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You are here: Polari Magazine / Music / Flashback: The Very Best of Imagination • Imagination

Imagination-Flashback

Music and Lights – Imagination

Flashback: The Very Best of Imagination

★★★★★
Imagination
78:41 min • Sony • October 7, 2013
David Robson reviews
…………………………………………………………………………………………

This month sees the release of a new ‘best of’ album from the masters of early ’80s British soul, Imagination. You may think you haven’t heard their discography in full but you’ll be sure to have heard a sample or two from the future generations that this group went on to inspire, not just in the UK but around the world.

Flashback, which takes its name from one of the band’s early Top 20 UK Hits, is appropriate for this latest hits collection retrospective. It’s a look back at a brief yet impressive contribution to black British music by one it’s most flamboyant groups.

Debut single ‘Body Talk’ was the band’s breakthrough hit and to this day still holds its sex appeal without giving too much away, proving that less is more. It’s a breath of fresh air when compared to today’s dull blanket of all too similar R’n’B sounds.

Further on in the album and we are well into the string of UK Top 20 hits. ‘Changes’, ‘In The Heat Of The Night’, ‘Flashback ‘In and Out of Love’ and (my favourite) ‘Music and Lights’ all get the foot tapping and have you racing for your best pair of spandex to go out dancing to the nearest discotheque.

But it’s not just the oldies you’ll find on here. Towards the end of the CD are 2 new tracks from the band’s charismatic and flamboyant front man Leee John. (Polari recently interviewed Leee John, and he did not disappoint.) The tracks are a lovely addition – despite the fact they, as you’d expect, don’t flow so well with the rest of the album.

Then there’s the anthem ‘Just an Illusion’. A Number 2 hit back in March 1982, it went on to become the band’s most well known track selling copies all over the globe. Not only did the song achieve success in its own right, ‘Illusion’ has gone on to influence many of today’s R’n’B powerhouses, helping them to achieve further chart success. The kids of today may recognise it most notably from Mariah Carey’s 2005 Top 10 US Billboard hit ‘Get Your Number’.

If you’re a fan of the group already then this is already a must for your collection. It’s worth it for the unedited version of ‘Body Talk’ alone, but if you’re a fan of a bass driven seductive funk with heavenly falsetto vocals then this is worth the listen. A fine slice of early ’80s Brit Funk at its most fabulous.

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Polari Magazine is an LGBT arts and culture magazine that explores the subculture by looking at what is important to the people who are in it. It’s about the lives we lead, not the lifestyles we’re supposed to lead.

Its content is informed & insightful, and features a diverse range of writers from every section of the community. Its intent is to help LGBT readers learn about their own heritage and to sustain a link between the present and the past.

Polari is designed to nurture the idea of community, whether that be social and political, or artistic and creative. It is your magazine, whether you want to read it, or whether you want to get involved in it, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or queer.

Polari Magazine is all these: it's a gay online magazine; it's a gay and lesbian online magazine; it's an LGBT arts and culture magazine. Ultimately, it is a queer magazine.

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  • The Aesthetic of Voyeurism: Interview with Antonio Da SilvaDecember 1, 2014 - 1:25 pm
  • Broke With Expensive Taste • Azealia BanksNovember 28, 2014 - 3:59 pm
  • Royalty Strutting on an American College Stage: Miss and Mr. Gay ISU 2014November 27, 2014 - 2:59 pm
  • Bright Light Bright Light: Everything I Ever WantedNovember 26, 2014 - 11:15 am
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