Texas - The Very Best Of 1989 - 2023 (2LP)

Texas have always been one of those bands that sneak up on you. You think of a couple of hits, then this collection starts spinning and it turns out you know a dozen more, each with its own hook, its own bit of Glasgow grit or glossy pop shimmer. The Very Best Of 1989 - 2023 rounds up that story with the kind of care that makes a compilation feel like a proper album, not just a playlist. It’s a reminder of how consistently Sharleen Spiteri and co moved with the times without losing the band’s warm, soulful centre.

The opening shot for most of us is still I Don’t Want a Lover. That slide guitar, the way Spiteri leans into the chorus, it’s country-blues filtered through late 80s pop and it still lands. From there the set leans into the mid to late 90s purple patch that turned Texas into household names. Say What You Want is here in all its smooth, radio-ready glory, the melody carried by Spiteri’s easy phrasing. Around it, Halo and Black Eyed Boy bring that sleek, cinematic feel the band nailed on White on Blonde, a record that rebuilt them as chart fixtures and drew proper critical respect. It was a smart pivot at the time and it still feels elegant, never overcooked.

Summer Son remains the sugar rush. That quicksilver synth line, the four-on-the-floor pulse, the chorus that hits like a sun flare. It sounded enormous on car radios in 1999 and it translates beautifully in this context, especially when paired with Inner Smile, which flips vintage rock and pop tropes into something unabashedly joyful. If you remember the video, Spiteri in an Elvis-style jumpsuit, you’ll hear the wink in her vocal all over again. In Demand follows with a cooler, late-night sway, and if you’re the sort to fall down YouTube rabbit holes, the clip with Alan Rickman sharing a petrol station tango is still a treat.

Texas have always had a feel for collaboration and reinvention. The 1998 hook-up with Wu-Tang Clan on Say What You Want (All Day, Every Day) was a genuine crossover moment, not a bolt-on trend. That open ear carried through to recent years, with the 2021 album Hi folding old-school soul touches and a return cameo from Wu-Tang into the mix. This compilation smartly threads those later cuts among the big hitters, so you don’t get a front-loaded sprint followed by polite extras. The Conversation and Detroit City show the band’s knack for lean, guitar-led pop never really left; they just pick their moments.

Sequencing matters in a set like this and Texas get it right. The tempos breathe, the choruses arrive when you want them, and Spiteri’s voice anchors the whole thing. She’s never showy, just confident, and that tone has aged like a favourite leather jacket. On The Very Best Of 1989 - 2023 vinyl the dynamic shifts feel natural, with bass lines on Summer Son and the twang of I Don’t Want a Lover cutting through cleanly. It is one of those collections that makes immediate sense to file next to your other Texas albums on vinyl, the songs sequenced to flatter a living room listen rather than a skip-happy stream.

For anyone who caught the band’s big festival sets in 2023, the tracklist mirrors the way those shows play to the crowd. Choruses built for mass sing-alongs, then a pocket of cool for the heads, then back to the hits. The band’s pop instincts are intact, but there’s always that undercurrent of soul and Americana that sets them apart from mid-90s peers. It is why something like Black Eyed Boy still sounds tough rather than glossy, and why Inner Smile never tips into cheese.

If you’re crate-digging for Texas vinyl, this one earns its space, and it doubles as a tidy gateway for anyone who only knows the singles. It is also an easy recommendation if you’re trying to buy Texas records online and want one record that covers every era without feeling like a museum tour. Shops from your local Melbourne record store to the bigger sites that ship vinyl records Australia wide will point newcomers here for good reason. The songs endure, the band’s identity is steady across three decades, and the collection feels lived-in rather than lab-assembled. Texas do best-ofs the same way they do pop, with heart, taste and a hook that sticks.