Customer Reviews

Very Best of

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It was the summer of '89 when I took a graduation vacation trip to England. The hit on the radio was "Perfect" by Fairground Attraction. The lyrics were unforgettable, like an instant classic from the '60s, and the melody was completely catchy, using jazz chords, poppy beats, and infectious tunes. I hummed this song to myself for months after my return. Stateside (pre-internet) it was impossible to learn any more news about the band, and it was almost a decade before I finally discovered what had become of them. This "best of" is just that: the catchiest songs from their "First of a Million Kisses" album, their later singles, and some great B-sides and covers, including Patsy Cline's "Walking After Midnight" and the Beatles' "Do you Want to Know a Secret?". Who would love this CD? Anyone who digs Everything But the Girl, Swing Out Sister, and to a lesser extent, the softer tunes of the Eurithmics or the Cranberries. Eddy Reader has one of those voices that moves the listener, much like Tracy Thorn. Smooth and rich. A highly recommended disc!

Mark Nevin (a songwriter and guitarist) and Eddi Reader (an excellent female singer) founded Fairground attraction, a four-piece Scottish group that recorded one official album (First of a million kisses) before disbanding, but there was enough material recorded to fill a second album. This compilation has most of the tracks from both those albums. Following the break-up, Eddi has recorded a series of solo albums while Mark Nevin has focused on songwriting. The brilliant Irish folk-pop singer Frances Black is just one of many who singers who have recorded some of his songs.

Although they didn't last long as a group, they had a British number one hit with Perfect, another major UK hit (Find my love) and two lesser hits (A smile and a whisper, Clare). I'm not sure how well they did in America, but Bailie and the boys recorded a country version of Perfect so their name certainly got around. All those hits were written by Mark, who also wrote many other fine songs for the group including The moon is mine and The wind knows my name.

Despite Mark's excellent songwriting skills, the group also recorded several covers including Walking after midnight (Patsy Cline), Do you want to know a secret (Beatles), You send me (Sam Cooke), Ay fond kiss (traditional, lyrics by the poet Robert Burns) and Jock O'Hazeldean (another traditional song). In her solo career, Eddi eventually recorded a whole album of songs with Burns lyrics.

To my ears, the eighties were not a great decade for British pop music and I was surprised that a group such as Fairground attraction could succeed. But they did and we can all be thankful for that. If you enjoy folk-pop music, you'll love this group.

I am a big fan of fairground attraction, and was happy to get a cd to replace my old media. Unfortunately the sound is very muddy-- worse than my old tape on my old tape deck. I'm sorry to say it, but it's clearer driving in my car.