Poptopia: Power Pop Classics Of The '80's

Poptopia!: Power Pop Classics (Series) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 27, 1997)
• Original Release Date: May 27, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Rhino / Wea
• ASIN: B0000033ZF
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #45,697 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #81 in Music > Alternative Rock > Indie & Lo-Fi > Jangle Pop

Track Listings

1. What I Like About You

2. Baby It's You

3. Hold on to Something

4. Tell That Girl to Shut Up

5. A Million Miles Away

6. She Goes Out With Everybody

7. Whenever You're on My Mind

8. I Want You Back

9. Every Word Means No

10. Crybaby

11. Going Down to Liverpool

12. Love Is for Lovers

13. Whatever Happenend to Fun...

14. Places That Are Gone

15. Behind the Wall of Sleep

16. Lisa Anne

17. She's So Young

18. There She Goes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars, August 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Poptopia: Power Pop Classics Of The '80's (Audio CD)

great series, and this is my favorite entry in the series (and i'm a 70's guy). the la's "there she goes" is simply a perfect song (and should be universally known). much the same can be said for marshall crenshaw's "whenever you're on my mind." many of the other tracks almost reach those heights, including the dB's number (i would have preferred "lonely is as lonely does," a truly great song - and predating forrest gump - but probably too much of a downer for this collection). and who can argue with the inclusion of tommy keene, the plimsouls, or the much-missed phil seymour? very few undeserving tracks, and several nice surprises (to me anyway): great buildings, the spongetones, let's active, the hoodoo gurus, bill lloyd. and nothing against the bangles (i liked the video with mr. spock), but how about katrina & the waves' version of "going down to liverpool" instead? regarding the opening cut, i agree with the other reviewer, "what i like about you" may be a great song but it suffers from overexposure (i mean, they were playing it on a braves broadcast and a beer commercial not long ago). and yes, xtc is greatly missed - 'skylarking' being one of the best albums of the 80's or any decade for that matter. one last note, rhino really outdid themselves with the packaging in this series: the booklets have short but interesting essays (many by the featured performers), abbreviated band histories, photos, several of the original 45 covers, and great "pop" artwork (in bright primary colors). even the jewel case is a small marvel: the tray card (beneath the cd spindle/holder) is a 3d depiction of a 45 record spinning on a turntable!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Necessary but..., July 27, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Tacoma, Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poptopia: Power Pop Classics Of The '80's (Audio CD)

This compilation, like most of Rhino's power pop/new wave/D.I.Y. compilations adequately picks the most popular songs for that specific era/genre but fails to dig deeper as far as obscure tracks are concerned. While "What I Like About You" is a classic tune it's already on Rhino's other compilations, and they could have selected another Romantics song. Once in a while they will surprise me and toss in a lesser-known but well-deserved gem, such as "Whatever Happened to Fun" by Candy (and a few others in the D.I.Y. series), but the cynic in me says that it's only because some geek on the Rhino selection team wanted to show how "hip" he was and pick some tune he's only read about and for some reason or another be included, but not by any thorough research on the subject matter. Anyway, if you like pop this is a good collection to have if you want some of the classics on one disc.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This CD is Nothing to Be Ashamed of, November 3, 1999

By 

Alf Kremer (Denver CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poptopia: Power Pop Classics Of The '80's (Audio CD)

Great power pop from the decade when that was the genre that never spoke its name. Several of these tracks - "Whenever You're on My Mind", "There She Goes", "Behind the Wall of Sleep", "Love Is For Lovers", and, of course, "What I Like About You" - pretty much dare you not to sing them all day after you hear them. A few of the tracks just don't click with me, but that's probably me rather than the collection. I'd give it five stars if (as the liner notes sadly point out) an XTC track and "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" had made it on. Buy it, put it on, and sing along loud enough to drown out your "cool" neighbor's snide comments.