''The Hit Factory Volume 3'' is a compilation album collecting the biggest hits of the award-winning British music production trio

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considere ...

during their most successful era. It was released by

PWL Records Pete Waterman Entertainment (PWE) is the production company one-time pop and dance record label owned by British pop mogul Pete Waterman. The label, originally PWL (Pete Waterman Limited), is most famous for being the home of hit record pro ...

in association with

Fanfare Records Fanfare Records was a British record label that was founded by Iain Burton (dancer in The Young Generation, manager of Arlene Phillips and co-founder of Hot Gossip) and Simon Cowell (which made Cowell's first break in the music industry). Burt ...

in June 1989 and reached #3 in the compilation Top 20, achieving a Gold BPI award. Some critics highlighted the negative aspects of the release: it contained 2

B Side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

s ("Made in Heaven" and "Wrap My Arms Around You"), 5

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s ("

Turn It Into Love "Turn It into Love" is a single released by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was taken from her debut studio album '' Kylie'' (1988). The single was released in December 1988 in Japan only. The B-side was a new song "Made in Heaven", which ...

", "

Help! ''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...

", "I Only Wanna Be With You", "I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" and " Ferry 'Cross the Mersey"), a major

flop In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...

("S.S. Paparazzi") and the remaining 3 tracks were considered weak songs ("Take Me To Your Heart", "I'd Rather Jack" and "He Ain't No Competition") although they all reached the UK Top 10. Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan's duet "Especially for You" was however one of the biggest selling singles of the 1980

's success peaked during 1988 and 1989 and at the time of this album's release, reviewers were quick to highlight ''any'' short-comings with any release associated with the trio. Nevertheless, the popularity of this compilation is evident and it is distinct in that it contained a bonus LP/CD megamix of the album's more dance orientated material. Excluded from the compilation is "This Time I Know It's for Real" by Donna Summer, a number three hit for Summer in collaboration with SAW in March 1989, three months before the release of this title.

Critical reception

Savage Pencil, Edwin Pouncey left small ironic review on this compilation for '' New Musical Express'' with negative assessment. From whole tracklist he found warm words only for The Reynolds Girls track. He wrote: " Thatcher friendly producers SAW plan to rake more dosh out of the pockets of the poor, deluded sods who buy their records" and summarised: "There's nothing here your mother wouldn't like."

Track listings

UK Track listing (2xCD/LP: UK Fanfare/PWL HFCD/LP 8) (Video: VHF8) Disc one *Take Me to Your Heart :

Rick Astley Richard Paul Astley (born 6 February 1966) is an English singer, songwriter and radio personality, who has been active in music for several decades. He gained worldwide fame in the 1980s, having multiple hits including his signature song " Ne ...

*I'd Rather Jack : The Reynolds Girls *Made in Heaven : Kylie Minogue ''(B Side to " Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi")'' *Turn It Into Love :

Hazell Dean Hazell Dean ( Poole; born 27 October 1952) is an English dance-pop singer, who achieved her biggest success in the 1980s as a leading Hi-NRG artist. She is best known for the top-ten hits in the United Kingdom "Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man)", ...

''(Originally recorded by Kylie Minogue)'' *Help! :

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. T ...

& Lananeeneenoonoo ''(Originally recorded by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

)'' *

Especially for You "Especially for You" is a song performed by Australian recording artists Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan from Donovan's debut album, '' Ten Good Reasons'' (1989). The song was released as his album's second single on 28 November 1988 and was ...

: Kylie & Jason *He Ain't No Competition :

Brother Beyond Brother Beyond were a British pop band who had success in the pop rock genre in the late 1980s. Biography The group's first four singles, "I Should Have Lied", "How Many Times", "Chain-Gang Smile" (produced by Don Was), and an early version of ...

*I Only Wanna Be with You :

Samantha Fox Samantha Karen Fox (born 15 April 1966) is an English pop singer and former glamour model from East London. She rose to public attention aged 16, when her mother entered her photographs in an amateur modelling contest run by ''The Sunday Peopl ...

''(Originally a #4 hit for

Dusty Springfield Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), known professionally as Dusty Springfield, was an English singer. With her distinctive mezzo-soprano sound, she was a popular singer of blue-eyed soul, pop and dram ...

in 1963)'' *I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet : Pat & Mick ''(Oriignally a Top 20 hit for Gonzalez in 1979)'' *S.S. Paparazzi ''(The Boys Have A Go Back Mix)'' : Stock Aitken Waterman *Wrap My Arms Around You : Jason Donovan ''(B Side to "Too Many Broken Hearts")'' *Ferry 'Cross the Mersey : Various ''(Originally recorded by

Gerry & The Pacemakers Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongsid ...

)'' Disc two ''Pumping Party Mix One (17.43)'' *Turn It Into Love : Hazell Dean *Take Me To Your Heart : Rick Astley *Made in Heaven : Kylie Minogue *I Only Wanna Be with You : Samantha Fox ''Pumping Party Mix Two (24.22)'' *I'd Rather Jack : Reynolds Girls *S.S. Paparazzi : Stock Aitken Waterman *He Ain't No Competition : Brother Beyond *I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet : Pat & Mick *Help! : Bananarama The video compilation included all the above tracks with the exception of Jason Donovan ''Wrap My Arms Around You'', of which no video was made. An exclusive was Kylie Minogue ''Made in Heaven''. Due to be a double A side with '' Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi'' but decided against at the last minute.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hit Factory Volume 3, The 1989 compilation albums Albums produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Pop compilation albums

Critical reception

Track listings

See also

References