80s Monster Ballads

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 28, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Cleopatra
• ASIN: B001EQPCNE
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #92,576 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Every Rose Has Its Thorn

2. Angel of the Morning

3. When the Children Cry

4. Take My Breath Away

5. Don't Close Your Eyes

6. Fallen Angel

7. Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now

8. Sister Christian

9. Heaven

10. The Ballad of Jayne

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Sometimes She Cries

2. Total Eclipse of the Heart

3. Headed for a Heartbreak

4. Fly High Michelle

5. Sweet Child O' Mine

6. Dream On

7. I Saw Red

8. Wait

9. Open Arms

10. Wanted Dead or Alive

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy this! No original songs, all sound like sub-par covers., August 20, 2010

By 

Vpecnik - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 80s Monster Ballads (MP3 Download)

I'm disappointed that Amazon.com would sell such a misleading album. These songs aren't the originals at all. It should be specified that "remastered" means "re-recorded by someone else". What a disappointment. Shame on you, Amazon!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't be Mislead, July 20, 2010

By 

Amanda L. Davis (Adrian,MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 80s Monster Ballads (Audio CD)

I was excited when I came across this collection of 80's songs, but when I listened to it that all changed. These are horrible rerecordings. They all sound way different and most are horendous. Don't let yourself be mislead.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compilation Album as Alternate History, November 13, 2008

By 

Dawn Geisler (Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 80s Monster Ballads (Audio CD)

You've probably seen the likes of this disc in late-night infomercials and the bargain bin at your local mass market retailer, but y'know, I came of age in the 80s and the music will always be special to me. So I decided to give this one a listen, and it was not quite what I expected.

The phrase to look for when you buy a good quality Various Artists album of this sort is something like "Original Versions." If your disc doesn't have that, you're looking at one of two kinds of impostor. The first is where they get some band of nobodies to go into the studio and imitate the hits of the day, and with any luck, people will buy the cheap, extruded-music-substitute-product that comes out before they realize that these aren't the artists they're looking for. The second, slightly classier way to put together a compilation without licensing all those expensive originals is to get one-offs (like live or re-recorded versions by the original artists).

I was dismayed to realize that "80s Monster Ballads" was the second variety of knockoff. They'd gotten together what remained of some of the great 80s hair bands, presumably by cruising by whatever alleys they were haunting alongside Boy George and MC Hammer and luring them away with offers of five bucks and a fo'ty of malt liquor. Bonnie Tyler's voice was obviously shot as she sang "Total Eclipse of the Heart," blown out as much as Janis Joplin's would have been if she still had pipes to ruin. When Bonnie sang, "...But now I'm only falling apart," you can tell she really meant it. White Lion's re-recorded version of "Wait" doesn't sound much better. I wondered if the artists felt dirty, selling out for two bits of filthy lucre as they belted out just one more performance of the songs they probably got sick of singing for stadiums of lighter-waving fans twenty-odd years ago.

The longer I listened, though, the more I found a kind of beauty in it. Have you ever heard the music that "kids these days" listen to and wished that something like our generation's music was still being made? Well, if Debbie Gibson had released "Lost In Your Eyes" in 2008, this is what it would have sounded like - with a more mature woman's voice coming through deeper and more experienced than the candy-pop teengirl ever could. Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" reminded me less of the high school crush that I watched from under lowered eyelashes as we passed between classes, and more of the sweet guy I eventually married. Everyone sounded a little older - just like me.

Bonnie may be "nervous that the best of all the years have gone by," but to me these folks sound more down-to-earth, more like survivors, more approachable than they did when I danced to their songs with my prom date. We're all adults now. Heck, I bet they even have time between mowing the lawn and watching the grandkids to answer the stray fan letter. It's nice to know that they aren't all dead from drug overdoses and STDs and can still belt out a little hair rock now and again. The 80s are still alive, they're just calmer now. And thank goodness, I am too.