Cherry Red Records presents a 17 track compilation of Phenomena recordings between 1975 and 2006 exclusively featuring the lead vocals of Glenn Hughes.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Phenomena
ALBUM: Still The Night (Compilation)
LABEL: Cherry Red Records
SERIAL: 49505-1
YEAR: 2020
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Glenn Hughes – lead vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Still The Night * 02 How Do You Feel? * 03 Surrender * 04 Dance With The Devil * 05 Touch My Life * 06 Phoenix Rising * 07 Hearts On Fire * 08 Believe * 09 Running With The Pack * 10 Who’s Watching You? * 11 Assassins Of The Night * 12 Double 6, 55, Double 4 2 * 13 Kiss Of Fire * 14 Higher * 15 Hell On Wings * 16 Twilight Zone * 17 Still The Night (12′ Remix)
RATING: 80/100
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
This album recently released by the Cherry Red Records label is actually a compilation CD, so it’s not something completely brand new. In the main, it features songs that have been sung exclusively by Glenn Hughes previously, and that’s what this compilation is all about.
If you’re familiar with much of the Phenomena back catalogue, then the assembled songs here should be a familiar listen to you. I was quite a fan of at least the first three Phenomena albums but I lost track of them after that even though I know they released at least three more studio albums beyond 1992. So let’s run the ruler.
The Songs
I will aggregate the songs by the albums as they were released chronologically since 1985.
To kick off, most of these tracks have been culled from the 1985 debut album for Bronze. In fact if you factor in the two additional tracks (‘Running With The Pack’ and ‘Assassins Of The Night’) which appeared on the 1996 reissue of that debut), and the remix of ‘Still The Night’, that makes 11 out of the 17 tracks sourced from those 1985 sessions.
Three tracks have come from 1987’s ‘Dream Runner’ (‘Surrender’, ‘Hearts On Fire’, and ‘Double 6, 55, Double 4’) while the remaining three come from the 2006 album ‘Psycho Fantasy’. The 1985 debut plus these two albums were the only three that Glenn Hughes sang on.
Obviously this compilation is front loaded with tracks from 1985 and to be fair that’s where the concentration should be because Glenn does sing much of the material on that album. In 1987 he shares it with John Wetton, Ray Gillen, and Max Bacon while in 2006 he shares vocal duties with Tony Martin, Keith Murrell, Lee Small, Matt Moreton, and Joy Strachan.
In Summary
Not having reviewed the 1985 debut, that might be a task for the new year plus doing something about that 1992 album ‘Innervision’ as well. There has been a glut of Phenomena compilations in recent years, I don’t think we really needed another one, my only concern is that some other party is going to come out with a future compilation and cut the material from a slightly different angle. Enough please.
Video
Still The Night
Hearts On Fire
