Edsel (label)
06 December 2015 (released)
27 November 2015
To mark 30 years since their first UK number, Stock Aitken Waterman are releasing a 30 disc box set full to the brim with fan’s favourites. By providing the pop soundtrack of the late 80s, it is only fair that we celebrate their legacy and outstanding chart success of the song writer and production team Stock Aitken Water. The box set dedicated to the trio shows such variety in the 250 tracks that it’s impossible to not find a track you love.
The set brings all the classics from a range of artists such as Divine, Dead Or Alive, Mel & Kim and Bananarama. Each CD has been remastered and expanded to include 12” mixes, rare B-sides and bonus cuts so you can hear those classics you loved but with that little bit extra. It can be argued that most tracks sound almost identical to how they were produced during the late 80s and early 90s, lacking that high quality needed for SAW fans to budge.
After coming together in early 1984 Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman scored hits with Divine and Hazell Dean who are the first CDs in the set. The strong start pulls you in with those 80 pop vibes that everyone secretly misses. At the beginning of 1985 SAW hit the top spot with Dead Or Alive who don’t play a major part in the box set, with a CD with only 6 tracks compared to one hit wonder Princess who has 11 versions of her one hit ‘Say I’m Your Number One’ - ironic really. It seems as if the hits and classics that everyone knows and loves are just sprinkled in-between the other tracks.
The box set is certainly one to purchase for all those Stock Aitken Waterman and 80s pop fans. Including a lyric booklet, discography, a commentary from Pete Waterman, brand new sleeve notes, exclusive sticker sheet and postcard set, the box set is jam packed with collectable items. It’s a shame really that it lacks those hits and gems that all Stock Aitken Waterman fans beg for but the set isn’t ‘Greatest Hits’ so ‘Say I’m Your Number One’ has a rare mixture of tracks that should make the fans eager for a volume two.
