Texas – The Very Best of 1989-2023 – CD

Texas, the UK band who produced ten studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide since their chart-topping hit “I Don’t Want A Lover” 34 years ago, will release a 2LP & 2CD compilation, The Very Best Of 1989 – 2023, on June 16th via [PIAS] Recordings. The album includes 24 of their best songs, two of which are new tracks called “Keep On Talking” and “After All.” A nailed-on singalong, ‘After All’ is a song so stomping that the video, directed by Lewis Knaggs, features Sharleen deliver a stella performance, unleashing her inner Dave Grohl as she takes up drumming duties. Watch the video HERE.

Then there’s ‘Keep On Talking’, a foot-shuffling cover of the 1965 Northern Soul deep-cut Keep On Talking, written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham – and produced by Oldham in Muscle Shoals. There’s the one with The Wu-Tang Clan. The five that were Top 10 singles from one album. The one with Alan Rickman in the video. The one that was an inspired Al Green cover. The two written with diverse titans of American music, Dallas Austin and Gregg Alexander. The one that was remixed by Giorgio Moroder. The une that helped give them their first French Number One album. The segued pair that, according to the woman at the front, makes their live audiences go “absolutely fuckin’ apeshit”. The one with the video directed by Peter Kay. The other one with Wu-Tang Clan. The one that gave them, straight out of the gate, a Top 10 single with their first ever release. The club banger with a killer Donna Summer sample. And the one that ended up the theme song to a top-rating American sitcom… Finally, then: as Sharleen Spiteri looks back over these tracks of her years, what’s the overall sensation? Satisfaction of a job well done? The best is yet to come? “No’ bad for a hairdresser fae Glasgow!” she says, an old joke but still a good one (and a true one). “But I gotta be honest: I still feel like I’m really close to the beginning. And the energy and the vibe between us all – as a band I don’t think we’ve ever been happier, and I don’t think we’ve ever been tighter. And I don’t think we’ve ever been more definite about who we are.” Who are they? They are Texas, and they make hits.

Disc: 1
1 Say What You Want
2 Black Eyed Boy
3 Inner Smile
4 Mr Haze
5 Halo
6 I Don’t Want a Lover
7 Summer Son
8 Keep On Talking
9 The Conversation
10 In Our Lifetime
11 In Demand
12 Put Your Arms Around Me

Disc: 2
1 Let’s Work It Out
2 When We Are Together
3 Hi
4 Say What You Want (All Day Every Day) [feat. Method Man & the RZA]
5 Tired of Being Alone
6 Start a Family (Feat. Alan Rickman)
7 So Called Friend
8 Everyday Now
9 Insane
10 After All
11 Sleep (Feat. Paul Buchanan)
12 So in Love With You