bought their singles…not on the side of glitz and glamour, but an appeal to the realistic and realism of a decade that was changing Britian’s outlook on the world.
The constant of the music has been driven by Sara Dillon and Keren Woodward, but also with the understanding that Siobhan Fahey and Jacquie O’ Sullivan’s contribution to the effort and the message across the first two decades of their time at the top of the charts.
Whilst there have been other releases that have attempted to cast a subjective eye over Bananarama’s music, Glorious – The Ultimate Collection is a towering reminder of the generosity of spirit and lyric captured across their time as one of Britain’s all time favourite recording artists, a show of musical hands that sees the three cd or double vinyl hit home with a stare of intent and a smile that holds secrets forever.
The album holds hits, favourites and the rarity in equal admiration and passion, from the eras of Cruel Summer, Really Saying Something, the trio returning the favour of Fun Boy Three’s early hit involvement, the superb Robert De Niro’s Waiting, and the mega smash of the cover of Shocking Blue’s Venus, and beyond to the point where the trio became the duo, and continued to impress and keep the pair hugely in the public eye and on the radio.
Glorious is perhaps an understatement, it is a release of celebration, of memory, of a truth that the pair in the later recordings such as Seventeen or Running With The Night that was bound in honour and proved the longevity of the name Bananarama; praise in the triumph of plain speaking and substance marrying together to produce invigorating and fiercely delivered music.
Immortalised in the Guinness Book of World Records for a reason, Bananarama remain absolutely fabulous.
Bananarama release Glorious – The Ultimate Collection on March 8th.
Ian D. Hall