Customer Reviews

Vh1 Behind the Music: Go-Go's Collection

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2 star:		(1)
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If you don't, then you just don't know what you're missing. This a killer collection of 17 songs. A very comprehensive collection of songs from the GO-GO's original 3 albums from 1981-84, all 24-bit remastered, so they sound even better than ever. Mega hits 'We Got The Beat', 'Our Lips Are Sealed', 'Vacation', and 'Head Over Heels' are here. I just love the arrangement on the bridge of 'Head Over Heels'. That cool bass line and piano solo just rock my world. Also the lesser known tracks are great, 'Skidmarks On My Heart', 'Beatnik Beach', 'Girl Of 100 Lists', 'Lust To Love', and 'Mercenary' are just some of them. If you're familiar at all with their music, you'll know that this is supercharged, fun, fun, fun! Gina Schock plays her signature fast, slammin' drum tracks. Charlotte Caffey with great lead guitars and keyboards. Jane Weidlin adds great rhythm guitars, Kathy Valentine with sensational bass play, and last(but certainly not least) the great Belinda Carlisle with her signature vocals. All of these women are also great in their songwriting ability. They wrote every single song and played every instrument on this album. (Try that N-stynk) This music is guaranteed to be the cure for the common pop song of today. These girls know how to rock, I finally got a chance to see them in concert last year, and of course they rocked! It was possibly the greatest concert I've ever been to. If you get the chance to see them, you must. If you don't have this one, don't wait. Pick it up, and ROCK ON!

Back in 1981 a little known all girl band began to hit it big. Hot off of their first single, We Got the Beat, The Go-Go's quickly saw their debut album Beauty and the Beat go double platinum. Two subsequent albums later, a 1990 greatest hits package and 1994's double disc anthology, the Go-Go's are back for 2000 with VH1's first Behind the Music CD collection.

Packed with hit after hit, this album concentrates on what worked for the Go-Go's and left what didn't work for the special. With 7 tracks from their first album, 5 tracks from their Vacation album and 5 tracks from perhaps their best overlooked effort, 1984's Talk Show album.

The choice cuts include We Got The Beat, Our Lips Our Sealed, Vacation, Beatnik Beach, Head Over Heels and Turn To You. But also included among these are songs that were great but never released as singles. Skidmarks on My Heart (one of the few Carlisle penned tracks--and her favorite), Fading Fast, Can't Stop This World, Girl of a 100 Lists, and I'm The Only One.

I think that perhaps the girls should have included some new songs here but perhaps a new album with new material will materialize before the end of the year. You may already have their greatest hits collections, but this one packs all the hits and then some...a must for any Go-Go fan!

The name Go-Go's sum up the starting of everything for me in life, Those gals were the very first musical group for me to hear and love and the first concert I went to with my friend in High School. The concert was such a great time in my life with everyone dancing on the lawn, screaming to see who was going to catch Ginas drum sticks, Though I must say my friend and I were very close at catching one. The songs on this cd has the hits from We Got The Beat, Our Lips Are Sealed, Lust to Love, Head Over Heels , Yes and No and a top favorite of mine Mercenary. All of my favorites from the band who started it all. If you do have any info of the group please let me know. Thank you.

So far, we have as many greatest hits albums of the Go-Go's as...albums!

As a collection this has a number of hits that the 1990 anthology: Greatest missed: Yes or No, and Skidmarks On My Heart. That's good news.

However, this package is also a little idiosyncratic. For example: It's Everything But Party Time was heard in the VH1 special, live and studio, it was even mentioned by the group. So, where is it? The same applies to Cool Jerk, and also How Much More.

Why is Speeding on this? We had that on Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's.

So we have a greatest hits package that is molded after the VH1 special, that misses being molded after said special.

Suggestion: buy Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's. You get all these songs, great live tracks, early live tracks with the original line-up. In otherwords, the previous anthology did a better job of reflecting the VH1 special than this, and that wasn't its intent.

After hearing rumors of books, a movie, and (new) recordings, this latest musical offering is dissapointing. Nearly all the songs here can be found on several other "greatest hits" formats, including, and probably, the most complete collection offered, "Return to The Valley of The Go-Go's." Save your money, and find another "Greatest Hits" alternative, or spend a few more dollars and get a true collector's offering with a cool return trip to "The Valley".

Back in the early 80's, there weren't many all girl groups around...if any (to say the least). That is until, of course, 1981 when the world was introduced to The Go-Go's. They stormed the charts with their album "Beauty and the Beat" and blew into the airwaves with hit after hit (including "We Got The Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed"). That's just the beginning. Of course, after "Beauty and the Beat" they released two more albums-"Vacation" and "Talk Show"-and then sadly broke up. Then in 2000, we were introduced to a new greatest hits album courtesy of the loving people at VH1.

This CD rocks. Not only does it give us the hits such as "Vacation", but it throws in other great songs from their three albums. Belinda and the girls sure do know how to rock out, especially on tracks such as "Skidmarks On My Heart", "This Town", and "Beatnik Beach". In fact, there actually aren't any duds on this 17 song greatest hits album. It just keeps the great songs coming and coming. I'll sure keep taking them.

