Things Can Only Get Better

'…as the Labour candidate, I prepared for every possible question on the local radio election phone-in. What I had not prepared for was my mum ringing up to say that she agreed with John O'Farrell. On EVERYTHING.'

'…as the Labour candidate I prepared for every possible question on the local radio Election Phone-In. What I had not prepared for was my mum ringing up to say that she agreed with John O’Farrell. On EVERYTHING.'

Only Dance 1980-1984 follows the pattern of JCI's Only series, offering a seemingly random collection of 20 hits from a given genre or style for a period of five years. These songs weren't necessarily the biggest hits of these five years, although there are a number of classics and smashes here. It may be hard to deduce exactly why these songs were chosen – especially since the compilers apparently define "dance" as anything you could conceivably dance to – but the end results are nevertheless quite entertaining. All of the songs are featured in their original hit versions, not remakes, which isn't always the case with midline collections. Furthermore, there a few cuts that aren't easy to find on other collections or even greatest-hits albums, which means it's interesting to collectors as well as casual fans. Most importantly, each volume captures the feeling of the era, even if it's missing several big hits, and that's what makes the series a nice introductory overview for curious listeners.

Newly remastered and expanded edition. Released in March 1985, “Dream Into Action” reached No.2 in the UK Album Charts and achieved Gold Album status. Like its predecessor “Human’s Lib”, “Dream Into Action” contained four Top 20 hit singles; ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ reached No.6, ‘Look Mama’ at No. 10, ‘Life In One Day’ at No.14 and ‘No One Is To Blame’ at No.16.