List | V/A | 'Eighties Assortment' CD 1998

Track:	Name:	Artist:	Time:
1.	Relax	Frankie Goes To Hollywood	3:58
2.	True Faith	New Order	5:20
3.	Human	The Human League	3:49
4.	Who's That Girl	Eurythmics	3:47
5.	Down To Earth	Curiosity Killed The Cat	3:51
6.	Love Plus One	Haircut 100	3:37
7.	Town Called Malice	The Jam	2:55
8.	Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now	The Smiths	3:36
9.	Life In A Northern Town	Dream Academy	4:20
10.	Oblivious	Aztec Camera	3:13
11.	Life's What You Make It	Talk Talk	4:27
12.	19	Paul Hardcastle	3:33
13.	Hyperactive!	Thomas Dolby	3:43
14.	Never Gonna Give You Up	Rick Astley	3:34
15.	We Close Our Eyes	Go West	3:52
16.	Heart And Soul	T'Pau	4:18
17.	The Sensual World	Kate Bush	3:57
18.	Imagination	Belouis Some	3:37
19.	Come On Eileen	Dexy's Midnight Runners	4:10
20.	Fool's Gold	Stone Roses	4:16
	Total		77:53

Comments:

Ok, I'll freely admit it - I must be getting old. This is quite clearly one of those nostalgia collections which, until recently, always seemed to favour the wrong decade for me to be nostalgic about. Well, I guess time has caught up with me; it's 1999 and I'm 27.

So, what was it in particular that made me buy this collection? Well, the most desirable stuff I already had, but there were quite a few tracks I wanted sort of almost pretty much, and since this compilation was rather cheap (roughly the price of a new CD-maxi) I figured I'd cough up the 44:50 SEK they wanted for it and save me some time scanning the web for MP3:s (which really is a bother, since I can never seem to find that specific song I'm looking for at any given time). Anyway, here's a quick run-down of the tracks and some thoughts about them:

I remember Frankie. At the time I never realised why this song was banned from airplay, since the lyrics aren't quite as explicit as some people would lead me to believe, or maybe I'm just too daft to hear it (not being a native English speaker), but I do hear some words which, while thinking naughty thoughts, might be interpreted thusly. Anyway, it's a good pop song, produced by the almighty Trevor Horn, one of the gurus of the decade. Had I more money, you'd see more Frankie releases in my CD list. But I don't, so you probably won't. Still own the tapes, though.

Ah, the excellent New Order. Enough said. On to The Human League instead, and one of their glossier moments. Pretty good tune, but I've used up all my words about it on this page, so I'm fresh out.

Next, Eurythmics with a track taken from an album I have yet to purchase, which I will if found at a reasonable price. As I recall, there are plenty of other great tracks on that album as well; this was way back when they were a synthpop band. Not that I'm all against their later more mainstream pop sound, but this is what I want them to sound like.

Curiosity Killed The Cat was never my favourite band, although they did have a few pretty decent pop tracks. This is not one I'd have chosen for this compilation, but I suppose it'll serve as a reminder of the tracks of theirs I liked more.

I faintly remember the name Haircut 100, and when I play the song it also sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't say I like it. Sounds a bit like Spandau Ballet did at the time, specifically their more uninteresting side. Next, the Jam (not to be confused with the JAMs - the Jam was a Paul Weller project and had nothing to do with sirs Cauty & Drummond), with a '60:s style pop song which leaves me pretty indifferent. Short and uninteresting.

I wasn't too much into The Smiths at the time, but around the time of their announced split I really discovered them - brilliant guitar pop with whiney vocals about misery and such, just the way I like it. While this is a pretty good song, there are several others I can think of I'd rather have on this compilation, but since I have pretty much all of them anyways I'm not too bothered.

I distinctly remember loving this Dream Academy track when it was released, perhaps because A) it was a beautiful pop song with a powerful chorus, and B) I lived in a northern town. Pompous, yes, and pretentious too, but for some reason it works really well to my ears, despite the dadaistic big chorus. I nearly exploaded with anger when some stupid eurodisco dude (Dario G) recently based a crappy dance track ('Sunchyme') on a huge sample of this song, turning it from excellent pop to yet another nauseatingly samey flavour-of-the-day crap-dance cheap trash eurodisco hymn. The kids seemed to love it. Hrmpf! What do they know? Heck, maybe I am getting old and grumpy...

