The Fixx - Ultimate Collection (1999)

"COLLECTION" WEEK (JUNE 4-10, 2012)

Looking back, I should have liked this band more than I did. I never owned a Fixx album back in the '80s. They were always more of a singles band than album band anyway. They sounded a lot like Duran Duran/Roxy Music/David Bowie except they rocked in a more traditional way which led to chart success (7 US Top 40 singles in the years 1982-1991). The songs here are presented in chronological order, so all the hits are in the first 10 tracks. Good liner notes. To an eighties guy like myself, this is just a fun listen and certainly the only Fixx album I'd ever need. They release a new album next month - I doubt I'll buy it, but I'll at least preview some of the tracks.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

Song	Album	Year	Hot 100	Rock
Stand Or Fall	Shuttered Room	1982	76	7
Red Skies	Shuttered Room	1982	-	13
Lost Planes	Shuttered Room	1982	-	-
Some People	Shuttered Room	1982	-	-
Saved By Zero	Reach The Beach	1983	20	9
One Thing Leads To Another	Reach The Beach	1983	4	2
The Sign Of Fire	Reach The Beach	1983	32	20
Going Overboard	b-side of track 5	1983	-	-
Deeper And Deeper (Long version)	Streets Of Fire ST	1984	-	3
Are We Ourselves?	Phantoms	1984	15	1
Sunshine In The Shade	Phantoms	1984	69	7
Less Cities, More Moving People	Phantoms	1984	-	-
A Letter To Both Sides	Fletch ST	1985	-	-
Secret Separation	Walkabout	1986	19	1
Built For The Future	Walkabout	1986	-	-
Driven Out	Calm Animals	1989	55	1
How Much Is Enough	Ink	1991	35	11
No One Has To Cry	Ink	1991	-	-
Two Different Views	Happy Landings	1997	-	-

I like most of the hits: Stand Or Fall, Red Skies, Saved By Zero, One Thing Leads To Another, Deeper And Deeper, and Are We Ourselves?. Of the songs I'd never heard before buying this CD, the better tracks are Sunshine In The Shade and A Letter To Both Sides (from the Fletch movie soundtrack?!?). Not as good: Less Cities More Moving People and Driven Out.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: In July of 1984, I won tickets from a Houston radio station to see The Fixx play at Astroworld on their Phantoms tour. I only won one pair, but did some fast talking at the station and scammed my way into another pair. I gave the other pair to my friend Roy so he and a date could join me and my date. My date's name was DeeAnn (a co-worker at Burger King); I have no idea who Roy brought. The concert was good, but not great. I bought a sleeveless concert tee which I wore a lot during my freshman year in college.