The trouble starts when you get to 20 or 30. A great three-and-a-half-minute song, with no context at all, makes you jump up and down in reverence of its perfection-beyond-understanding, and a string of 10 or 15 can be heavenly. For most singles artists, albums are there for context, or as an aid to understanding. Particularly now that many of the best pop songs can’t be had as singles per se, they’re a godsend, a stack of quick thrills without the baggage of albums attached. Living with a bunch of hits-of-the-year comps is like living with big jars of candy: too much is too much, but a little is always a good idea. Label-affiliation niceties, target audiences, and finite CD length give each an ideological skew, but no matter which way the licensing money flows, the fact that Imajin fit in on half a dozen says something. The hits-’99 compilations are arguments for what the last year or so in pop has sounded like. ![]() Somebody really wants them to be the next Next, and half of mattering is acting like you matter. If you do the math right, the most important new song of 1998 was Imajin’s “Shorty (You Keep Playin’ With My Mind).” A not-what-you’d-call-a-hit single by a factory-stamped quartet that’s yet to release an album, it’s nonetheless turned up on Club Mix 99, Ultimate Dance Party 1999, Now, Jive Dance Party Hits, MTV Party To Go ’99, and Pepsi World: The Album. Compilation kings Imajin: They fit everywhere.
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