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Monday, January 6, 2014

"Medley II" by Stars on 45

Song#:  0674
Date:  07/18/1981
Debut:  82
Peak:  67
Weeks:  6
Genre:  Pop, Dance

Medley II by Stars On 45 on Grooveshark

Pop Bits:  With the #1 success of Stars on 45's first "Medley," there had to be a follow-up. The focus solely this time was on The Beatles (whereas the first single started with "Venus" and "Sugar Sugar," then Beatles songs). This section was basically the last third of the full 15+ minute medley that took up the A-side of the Stars on 45 LP. Everything else remained the same - the beat, backtrack, and the Stars on 45 intro/outro. It didn't catch on like the first single, perhaps because it was too similar to the first one, and couldn't even get close to the original's peak position.

ReduxReview:  The flavor of the month wore off quickly with this project. For something like this, the first single was about as close as you could get to perfect. Anything further is just a retread of the formula with other snippets and it becomes monotonous. It is well-done and I can appreciate the work and planning it took to pull this off, but the first single was plenty for me.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  The album, called "Stars on Long Play," doesn't feature either Medley separately, or even full in the case of the first "Medley." The A-side was the complete 15+ minute Beatles medley. Portions were extracted for each single. The B-side had three songs. The first featured a medley of hits from the 60s and 70s, two of which were extracted and put at the front of the "Medley" single ("Venus" and "Sugar Sugar"). The last two tracks were recorded in 1977 and 1978 and were hits in the Netherlands. Performed by Long Tall Ernie & the Shakers, the concept was similar - an original introduction followed by cover snippets - but there was no backbeat to these and featured 50s rock hits. So if you wanted the original single mixes back then, you had to buy the 45's (for those who remember what those are...).

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