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Music > Albums > Jive Bunny - The Best of Jive Bunny & the Mastermixers: the Ultimate Party Album (1994) Retail CD
added on July 19, 2007, at 07:47 by Sarge!

The title of this 'Best Of...' collection is rather misleading as it only covers the years between 1989 and 1991. Even if it does boast ALL Jive Bunny's biggest hit singles -- again, with the exception of their 1989 Christmas single "Lets Party" -- I'd have liked to have seen (the record label) Music Club include some of the megamixes/medleys that appeared on their Jive Bunny albums of the mid-late 1990s.Nevertheless, "The Best Of Jive Bunny" chronicles the time when a Master Mixers single release guaranteed chart success, and that's the whole point of a "Best Of.." album.This CD begins with "Swing The Mood" (naturally) - the biggest selling Jive Bunny single. This, it has to be noted, is NOT the same version that was number one in the UK and number two in the US. The version on this album doesn't include the original big band sound produced by John Anderson's 'swing' orchestra. Instead, the 'Glenn Miller' medley is played on synthesisers which ruins the megamix somewhat. The same can be said for the next track on the album, 'That's What I Like' (the second Jive Bunny number one single). The Master Mixers use a different 'Hawaii 5-0' sample which isn't a patch on the original. **The original -- and better -- versions of the two aforementioned megamixes can only be found on the CD: "Jive Bunny: The Album"**'Hot Summer Salsa' - one of Jive Bunny's weakest medleys features irritating voice samples from the 'Flintstones' courtesy of Fred and Barney! Why, is anyone's guess! The songs sampled include 'Best Years Of Our Lives', 'Hot, Hot, Hot', 'Everybody Salsa' and 'Ay Ay Ay Ay Moosey'. Not exactly the best 'summer' megamix they could've come up with.'The Juke Box Story' is a good rock n roll megamix, but oddily enough was never released as a single. Strange, when this is supposed to be a 'best of..' album. 'Can Can You Party' is the title track from Jive Bunny's second album -- and one of the more successful chart singles. Mixing songs with a rock n roll theme from the 60s and 70s, this is one of the album's highlights.'The Roaring Twenties' is another one of those 'novelty' singles. Who else, apart from Jive Bunny, could get away with mixing songs that are EIGHTY years old??! That aside, it is rather good. The songs are performed by a 'barber shop quartet' accompanied by a more modern dance beat. 'Lets Swing Again' - the sixth Jive Bunny single - has the Mix Masters trying to emulate past successes with a megamix very similar to 'Swing The Mood'. Although quite enjoyable, it's a pale imitation of their worldwide smash ('Swing The Mood').'Lets Party' (their final number one), 'Over To You John (Here We Go Again)' and the original 'Crazy Party Megamix' are all missing from this collection which defeats the purpose of a 'best of..' album. The next track on the collection -- 'Rock N Roll Party Mix' -- is the original "Jive Bunny: The Album" version which was remixed and retitled as 'That Sounds Good To Me' (a chart single in 1990, and ten times better than this early version).The last four tracks of the album is something of a disappointment really. The 'Glenn Miller Medley', again, is not the original 1989 version (more's the pity) and the next two tracks 'The JB Shuffle' and 'Rock N Roll Beethoven' are actually songs opposed to being megamixes and medleys. **As far as I'm aware, these two tracks never appeared as b-sides to any of Jive Bunny's singles**The closing medley, 'Crazy Party Mixes' (the second part of the double-A sided 'Crazy Party Megamixes') redefines the phrase 'novelty record'. Taken from the "Can Can You Party" album, this is a keyboard- backed track sampling such 'songs' as 'Yellow Rose Of Texas'! To give it a 'crazy' feel, the Mix Masters have inserted dialogue from classic cartoon characters resulting in a medley you'd probably be too embarrassed to play anyone or confess to owning!!!"The Best Of Jive Bunny" could've been a lot better if they'd included ALL the chart singles and refrained from relying on obscure album tracks which weren't Jive Bunny at their 'best'. Still, there's a few good megamixes to be found on this CD, and you definitely can't argue with the price. So if you want to listen to what Jive Bunny sounded like in their early days, I'd recommend this CD or their debut offering, "Jive Bunny: The Album".Jon.

front 938 x 952 px

back 1198 x 920 px

cd 936 x 936 px

inside 940 x 954 px