As always at this time of year, Glastonbury propels a number of “heritage acts” back into the album chart, not least the Bee Gees whose contradictorily titled Timeless – The All-Time Greatest Hits enters at #9 following Barry Gibb’s performance on Sunday. It’s not quite the biggest ’80s-related success this week though as the deluxe edition of Prince’s Purple Rain débuts at #7.
This week two very different ’80s bands return, each with their first album of new material for fourteen years: Gene Loves Jezebel with Dance Underwater and Styx with The Mission. The Cure’s 2001 Greatest Hits album gets a double vinyl release, with a separate vinyl issue for the original CD’s limited bonus disc Acoustic Hits, while the UK’s second biggest selling album of all time ABBA Gold marks its 25th anniversary with a limited gold vinyl release. Cherry Red continue the pattern set by their reissue of the NME’s iconic C86 and last year’s sequel C87 with – you guessed it – C88, three CDs of indie gems from 1988 (look out for our review early next week). The same label issues a 5CD set Silhouettes & Statues: A Gothic Revolution 1978-1986 and there’s more late ’80s indie goodness from Shelleyan Orphan whose three studio albums are compiled into an eponymous box set with a bonus CD of unreleased material and a DVD. In budget corner, the brief mid-90s solo career of Madness singer Suggs is mopped up on The Very Best of Suggs, while Echo & The Bunnymen release The Killing Moon – The Singles 1980-1990.
