Singles and remixes by Anna Vissi

The two years after the Athens Olympics were a particularly busy period for the ever and over-active Goddess Anna Vissi. After strutting her stuff (and almost landing on her face) across an elongated platform during the closing ceremony of the 2004 event, the doors for an international career (which had been furiously shut five years earlier by the raging winds of Kylie Minogue's massive success with the song On A Night Like This, which Anna had been hoping to promote as the second single for her English language début - instead, the rock-ified dance track Still In Love With You was chosen), opened once again for her. And which was the miraculous key that unlocked the doors to the path that leads to world wide recognition for the mysterious siren? No other than the impossibly catchy song Eisai/You Are, which had thundered its way to the top of the charts almost a year earlier, and was still receiving a considerable amount of airplay in spite of the fact that Anna had another four different singles in the Greek and Cypriot charts at that moment.

Written by her ex-husband, best friend and main songwriter, Nikos Karvelas, the song is a heavy dance number that retains its consistency by carefully assembling layers upon layers of airy electronic effects. The melody and gorgeous Arabic violin progressions gave it a touch of exotism, propelling it to the number one position in the Billboard Dance Charts - in spite of the fact that it was released by the mid-sized record company Moda Records, and received no support whatsoever from Sony BMG, Anna's record company. However, this hasn't been the first time that Anna tried to break into the international market with an English record; in 1999, she released the very inconsistent Anna Vissi, which was a chaotic mish mash of aggressive (but mostly unmemorable) club tracks and wild rock ballads. Sadly, it received very little attention outside Greece, where it was a sizeable hit. Yet and still, the Greeks weren't completely happy with it, and Anna was forced to come back to her 'roots', which was a wise decision - she had the highest sales of her career. Here, I've included the first and most successful single from that album, Everything I Am.



Everything I Am

Call Me was released in October 2004, but wouldn't reach the top of the Billboard Dance charts until six months later, mostly on the strength of digital downloads. Personally, I have to say that I very much prefer the Greek version. Anna sings it with passion, the lyrics are infinitely better and the production isn't tinny. Still, this is an enjoyable song, and the remixes I've included improve on the original enormously.

The song Lie was also included as part of the single release, and would later be extensively remixed before inclusion in the European edition of Anna's latest record, Nylon. Still, it has never been released on its own. Here I offer you two peculiar hip hop remixes that you will hopefully find more enticing than the bizarre original.



Call Me [Radio Edit]
Call Me (DJ Sakis Club Mix)
Call Me (Dance Version)

Lie (Original Version)
Lie (DJ K Style Club Mix)
Lie (Vibrate Black'n'Beatz remix - featuring Rasheeda)

I'd also like to present you with three tracks from 2006 - Anna sang them all during the gala celebrated to determine the song that would represent Greece in Eurovision. We all know that Everything won and then went on to earn a miserable 9th place in Eurovision itself, but it is a pleasant ballad nonetheless and I'm sure that, those who have been living under a rock for the last two years and thus haven't heard it yet, will enjoy it quite a lot. Echo Tosi Agapi ought to have been, if I'm not mistaken, the fifth single to be extracted from Nylon - sadly, Anna decided to concentrato on the perparations for her new English and Greek language records, which will be released simultaneously, and cancelled all further promotion. She also performed it during the Greek song selection gala, much to everyone's delight.

Finally, I am leaving you with one of the other four songs that were contending for the 'honour' of being performed in Eurovision - the obscure, unwelcoming and cold Welcome To The Party, which rapidly becomes unnerving with its ultra-processed vocals, insistent beat and waving tides of electronic effects. It was included, like many other tracks, in the revamped Euro Edition of Nylon, a two CD set that includes an abundance of remixes and previously unreleased material in addition to, of course, the original track list.

Oh, before I forget! The far more cheerful Who Cares About Love? is also part of the disc. It has recently been released as a promotional single, and I've included it in one of my previous posts!

Finally, I'd like to remind you to buy Anna's records here.

Welcome To The Party
Everything
Έχω Τόση Αγάπη - Echo Tosi Agapi/I Have So Much Love