Forever is a Feeling

Oh What a Feeling: A Vital Collection of Canadian Music is a 4-CD box set released in 1996 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Juno Awards. A second box set, Oh What a Feeling 2, was released in 2001 to mark the awards' 30th anniversary, and a third set, Oh What a Feeling 3, was released in 2006 for the 35th anniversary. All of the sets feature popular Canadian songs from the 1960s onward. The sets were titled for the song "Oh What a Feeling" by rock band Crowbar. The original 25th anniversary box set peaked at #3 on the Canadian Albums Chart and was certified Diamond in Canada.

One track already makes Nick Heyward's first solo LP after leaving Haircut 100 a must-hear. The breezy "Whistle Down the Wind" is among Heyward's most moving songs, a story of unrequited love with a "hello, hello, hope you're feeling fine" chorus that is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Heyward sings the opening lines in a whispery tone, caressing the ears with the sweetness of his voice; when the tempo builds up, the track manages to simultaneously elevate and sadden the listener. "Whistle Down the Wind" is lush, hopelessly romantic pop that may have been too subtle for Top 40 radio in 1983. Although North of a Miracle doesn't strike those highs again, it's still just as charming and catchy as Heyward's finest Haircut 100 work. "When It Started to Begin" sounds a lot like Haircut 100, especially the chirpy horns, but much of North of a Miracle is more mature and introspective. "Blue Hat for a Blue Day" speaks of divorce with a deceptively cheerful beat, while the atmospheric "The Day It Rained Forever" is a wintry ballad with a palpable depth of emotion.

Some people will seek out the debut album by Lovelock, because the man behind it is Steve Moore of the band Zombi – a New York duo who play faintly absurd horror soundtrack music enjoyed mainly by metalheads. Yet they will discover, in ‘Burning Feeling’, one of the least horrific or metallic records ever. Lovelock is where Moore lives out his oiliest, most moustachioed cosmic-disco-meets-yacht-rock fantasies. Largely paced languidly enough for the cruise ship dancefloor’s erection section, synths fizz like fireworks and vocals, when they feature, are shameless requests for unnamed ladies to disrobe. Despite being a good 30 years out of time, it’s absolutely brilliant.

Alphaville's 1984 debut, Forever Young, deserves to be viewed as a classic synth pop album. There's no doubting that Germans are behind the crystalline Teutonic textures and massive beats that permeate the album, but vocalist Marian Gold's impressive ability to handle a Bryan Ferry croon and many impassioned high passages meant the album would have worldwide appeal. Indeed both "Big in Japan" and the touching, sad change-of-pace "Forever Young" raced up the charts in multiple continents…