October 19, 2018

20,000 vinyl LPs 154: Divine ~ Greatest Hits

Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP album cover detail
photo by Styrous®
 


Divine (Harris Glenn Milstead) was born on October 19, 1945. He was an American actor, singer and drag queen who worked with John Waters (link below). Divine was also the inspiration for Ursula the Sea Witch, the Walt Disney character created for the film, The Little Mermaid (link below).    

Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical appearances, and adopted a female drag persona for his music career.         

Divine's big hit was So, You Think You're a Man. Male body builders are featured in the video for the song but Mae West (link below) beat Divine to it by 50 years. Divine also did a cover of Walk Like a Man by the Four Seasons (links to both below).    


Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP album cover
photo by Styrous®


In 1984 Divine released an album entitled, The Story So Far, in Australia, Europe and Japan. The same year, he released this album, Greatest Hits, in Canada on the Unidisc label. This album has none of the songs that were his hits; instead it has songs he sung that are seldom heard.         


Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP album back cover
photo by Styrous®


Needless to say, all are Hi-NRG tunes written by Bobby Orlando execpt Native Love, which was written with Marc Bauman. Shoot Your Shot was produced by Spanish record producers.   

Love Reaction was recorded twice upon the suggestion of Divine's Dutch record company, the second version modeled after the successful New Order, Blue Monday single. A suit was threatened against Orlando for audio plagiarism, but never materialized (link below).         

Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


Shoot Your Shot was produced by Toni Peret (Antonio Peret Alcalde) and José María Castells. It became Divine's second single to chart on the Dutch Top 40; it debuted at #26 and eventually peaked at #3. The song spent a total of 10 weeks on the chart. Shoot Your Shot was certified gold (100,000 copies) in the Netherlands.             

  
Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


Peret was born in Barcelona, Spain, on May 24, 1964, and is an internationally known DJ. He was creator of volumes 3 to 12 of the Max Mix saga in the second half of the 1980's and early 1990's in addition to many other megamixes.      

Castells is a Spanish DJ/producer from Barcelona. He began to work in the record world in the Spanish company Max Music in 1986, recording with said company a total of 65 disks of mixtures (Megamixes).   
         
Native Love
Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


Native Love (Step By Step) became Divine's first single to chart on the Dutch Singles Chart. It debuted at #37 before climbing to and peaking at #28 in its second week. The song spent a total of 11 weeks on the chart.        

Native Love (Step By Step remains Divine's highest charting song on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Songs, where it peaked at #21.         
          

Jungle Jezebel
Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP album back cover detail
detail photo by Styrous®


The intro for Jungle Jezebel is a minute & a half and when the vocal begins, somehow, it reminds me of what The Residents (link below) might do vocally.           





Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP, side 1
photo by Styrous®


Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP label, side 1
photo by Styrous®





Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP, side 2
photo by Styrous®


Divine ~ Greatest Hits
vinyl LP label, side 2
photo by Styrous®



Tracklist:

Side 1:

A1 - Native Love - 5:10
A2 - Shake It Up - 9:28
A3 - Jungle Jezebel - 4:37

Side 2:

B1 - Shoot Your Shot - 8:23
B2 - Love Reaction - 5:31
B3 - Native Love (Suite) - 8:30

Companies, etc.

    Phonographic Copyright (p) – "O" Records
    Copyright (c) – "O" Records
    Copyright (c) – Unidisc Productions Ltd.
    Manufactured By – Unidisc Productions Ltd.
    Distributed By – Unidisc Productions Ltd.

Credits:

    Producer – Bobby Orlando

Notes:

℗ 1982, 1984 "O" Records
© 1984 "O" Records / Unidisc Productions Ltd.
Made in Canada
Barcode and Other Identifiers

    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side A): SPLP-8004-A IA 2X
    Matrix / Runout (Runout Side B): SPLP-8004-B IA 2X

Divine ‎– Greatest Hits... So Far..!
Label: Unidisc ‎– SPLP-8004
Series: Disco/Dance Classics – SPLP-8004
Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: Canada
Released: 1982, 1984
Genre: Electronic
Style: Hi NRG, Disco



Viewfinder links:        
          
Divine articles/mentions      
Mae West      
The Residents            
John Waters             
          
Net links:        
          
Max Music               
NY Times obit          
          
YouTube links:        
           
Divine ~                
        Native Love 
        Shake It Up  
        Jungle Jezebel 
        Shoot Your Shot
        Love Reaction              
        Native Love (Suite)
        So, You Think You're a Man
        Walk Like a Man (video)     
Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons ~ Walk Like a Man (video)   
   

   
       

         
      
Styrous® ~ Friday, October 19, 2017      
   












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