The beauty of pop music is that, even while its definition is fluid and ever-changing, a great pop album is recognisable outside its own era. And so it is here; the late 80s pop sheen is in immaculate flow throughout a reissue of the debut album from a group whose career was relatively short but nonetheless made a huge splash.
All the singles are here, Shattered Dreams, I Don’t Want To Be A Hero, Heart Of Gold and the title track itself remain vignettes of excellent songwriting that are extremely representative of the era. On this reissue there is an alternate mix of the resonant Different Seasons, and the 7” remix of Don’t Say It’s Love gives a slightly different angle too. The six bonus tracks include 12” mixes of the singles (the remix of the title track is a relatively undiscovered gem), plus the original, and previously unreleased, version of Turn Back The Clock. Given that the band members have gone on to write for and produce much of the chart-bothering acts of the 90s and beyond, the impact Johnny Hates Jazz actually had on what we call pop music is still being felt to the present day, however you define it.
