12" Essentials: The Eighties

12" Essentials (Series)

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 17, 1998)
• Original Release Date: November 10, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B00000DLWV
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #378,016 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Keep on Movin' - Soul II Soul, Caron Wheeler

2. Cruel Summer - Bananarama

3. Shout - Tears for Fears

4. This Time I Know It's for Real - Donna Summer

5. Obsession - Animotion

6. Word Up! - Cameo

7. Fascinated - Company B

8. Peanut Butter

9. Paid in Full [Seven Minutes of Madness-The Coldcut Remix] - Eric B. & Rakim

10. Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't Love Me Aha Aha Aha - Trio

11. Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go - Soft Cell

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Most of these 11 stone classics, all but a couple of which came from pop radio's world more than club floors', seem like fuller versions of short hits: Soul II Soul's "Keep On Movin'" includes a fabulous string-quartet breakdown, and Tears for Fears's "Shout" sounds like an ancestor of big beat. Some 12 inches, in fact, became canonical versions: if you haven't heard all nine minutes of Soft Cell's "Tainted Love"/"Where Did Our Love Go," you've missed the point. By the end of the '80s, though, the remixer's art was changing; Coldcut's classic mix of Eric B. & Rakim's "Paid in Full," incorporating Israeli singer Ofra Haza's wail, marked a transition to a new process, where the mixer was as important as the raw material. --Douglas Wolk

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars If you NEED to re-live your eighties life.., June 5, 2001

By	Jonathyn R. Brown "jonathyn" (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are many eighties remix collections available, most via import only. Because of the foreign origin, many of these CD's are filled with artists that never broke in the US and are therefore wasted tracks on a 12" compilation for us Americans.

Made right here in the good ol' U-S-of-A, this is a truly outstanding collection, as it grabs the standard mixes that you can find in every cereal box in America, like SHOUT, TAINTED LOVE and OBSESSION, but it also has a few harder to find tracks, like Donna Summer's brilliant THIS TIME I KNOW IT'S FOR REAL and the extended WORD UP from Cameo. Also refreshing is PAID IN FULL, a track that got little airplay but in hindsight can be seen as the backbone of an entire genre, most notably as the backbeat for "Girl You Know It's True" and the prime sample of "Pump Up The Volume".

Extended versions of KEEP ON MOVIN' and CRUEL SUMMER add to the powerful line-up and there's even something for you electro-freestyle fans with the annoyingly catchy FASCINATED, a song that transcends GENIUS with the brilliant line, "I'm fascinated by your love boy, I'm fascinated by your love toy." You'll also find DA DA DA on this one, a track that was cute the first five times, but is really here just to fill space. The same can be said of PEANUT BUTTER, a track that is literally telling you, "This is the best time to go get a sandwich."

Overall, if you need to impress your friends from the eighties and you can't get your hair to do "that thing" anymore, I would toss this one into the CD changer along with some greatest hits CD's.. Maybe WHAM, MADONNA, definitely CULTURE CLUB, either soundtrack to ROMY & MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION, and PURPLE RAIN. You'll be set for hours, and Molly Ringwald may even show up.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars get this one while it's still around..., August 15, 2005

By	Daniel W. Kelly (Long Island, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

there are some rare 12" versions on this CD. You'll kick yourself if you don't pick this one up. Track times:

1. keep on movin (5:46)
2. cruel summer (4:54)
3. shout (8:07)
4. this time i know it's for real (7:23)
5. obsession (6:02)
6. word up (5:57)
7. Fascinated (7:35)
8. peanut butter (7:02)
9. paid in full (7:08)
10. da da da (6:38)
11. tainted love (8:56)