Customer Reviews

Best of Radiorama

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

 

 

Wellcome to the magic world of ITALO-DISCO!!This CD is the perfect example of that music style. Exciting fast rhythm, dance mood, a lot of electro-music elements, barrage of music tones, beautifull vocals, nice lyrics! The peak of DISCO music! Songs that you rarely hear nowadays, which "transfer" you back in time, into an authentic 80's discotheque... All 12 songs included are excellent, unique and very well composed - top tracks: Desire and Yeti! Don't waste time seeking for other compilations of this band - "Best of" is the representative album of them.

If you like music of the 80's, melodic but not too sweet, this is definitely for you. Very good album, represents one of the best examples how an Italian group can be successful in the Anglo-Saxon market (well, there is Eros Ramazzotti but almost all his texts are in Italian). This CD is indeed worth buying.

Radiorama has always been one of my favourite bands. It is perfect Italo disco that rocked the clubs from the mid-80s when this duo got together. They have a distinctive style adding some "weight" to Euro-disco. Great tunes and vocals with a dramatic twist in their songs. My favourites are the club anthems from their first two releases, songs like "Desire," "Aliens," "Yeti." Get this one or their 1986 and 1987 albums. You won't regret!

Best of Radiorama..... mostly 12" singles. Mega Mix includes other ITALO tracks. Nice bonus, thou they didn't list it. Must buy if Italo lover.

The previous reviewer was correct! This *is* the ultimate example of Italo Disco. I have to admit that I was a bit leary purchasing this CD as I hadn't previously heard of the group. I cannot recall Radiorama being included on the vynal "Best of Italo Disco" compilations that I purchased back in the '80's. Also, some of the titles left me scratching my head: "Vampires", "Aliens", "Yeti", "ABCD" . . . I wondered why they'd compose music based on what sounded like a cross between Saturday morning cartoons and video game titles! Then I began to lighten up remembering that all songs need not revolve around serious subject matter. After all, those of us who enjoy dance music do not listen to it for the philosophy! Whereas American disco music of the '70's tended to use lyrics that dealt with dancing, unrequited love, or sexually-based love as themes, Italo Disco of the '80's often revolved around love or aliens . . . Most often treating these subjects in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Ironically, "Aliens" and "ABCD" are two of my favorite tracks on this CD! "Aliens" (pronounced "Ah-lyens" with the vocalists' thick Italian accents) has a very infectious hook and steady rhythm which keeps the song in your head long after you've stopped listening (and I mean this in a very positive way!) The title "ABCD" is a little on the "bubblegum" side, but again it's one of my favorites on the CD . . . A fast, fun song that I can't get enough of! Definately a song to pick up your spirits when you're feeling down! Very upbeat, exciting European (Italian) disco!

Other tracks that are my favorites are "Hey Hey" with it's strong anthem quality, "Flight of Fantasy" which again sounds distinctly European in it's arrangement (a pleasant surprise is the way in which the tempo pics up slighly after the initial verse), and "Baciami" as one of the most exciting tracks on the CD. In fact, I don't think there's one track included that I don't like. Each one of them is great!!

If you're new to the Italo Disco genre, you may still want to try out a compilation first such as "The World of Italo Dance" to get an across-the-board sampling. However, if you want to forego that route and dive right in with a single artist, "Best of Radiorama" is your best bet!! If your taste in '80's dance music is anything like mine, I'm guessing you'll be hooked!

I love this album. Radiorama were one of the most productive early Italo disco bands with a lot of releases in the early 1980's and all of it of a good quality. Watch out, though, when you buy Radiorama CDs, because their later work degenerated into the frantic, speed-freak Eurobeat thats now popular in Japan, but this "Best Of" contains only their early work, which consists of the true "Italo" sound, i.e.slow and moody!

Radiorama are a boy/girl duo, so the vocals are often shared, but the male vocal is often so low and gravelly it almost sounds like a parody of a horror film narrator, which is especially apt in their early releases which have distinct supernatural themes, as evidenced by tracks like "Vampires", "Aliens", and "Yeti" which are very strange subject choices for dance music!! (There's also another one called "Manitou" - why did that one get missed off?!) The rasping of the male vocalist as he chews over the lyrics might leave you laughing, especially as they continually mis-pronounce the word "aliens" as "aaahhl - yens", but luckily the great pounding dance beat keeps the song afloat. The more standard tracks are better than these camp gothic horrors, and the CD opens with one of the best tracks, "Chance To Desire", which has the fantastic heavy sound, and again a very serious male vocal delivery, which works better without the absurd monster lyrics. Also included are the blistering "Fire" and the absolutely storming "Heartbreaker", which features the most exhilerating instrumental hook on the album.

Things wane a bit with "ABCD" which shows how the popular taste was turning towards more speeded up HiNRG, and this song could have come from any mid 1980's chart friendly dance group of the Stock Aitken and Waterman era. Shame they didn't drop this one in favour of "Bad Boy You", which is also a bit fast, but a much better track than "ABCD" in my opinion.

So as a showcase for the group, this CD is a pretty excellent purchase. They manage to instill each track with some really heavy-duty dance rhythms, which I can only dream about experiencing through a real disco sound system, especially "Heartbreaker"...wow! So, if you buy this album and then find "Manitou" and "Bad Boy You" on other compilations, you'll have everything you need by this group.