Bananarama celebrates 40 years on ‘Glorious’ new compilation

Mark Mattock/IN SYNK/London Records

Bestselling British girl group Bananarama, best known for “Cruel Summer” and “Venus,” have released GLORIOUS: The Ultimate Collection, which includes 50 songs from their 40-year career. The group’s Sara Dallin tells ABC Audio that it’s more than just a best-of compilation.

“It’s four decades, so we thought we should celebrate it,” she says. “And I think, rather than just do another greatest hits, we thought, ‘Let’s have some of the hits on there, but let’s choose some of our favorite tracks over the whole of the four decades, rather than just ’80s songs.’”

“It’s the first time that all the music from all those decades, all … 12 albums, are kind of on there. So it’s unique, I think,” she notes.

Sarah’s bandmate Keren Woodward says the two “had no falling outs” over which songs should and shouldn’t be included, explaining, “We picked our favorites. We did a shortlist. We went through each album. I think we kind of knew where we were going with it … just favorite songs.”

“The only problem we had was we decided to do one new track for it and ended up doing six,” she adds. “We got carried away.” Only two actually made the compilation: “Feel the Love” and “Supernova.”

From their beginnings in punk to their dance tracks today, Keren notes that as one of the few girl groups who wrote their own music, they’d like to think they’ve paved the way for today’s female artists.

“Going through the ’80s, I felt it was difficult, much more of a sexist industry,” she says. “…It probably hasn’t totally changed, but it’s certainly changed to the extent there are more female artists, more women around, and more women getting respect. So if we’ve played a little part in helping that along, I’m very proud.”