This album is not only for those interested in all girl rock music, but for anybody interested in rock music in general, not to mention fans of giddy 80's music. What a great you'll have listening to this album. Go buy it!

Funny how one of the things I got out of seeing Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" was a desire to pull out this best of set from the Go Go's. "Vacation" is used as a predominant backdrop for one of the more humorous scenes in the film, but the song itself is a simple pop confection from one of the best new wave bands of the eighties. In three albums, the Go Go's made super hooky pop tunes guaranteed to stick to the roof of your brain, starting with the impossible to ignore twin blast of "Our Lips are Sealed" and "We Got The Beat" from their number one debut album "Beauty And The Beat." The ladies became inescapable during the summer of 1981, their cutesy image all over TV and their album played everywhere. They became the super safe face of "new wave" and the first bona fide smash on IRS records.

But underneath that image of America's Sweethearts throbbed the triple rock and roll threat of excess, drugs, booze and ego. "Vacation" may have been a terrific follow-up album, but the Go Go's were beginning to split at the seams. And by the third (and arguably their best) album, "Talk Show," tensions drove Jane Wieldlen away and the band called it quits.

Darn shame that. Those three albums kept showing growth as a band (listen to "Mercenary," the best track off "Talk Show") and the semi-biographical "Head Over Heels" was as good a rocker as most of the new wave was churning out in 1984. The songs on all three albums were frequently deceptively simple songs that were radio safe but deliciously memorable. Given the frequently style mad bands that zoomed in and out of the picture so quickly in their wake, the Go Go's have managed the neat trick of ducking the novelty status that many of their initial critics threw at them, and paved the way for other memorable all female and self contained acts like The Bangles. (Don't forget, a successful all woman act that wasn't being puppetted was considered a stunning accomplishment back then.)

There are a couple minuses here - I miss "Cool Jerk" from the first "Greatest Hits" and there's enough material from "Beauty and The Beat" here to basically say you could get all three albums and not miss very much (or the double "Return To The Valley of the Go Go's"). Maybe a rarity or two might have made this a better set. But for a band that crashed and burned in barely four years, the Go Go's have a body of work that any band could be proud of.

The Go-Gos were a phenomenally good rock band that no one takes as seriously as they should - blame MTV, which spawned a lot of shallow music during the same era. But that isn't the Go Gos!! These women know how to write good rock and roll tunes that really stand the test of time. Girls (and boys) could be writing songs about the same topics today! They're easily on par with their contemporaries like the Police, and more rockin' than many other more famous bands of their era - let's face it, if they'd been men, they'd be taken far more seriously than they are. The fact that they were the first all-woman instrument playing rock band to make it big isn't unimportant, but that novelty shouldn't obscure that they make great music! All the hits are here, and there's a generous selection of album tracks that are just as good! This is THE Go Gos CD to buy (though the first album "Beauty and the Beat" is definitely worth your time too!

The Go-Go's may never be considered influential giants like the Beatles, but they are definitely movement pioneers. Their rise to fame lead to a number of copycats, some successful, but most forgotten. They offered up something that hadn't been heard of in the early 80's: an all-girl group that was just the right mix of punk and innocent pop.

This album, a result of the Go-Go's revealing "Behind the Music" episode on VH-1, gives the casual fan the perfect dose of all of their popular hits like "Vacation" and "We Got The Beat." It also introduces fans like myself to songs that casual fans were unaware of like "Lust To Love" and "Speeding." Songs like "Beatnik Beach" and "This Town" show the heavy influence of surf music on this punky panel of ladies.

To be honest, when these ladies cut loose on their edgier, punk-influenced tracks, they sound a lot better. Don't get me wrong, "Our Lips Are Sealed" sounds great, but the Go-Go's were always better with rock-tinged tunes.

Long before posers like Avril Lavigne blew onto the scene and the Spice Girls sang the praises of "Girl Power," the Go-Go's were setting the pace for future lady acts to come. There music may not be monumental, but it is definitely some of the most important work out there.

Highly recommended.

This is a pretty good collection of the best of the Go-Go's, although it does tend to favor their first two albums at the expense of "Talk Show," which I thought was better than "Beauty and the Beat" and "Vacation" put together. That last album showed remarkable growth in the Pop Punk band, a point proven by their reunion effort, "God Bless the Go-Go's," which is one of the best good old fashioned rock & roll albums I have ever heard. I would have been willing to sacrifice a couple of songs from the first two albums to include "Forget That Day" from "Talk Show," which was fairly important to the group's breakup because when Jane Wiedlin wrote the song she had the audacity to want to sing it; of course Belinda Carlisle was the lead singer and she did it, and, ironically, did it very nicely.

However, while it might be a bit more representative of the music career of the Go-Go's (The Early Years), their regular greatest hits collection is a bit better. My other problem with this collection, and I admit it is totally idiosyncratic, is that after we watched this VH-1 Behind the Music special, the running joke in our house was to periodically add to any sort of commentary that "Meanwhile, Charlotte Caffrey was hooked on heroin." No wonder the Go-Go's got back together; who would not want to rewrite the depressing legacy covered in this program?