FROM THE ULTIMATE BEST OF COLLECTIONS BY MADONNA, A-HA, SPANDAU BALLET AND THE POGUES TO THE SOLE RELEASES FROM EIGHTH WONDER AND HAYSI FANTAYZEE, WE TAKE A LISTEN TO SOME OF THE LATEST ARRIVALS ON THE VINYL BLOCK

IAN GITTINS

MICHAEL JACKSON – DANGEROUS

To be fair to The King Of Pop it couldn’t have been easy to follow up the planet-strafing albums Thriller and Bad, but by 1991’s Dangerous the strain was beginning to show for Michael Jackson.

While he wrote 12 of the 14 songs on this, his eighth studio album, the grooves within revealed a megastar struggling for post- Quincy Jones direction. The breathy grunts and yowls were all present and correct but, sublime singles Remember The Time and Black Or White aside, the tunes weren’t, with many tracks dissolving into inconsequential grooves.

Of course it sold 30 million copies and topped album charts around the world, as Michael Jackson albums did, but for many, Dangerous also marked the beginning of his decline.

A-HA – HEADLINES AND DEADLINES: THE HITS OF A-HA

A reissue for the chisel-cheeked Norwegian synth-poppers’ 1991 greatest hits collection is now available on vinyl for the first time in 25 years.

Gems such as Take On Me, The Sun Always Shines On TV, Hunting High And Low, Cry Wolf and the rich Bond theme The Living Daylights, are sublime examples of the group’s impeccable, pure-pop nous. Meanwhile, the plaintive, U2-like, Move To Memphis, which was released as a single in 1991, remains a forgotten classic, ripe for reinvestigation.

This definite, one-stop compilation follows last year’s acoustic MTV Unplugged – Summer Solstice collection and serves as a timely reminder of just how accomplished a-ha are at their craft.