Nature's Best
| Nature's Best | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Compilation album by Nature's Best series | ||||
| Released | 14 January 2002 | |||
| Length | 115:56 | |||
| Label | Sony Music New Zealand | |||
| Nature's Best series chronology | ||||
| ||||
Nature's Best is a two-disc compilation album of thirty New Zealand popular music songs, selected by a panel as the top thirty New Zealand songs of all time.
Selection
The genesis of the idea was the 75th anniversary of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) in New Zealand in 2001 and the selection of the top 100 New Zealand songs of the past 75 years. A list of over 900 candidate songs was prepared, and voting was open to APRA members and an invited academy. The list of the top 100 songs was announced in stages in 2001, with the number one place going to the 1969 song "Nature" by Fourmyula.[1]
A collaborative effort by representatives of major record companies and APRA - most notably Mike Chunn[2][3] - took place to produce an album of the top 30 songs from this selection. The resulting album was named Nature's Best after the title song, and was released in January 2002 on the Sony Music label. Sales were extraordinary - in the first four months after its release, over 100,000 copies were sold[4] (over quintuple platinum in the New Zealand market).
Follow-ups
Subsequent releases followed:
- Nature's Best 2 and Nature's Best 3, 2002, songs 31-65 and 66-100 of the official APRA list
- DVD release, 2003, music videos to sixty of the songs from the three albums
- Limited edition box set of the three albums and the DVD, 2005 (Nature's Best Box Set)
- More Nature, 2006, a selection of notable New Zealand songs since 2001
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist and year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nature" | Wayne Mason | The Fourmyula (1969) | 2:53 |
| 2. | "Don't Dream It's Over" | Neil Finn | Crowded House (1986) | 3:55 |
| 3. | "Loyal" | Dave Dobbyn | Dave Dobbyn (1988) | 4:38 |
| 4. | "Counting the Beat" | The Swingers (1981) | 2:59 | |
| 5. | "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" | Tim Finn | Split Enz (1982) | 4:21 |
| 6. | "Sway" | Bic Runga | Bic Runga (1997) | 4:24 |
| 7. | "Slice of Heaven" | Dobbyn | Dave Dobbyn and Herbs (1986) | 4:38 |
| 8. | "Victoria" | Jordan Luck | The Dance Exponents (1982) | 3:29 |
| 9. | "She Speeds" |
| Straitjacket Fits (1987) | 4:10 |
| 10. | "April Sun in Cuba" |
| Dragon (1977) | 3:29 |
| 11. | "I Got You" | N. Finn | Split Enz (1980) | 3:30 |
| 12. | "Whaling" |
| DD Smash (1984) | 3:46 |
| 13. | "Not Given Lightly" | Chris Knox | Chris Knox (1989) | 5:07 |
| 14. | "Pink Frost" | Martin Phillipps | The Chills (1984) | 4:01 |
| 15. | "Jesus I Was Evil" | Darcy Clay | Darcy Clay (1997) | 2:52 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist and year | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Weather with You" |
| Crowded House (1991) | 3:43 |
| 2. | "Blue Smoke" | Ruru Karaitiana | Pixie Williams and the Ruru Karaitiana Quartet (1949) | 3:00 |
| 3. | "Dance All Around the World" | Blerta (1972) | 3:42 | |
| 4. | "Lydia" | Julia Deans | Fur Patrol (2000) | 4:16 |
| 5. | "Blue Lady" | Graham Brazier | Hello Sailor (1977) | 4:05 |
| 6. | "Drive" | Runga | Bic Runga (1997) | 3:00 |
| 7. | "Chains" |
| DLT featuring Che Fu (1996) | 3:36 |
| 8. | "Dominion Road" | Don McGlashan | The Mutton Birds (1992) | 3:56 |
| 9. | "(Glad I'm) Not a Kennedy" | Shona Laing | Shona Laing (1987) | 3:15 |
| 10. | "I Hope I Never" | T. Finn | Split Enz (1980) | 4:34 |
| 11. | "Tears" | The Crocodiles (1980) | 3:59 | |
| 12. | "Be Mine Tonight" |
| Th' Dudes (1979) | 6:03 |
| 13. | "I See Red" | T. Finn | Split Enz (1979) | 3:17 |
| 14. | "Beside You" | Dobbyn | Dave Dobbyn (1998) | 3:43 |
| 15. | "Home Again" |
| Shihad (1996) | 3:35 |
See also
References
- ↑ "Wayne Mason and the song 'Nature'", New Zealand History online
- ↑ Nick Smith (8 April 2006). "Mike Chunn - Musician, promoter". The Listener (3439).
- ↑ "Our top song - but vote kept a secret". The New Zealand Herald. 3 November 2001. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
- ↑ "...the APRA-initiated 'Nature's Best Vol 1' which shifted well over 100,000 copies..." Archived 2012-03-06 at the Wayback Machine, nzmusician.co.nz, 2008
External links
- The National Anthems, New Zealand Herald, November 3, 2001