Rick Astley: Hold Me In Your Arms (Deluxe Edition) on 2 CDs

Rick Astley ließ seinem ersten Album zwei weitere Top-5-Singles folgen, »She Wants To Dance With Me« (Platz 6 in den USA) und »Take Me To Your Heart«, die beide auf seinem zweiten Album »Hold Me In Your Arms« enthalten sind, das ursprünglich im Dezember 1988 erschien (und ebenfalls eine goldene Schallplatte in den USA war). Der Titelsong war auch eine Top-10-Single.

Diesmal hat Rick die meisten Songs selbst geschrieben, obwohl es drei Stock/Aitken/Waterman-Kompositionen und eine Coverversion von Holland-Dozier-Hollands »Ain't Too Proud To Beg« gibt. Rick hat auch bei der Produktion des Großteils des Albums mitgewirkt.

Rick Astley followed his first album with two more Top 5 singles, “She Wants To Dance With Me” (# 6 in the US) and “Take Me To Your Heart”, both included on his second album “Hold Me In Your Arms”, originally released in December 1988 (and another Gold record in the US). The title track was also a Top 10 single.

This time Rick wrote most of the songs himself, although there are three Stock / Aitken / Waterman compositions and a cover of Holland-Dozier-Holland’s “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg”. Rick also has a hand in the production of most of the album.

Compiled by PWL consultant Tom Parker, this deluxe 2 CD release presents the rare extended 12” mixes and remixes and the non-album b-sides, the majority of which appear on CD for the first time. There are four different mixes of “Giving Up On Love” which were only issued in the US, along with four mixes of “She Wants To Dance With Me” and “Rick’s Hit Mix”, a 6 minute megamix of six of his hits. All this adds up to over 150 minutes of Rick Astley!

The booklet features full annotation by Tom Parker as well as the singles sleeves. With Pete Waterman announcing his intention write the UK’s Eurovision entry, there is bound to be renewed interest in the PWL 80s classics!