BONNIE TYLER – Remixes And Rarities [Deluxe Edition Remastered 2CD] (2017)

Here’s a treat for ’80s fans & collectors (as requested); BONNIE TYLER “Remixes And Rarities [Deluxe Edition Remastered 2CD]”, just released via Cherry Red Records subsidiary Cherry Pop.
The 2-CD compilation is devoted to to the hard-to-find tracks scattered across Bonnie’s prolific career, from her earliest recordings for RCA in the late Seventies to her time with Hansa in the early Nineties, including many overlooked, hard to find non-album tracks.

“Remixes And Rarities [Deluxe Edition Remastered 2CD]” includes several highly collectable tracks which were only issued in Japan or South America; numerous tracks which have never graced CD before; and others which are long-out-of-print.
BONNIE TYLER made her name with a handful of grandiose, bombastic pop hits produced by renowned producer Jim Steinman; though in the late 1970s her single “It’s A Heartache” brought her to the world’s attention, later singles “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” and “Holding Out For A Hero” would become ubiquitous 1980s hits that still regularly make daily radio playlists.
But in the reductive nature of radio programming, careers get boiled down to one or two songs, making it easy to forget about an artist’s vast career.

Though Bonnie’s steadily released music for the past four decades, the focus on this two-disc set are the ’80s, with a handful of songs from the early ’90s, and many of these numbers are single versions of much more epic numbers, as in “Rebel Without A Clue (Excerpt From…)” which cuts the album version down by five minutes into a cool, succinct rocker, while “God Gave Love To You,” “No Way To Treat A Lady” and “Where Were You” hone down overwrought, slightly overproduced songs into something more palpable.
Such was a regular critique of both Steinman’s production style; it’s hard to find a record he produced that didn’t stretch songs out a bit longer than necessary.

Not that every song suffered for being epic; if anything, the advent of the 12” single allowed artists the ability to stretch out their songs and not confine the energy and pace to the four minute seven inch single side.
You have here the quite rare and good “Holding Out For A Hero (Special Extended Remix)”, “Loving You’s A Dirty Job (But Somebody’s Gotta Do It) 12” Version, the Desmond Child penned “If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man) (Extended Version)”, or the pretty killer “Race To The Fire (Race Mix)”.

But it’s the less familiar songs that fare best here. And rare, hard to find.
Her 1992 hit, “The Desert Is In Your Heart,” is a duet with Greek singer Sofia Arvaniti, and was a smash hit in Greece, but few outside of the country have heard it, and it’s one of the rarest releases in her collection. “Sayonara Tokyo” is a gentle ballad that appeared on a Japanese-only single and greatest hits package.

“Say Goodbye,” taken from the soundtrack to the surreal 1994 animated film Asterix in Amerika, appears here in a special version with her accompanied by a full orchestra, and it’s a potent, powerful ballad.
“Sem Limites Pra Sonhar (Reaching for The Infinite Heart)” is a duet with Brazillian pop singer Fábio Jr., and her English verses contrast nicely with his own exotic language, while “Matter Of The Heart,” taken from the 1986 soundtrack to The Wraith, is a hard rocker that feels like a missed opportunity for a great chart hit.

Bonnie Tyler is still performing and occasionally releases new material, but she will be forever known for her smash hits.
“Remixes And Rarities [Deluxe Edition Remastered 2CD]” shows that her catalog contains plenty of songs of equal quality, and that she was much more than the three songs people know her for.
It’s always a testament to an artist’s talent when they can release a two-disc collection and the hit songs are not the highlight of the set.
A must for ’80s fans

You’ve seen it first here, at 0dayrox

CD 1:
01 – Holding Out For A Hero (Special Extended Remix)
02 – First Love (B-side)
03 – Where Were You (Radio Mix)
04 – It’s A Jungle Out There (Special Jim Steinman Remix)
05 – Breakout (Long Version)
06 – Loving You’s A Dirty Job (with Todd Rundgren) (12” Version)
07 – Sem Limites Pra Sonhar (Reaching For The Infinite Heart)
08 – Bitterblue (True Blue Mix)
09 – I Do It For You (B-side)
10 – Rebel Without A Clue (Excerpt From…)
11 – Band Of Gold (Long Version)
12 – Say Goodbye (Classical Version)
13 – From The Bottom Of My Lonely Heart (Long Version)
14 – Sitting On The Edge Of The Ocean (Spanish Version)
15 – Hide Your Heart (A-Side Edit)
16 – God Gave Love To You (Radio Version)
17 – Sayonara Tokyo (Japanese 7″ single)

CD 2:
01 – The Desert Is In Your Heart
02 – Total Eclipse Of The Heart (Extended Version)
03 – Matter Of The Heart
04 – Take Me Back (Edit)
05 – Against The Wind (Extended Version)
06 – If You Were A Woman (Extended Version)
07 – (The World Is Full Of) Married Men
08 – Band Of Gold (Dub Version)
09 – Loving You’s A Dirty Job (Radio Edit)
10 – Race To The Fire (Race Mix)
11 – Save Up All Your Tears (London Mix)
12 – Stay (Long Version)
13 – No Way To Treat A Lady
14 – Notes From America (A-Side Edit)
15 – Fools Lullaby (Sweet Lullaby Mix)
16 – Holding Out For A Hero (Instrumental)

BUY IT !
www.amazon.co.uk/REMIXES-RARITIES-DELUXE-Bonnie-Tyler/dp/B075TN1Z14
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