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Absolute is the brand of a long-running series of compilation albums owned by the Swedish record company EVA Records. [1] Initially, the only albums in the series were called Absolute Music, but starting in 1990 there have been other themed albums such as Absolute Dance and Absolute Rock .
The first Absolute album, Absolute Music 1, was released on November 11, 1986. [2] The idea to make a compilation with contemporary hits came from the president of Virgin Records, Anders Hjelmtorp, inspired by the successful Now! albums.
During the first years after 1986, the Absolute series was a pure collaboration between record companies Virgin, EMI and Elektra. In January 1990 EVA Records was started with Virgin, EMI and BMG as part-owners. In 1991 Warner also became a part-owner.
Since the start, new Absolute-albums have been released a few times each year. As of 2020, the latest album in the series is Absolute Music 89 which was a double album featuring artists like Carola, Zara Larsson and Shawn Mendes. Apart from the main albums in the series (Absolute Music) there have also been several themed albums. The first one was Absolute Italiana released May 14, 1990. Other examples of themed albums are:
Roxette was a Swedish pop rock duo, consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle. Formed in 1986, the duo became an international act in the late 1980s, when they released their breakthrough second album Look Sharp! Their third album Joyride, which was released in 1991, became just as successful as its predecessor. Roxette went on to achieve nineteen UK Top 40 hits and several US Hot 100 hits, including four US number-ones with "The Look", "Listen to Your Heart", "It Must Have Been Love", featured on the soundtrack of Pretty Woman, and "Joyride". Their other hits include "Dressed for Success", "Dangerous", and "Fading Like a Flower".
Virgin Records Ltd was a British independent record label founded by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman in 1972. It grew to be a worldwide success over time, with the success of platinum performers such as Paula Abdul, Janet Jackson, Devo, Tangerine Dream, Genesis, Phil Collins, the Human League, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Lenny Kravitz and Mike Oldfield among others, meaning that by the time it was sold, it was regarded as a major label, alongside other large international independents such as A&M and Island Records.
François Kevorkian, also known by the stage name François K, is a French-born, U.S.-based DJ, producer, remixer and label owner, who started his career DJing in clubs such as the Paradise Garage and Studio 54. Kevorkian has produced and remixed work by a diverse range of musicians including The Smiths, Adam Ant, Kraftwerk, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Diana Ross, Gloria Estefan and U2, and is considered one of the forefathers of house music.
The Best... Album in the World...Ever! is a compilation album brand from Circa Records. Usually the album's title is made of the main title, genre and maybe issue number, however on a number of indie music collections the genre aspect was replaced by a full list of artist names. Due to this, these were just normally listed as The Best Album in the World...Ever!, and featured many Britpop acts, as well as dance acts such as Chemical Brothers.
Art of Noise were an English avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and music journalist Paul Morley. The group had international Top 20 hits with its interpretations of "Kiss", featuring Tom Jones, and the instrumental "Peter Gunn", which won a 1986 Grammy Award.
Chrysalis Records is a British record label that was created in 1968. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Agency.
Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group.
Pearls of Passion is the debut studio album by Swedish pop duo Roxette, originally released on cassette and vinyl on 31 October 1986 in Scandinavia and Canada. The album was remastered and released on CD on 31 October 1997, with several previously unreleased bonus tracks. It was remastered and re-released again in 2009.
Yumi Matsutoya, nicknamed Yuming, is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and pianist. Generally the writer of both the lyrics and the music in her songs, she is renowned for her idiosyncratic voice and live performances, and is one of the most prominent figures in the history of Japanese popular music.
Dreams Come True are a Japanese pop band formed in 1988, comprising Miwa Yoshida and Masato Nakamura (bass). Founding member Takahiro Nishikawa (keyboards) left in 2003 to pursue a solo career. The band has sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
Now That's What I Call Music! is a series of various artists compilation albums released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sony Music and Universal Music which began in 1983. Spinoff series began for other countries the following year, starting with South Africa, and many other countries worldwide soon followed, expanding into Asia in 1995, then the United States in 1998.
Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the UK. The record label was set up in 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquarters are at the Universal UK offices, where it is currently the only large dance music label under the EMI banner.
Demon Music Group (DMG) is a record company owned by BBC Studios, which is mainly concerned with 'back catalogue' rights and re-issuing recordings as compilations on physical media via supermarkets and specialist stores.
Hits - also commonly known as The Hits Album - is a long-running compilation album series containing contemporary chart music. It originally ran in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe for over twenty years from 1984 until 2006. It was compiled as a joint venture, variously between the compilation arms of the Sony Music, RCA/BMG, and Warner Music groups to rival the Now That's What I Call Music series that had launched a year earlier in 1983, compiled by rival companies EMI and Virgin. Initially, the Hits brand was arguably as popular as its main rival and all of the first eight volumes achieved at least a platinum BPI award, with several of the very early albums going multi-platinum.
Music for Pleasure and Classics for Pleasure (CFP) were British record labels that issued budget-priced albums of popular and classical music respectively. Albums were subsequently released under the MFP label in Australia (MFP-A) and South Africa.
Euphoria is a series of dance music compilations that debuted on the Telstar Records label in early 1999. During the first year, Euphoria focused primarily on trance music until mid-2000 when Euphoria released the first chill-out album in the series and the first hard house album in late 2000. Euphoria was later spun off into a number of associated club nights around the UK, Ibiza and Cyprus. Over the course of three years, in excess of 500 tour dates were chalked up with tour DJs such as Adam White, Robert Van Ryn, Simon Webdale and Darren James. The compilations included box sets usually priced at around £20.00. The Euphoria albums were of high quality and still are highly collectible and the earlier versions are somewhat rare.
Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and British home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's production ceased in 2007, and its remaining rights are now chiefly vested in BMG Rights Management. Castle also operated a subsidiary label, Essential Records.
Sandii & the Sunsetz were a Japanese synthpop band that collaborated from 1979 until the 1990s. The Sunsetz, led by Makoto Kubota, and Sandii started as separate artists, and each have a separate discography. However, their collaboration provided a particular body of work that is representative of the period, and which successfully blended Eastern, Western and pop influences.
Carl Brett Walker was an American songwriter, musician, and record producer.
An independent record label is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented by trade associations in their country or region, which in turn are represented by the international trade body, the Worldwide Independent Network (WIN).
