The Lightning Seeds - Very Best of the Lightning Seeds (CD)

All Music Guide

The latest version of The Lightning Seeds greatest hits arrived in the summer of 2006, replacing both The Life of Riley from 2003 and Like You Do from 1997. What do you put on a collection of Lightning Seeds hits?, When one looks at their list of hit singles, it is not that impressive, 13 hits, only one of which reached the top 10, and that was one of their lesser remembered tracks, You Showed Me, but a hatful of ultra commercial, highly melodic songs that very nearly made the big time, Pure, Change, Perfect, Lucky You, Ready Or Not, What If and Sugar Coated Iceberg all hitting the top 20 and most on constant rotation on MOR friendly radio stations, a sort of sweetness and light version of New Order. They had also achieved several minor hit albums, with 1997s Like You DoBest Of The Lightning Seeds the pinnacle of their achievements, originally hitting no.5. All except for one inspired piece of genius and that was the music written and sung by Ian Broudie with lyrics by the comedians Da...vid Baddiel and Frank Skinner and the song Three Lions which topped the charts originally in 1996, perfectly capturing the moment of the England Football Team at Euro 96, a football related song that even the Germans fell in love with. Having hit no.1, it made way for the Fugees biggest hit of their career and best selling single of 1996, Killing Me Softly before returning to the top on a wave of Euphoria as England made it through to the Semi Finals. Incessantly played on radio in 20 minute versions that included the highlights from the previous match's commentary. And the song has never gone away since, rereleased with updated lyrics for the 1998 World Cup, it topped the charts again and has since recharted in both 2002 and 2006 for the subsequent World Cups; a song much bigger than The Lightning Seeds could ever have been and maybe that's why compilations tend to perform worse than expected. A lot of memorable singles, even if not necessarily big sellers and one hit that goes on and on, possibly the ultimate feel good football song and probably destined to become a hit all over again in four year cycles for decades to come. This compilation couldn't have really been improved upon, 20 tracks, nearly 80 minutes of fun singalong music taken from the best of the songs from seven of their albums. Yes it could have been improved, it did not need a pointless lacklustre version of Be My Baby and the final track was the 1998 version of Three Lions, less than four minutes with a minimum of commentary from the final qualifying match against Italy. It should have included the original 1996 hit complete with over the top patriotic commentary, then the album may have been a number one. - Sharon Mawer, All Music Guide Read more Less