Customer Reviews

Living In Oblivion : The 80's Greatest Hits, Vol. 3

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

 

 

The Living In Oblivion series of CD compilations does something that many similar compilations do NOT do: they give us some great variety of "hits".

There is no doubt that "Mickey" by Toni Basil was a huge hit. There's also no doubt that "Our Lips are Sealed" was a break out hit for the Go Go's, but the Funboy Three version wasn't. But what about "Living in a Box"? It only hit the Billboard top 100 at #89 in 1987. So why is it here? Why are a large number of these songs? They're not top 10 hits, right?

Wrong!

I'm sick to death of so many compilations relying on top 40 hits from the 80's. The U.S. music tastes are typically very different from those of Europe. Just because a song doesn't make the U.S. Billboard top 40 doesn't mean that it isn't a hit in other countries. And although I'm an American, my music tastes have always run more in line with those of Europe.

I'm delighted that the Living in Oblivion series (and the Pop and Wave series) have incorporated a variety of hits from the U.S. and Europe.

I also like that some of the more obscure groups and their songs are available on these compilations. There are several songs on these albums that never were released on CD (as they hadn't come into being at the time of the groups' albums initial releases), so albums such as these are the only place where you can find these hits. The Boys Don't Cry song "I Wanna Be a Cowboy" hit the Billboard charts at #12 in 1986, but the group disappeared soon thereafter. Then all of a sudden a dance version of that same song came out in the early 2000's and rocketed up the dance charts.

Don't be misled, the Living in Oblivion series is one of the absolutely best series for a variety of music from the 80's. If you want to hear run of the mill, top 40 only hits from the 80's, well, then you'll just have to look elsewhere.

Also, the liner notes and pictures of the groups included in the jewel box are really clever. You get to find out what the chart position was for the songs in the compilation and see what the groups looked like at the time of the song's release. My only issue with these liner notes is that the author of them seems to be disparaging the very music which these albums are espousing. Apparently many believe that the music from the 80's was vacuous and devoid of emotion. One need only listen to the song "The Promise" by the group "When in Rome" (Living in Oblivion Volume 5) to know that such a statement is false. While that group only had this one hit and then faded into obscurity, "The Promise" made the Billboard Top 100 at #11 and the Billboard Dance Chart at #1.

Anyway... I can't recommend this album and its entire series any more! It's simply awesome! Before believing those who would disparage this series of albums, please check the Billboard charts and you'll see that these songs were in fact hits.

GET IT!

Despite the complaints below, there are great songs here that, in fact, are hard to find elsewhere: AEIOU Sometimes Y, Hanging On a Heart Attack, Sidewalk Talk, Make a Circuit with Me, and Shattered Dreams. And that reviewer assumes that you already have the same discs as he does. Um, OK.

I own all five Living In Oblivion discs and this one is the one I listen to the most. Just like all compilations, there are some songs that you can find on just about any '80s retrospective CD, but there are many good songs that are not on those other discs. These songs include the fantastic "It's My Life" by Talk Talk, "Hanging on a Heart Attack" by Device, "Are You Sure" by So, "What Do All the People Know" by The Monroes, and my personal favorite, "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy.
Every fan of the 1980s will find one disc more to their liking, but chances are that most of you who love 80s music will find several songs on this disc that you will like.

Correct Track Listing:

*Best tracks to listen to

1. "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" - The Human League 3:44*
2. "Perfect Way" - Scritti Politti 4:00
3. "Cruel Summer" - Bananarama 3:28*
4. "Life In A Northern Town" - The Dream Academy 4:15*
5. "Election Day" - Arcadia 4:29
6. "Shattered Dreams" - Johnny Hates Jazz 3:27*
7. "Sunglasses At Night" - Corey Hart 3:54*
8. "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" - Timbuk 3 3:22
9. "Make A Circuit With Me" - The Polecats 2:43
10. "Rock This Town" - Stray Cats 2:39*
11. "Sidewalk Talk" - Jellybean 3:58
12. "It's My Life" - Talk Talk 3:53
13. "(I Just) Died In Your Arms" - Cutting Crew 4:34*
14. "Hanging On A Heart Attack" - Device 4:00
15. "Poison Arrow" - ABC 3:23
16. "AEIOU Sometimes Y" - EBN-OZN 3:54
17. "Are You Sure" - So 4:07
18. "The Way You Are" - Tears For Fears 4:54
19."What Do All The People Know" - The Monroes 3:29

Vol. 3 is one of the better CD's in the box set.

Ok, just to make it clear, some people (ahem, some reviewers) clearly don't understand the point of the Living In Oblivion series. So far, in my listening experience, this CD has been the best one yet. With tracks of Single Hit bands and those rare songs that are just downright 80's, L.I.O. delivers a dose of the unique sounds of the eighties, and gives a splash of some of the era's greatest hits. This is what its all about.
Awesome Tracks:
Device - Hanging On a Heart Attack
Talk Talk - It's My Life
EBN-OZN - AEIOU Sometimes Y
So- Are You Sure
ABC- Poison Arrow

Rock On 80's Woo Hoo!

The third Living In Oblivion entry becomes a bit common, including several songs that are the stock and trade of every run of the mill 80s compilation. We still manage to find some lesser seen gems, such as "AEIOU Sometimes Y" by EBN-OZN and "Make A Circuit With Me" by the Polecats, but tunes like "Sunglasses At Night", "Rock This Town", and "Shattered Dreams" are the norm here. Any 80s fan probably already has these songs squirreled away on a variety of other compliations. Not the best in the series.

You'd think that an 80's anthology of music would understand that it caters to an audience which is nostalgic toward that decade.

I give this two stars only because you can't take away from the 80's music, but I figure that the inane commentary on the CD booklet should be calculated in this rating too. It was highly unnecessary and insulting to 80's fans to include disparaging remarks about the decade and banal political commentary by obvious leftist sympathizers.