It's Pop-tiddly-Astic Mate! (Party Animal)

Member Name: Fishbulb

Product:	Party Animal
Date:	21/01/03 (346 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Eclectic collection, Will suit majority of people, Three CD's mean less time changing them

Disadvantages: Some poor tracks, Some obvious party tracks missing, Not to everyone's taste (but what is?)

I should initially point out that this was originally due to be published before Christmas but my internet connection just never held out long enough to upload it to DooYoo that coupled with the fact that my work computer will no longer let me use any Word documents or basically anything with words in at all led to a rather difficult time posting this.

Anyway It's the time of year again when you attend party after party after party! (Remember, at this point in my head it was nearing Christmas) You party with your family, you party with your neighbours, you party with your friends and you party with your colleagues. This is such a large mix of people to socialise with and inevitably, one party or another just isn't 'quite your scene'. This does sort of bring me around to the product in question, but I am setting the scene at the moment.

Now, we all like music (I think). I can honestly say that I do not know a single person who doesn't enjoy one type of music or another, but music is such a broad term, covering everything from jazz, to country, to classical, to rock, metal, garage, techno or a thousand other types in between. It's difficult to pick suitable tune-age for a gathering of people who may not be 'that' close to you. (Like your family)

Personally, most of my friends would be quite happy with listening to some 90's dance music at a party, or even something a little more off the beaten track, but I couldn't see that going down too well with our friends kids or indeed our parents, so here's where this great CD comes in. (Apologies for the long intro)

The CD is called Party Animal and it does exactly what it says on the cover. It comes on 3 discs, each around an hour in length and it's packaged in a double CD case with one of those annoying cardboard covers, which will no doubt get destroyed the first time I try and force it into my CD rack. On the cover, you'll notice
that among the bright colours there are the words 'Party Animal' are boldy emblazoned across it in bright yellow. Taking up the best part of the cover is a picture of Marandina in his Saturday night best. White flared suit, multi-coloured large collared shirt, red platforms and the traditional mating attire of a 70's man on the town, a medallion emblazoned with his initial (M) (Exactly the same information is printed on the insert of the CD case so take my advice and chuck the cardboard bit away!)

Well, according to the cover this claims to be a 3 CD set - check. It also claims to contain 52 of today's greatest party anthems - well, let's have a little look see.

I know this may be a bit dull, but lets have a little list of them shall we. (I won't be offended if you skim through this bit - but I thought it would be helpful to show the diversity of the track listing.)

Disc One
Asereje - Las Ketchup
Kiss Kiss - Holly Valance
DJ - H & Claire
Groove is in the Heart - Dee-Lite
Wake me up before you Go-go - Wham!
Ooh-Aah, Just a little bit - Gina G
Saturday Night - Whigfield
Venus - Bananarama
Don't Leave me this Way - The communards
Love Shack - B-52's
Stayin' Alive - N-Trance
Sexbomb - Tom Jones & Mousse T
Rockstars - Zanzibar
Things can only get better - D:ream
Let me be your Fantasy - Baby D
You don't know me - Armand Van Helden feat. Duane Harden
You see the trouble with me - Black Legend
Professional Widow - Tori Amos

Disc Two

Respect - Aretha Franklin
Upside Down - Diana Ross
Hot Stuff - Donna Summer
Jump to the Beat - Stacy Lattisaw
He's the Greatest Dancer - Sister Sledge
Young Hearts Run Free - Candi Staton
Shake your Body (Down to the Ground) - The Jacksons
Le Freak - Chic
She's got that Vibe - R. Kelly & Public Announcement
Lady Marmalade - All Saints
I see
you Baby - Groove Armada feat. Gram?ma Funk
Who do you Love Now? - Riva feat. Danni Mingue
Sing it Back - Moloko
I Feel for You - Chaka Kham
4 My People - Missy Elliott
Jump Around - House of Pain

Disc Three

La Bamba - Los Lobos
I'm a Believer - The Monkees
The Grease Mega-Mix - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John
I'll be there for You - The Rembrandts
Macarena - Los Del mar
Kiss - Art of Noise feat. Tom Jones
Everybody (Backstreet's Back) - Backstreet Boys
Bye Bye Bye - *Nsync
Rhythm of the Night - Corona
Last Thing on my Mind - Steps
Blue (Da ba Dee) - Eiffel 65
2 Times - Ann Lee
Carnaval 2002 - Dario G
Baddest Ruffest - Backyard Dog
Feel It - The Tamperer feat Maya
I'm too Sexy - Right Said Fred
Vindaloo - Fat Les
The Time Warp - Damian

So...If you've bothered to read that list you'll note that the cover was right. 52 songs. But what about the actual songs, what are they like?

