Fly – an album with an all star cast

Earlier this year the bio pic Eddie The Eagle came out and, even more  importantly, the soundtrack album came out with it. Boasting an 80s all star cast featuring Holly Johnson (Frankie Goes To Hollywood), Howard Jones, Marc Almond (Soft Cell), Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet), Midge Ure (Ultravox), Nik Kershaw, ABC, Kim Wilde, Andy Bell (Erasure), Go West, Heaven 17 (now a duo after Ian Craig Marsh left in 2007) and Paul Young, all curated by Take That’s Gary Barlow.

When I first heard this was coming out, I was excited at the prospect of so many stars on one album, but was also concerned that star power might be all that was going for it. I was needlessly concerned.

This album does not disappoint, with strong, well arranged and produced tracks throughout, with perhaps ABC’s Living In My Heart possibly the weakest of the tracks, though in saying that it is by no means a bad song. Some of the songs take a while to get going, but hit the spot once they get there. The opening track Ascension is an example of this – a slow start, but really rocks after the opening few lines.

Each vocalist gives an excellent performance on their respective tracks; there is no filler on this album. The welcome inclusion of Kim Wilde on the album serves to highlight the lack of female representation – perhaps they could have included the likes of Kate Bush, Alison Moyet or Sade?

There is a track called Thrill Me by two of the actors in the film, Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton and the instrumental Eddie The Eagle Theme by the soundtrack composer Matthew Margeson.

If you in any way consider yourself to be a fan of 80s music, you have to get this album.

I will be featuring it on my show over the next few weeks, featuring (almost) every track.

Score: 8/10