I seem to remember that Aztec Camera had a few pretty good pop tunes, although none of which I can name at this time. This song, however, is for some reason not one of the ones I liked at the time. Can't say why, it's just... boring.

Now this song I like. A lot. Especially the bass piano, the drums and the occasionally screaming guitar. And the organ chords. And the vocals. And the mood. And the caterpillar in the video. It doesn't exactly bring me back to when I first heard it (although I can remember that too fairly specifically), but rather to some spooky dark place in the corner of someone else's soul. This is the effect I want pop music to have on me. Again, if I had more money, you'd see more Talk Talk in my CD list.

I feel I've worded enough on 19, so here are some words about Thomas Dolby instead: some of his old stuff I really like, namely this track and 'She Blinded Me With Science' in particular. The rest I must sadly admit I haven't heard much of, but at the moment I neither have the money nor the enthusiasm to research further into this subject, which I'm sure I'll find most fascinating once I do. Clearly a man full of ideas.

Now, some songs you remember with a smile, filling you with memories of ages past. Other old songs you just like because they're damn good songs. And then there are those you're embarassed about ever liking in the first place. This Rick Astley track is one of these. What the heck was I thinking? This is exactly the same type of hit-factory streamlined crap that the big record labels shove down the throats of today's musically ignorant teenagers, only the current trends favour a different flavour of plastic-wrapped bubble-gum pink bouncy nonsense pop. This stuff is so sweet I think I'm developing diabetes.

Go West is in a sense not too far from the previous track in certain aspects, but for some reason it's easier to stand up in a crowded room and say "yes, honestly, I did like that track back then, and I still think it's pretty good in a way". It sounds dated, sure, but it still has a certain '80:s glampop charm.

I remember hearing T'Pau for the first time, mostly because the singer's panties showed in the video as her skirt flew up when she danced about (yep, I was a teenager at the time), but this is still a pretty good slow pop track, with a rather distinct combined spoken/sung verse. Had I picked the songs for this compilation, I'd have chosen their 'China In Your Hand' instead - an even slower and softer ballad, the kind they usually played as a last song at the discos back in those days, so that we kids could get to actually touch someone of the opposite sex. Soft as it may be, I prefer that one to this one, although this is also a pretty good pop song.

Kate Bush did some pretty interesting pop music for a while, but this track was released around the time I began losing interest in her stuff; I remember heard it a few times, but for some reason it never caught on the way Running Up That Hill and others of that era did.

I remember Belouis Some. Most people my age do. This is a catchy song with a memorable chorus, and seeing the naked breasts in the X-rated version of the video clearly helped me remembering it the first time heard it (I was in my teens; anything even remotely semi-erotic would make my hormones knock me senseless). However, I'll be damned if I can remember any other track of his than this one. Can you say "one hit wonder"?

It seems every '80:s pop compilation is required to include 'Come On Eileen', and this one doesn't break this rule. Sure, it's catchy and upbeat tune, but it's perhaps just a little bit overplayed as a nostalgia tune, good as it may have been in its day. Whatever became of this band? I faintly remember seeing a video with the singer's solo effort, but can't remember the tune.

I wasn't too fond of this track by the Stone Roses when it was released, mainly because suddenly there were a million British bands emulating the exact same style, and it was just too much. Still, in retrospect it's a pretty good tune, even if there were probably better examples of this style at the time, now faded from memory. On this compilation, this track stands out as being quite odd compared to the rest, mainly because it's so low-key and laid back, so 'independent' sounding, whereas the others are clearly pop songs. For some reason it seems like a logical way to end the CD though; this was pretty much the state of pop music when the '80:s ended, making it seem like a symbolic choice for a last track.

In conclusion, this is a pretty decent compilation of songs of ages past, at least at the price I paid for it. As stated above, in some cases I'd have chosen other tracks by some artists, but in most cases these will do. In general, it seems as if many of the tracks have been faded a bit early towards the ending, making them surprisingly short, but I suppose this was done to fit as many tracks as possible onto this compilation CD. Still, some of the more or less sudden fades surprise me a bit.

The interested reader can venture into the nearest Åhléns CD sale and pick up this little compilation; look for a black cover sprinkled with English allsorts licorice and be prepared to part from a yellowish piece of paper with Jenny Lind on it and still have enough left for a cup of coffee. Cheap, distasteful coffee no less, from a machine at a local public building of your choice, but still coffee.

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