Track Listing

1. Indian Rope
2. The Only One I Know
3. Weirdo
4. Can't Get Out Of Bed
5. Just When You're Thinkin' Things Over
6. One To Another
7. North Country Boy
8. How High
9. Tellin' Stories
10. Forever Full Length Version
11. My Beautiful Friend
12. Impossible
13. Love Is The Key
14. A Man Needs To Be Told
15. Up At The Lake Original Version
16. Try Again Today
17. Blackened Blue Eyes
18. You're So Pretty, We're So Pretty (Version '06)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32361 in Music
• Released on: 2006-11-06
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Dimensions: .22 pounds
• Running time: 77 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Always the bridesmaid? The Gallagher brothers make Oasis the biggest band in the world overnight with a handful of half-decent tunes and few inebriated right hooks, while The Charlatans live a veritably epic Greek tragedy in tracksuits and yet somehow remain 90s Manchester's supporting actor nominees. History is indeed written by the winners. Which is why you probably never had The Charlatans down as a singles band – a mere single band perhaps, down to the resurgent versatility of their Hammond-drenched 1990 indie disco classic "The Only One I Know" - but little more. But it is hard to argue in the face of irrefutable facts, and to hear all their singles lined up, one after another, is to have your expectations as a casual observer immediately confounded.

Collecting together for the first time their singles output from all three record labels and periods of their 16-year existence, Forever: The Singles, stands as testament to the fact that they’ve never once stopped rising to the occasion. Even as their career ambles latterly through suspect tundra between Bob Dylan and Curtis Mayfield they pull a corker like "Love Is The Key" out of the ill-fitting Stetson, with a remarkable falsetto from Tim Burgess. And next to the surging piano-stomp of "One To Another", the weightless twinkle of "Telling Stories" and the numb, underrated Beck-via-The-Verve bliss of "My Beautiful Friend", "The Only One I Know" even begins to sound a bit flat-pack. --James Berry

CD Description
'Forever' serves as an education, by these much loved survivors of the Madchester era, in how to create a great single.The 18 track collection progresses in chronological order allowing us to trace the development of the band. Their debutsingle, 1990's 'Indian Rope', opens the album and it finishes with a 2006 reworking of the 'Wonderland' track 'You're So Pretty - We're So Pretty'.

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Customer Reviews

The most underrated singles band of our time?
I agree with the other reviewer re. this single cd edition being less than ideally comprehensive - maybe because their earlier albums were on another label (Beggars Banquet) and partly represented by the earlier 'Melting Pot' compilation? - but for the songs that ARE on here, five stars! The Charlies are hugely undervalued but everyone one of these is a classic pop/rock/indie/who cares! tune'n'spirit packed glory.

A Great Compilation
It's nigh on impossible to condense a near 17 year career into the 80 minutes that can fit onto one CD, but whilst this may not give the whole story it offers up proof that when they were good, The Charlatans were very special indeed.

Another chronologically ordered singles compilation, this takes us from their debut single Indian Rope (surprisingly they don't start with The Only One I Know) to 2006 single Blackened Blue Eyes. If neither track is essential, a lot of what lies in between is.

The Only One I Know is the baggy Manchester sound at it's best whilst Weirdo brings a kind of gothic northern sould to the party. The soul of this particular party though has to be the cuts from the Charlatan's best album Telling Stories. Four songs are taken from it (One To Another, North Country Boy, How High and Tellin' Stories) and even they only hint at the majesty of the album as a whole.

Even though it didn't seem to appeal to fans of that album, I always found Wonderland a great album too. It only produced two top 40 singles and both make it onto this collection, the sublime Love Is The Key and A Man Needs To Be Told.

Sadly from there, the collection does noticeably dip in quality. The last two studio albums (2004's Up At The Lake and the afformentioned Simpicato) were disappointing and even cherry-picking the "best" from those two doesn't leave much excitement. The new track is also a lesson in pointlessness. You're So Pretty We're So Pretty was a good song to start with, and was scheduled to be a single once upon a time, but the disco tinged remix does nothing for the song, or for the the collection as a whole.

Whilst this is undoubtedly a compilation that tails off to the end, it serves as a great reminder of how good the Charlatans were at their peak. Who knows, it may even serve as a reminder to the group themselves after the last two disappointments.

Brilliant band shame about the selection!!
Why oh why are they so light on the early period - OK 'Then' is no classic but no 'Over Rising', 'Jesus Hairdo' or 'Just Lookin''???? What's that about??? And yet - we get all the singles from 97 in order, even 2 songs from the very poor album (by their standards) 'Up At The Lake'?

Go out and buy 'Between 10th and 11th' instead - an underrated CLASSIC.