Pure 80's

In the 80s everything seemed new. VCR’s changed how everyone watched TV and were spawning mom and pop rental stores everywhere. Cable TV brought recent movies home - I can still remember the HBO theme. There were lots of teen comedies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and lots of new faces in them. And there were music videos on MTV. It felt like a celebration, perhaps the last truly optimistic decade for a long time to come.It was perfect that when MTV went on the air on August 1, 1981 the first video was The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star. The song seemed a bit arrogant in its proclamation to American ears, where radio was still the only thing, but in the U.K. music videos had been around for years and were an important part of music promotion. The song itself had been around since 1979 when it had been a #1 hit in Britain and most of Europe but only #40 in the U.S., so no one really heard it. Here it sounded like a new song at the dawn of a new era.With a deceptively mellow electric keyboard opening that seemed as it were about to launch into a love song by Stephen Bishop or Lionel Richie, it immediately switched gears with an uptempo and the seemingly vocoded voice of Trevor Horn into a prototype of the 80’s sound ahead of its time. It also exuded an irony and detachment that became a frequent part of the decade’s style. Even the video contained the looks of the 80s from Horn’s sunglasses to the backup singers’ glamorous looks. It was goodbye to granola and earth tones - the Eighties were here.Of course things moved a little more slowly then, and it took awhile for everything to really get going. MTV spread gradually into major markets. But within a year the channel was just about everywhere and all the young people were watching it. The thing was, they needed videos to play and it was the British bands who had them. America was behind for a change and to be honest, the music scene had become somewhat dull with stadium rock and big pop stars but nothing in particular really going on. There were some New Wave bands, with Blondie just breaking out but they were mostly a cult thing.These British bands had a new look and new sound with synthesizers, keyboards that became the sound of the day. Before long there was a real Second British Invasion going on as this collection attests with 16 of its 20 songs being by British artists. Like the 1964 British Invasion these bands generally had many more hits in the U.K. than America. Of course the 80s were as broad and varied a decade as any with funk bands and R&B balladeers, traditional rock, country-rock and pop singers but it was this synth-pop/new wave-ish sound that became emblematic of the decade.Pure 80s doesn’t try to cover the full expanse of 80s music but instead hones in on this particular sound with a few exceptions for the sake of variety.. The people who put it together really captured the birth and expansion of the 80s sound and it’s this which sets it above many similar collections. There’s no attempt to be strictly chronological or get too literal about the times (it includes songs as far as 1986) but for the most part it’s a great portrait of the explosion of music in the early years of the decade. (Still, it should have included Don’t You Want Me by the Human League).The Eurythmics and Annie Lennox became major stars of the decade once Sweet Dreams hit in early ‘83 with its dark minor key tune and message that “Everybody’s looking for something”. Tears for Fears also became major and are present here with their summer of ‘85 hit, Everybody Wants To Rule the World. Culture Club’s biggest song, Karma Chameleon, featured a video in which everyone was on a Mississippi riverboat dressed in 1870’s finery except for Boy George himself who seemed to have been beamed in directly from 1984. Duran Duran had one of the most popular videos with Hungry Like the Wolf, filmed in Sri Lanka with an Indiana Jones vibe. Animotion was an L.A. group that so perfected the new sound that everyone thought they were British; their video was appropriately set around a swimming pool. Obsession was used in early 80s heartthrob, Christopher Atkins’ film, A Night In HeavenSteve Winwood had been around since he sang lead on the Spencer Davis Group’s Gimme Some Lovin’ in late 1966 and had been in Blind Faith and Traffic as well; it was great to see him make it again in the 80s. Robert Palmer’s Addicted To Love was very popular with its band of models made up like Patrick Nagel’s paintings of women (he did the cover of the Rio album). Palmer amped it up even further in his follow-up, Simply Irresistible.Two of the great party songs of the 80s are here with Wang Chung’s four minutes of total madness, Everybody Have Fun Tonight and Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, whose original video pushed the envelope a little too far and was never aired. The Irish-sounding Dexy’s Midnight Runners were actually from Birmingham and Madness had a sound more like UB40 before they made Our House. Somehow there’s still room for some Americans, including Rick Springfield (Jessie’s Girl was the #1 song in the country when MTV debuted), the J. Geils Band and the Stray Cats, who were part of an early 80s Rockabilly thing. Though Squeeze’s Tempted wasn’t a hit originally it’s been used so often in other media that’s it’s become an 80s standard. Unusually the lead vocal isn’t Glenn Tilbrook but keyboardist Paul Carrack.This is a great 80s collection for its length. It was released in 1999 when, under pressure from the internet, the labels decided to cooperate with each other for a change. You couldn’t have a collection like this in the past: each label would have put out their own collection. But after the experiment of Now That’s What I Call Music succeeded, they joined forces. Released by Universal, acts from many labels are here.

Nice and clear sound, plan on buying more to build my library

Love listening to my 80s music on the radio. Great product.

This CD collection is Extremely well done, and the singing and music are surprisingly excellent. However, None of it is by the original artists. It states that on the CD box, but I missed it somehow. That's my fault, definitely. But just be aware of that if you are considering this collection.

Another Great listening experience provided by Amazon!!!

The disc arrived undamaged (rare). It registers on all my players, so I know it's authentic. Very good selection of songs.I recommend this disc.

Packing was professionally done, even with small padding around the CD. Received in the mail in pristine condition. Well done.

I was very surprised to find a cd with only 2 that weren't my favorites. Of course it was the start of MTV when they actually played music 24/7 so I think everyone had the TV on with speakers hooked to the TV for great music all the time with the latest video from your favorite bands. Such a shame it had to end. But it was perfect background music with the bonus of the video to hang out to while doing whatever else and actually see the band too. Great cd