It’s as you were on the album chart as George Michael clings on to the number 4 spot with his 1998 best-of set Ladies and Gentlemen; Twenty Five, Symphonica and Faith all fall heavily but Wham!’s The Final is still on its way up, reaching a new peak of 21 on this chart run. David Bowie still has three albums in the top 100, all of them on the way down again, and on the back of the 30th anniversary tour announcement last week U2 re-enter at 83 with The Joshua Tree.
After numerous variations on the Tubular Bells theme, Mike Oldfield revisits another of his early works with Return to Ommadawn, a sequel to his 1975 album Ommadawn. Marillion release Marbles in the Park, a 2CD recording of their live set from the Marillion weekend in March 2015, while Visage have a misleadingly titled new compilation The Wild Life: The Best Of Extended Versions And Remixes 1978 To 2015 – note that these are not the original 12″ mixes of the ’80s tracks but more recent re-recordings. There are deluxe 2CD reissues for Jermaine Stewart’s 1988 set Say It Again (read our review here) and Fairground Attraction’s The First of a Million Kisses (review coming soon, stick around review here now!), and Status Quo’s Don’t Stop, Under the Influence and The Party Ain’t Over Yet are all expanded with bonus tracks. Pink Floyd’s ’80s albums The Final Cut and A Momentary Lapse of Reason receive 180g vinyl reissues, as does Eurythmics’ Greatest Hits. Finally, in compilation corner, The 80s Love Album gathers up sixty random hits with a vague love theme, including Farley “Jackmaster” Funk’s Love Can’t Turn Around, Your Love by Frankie Knuckles and, gloriously, Ain’t No Pleasing You by Chas & Dave. That should make for an interesting Valentines Day.
