Now That's What I Call The 80s - Various Artists

Now That's What I call The 80's was one of the cd's I found in my Christmas stocking this year, all my family knows I love cheesy 80's music so I wasn't surprised by this choice. Initially it seemed like a really good cd, at least on first appearances, part of the Now series and featuring one of my favourite musical decades you would think it could do no wrong, sadly there are too many flaws making this cd a major let down.

Consisting ...
...compilation of all time. The Now series of albums have in the past been known to feature a few really strong successful tracks backed up by lesser known songs and artists, but when they specifically release a 3 disc set dedicated to one era of music you think they would have put a little more effort into the cd and made sure it was full of the best music of the time. Unfortunately they seem to have kept to their old formula mixing a few good songs ... more

Now That's What I call The 80's was one of the cd's I found in my Christmas stocking this year, all my family knows I love cheesy 80's music so I wasn't surprised by this choice. Initially it seemed like a really good cd, at least on first appearances, part of the Now series and featuring one of my favourite musical decades you would think it could do no wrong, sadly there are too many flaws making this cd a major let down.

Consisting of 3 discs and 60 tracks, with a wide range of the decade's finest (and admittedly not so fine) artists, this should have been possibly the greatest 80's compilation of all time. The Now series of albums have in the past been known to feature a few really strong successful tracks backed up by lesser known songs and artists, but when they specifically release a 3 disc set dedicated to one era of music you think they would have put a little more effort into the cd and made sure it was full of the best music of the time. Unfortunately they seem to have kept to their old formula mixing a few good songs on each disc with some otherwise dubious selections.

Now I know as well as anyone that what makes good music is down to the individual listener and others opinions of the cd may vary greatly to mine, but the mix of song styles on each disc simply do not blend together for example disc3 mixes soft rockers Kiss "crazy crazy nights" with new romantic style Tin Tin Duffy "kiss me", disc2 gives the interesting contrast of Billy Idol "Rebel yell" with The Bangles "walk like an Egyptian"
All 3 cd's flow in this awkward manner and while disc1 is probably the most manageable in terms of listening to easily through every track the same cannot be said of the other 2 discs. They would have been better off grouping similar musical styles together, maybe disc1 being early 80's, disc2 mid 80's and disc3 late 80's, to create better flowing discs that are a pleasure to listen to than giving us this jumpy mix which sees the listener skipping to their favoured tracks and completely ignoring the rest. I guess it's not all bad though, the varied mix of tracks and artists means there's likely to be something there for everybody, even if there's just a handful of songs, however it's unlikely to be anyone's favourite cd as it's far too mixed.

Another problem I've noticed with the discs is how they seem to have been recorded, I've tried them in a few different players but each time have found that you can comfortably listen to a track only to find the next one plays far too quietly meaning you need to raise the volume or the track is so loud you have to turn it down, you simply should not need to constantly play with the volume to listen to a cd properly, the tracks should all be managed in the same way that each one is listenable at the same level.

Stand out tracks to me include Aha "Take on me" DeBarge "Rhythm of the night" Cameo "Word up" David Bowie "Modern love" and of course the previously mentioned "Crazy crazy nights" however there are some great 80's acts on here that are badly represented by their tracks including Duran Duran "A view to a kill" and Simply Red "Moneys too tight to mention" further adding to the insanity of the cd's makers is the inclusion of 2 tracks featuring Kate Bush, granted one she duets with Peter Gabriel but I'm sure one appearance by the singer is enough and could have made way for a top tune by a brilliant artist, or even just a popular one of the decade, there's no Culture Club for example, no Dexys Midnight Runners, no ABC……..I just cant understand some of the selections, perhaps the were trying to achieve some kind of balance of the whole decade but it just hasn't worked, the early 80's New Romantic music just doesn't sit with late 80's early Indie styles.

Now I wont give you a track by track description because most of the songs will be well known to anyone older then 20 and possibly even some of those of the younger 90's and 00's generations, instead I'll give you the track listing, what better way to let you see for yourself what the album offers.

Disc 1
1.: I'm Still Standing - John, Elton
2.: Take On Me - A-Ha
3.: Dancing In The Street - Bowie, David & Mick Jagger
4.: I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me - Kershaw, Nik
5.: Together In Electric Dreams - Oakey, Philip & Giorgio Moroder
6.: View To A Kill - Duran Duran
7.: Gold - Spandau Ballet
8.: Break My Stride - Wilder, Matthew
9.: Rhythm Of The Night - DeBarge
10.: Money's Too Tight (To Mention) - Simply Red
11.: Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) - Scritti Politti
12.: Lovecats - Cure
13.: Say Hello Wave Goodbye - Soft Cell
14.: Mama - Genesis
15.: No More Lonely Nights - McCartney, Paul
16.: Time After Time - Lauper, Cyndi
17.: Only You - Yazoo
18.: Don't Give Up - Gabriel, Peter & Kate Bush
19.: In The Air Tonight - Collins, Phil

Disc 2
1.: I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - Proclaimers
2.: Walk Like An Egyptian - Bangles
3.: Walk This Way - Run DMC & Aerosmith
4.: Rebel Yell - Idol, Billy
5.: Walking On Sunshine - Katrina & The Waves
6.: Happy Hour - Housemartins
7.: Good Thing - Fine Young Cannibals
8.: Faith - Michael, George
9.: Teardrops - Womack & Womack
10.: Dancing On The Ceiling - Richie, Lionel
11.: Don't Leave Me This Way - Communards
12.: Little Respect - Erasure
13.: Love Changes (Everything) - Climie Fisher
14.: Shattered Dreams - Johnny Hates Jazz
15.: Lessons In Love - Level 42
16.: My Prerogative - Brown, Bobby
17.: Word Up - Cameo
18.: Ain't Nothin' Goin' On But The Rent - Guthrie, Gwen
19.: Keep On Movin' - Soul II Soul & Caron Wheeler
20.: Manchild - Cherry, Neneh
21.: Don't Break My Heart - UB40

Disc 3
1.: Angel Eyes (Home And Away) - Wet Wet Wet
2.: Alone - Heart
3.: Everybody Wants To Rule The World - Tears For Fears
4.: Power Of Love - Lewis, Huey & The News
5.: Crazy Crazy Nights - Kiss
6.: Here I Go Again '87 - Whitesnake
7.: Best - Turner, Tina
8.: Addicted To Love - Palmer, Robert
9.: Modern Love - Bowie, David
10.: Whole Of The Moon - Waterboys
11.: Mary's Prayer - Wilson, Danny George
12.: Kiss Me - Duffy, Stephen 'Tin Tin'
13.: Waiting For A Train - Flash & The Pan
14.: Running Up That Hill - Bush, Kate
15.: Alive And Kicking - Simple Minds
16.: Higher Love - Winwood, Steve
17.: Breakout - Swing Out Sister
18.: You Keep It All In - Beautiful South
19.: Hourglass - Squeeze
20.: Axel F - Faltermeyer, Harold

Price & Availabilty-
Available from supermarkets and music stores alike, as well as online from such places as Amazon and Ebay you can generally find a copy from about £6.99 anywhere up to £20.

Overall-
I was greatly disappointed by the album as a whole, a few tracks are enjoyable, a few provide great silly tunes to prance about like a wally with the kids but it isn't easy to listen to, jumping around in musical styles as well as volume, you couldn't put one of the discs in the stereo and just leave it playing in the background. 

...less