Please don’t think of Marcia Hines as the fence sitting, meandering judge on Australian Idle, who praises a singer who sounds like two cats fucking in a string bag. Marcia is so much more, and you younger readers should definitely discover Marcia the singer rather than Marcia the arse kisser.

Along with Renee Geyer, Marcia Hines can truly be regarded as Australia’s queen of soul. She was in fact the recipient of several Queen Of Pop awards in the 1970’s, although I think Mark Holden possibly got the ‘King of Pop’ award as well, so you know what that title is worth..  Marcia arrived from the US as a 16 year-old in 1970 (she famously said in a recent interview she thought she was being shipped off to Austria and didn’t know Australia even existed at the time!)

She immediately landed roles in the tribal rock musical “Hair” & “Jesus Christ Superstar” (who knows if she got her kit off, it must have been a very pants watering sight if she did!) and progressed  to forging a string of hits in the Countdown era 1970’s.  Hines has maintained a credible pop music career in a decade where ‘credible’ was about as rare as sex within marriage. 
 
With her profile currently riding a wave of popularity as a ‘you go girlfriend’ judge on Big brother-set-to music, Australian Idle, this is a timely reminder of her immense talent.  Incidentally, Hines was pregnant with daughter Deni during the production of “Hair” & was the first black women in the world to play Mary Magdeline in “Jesus Christ Superstar”.

Marcia  (along with Geyer), was always a bit more than a typical Countdown female pop vocalist & lot of her 70’s output stands up well today. 15 hit singles & 7 top 20 LP’s are proof of this. The tracks on this CD swing from the sultry soulful ballads “What I Did for Love” & “Fire and Rain” to the Studio 54 disco romps “I’ve Got the Music in Me” & “You”.
 
Hines’ released a trio of great LP’s in the 1970’s “Marcia Shines” 1975, “Shining” 1976 & “Ladies & Gentlemen” 1977, while her fellow Idle judge Mark Holden released some red carnations and a hefty dose of the clap to a plethora of female (and possibly male) fans.

 All of Marcia’s hits are included on this comp including her version of James Taylor’s “Fire & Rain”, Shining, “You” & “(Until) Your Love Broke Through”.
 
Hines is widely regarded as a ‘singers singer’ by her peers & this CD contains masterful versions of Bacharach/David’s “I JustDon’t Know What to Do With Myself” & Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “IDon’t Know How to Love Him”

Lightweight femme ‘artists’ of the current batch (Ricki Lee, Stephanie Macintosh I’m talking to you), could well take a leaf (or branch) out of Marcia’s book. I’d like to see one of those gals belt out a version of “What I Did for Love” & make it ache like Hines does.
 
All in all, a great retro compilation from an artist that actually deserves a retro compilation. Guy Sebastian, eat Marcia’s fuck.
 
5 bloated Dickos outa 5