Customer Reviews

Original Electro Album

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This 2002 release from EMI Gold is among the best compilations within my music collection. EMI not only included a generous 21 tracks but also presented them in excellent sound. The tracklisting with play time is as follows:

01 The Human League - Love Action (I Believe In Love) (3:50)
02 Heaven 17 - Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (3:43)
03 Duran Duran - Girls On Film (3:26)
04 Simple Minds - Promised You A Miracle (3:57)
05 Spandau Ballet - To Cut A Long Story Short (3:19)
06 Ultravox - All Stood Still (3:40)
07 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Tesla Girls (3:33)
08 Culture Club - It's A Miracle (3:21)
09 Philip Oakey & Georgio Moroder - Together In Electric Dreams (3:49)
10 It Bites - Calling All Heroes (3:49)
11 Simple Minds - Life In A Day (4:03)
12 Belouis Some - Imagination (3:32)
13 Talk Talk - It's My Life (3:48)
14 Classix Nouveaux - Is It A Dream? (3:35)
15 Japan - Cartonese Boy (3:45)
16 Kraftwerk - The Model (3:38)
17 Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Genetic Engineering (3:35)
18 Ultravox - The Thin Wall (3:40)
19 Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science (3:40)
20 Paul Hardcastle - 19 (3:30)
21 Sigue Sigue Sputnik - Love Missle F1-11 (4:28)

Total Playing Time - 78:47

Although many of these tracks are readily available on other similarly themed compilations this release manages to offer a few more rare tracks and other hits by the artists. Tracks like "Girls On Film", "She Blinded Me With Science", "19", "The Model", "Together In Electric Dreams", and "To Cut A Long Story Short", for example, are available on numerous collections. However, it's rare that these overused tracks are presented with brilliantly remastered audio, and the sound is what makes this release stand above the others.

This disc branches out and includes a number of U.K. hits that never broke the charts in the U.S. It's great discovering some of these songs that were hits overseas and never broke America. Hits like "All Stood Still", "The Thin Wall", "Tesla Girls", "Genetic Engineering", "Calling All Heroes", "Is It A Dream?", "Cartonese Boy", and "Life In A Day", for example, do not plague every new wave compilation out there, at least from what I've seen. Even if these tracks can be found on other releases I doubt that the sound will compare to the sound presented here.

What about the wonderful addition of Belouis Some's 1985 hit, "Imagination"? This #17 U.K. chart hit sounds fantastic here! Remastered at last! "Imagination" is what I would consider one of the definitive tracks of the '80s. It's an overlooked classic, in my opinion.

No mastering credits are included in the slim liner notes. It's amazing how some record companies can throw out such excellent compilations like these without mentioning the audio upgrades. The two Ultravox tracks presented here sound absolutely amazing, probably their best sonically. For those wanting OMD remasters beyond the 2003 Virgin remasters we get sonically superior versions of classics "Tesla Girls" and "Genetic Engineering", with the latter being the often overlooked gem of the bunch.

It's worth nothing, too, that this 2002 edition came before EMI's awful copy protection, which unfortunately ruined the second volume: Original Electro Album, Vol. 2.