The Hideaway: Body Talk 04: The 1998 Editions

We've discovered a few posts initially planned for previous themed series here on The Hideaway in our Drafts folder. We've freshened them up and are proud to present them.

Read the previous three parts of this series: Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3. Today, we're reviewing the final three volumes in the Body Talk series initially mailed to subscribers in 1998.
Romantic Moments is volume 18 in the soft rock love songs and ballads series, featuring songs from 1966-1991. The first disc kicks off nicely with a classic yearning from Al Green before hitting a bit of turbulence only to stick the landing with a great five-song run to close out disc one. The second disc kicks off with the 1987 remix of Steve Winwood's "Valerie" which has always rubbed my ears the wrong way but quickly makes up for it with seven great tunes in a row before fumbling the ball. I know I'm being generous but I give Romantic Moments ⭐⭐⭐⭐out of six.

Volume 19 in the Body Talk series is Always and Forever but don't get your hopes up that the title track by Heatwave is on either of the two discs because you won't hear it. (The song does appear on two other discs in the Body Talk series so don't get too broken up about it. Unless you detest the shortened 45 edit.) It's too bad because either disc could have used a strong song like "Always and Forever" to bolster their weak tracklists. We count five favorites on disc one and another six songs we like on disc two. Between them, there is almost a solid dozen songs. Should take another star away for including a Debbie Gibson track but I'm not. More like Always and Three-ever. ⭐⭐⭐

The twentieth volume of Body Talk is Heart And Soul and like Always and Forever, the disc initially disappoints by not including the title track in any of its variations. Also, like its preceding volume, this one should be docked a star for including an artist (New Kids On The Block) who simply does not speak my language of love. Disc one kicks off with a great song and then calls a terrible audible for two songs before coming back to the mission at hand and finishing strong although I'm questioning how a pretty song about a ghost horse speaks anyone's language of love. Although disc two starts off strong the less said about it and indeed the less it is heard, the better off humanity will be. The series ends with a whimper. ⭐⭐

And that was the end of Body Talk: The Language Of Love 1965-1995 after 20 volumes released from 1996 through 1998 and nearly 500 songs from across five decades. Because it ended, we didn't have to cancel our subscription – it just sort of expired, I guess. And put you on the email invite list for every future music series they come up with. And then in 2000, a surprise appeared in Body Talk subscribers' mailboxes...

That's right, two years after the previous volume, another Body Talk double disc set appeared in the mailbox with a bill attached because the credit card they had on file had expired. Hearts On Fire is volume 21 and begins wonderfully with an appropriate Steve Winwood track. And just as I want to deduct stars for the inclusion of some acts (Surface and Stevie B are the offenders this time around) I also want to award an additional star when an exceptionally favored song like "Here and Now" or "Here Comes The Rain Again" or "All Around The World" appears. There are nine Number One songs here – some good, some meh. Also a lack of songs from both the Sixties and the Seventies with the majority of the songs coming from the Nineties. Maybe not the finale the series may have deserved or even warranted but certainly better than Heart And Soul. We'd say both discs have their respective highs and lows with the former barely outweighing the latter and scoring Hearts On Fire ⭐⭐⭐⭐.

Once again, Body Talk had come to an end with 21 volumes and over 500 songs. But then...

In 2001, not long after the dust had settled on the twenty-one volumes of Body Talk, Forever Love showed up in our mailbox as the 22nd volume in the series. The first thing I noticed after the shock and surprise wore off was the number of duets (7!) the set included which seemed like a lot. The next thing I noticed as I listened was that this might be the best volume in the entire run. The traditional range in years of the source material that had been a hallmark of the series returned with the years 1961 through 1998 being covered on Forever Love. Six chart-toppers and three non-charting deeper cuts are included in the tracklist. And looked there at track 3 on disc two – it's the short edit of "Always and Forever" again! Shouldn't do it but I gotta go ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on Forever Love with the biggest dings coming from the unfamiliar Kadison and Christmas-themed Brickman songs.

Body Talk officially ended with volume 22 in 2001. Full stop. Time-Life Music in Europe launched its line of Body Talk in 2001 and eventually released 26 volumes plus a Christmas-themed set through 2004. In 1998, Time-Life Music here in the US released three 12-track single discs of songs previously included on other volumes of Body Talk through normal retail channels, as stand-alone discs and all together in one of two 3-disc box sets, to attract new subscribers.