Customer Reviews

80's Hits Stripped

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

i love this record. i love the fact that you can hear your favorite songs done in an entirely new light. i've always loved 80's music. and i've always loved acoustic songs. so naturally this was a no brainer for me. certainly it doesn't disappoint. the berlin track is my favorite. up tempo, fast moving, and acoustic! the men at work track is also great. an amazing song performed in an amazing manner. i also like the outfield, heart (whose electric version i never loved that much), tommy tutone is awesome, the motels sound great, and the rick springfield version is awesome.

i highly recommend this cd to any 80's fan.

25-plus years ago ( ! ) there was this period of music called the eighties sound. During that time there were wonderfully talented people making wonderfully meaningful music and then, on the opposite side of the yard, there were the one-hit wonders, the hacks and the plain lucky ones who got their 15 minutes going way over the top, with loud clothes and big hair, and then they faded, some quietly, some shamelessly.

This CD is filled to the brim of acoustic versions of these very people, some saints, some sinners, as time proved them to be.

The fact that all of the artists remade their classic songs and then put them all together for this release is a great find, for anyone who wants to listen to the actual WORDS of many of these songs can now hear them, some for the first time without all of the cheesy synth and drumkicks.

15 songs over 60 minutes, and although the sound is crystal clear, the songs themselves suffer a bit from some of them just being overexposed the first time, but here's my 30 second review of each song:

01. Jessie's Girl - Rick Springfield - a VERY different and intimate version, and kicks off the CD with a wonderful sound.

02. Down Under - Colin Hay of 'Men At Work' - I've actually heard Colin live in concert, and he actually prefers the more intimate acoustic sound, so I've heard this song - more than once - as it's presented here, so it's okay. for the first-time listener, enjoy!

03. Your Love - The Outfield - I never really liked this song the first time I heard it, but who didn't own this album - but now? I'm blown away, plain and simple. One of the best cuts, plain and simple.

04. The Metro - Berlin - Am I in VH-1 heaven? Terri Nunn keeps the tempo going with a rocker with dueling acoustic guitars! Wow!

05. No One Is To Blame - Howard Jones - a live track, and nothing but Howard and his best friend, the piano, dominate this track.

06. Rebel Yell - Billy Idol - another live track, and to be honest, it reminds me of some kind of "Unplugged" track. Feh.

07. Only The Lonely - The Motels - Martha Davis and crew have created quite honestly the best track on the album, hands down. This song was always kind of intimate even with all the synth and drums, but now it's sad and powerful and an essential listen. I'd buy this CD just for this song alone.

08. 867-5309 / Jenny - Tommy Tutone - this song is a pale imitator of Colin Hay's work, who has been playing this kind of arrangement for YEARS. Once again, feh.

09. Missing You - John Waite - John Waite, where are you? I missed you. I missed this song a bit, but it needs to be louder. Please return to the rock aisle.

10. These Dreams - Heart - Ann and Nancy Wilson are musical geniuses. Ann made the sadly overlooked "Hope and Glory" back in 2007 (pick it up - NOW) and as a duo, no one can touch them. This live track is proof they will never - NEVER - be beaten in the harmony department, and every one of their songs are classics. This live version is a mellow smash.

11. She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby - Thomas Dolby is also a musical genius, and anything he does is musically forward, and odd, and he should be bigger than he is, but American tastes are pretty bizarre and never give anyone with an original point of view a chance. A great song.

12. Promises, Promises - Naked Eyes - I fell in love with this song in 1983, and four years later I guessed the band's name in a phone-in show overseas while I was in the Army and won 2 tickets to Monsters of Rock featuring Deep Purple in West Germany. This acoustic only tells me the song has gotten better with time.

13. Heat Of The Moment - Asia - more live music, and Asia at their best. That's about it.

14. Our Lips Are Sealed - Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos - What happened here? Jane's voice is great and all, but the guitars just do something that almost throws it off. I'm kinda disappointed here.

15. The Stroke - Billy Squier - good Lord, this sounded like a David Lee Roth outtake circa 1991. Shoulda kept this one in your pants, Billy. Ugh.

So for most of the album I give it 5 stars, but the one-offs I noted above (some were pretty horrible attempts) I dropped it a star. Either way, if I were you, I'd still buy it, but be forewarned - the fast forward button is there for a reason.

Thanks for reading and check out my other reviews.

If you didn't like the eighties music, don't torture yourself. If you did, I believe you will have a enjoyable trip down memory lane. Personally, I have enjoyed many of the 'unplugged' approaches and most of the work on this compilation is at a minimum, not bad. It is choppy and obviously not intended to be released together, but this only makes you tolerate a few questionable songs and then you get to hear some pretty good 'revisions'. I think that Rick Springfield's Jesse's Girl ruins it for you as the first track because he did a great job of changing the song without losing the song. They include Heart and 'These Dreams' which I believe is a off ..The Road Home.. a CD that any Heart fan must have in their collection. Again, if you love eighties music, I think you will want to add this one to the collection.

OK, are we all ignoring the elephant in the room? The acoustic version of Asia's "Heat of the Moment" is easily the best version on the album. At risk of sounding melodramatic, that may be the best remake of a song that I've ever heard. Worth the purchase of the cd, that's without considering the great versions of "Your Love" and "Missin You."

I have really enjoyed this CD, the new versions of old favorites are very enjoyable.. I have shared the sounds with my friends and have rediscovered the enjoyment of singing as loud as we can in the car and rocking and rolling.. Best cuts.. Jessies' Girl, Down Under, The Metro, 876-5309/Jenny, Our lips our sealed and not to forget Billy Squier's rendition of The Stroke! Fabulous!! Hot rock and great guitar work!!

How do they take songs that I thought I did not want to hear again and make them new and exciting? Even though I have heard these songs a million times I'm enjoying them all over. I highly recommend this whole CD as a new lease on some great songs. The whole thing is great - every song.

This is really great. As a child of the 80's this was so refeshing to hear some of these songs again in a new light.
I would really recommend it for anyone who loved these songs the first time around

These are not covers! It's the original performers for better or worse (mostly better!).

These are not "unplugged", purely acoustic performances (but many are).

As other people have said, these are some of your favorite pop songs from the 80s presented in a more "mature" format. The tempo is slowed a little (or a lot depending on how fast you like your music). The instrument accompaniment is reduced significantly. One of the great benefits of these stripped versions is that I can actually understand the lyrics! I never knew the first line of Down Under was "Travelling in a fried out Combi/In a hippie trail, head full of zombie" And I never got the lyrics at all to the Go Go's Our Lips Are Sealed.

It's kind of like finding an old favorite pair of jeans. Oddly, the style has has come back around enough that you can still wear them in public. And the real surpise - they still fit!

I'm not a big classic rock fan, but I found the concept of remaking 80s hits interesting, so I downloaded "865-5309/Jenny," "Missing You," and "Jessie's Girl." I can't comment on the rest of the CD, but I like these 3 songs at least as well as the originals.

This is amazing! I've been tracking down some of these tunes and get irritated when I discover it's the original artist but doing a remake of the song. THIS, however, is a far better concept. Even songs you wouldn't expect to be given the "stripped" treatment (Heat Of The Moment? She Blinded Me With Science???) sound great. One wonders if the artists had as much fun with this seeing as it gave them a chance to put a new spin on their most familiar songs. Whether this is your first time experiencing these songs or you're a survivor of the 80s (like myself) this is definitely an album for your collection.