Thanks to the demands of the taxman, the regrouped Happy Mondays вЂ“ minus most of the original members вЂ“ are currently in a recording studio preparing new material. ItвЂ™s a rip-off, too, offering nothing over the 1995 best-of вЂњLoadsвЂќ except the woeful Thin Lizzy cover. As a six-song EP it would have been much more effective but, as a fifteen-song album, itвЂ™s bloated and repetitive, proving that the band should have split up several years before they finally did. The MondaysвЂ™ reputation is largely based on nostalgia and вЂњGreatest HitsвЂќ does little to show why the band was so exciting at the time. The lack of care evident in the compilation of the CD stretches to the enclosed reply card which asks you to fill out your details to be kept up-to-date with tours and releases but doesnвЂ™t leave any space for you to enter any information. Although the remixes are generally improvements over the original versions, whoever decided to include the horrifically bad cover of вЂњStaying AliveвЂќ should be shot and the random inclusion of earlier compositions like вЂњ24 Hour Party PeopleвЂќ is jarring. Of the fifteen songs on the CD, six of them are remixes and both вЂњStep OnвЂќ and вЂњWrote For LuckвЂќ are included twice. If youвЂ™re not a fan of the Mondays, вЂњGreatest HitsвЂќ is a lot of money for very little music. вЂњStinking ThinkingвЂќ and вЂњJudge FudgeвЂќ are pale imitations of earlier successes, and there are mercifully few songs from the abortive вЂњYes Please!вЂќ album, showcasing the sound of a band repeatedly jumping on the self-destruct button despite the best efforts of Talking HeadsвЂ™ Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. Helped considerably by Vince ClarkeвЂ™s remixing skills, вЂњWrote For LuckвЂќ remains the finest piece of work the Mondays ever recorded and it ushered in a period where the band produced some exceptional music вЂ“ much of it co-written with Paul Oakenfold вЂ“ including вЂњHallelujahвЂќ, вЂњLoose FitвЂќ and вЂњBobвЂ™s Yer UncleвЂќ. Not all the songs on вЂњGreatest HitsвЂќ are rubbish, though. RyderвЂ™s vocals have always had an uneasy relationship with the tune and on this track the relationship has broken down completely. Possibly the worst four minutes of music ever recorded, the chemistry of the original members is replaced by a вЂњwill this do?вЂќ rhythm track and increasingly desperate backing vocals which fail to disguise Shaun RyderвЂ™s pitiful howling. Track 2, however, is an ill-advised cover of Thin LizzyвЂ™s вЂњThe Boys Are Back In TownвЂќ played by the current (1999) line-up of the band. The opening вЂњStep OnвЂќ is thrilling, five minutes of shuffling beats and bass lines with Shaun RyderвЂ™s patented nonsense over the top, and it demonstrates just how good a band the Mondays were in their original incarnation. The first two tracks of the album demonstrate what went wrong. Although first and foremost a compilation of some extraordinary music, even the arbitrary running order of вЂњGreatest HitsвЂќ fails to disguise that the Mondays kept going much longer than they should have.

An unholy mess of drug problems, inter-band bickering and increasingly self-destructive behaviour, the band collapsed acrimoniously during the recording of their final вЂњYes Please!вЂќ album with many of the members refusing to talk to each other even to this day. With hindsight, itвЂ™s amazing the Mondays lasted as long as they did. Although mixing dance and rock music is commonplace today, the Mondays were the first band with a foot in both camps and, at the time, their music was groundbreaking. Here was a band with personalities, tunes and the distinct possibility that they would fall apart at any minute. At a time when Indie music consisted largely of floppy fringes, effects pedals and a complete absence of charisma or tunes, the arrival of a band that understood the power of the вЂњlast gang in townвЂќ image was what many of us were waiting for. At the very beginning of the 1990s, the Happy Mondays were one of the most exciting new bands around.

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