Customer Reviews

Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 5

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

 

 

The best entry in Rhino's awesome "New Wave Hits" series.(Volume 1 which covers the late 70's is also excellent).All 16 songs are culled from 1982 which was indeed a very good year for pop music. Haircut One Hundred's "Love Plus One" and Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran" were anthems of the(then) young MTV Generation. These quirky video darlings raged like a hurricane of fresh air in the face of bland corporate schlock which hogged the airwaves. Songs like the Go Go's "Vacation" and Tommy Tutone's "867-5309" were not only pure fun-- they were also well-crafted 3-minute pop gems. In fact, nearly every tune on volume 5 is cut from the same intelligent pop mold. Other standouts from this set include the vastly underrated Marshall Crenshaw's "Someday Someway", The Jam's "A Town Called Malice" and Soft Cell's absurdly humorous "Sex Dwarf". The only weak cuts are Gang of Four's "Man in Uniform" and the truly horrible "Art of Parties" by Japan. Overall, this is a fantastic collection which harkens back to a truly innovative time in pop music-- a brief time when catchy Hit Singles ruled and all possibilities seemed endless.

I have 8 of the cd's in this series, and plan on getting the rest. This one is one of my favorite of the series. The song "Love Plus One" by Haircut One Hundred is a fabulous song. There are many other gems as well, such as "I Want Candy", "Someday, Someway" and "I Ran (So Far Away)". There are many obscure songs on here, so don't expect to know them all, unless you had an unbelievable vinyl collection in the 80's. The music hear can fit almost any mood you may be feeling. Pick it up and enjoy.

This is my favorite of the Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80's series. I took the opportunity to review a dozen other volumes in the series however Vol. 5 is my favorite for a single reason...the inclusion of Valley Girl by the late Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon. I had this CD but needed to replace it because of a crack. Mickey by Toni Basil and Vacation from the Go-Gos are also in this set but Valley Girl made this a must have and I found it here.

This is my favorite of the series. Actually there are only two cuts that I consider weak ("Kids in America" and "Mickey"). ALl the rest are great little slices of the variety and creativeness of 80's new wave rock. Good c.d. to have.

Nope, in fact it was one of the songs that I hated the first time I heard it and can still gather up a load of revulsion for today. The oddball tune that drags this collection up to the .500 line is Pete Shelley's "Homo Sapien". Funny, catchy and just plain clever, but I worry about Pete. Other than that volume 5 barely trips the meter. Welcome to the middle of the new wave road.

My biggest complaint about this particular album is the inclusion of "Hold onto Something" by Great Buildings. Many of these songs define my days in high school, but for the life of me I can't remember ever hearing of this band. However, I do remember hearing this song...or one very much like it -- Joe Jackson's incredibly popular song titled, "I'm the Man," from his album, "I'm the Man" (1979), which was hugely popular through the early eighties.

Re-mixing this album with the correct song would help this album's rating a lot.