Released: June 16
Marking 35 years since their live debut, Texas revisit a lifetime of hits on their latest career-spanning retrospective.
Formed in 1986 by guitarist Johnny McElhone – formerly of Altered Images and Hipsway – and vocalist Sharleen Spiteri, the Glasgow-based group made their performing debut in March 1988 at the University of Dundee before arriving on the UK charts the following January with I Don’t Want A Lover.
Lifted from their debut LP, ‘Southside’ (1989), the single entered the Top 10 and its parent album peaked at No. 3, but it was almost a decade before they replicated the success and finally crossed over to the mainstream with the No. 1 ‘White On Blonde’ (1997) – Texas’ fourth album – featuring chart smashes like Say What You Want, Halo and Black Eyed Boy.
Since then, they’ve gone from strength-to-strength, topping the charts with follow-up ‘The Hush’ (1999) and releasing a total of 10 albums, including their most-recent, 2021 LP ‘Hi’, all of which are represented on the 24-track collection.
Classic hits like Inner Smile segue into more recent releases, such as The Conversation and the Donna Summer-sampling Mr Haze, showcasing the band’s versatility and timeless appeal, while collaborations with The Blue Nile’s Paul Buchanan and US hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan only highlight the breadth of their material.
A carefully curated set, it brings together Texas’ best-loved hits along with select singles from their early career, including Everyday Now, So Called Friend and So In Love With You, none of which were major hits but represent key moments in the group’s near-40-year history.
Their inclusion over more obvious tracks like the Top 10 Carnival Girl (feat. Kardinal Offishall) and ‘Red Book’ (2005) hits Getaway and Can’t Resist render this less a commercial exercise and more a finely pieced-together collection of vignettes from throughout the years.
Completing ‘The Very Best Of’ is two new songs – the instant classic After All and Northern Soul cover Keep On Talking – both of which sit seamlessly alongside the group’s back catalogue and prove that, decades into their career, Texas remain in fine form.
A strong best-of requires a strong repertoire and where Texas are concerned, that doesn’t come into question; in fact, it’s only the limited tracklist that slightly lets down this superb celebration of the band’s work to date. If wanting more makes us greedy, then so be it…
