Total Film – October 2020

The Essential Michael Nyman Band is a studio album featuring a collection of music by Michael Nyman written for the films of Peter Greenaway and newly performed by the Michael Nyman Band. It is the seventeenth album release by Nyman. The album features liner notes by Annette Morreau, who describes the album as "a summation and digest of ten years of progress in the performance of music by a composer – a composer with whom, so evidently, a group of friends and expert musicians intimately identify their total commitment, virtuosity, and joyous enthusiasm."

In 1975 Columbia Records released this double disc, which held both treasures and frustration for the fans of Janis Joplin. The treasures were the glimpses of her live work with the Kozmic Blues Band plus a bonus LP containing 17 previously unreleased folk tracks entitled "Early Performances." The frustration lies in the big lie. In the world before DVD combined the film and the CD soundtrack, someone at Columbia had the audacity to substitute previously released material to replace some of the live performances that appeared on the film - most notably "Cry Baby" and "Piece of My Heart." It is noted on the label, but is not the kind of thing fans of soundtracks expect to see after they purchase the LP. Think anyone had the intuitive courage to take the live performance of "Mercedez Benz" from the Wicked Woman bootleg of her last show with Full Tilt Boogie from Harvard University Stadium for this set…

Four CDs. Packed with 50 extended mixes of 1980s singles, this collection opens with New Order's 'Blue Monday', acknowledged as the best-selling 12" single of all time in the UK. The first CD also contains original twelve inch versions of hits by Duran Duran, Talk Talk, Spandau Ballet, a-ha and Howard Jones amongst many others. The second disc digs deep into pure pop and once The Tabloid Mix of Mel & Kim's 'Respectable' opens proceedings, extended versions of smashes from Rick Astley, Kylie Minogue, Bucks Fizz and Nu Shooz keep the energy level high. CD three goes long with Simply Red, Alison Moyet and Tina Turner before taking in rarer 12" gems from Hollywood Beyond, Blue Zoo and Re-Flex which have been hard to find on CD. The closing disc focuses on soul and dance music, opened by Chaka Khan and Sister Sledge before delving into the work of remix legend Shep Pettibone for a run of his 12" mixes, wrapping up with 'White Lines (Don't Do It)' by Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel.