 |
| The Very Best Of | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | November 12, 1998 (Canada & Europe), April 6, 1999 (USA) | |||
| Recorded | 1988–1998 | |||
| Genre | Rock, Pop-rock, Blues | |||
| Length | 58:38 | |||
| Label | Ark 21 Records | |||
| Producer | Various | |||
| Alannah Myles chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Very Best Of is a 1998 compilation album by Canadian singer-songwriter Alannah Myles, her first compilation after four studio albums.
Released as a "parting gift" to Myles' former label, Atlantic Records, with whom she had released her first three studio albums, this compilation served to terminate her contract with the label. Released through Ark 21 Records, the label ran by Myles' then-manager Miles Copeland III that had released Myles' fourth album A Rival, the compilation includes material from her four studio albums, with the songs personally hand-picked and sequenced by Myles herself.
Including most of her singles released up to that point, including her best-known hit "Black Velvet", Myles also recorded two new songs for the compilation: a cover of Linda Ronstadt's 1970 hit "Long, Long Time" and the Peter Zizzo & Nicky Holland-written original "Break The Silence". The latter was released as a promotional single, and in 2001 was covered by Russian singer Alsou.
Myles saw no royalties or residuals from the sales of this album and litigated with Copeland for years until reaching an agreement and gaining back the new material from the compilation in 2014. As a result, Myles released "Long Long Time" as a digital single through her own label Fascinate in August 2015.
First released in November 1998 in Canada and Europe, the USA release did not happen until April 1999. The Canadian and USA editions feature 12 tracks, while the European edition has three bonus songs selected by Copeland: "The Great Divide", from 1997's "A Rival", which had been touted at the time as a second single off the album, and two songs from film soundtracks which were released as singles in Europe: "You Love Who You Love" (from the film Two If by Sea ) and a duet with Italian singer Zucchero "What Are We Waiting For" (from the film Prince Valiant ).
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Black Velvet" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) | Tyson | 4:49 | |
| 2. | "Break the Silence" |
| Alannah Myles | 5:40 |
| 3. | "Everybody's Breaking Up" (from A-lan-nah, 1995) | Pat MacDonald | Pat Moran | 4:34 |
| 4. | "Love Is" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) |
| Tyson | 3:38 |
| 5. | "Song Instead of a Kiss" (from Rockinghorse, 1992) |
| Tyson | 5:04 |
| 6. | "Sonny Say You Will" (from Rockinghorse, 1992) | Ward | Tyson | 5:05 |
| 7. | "Bad 4 You" (from A Rival, 1997) |
| Myles | 3:53 |
| 8. | "Our World Our Times" (from Rockinghorse, 1992) |
| Tyson | 6:18 |
| 9. | "Long, Long Time" | Gary White | Myles | 5:13 |
| 10. | "Family Secret" (from A-lan-nah, 1995) |
| Moran | 5:16 |
| 11. | "Lover of Mine" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) |
| Tyson | 4:35 |
| 12. | "Still Got This Thing" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) | Ward | Tyson | 4:35 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Black Velvet" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) | Tyson | 4:49 | |
| 2. | "Break the Silence" |
| Alannah Myles | 5:40 |
| 3. | "Everybody's Breaking Up" (from A-lan-nah, 1995) | Pat MacDonald | Pat Moran | 4:34 |
| 4. | "Love Is" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) |
| Tyson | 3:38 |
| 5. | "Song Instead of a Kiss" (from Rockinghorse, 1992) |
| Tyson | 5:04 |
| 6. | "Sonny Say You Will" (from Rockinghorse, 1992) | Ward | Tyson | 5:05 |
| 7. | "Our World Our Times" (from Rockinghorse, 1992) |
| Tyson | 6:18 |
| 8. | "Long, Long Time" | Gary White | Myles | 5:13 |
| 9. | "Great Divide" (from A Rival, 1997) |
| Myles | 4:24 |
| 10. | "Family Secret" (from A-lan-nah, 1995) |
| Moran | 5:16 |
| 11. | "Lover of Mine" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) |
| Tyson | 4:35 |
| 12. | "Bad 4 You" (from A Rival, 1997) |
| Myles | 3:53 |
| 13. | "What Are We Waiting For" (with Zucchero) (from Prince Valiant (soundtrack), 1997) |
| David Tickle | 3:59 |
| 14. | "You Love Who You Love" (from Two if by Sea (soundtrack), 1996) | Guy Roche | 3:56 | |
| 15. | "Still Got This Thing" (from Alannah Myles, 1989) | Ward | Tyson | 4:35 |
Bananarama are an English and Irish pop group, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. Their success on both pop and dance charts saw them listed in the Guinness World Records for achieving the world's highest number of chart entries by an all-female group. Between 1982 and 2009, they had 30 singles reach the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart.
Saint Etienne are an English band from London, formed in 1990. The band consists of Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They became associated with the UK's indie dance scene in the 1990s, beginning with the release of their debut album Foxbase Alpha in 1991. Their work has been described as uniting 1990s club culture with 1960s pop and other disparate influences. The name of the band comes from the French football club of AS Saint-Étienne.
Lisa Jane Stansfield is a British singer, songwriter, and actress. Her career began in 1980 when she won the singing competition Search for a Star. After appearances in various television shows and releasing her first singles, Stansfield, along with Ian Devaney and Andy Morris, formed Blue Zone in 1986. The band released several singles and one album, but after the success of Coldcut's "People Hold On" in 1989, on which Stansfield was featured, the focus was placed on her solo career.
Alannah Myles is a Canadian singer-songwriter who has won both a Grammy and a Juno Award for the song "Black Velvet". The song was a top-ten hit in Canada; it was also a number one hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1990.