Well, to be perfectly truthful, 'pop' is not my cuppa tea so to speak, but I was (secretly) quite impressed with this album. There's a good mix of old and new here, things like Las Ketchup for the kiddies (and the more adventurous dancers among you) and then for the real dance freaks there's the Macarena and Saturday Night (both of which are the same dance but it doesn't matter when you're half-cut) and also the classic The Time Warp hmmmm...

There's a nice little Motown section at the beginning of Disc Two - great for the laydee's to bop around their handbags. I must say that I was surprised this CD crept into my collection but it's certainly a valuable contrast to my usual tastes, I find it's nice to have a bit of everything for different occasions. My neighbours on the other hand would sell their parents for it!. They're inconsiderate b*&%$£d?s who have on average a party every 5 weeks an
d they've only got a few records - most of which are on this CD!!! I would tell them about it, but it wouldn't give us the brief minutes peace it takes for them to change tapes during one of these (now famous) party nights.

Aside from my obvious dislike for pop and all things pop-like (except Pepsi & I don't mean one half of an eighties pop-duo!) I can guarantee you, that there will be at least one song on this CD that you will like and I'm sure several more that you perhaps wouldn't admit to liking but secretly do. There are a few feel-good tracks that will take you back to a time you loved. For me, my personal favourites include the rather punchy lager-fuelled singing anthem - Vindaloo along with The Grease Mega-Mix chosen simple because having sung most of the Grease soundtrack with hubby while rather drunk on holiday it always makes me smile....until I remember swinging the microphone around trying to look clever and hitting myself in the head shortly before falling off of the stage crushing a small child and consequently being thrown out of the hotel, but that's another story.*

* dramatisation, may not have happened.

This album (do people still call them albums?) is guaranteed to have Aunty tapping her toes and the kiddies bouncing around as well as keeping the in-laws happy, as they'll actually know a lot of the songs. Still, I'd probably recommend this for a birthday party for a child, as it's a nice compromise between new & old. Every single song is up beat and there's nothing lovey-dovey here to slow down the pace of your part-taay!

There are a few songs on the album that I must admit I don't particularly like. The track listing in places is somewhat erratic too. On the whole there are groups of about 4 or 5 songs that fit together then a song that changes the tempo a bit too much or is from a completely different era/is a completely different style of music. This does add
to the overall charm of the album though, by mixing up the styles of music so much ensures that all three CD's get their go in the stereo.

In my opinion, this album would make adequate background music for a games evening, and it's well suited to a BBQ, family party, or large gathering. It's fairly inoffensive and most people would either enjoy or be able to ignore this music for a few short hours. Personally, I find that it's a great album to put on for a spot of housework a la Mrs Doubtfire.

All in all, this is a good album to have in your collection, something to have a loud sing-a-long with and bridge the gap between the generations.

I actually feel that as each of the three CD's gets towards the last 5 or 6 tracks, it feels like they were just thrown in 'last minute' I personally could live without these and have a shorter album. My other criticism is that there are a few tracks missed off the listing that I feel would have made for a slightly better compilation. I'm surprised that Black Lace didn't make it on here, but that's no real loss.

I will Survive - Gloria Gaynor.
Sweet Child of Mine - Guns & Roses
In the Summertime - Mungo Jerry
ANYTHING by Madness
Hi Ho Silver Lining - Jeff Beck for me pal Fran, as it?s her most favourite song EVER!

And my own personal favourite and the favourite of my namesake (Fishbulb) It's Raining Men - The Weathergirls a party, just simply isn't a party without it.

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