Glitter Band Bell Singles Collection CD - Import

Contains 18 tracks released on Bell Records between 1974 and 1976.

Between 1974-1976, the Glitter Band released a total of nine singles on the U.K. Bell label, running up seven Top 20 hits, one American club smash, and emerging, at the end of the day, with two bona fide classics -- their debut, "Angel Face," and, precisely midway through the sequence, "Goodbye My Love." All have now been recycled so many times that there can barely be an interested soul in the world who does not own the entire catalog in one permutation or another. Far from screaming its own redundancy from the rooftops, however, this collection distinguishes itself by returning to the original source -- all nine singles, all nine B-sides, presented in strict chronological order. We can get the hits out of the way with barely a second glance; from the sublime (the aforementioned giants) to the ridiculous (the glitter-by-numbers "Let's Get Together Again," "Just for You"), the sequence encompasses a surprising array of directions and some remarkably consistent visions as well. Flip over the Beach Boys-esque "Love in the Sun" and find the band returning to the well of their inspiration, with the delicious "I Can Hear Music." Dig beneath the yearning "The Tears I Cried" and find the superb "Until Tomorrow." And upend the gratuitously irritating "People Like You, People Like Me," a last-ditch attempt to return to the glitter sound after some more adventurous efforts had failed to chart, and marvel at the instrumental "Makes You Blind," a squelching, pulsing slab of electro-disco-hard rock which came within a hair's breadth of breaking the American chart. As you'd expect from any compilation which takes half its weight from B-sides, it's an inconsistent collection. By and large, the Glitter Band's A-sides represent the peak of their powers; with only a handful of exceptions, the B-sides don't. But glam rock was a singles-driven phenomenon, and bands didn't come much glammier than the Glitters. No matter what the songs are like, this is history as it happened. ~ Dave Thompson

This is an eighteen track round-up of every A and B side issued by Glam Rock legends, The Glitter Band, between 1974 and 1976 on Bell Records. Includes all seven of the band's UK Top 20 hits (The Glitter Band have spent a total of 60 weeksin the UK Top 40), including six top ten hits and also their chart hits from Germany and Australia. The detailed booklet that comes with the CD contains notes for each single, a band history and pictures of every European single sleeve. Standard jewelcase.