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| OCC: Sharleen Spiteri celebrates 25 years of Texas, Features Top 10 Texas Singles |
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 Feb 13 2015, 06:36 PM
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 BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,947 User: 12,472 
     
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Sharleen Spiteri celebrates 25 years of Texas: "We're stubborn old bast*rds!"
13/02/2015 By Rob Copsey  Sharleen Spiteri reflects on 25 years of Texas, plus we reveal the group's 10 biggest selling singles of all time. "People must think we’re f**king stupid," Sharleen Spiteri quips when discussing her latest undertaking. The project in question is her band’s new album Texas 25, a collection of their greatest hits that have been re-recorded and re-worked with a sprinkling of brand new songs thrown in for good measure. It was an idea that, much to her surprise, their label were nervous about greenlighting. "We didn’t realise that re-recording our songs was a big deal,” she insists. “No-one at our label told us that we shouldn’t touch our old songs. It wasn’t until we handed in the finished record and they breathed a sigh of relief that it was good that we realised the scale of what we had done." The Scottish group first cracked the charts in 1989 with I Don’t Want A Lover, which peaked at Number 8 in the Official Singles Chart. And while its parent album Southside charted at Number 3, the invasion of Britpop resulted in a lengthy eight-year absence from the top end of the charts, with their proceeding two albums Mothers Heaven (1991) and Ricks Road (1993) failing to match the success of their debut. Despite that, Sharleen insists there was never any suggestion of throwing in the towel. "We were a lucky band in many ways," she explains. "With the first record, we sold sh**loads of it across Europe – and thank god we did, because the whole Britpop invasion was happening in the UK and we were so far away from that. That sort of thing doesn’t happen to many bands, and while on the one hand I feel that we were very lucky, maybe we were just stubborn old bast*rds hanging on for dear life!" It wasn’t until 1997 that Texas reached their career peak with White On Blonde; a record that topped the charts, has sold 1.65 million copies to date and spawned four Top 10 singles; Black Eyed Boy (Number 5), Put Your Arms Around Me (10), Halo (10) and Say What You Want (3), a track that Sharleen happily agrees is their signature hit. “It changed everything for us,” she recalls. “It just did everything for us and is probably why we’re still here today.” Despite marking the band’s 25th anniversary by re-recording their biggest songs, Sharleen insists she’s "not a nostalgic person at all," quickly adding: "That probably makes me sound like a real bitch, but I’ve always thought the songs should be performed in the moment they are in. People who have seen us live will know I perform our songs differently depending on what mood I’m in. These songs are really precious to me, but the production hasn’t aged well on some of them." Rather than complete re-workings, Sharleen likens the re-recorded songs on Texas 25 - done with help of New York outfit Trut & Soul - to “giving the songs a spring clean,” insisting: “We haven’t torn [them] apart - the recordings we did with Truth & Soul are very honest. Each day we would sit down together, play the original song once, the band would take notes, and then we’d start recording it. We didn’t overthink it; in fact evidently we seem to have done it with complete ignorance!” After 25 years, are Texas planning on calling it a day anytime soon? "It does not feel like that length of time at all," she says, looking wide-eyed with surprise. "I still feel like we’re right at the beginning - or at the very least a couple of years in. Then you have those moments where you realise it’s a big deal. A lot of bands, especially female-fronted ones, don’t often last that long. "I don’t think there’s another 25 years in us, but we’re taking it as it comes. The tour diary is booked until Christmas 2016, but I’m sure there will be recording sessions in between. Put it this way, the apetite is still there - we’re all still up for it!" Texas Official Top 10 Biggest Selling Singles Revealed To celebrate the release of Texas 25, we’ve revealed the band’s 10 best-selling singles. Unsurprisingly, topping the list is 1997’s Say What You Want; the song that kicked off their imperial phase and remains their highest-charting single to date, peaking at Number 3. To date, the track has sold 451,000 copies. "Wow - I’m genuinely shocked by this list," Sharleen said. "I would never have put In Our Lifetime at Number 3 above Summer Son. What do I know though? Clearly I’m talking s**t. There are songs in there that we don’t always put in the setlist… we don’t always perform In Our Lifetime – maybe we should be!” Texas’ Official Top 10 best-selling singles: 1 SAY WHAT YOU WANT 1997 2 I DON’T WANT A LOVER 1989 3 IN OUR LIFETIME 1999 4 SUMMER SON 1999 5 BLACK EYED BOY 1997 6 IN DEMAND 2000 7 INNER SMILE 2001 8 HALO 1997 9 PUT YOUR ARMS AROUND ME 1997 10 WHEN WE'RE TOGETHER 1999 © 2015 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved. Texas release Texas 25 on February 16. |
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Feb 13 2015, 07:04 PM
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 Radical Pink Troll
Joined: 11 March 2006
Posts: 26,599 User: 177
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Surprised to see Put Your Arms Around Me so high. Utterly beautiful song.
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Feb 13 2015, 07:06 PM
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"Everything seems different the second time around."
Joined: 10 April 2008
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I really like Texas. 'Say What You Want' is far from my favourite by them though, I much prefer 'Summer Son' and 'Black Eyed Boy'.
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Feb 13 2015, 07:09 PM
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
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I don't know much about Texas apart from they had a huge selling greatest hits at the end of the year 2000. Will have to check their stuff out!
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Feb 13 2015, 09:16 PM
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 20 June 2006
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Outside of the UK, "Summer Son" is probably their only big hit and by far the most memorable song, at least in Europe because I don't care about America.
It's therefore interesting to see it outside of the Top 3 here. |
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Feb 13 2015, 09:22 PM
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Yes, it's me.
Joined: 4 November 2009
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26 years, surely.
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Feb 13 2015, 09:23 PM
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Yes, it's me.
Joined: 4 November 2009
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Halo and Saint are my faves.
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Feb 13 2015, 09:39 PM
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Joined: 24 March 2013
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QUOTE(AntoineTTe @ Feb 13 2015, 09:22 PM)  26 years, surely. Glad I'm not the only person who's noticed this, I'd been wondering since the project was announced. I suppose it must have been the 25th anniversary when they had the idea. |
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Feb 14 2015, 12:00 AM
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 Break the tension
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 88,877 User: 51
 
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I sort of overlook them quite often but that is a fabulous selection! 'When We Are Together' has to be my favourite, such joy!
'Put Your Arms Around Me' has been something of a recent discovery for me over the past 2-3 years, it's so hard hitting and a lot more... left of the field (for want of a better term) than their other singles. |
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Feb 14 2015, 08:29 AM
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BuzzJack Gold Member
Joined: 24 March 2013
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I think I prefer the slightly more minimal album version of 'Put Your Arms Around Me' to the single mix. I remember seeing them live supporting the Beautiful South (yeah, I'm that down with the kids!) and Sharleen brought a boombox on stage to play the backing track.
I presume that total for 'Say What You Want' includes the Wu-Tang Clan version? |
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Feb 22 2015, 08:06 PM
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Sugar Like Apple Pie
Joined: 8 March 2006
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Livid I missed this thread, sad that compared with other times they've done artist's top 10 best sellers they haven't revealed sales.
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Feb 22 2015, 09:48 PM
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Hello?
Joined: 8 March 2006
Posts: 83,018 User: 116
      
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In Our Lifetime
Shame Carnival Girl was such a flop, so underrated!
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Feb 22 2015, 09:52 PM
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 1 January 2010
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In Demand is my fave!
Inner Smile isn't far off. |
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