Jennifer Rush is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums including the million-selling single "The Power of Love", which she co-wrote and released in 1984. Her greatest success came in Europe, particularly Germany.
Sandra Ann Lauer, later Sandra Cretu, commonly known under her mononymous stage name of Sandra, is a German pop singer who enjoyed mainstream popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s with a string of European hit singles, produced by her then-husband and musical partner, Michael Cretu, most notably "(I'll Never Be) Maria Magdalena" (1985), "In the Heat of the Night" (1985), "Everlasting Love" (1987), "Secret Land" (1988), "Hiroshima" (1990), and "Don't Be Aggressive" (1992). Her albums Into a Secret Land (1988) and Close to Seven (1992) have won Sandra high critical acclaim.
Ultra Naté Wyche is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ and promoter who has achieved success on the pop charts with songs such as "Free", "If You Could Read My Mind", and "Automatic".
La Bouche is a German Eurodance duo best known for the hits "Be My Lover", "Sweet Dreams", "You Won't Forget Me" and "S.O.S." La Bouche was founded in 1994 by record producer Frank Farian in Frankfurt am Main. He worked together with techno DJ Ulli Brenner and producer Amir Saraf to produce the music, while American singer Melanie Thornton and American rapper-singer Lane McCray fronted the act.
Magic Affair is a German eurodance project formed in Frankfurt, Germany in 1993 by music producer Mike Staab. German singer Franca Morgano and American rapper Burnell Keith Herring fronted the project in the early stages. Magic Affair is best known in Europe for the hit singles "Omen III", "Give Me All Your Love" and "In the Middle of the Night" and the album Omen . To date, the project has sold 2.5 million records in Germany and over 8 million records worldwide.
"I Want You" is a song written by songwriters Leon Ware and Arthur "T-Boy" Ross and performed by singer Marvin Gaye. It was released as a single in 1976 on his fourteenth studio album of the same name on the Tamla label. The song introduced a change in musical styles for Gaye, who before then had been recording songs with a funk edge. Songs such as this gave him a disco audience thanks to Ware, who produced the song alongside Gaye.
Kate Ryan is a Belgian singer and songwriter, and the winner of a World Music Award. She began her singing career in 2001 and later found fame with a string of dance hits. These included covers, mostly of Mylène Farmer and France Gall, such as "Désenchantée", "Libertine", and "Ella, elle l'a", and Desireless' "Voyage Voyage", as well as new material. Ryan represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with "Je t'adore" coming in 12th place in the semi-final.
Shareese Renée Ballard, better known by her stage name Res, is an American singer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her musical style is a blend of indie pop, soul, and rock.
"Black Velvet" is a song written by Canadian songwriters Christopher Ward and David Tyson, and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Alannah Myles. It was released in January 1990 as one of four singles from Myles' 1989 eponymous album from Atlantic Records. It became a number-one hit for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1990 and reached number one on the Album Rock Tracks chart, as well as number ten in her native Canada and number two on the UK Singles Chart. The song also reached number one in Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland and was a major success in several other countries. It contains blues verses with a rock chorus.
On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II is the first greatest hits album by American singer Donna Summer, released on October 15, 1979. It was her fourth consecutive double album, and also made her the first person ever to take three consecutive double albums to the number one spot on the U.S. album chart. This would become Summer's third multi-platinum album to date.
The discography of American pop rock duo Sonny & Cher consists of five studio albums, eight compilation albums, one soundtrack album, two live albums and twenty-one singles. Sonny and Cher had released three albums and one single which achieved Gold status in the United States: Look At Us, Sonny & Cher Live, All I Ever Need Is You and I Got You babe. In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher sold over 40 million records worldwide.
André Tanneberger, better known by his stage name ATB, is a German DJ, musician, and producer of trance music. According to the official world DJ rankings governed by DJ Magazine, ATB was ranked No. 11 in 2009 and 2010, and No. 15 in 2011. In 2011, he was ranked as world No. 1 according to "The DJ List". He is best known for his 1998 single "9 PM ", which was a No. 1 single in the United Kingdom. The song's hook would later be reworked into "Don't Stop!" in 1999 for his debut album, Movin' Melodies, becoming a hit in its own right.
If Not for You is the debut studio album by British-Australian singer-songwriter Olivia Newton-John, released in November 1971 by Festival Records. The album was released on the Pye International label in the UK as Olivia Newton-John, with a slightly different cover. As a covers album, If Not for You features mostly songs previously recorded from contemporary artists of the 1960s and early 1970s. She made several performances to promote If Not for You and her follow-up album, Olivia, including an international tour with British singer Cliff Richard. It was her first album released by Festival Records, which would release all her albums in Australia until its dissolution in 2005. It also has Newton-John's first works with her long-time musical partner, John Farrar.
"Like Flames" is a song by American band Berlin, released in 1986 as the lead single from their third studio album, Count Three & Pray (1986).
Sandie Shaw is a retired English pop singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (1964), "Long Live Love" (1965) and "Puppet on a String" (1967). With the latter, she became the first British entry to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She returned to the UK Top 40, for the first time in 15 years, with her 1984 cover of the Smiths song "Hand in Glove". Shaw retired from the music industry in 2013.
The World of Tammy Wynette is a compilation album by American country artist Tammy Wynette. It was released in May 1970 via Epic Records and contained 20 tracks of previously recorded material. The album comprised a series of recordings that originally appeared on Wynette's studio albums but were not issued as a singles. Some of the album's material were covers of songs first recorded by other music artists. It was originally issued on two separate discs and was later re-released in 2009. The World of Tammy Wynette appeared on both the Billboard country albums chart and the pop chart. The disc received mixed reviews from critics.