Joe Roberts 'Lover'

Chart Peak: 22

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Joe has been playing piano since the age of 8 and has been influenced by, amongst others, Al Green, the Isley Brothers and the late Donny Hathaway... 'Lover' is his first hit single.

Another one that's a bit of a gear change, as if to acknowledge that Now albums usually (though not always) end with a slowie. Unfortunately most of the big ballads had already been dumped in the middle of Disc 1 so we end up with this comparatively minor hit from Joe Roberts (no relation to Juliet, as far as I'm aware), Mancunian soul singer.

"Lover, I've got something for you, I want to give it to you when I get home." Ick. The lyrics aside this isn't a bad record but it's a totally uninteresting one and I can't say I'm surprised that it's been utterly forgotten. It's not very different from a lot of songs that did much better though so I can't entirely account for its failure. It makes for a slightly underwhelming ending to an album that's tended to be OK: there haven't been many tracks on here I've seriously disliked but not a lot that's been truly outstanding either. It also seems strange in retrospect that a compilation covering early 1994 contains no identifiable Britpop - I suppose Primal Scream would be the closest we get.

Anyway, time for the usual embed. 29 complete tracks out of 38 for your listening pleasure or otherwise.

Free music - Now 27

And here's a picture of Disc 2. If you zoom in enough you can even see who produced the tracks.

Next month we return to the 80s. I think I've been away from there long enough.