REVIEW: Various, Just Can't Get Enough (Vol. 1-5) (Rhino)
- Bob Gajarsky
Rhino Records, well known for bringing forgotten music to a new audience, has hit another home run with the first third of its new 1980's compilation series, Just Can't Get Enough.
The fifteen volume set, which will be issued in three parts (with the second in October of 1994 and the third part in early 1995), opens with five discs covering the years 1979-1982.
Is it just another 80's compilation series? Not at all - Priority Records compilations tend to focus on easier-to-get tracks, which are commonly available on individual artists greatest hits releases, Sedated in the 80's tends to get lost and EMI's Living In Oblivion series just can't match up to the depth and breadth of the Rhino reissues. The only label whose 80's reissues can compare to Rhino is Oglio's Flashback Favorites and that's primarily due to the issuance of rare 12" mixes.
The key to Rhino's issues, of course, is quantity. But, while fitting 16 songs on each disc (at a midline price), the California-based label refuses to sacrifice quality. Disc 1, for example, combines hits "My Sharona", "Video Killed The Radio Star" and Blondie's "One Way or Another" with cult songs such as Tim Curry's "I Do The Rock", The Flying Lizard's "Money" and Plastic Bertrand's "Ca Plane Pour Moi".
Other rare or hard-to-find CD tracks included in the first five discs are Marshall Crenshaw's "Someday, Someway", Tommy Tutone's "867-5309", Pete Shelley's "Homosapien", Martha & The Muffins' "Echo Beach" and M's "Pop Muzik". But with a selection of 80 songs, it's easy to pick and choose here; suffice it to say that no other compilation combines what a discerning 1980's listener could want.
Throw away those want lists of $15 discs that have one "must-get" song from the 1980's. Rhino has captured the true spirit of the first quarter of that decade with the first five discs of their compilation series, Just Can't Get Enough. TRACKS: Plastic Bertrand - Ca Plane Pour Moi; The Normal - Warm Leatherette; Blondie - One Way Or Another; Flash & The Pan - Hey, St. Peter; Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind; D-Day - Too Young To Date; Graham Parker - Local Girls; Ramones - Rock N Roll High School; The Knack - My Sharona; Dave Edmunds - Girls Talk; Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star; Tim Curry - I Do The Rock; The Inmates - Dirty Water; Tin Huey - I'm A Believer; Suburban Lawns - Gidget Goes To Hell; The Flying Lizards - Money (That's What I Want) M - Pop Muzik; Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick; Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart; Human Sexual Response - What Does Sex Mean To Me?; The Kingbees - My Mistake; Tonio K - The Funky Western Civilization; The Beat - You Won't Be Happy; Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays; Split Enz - I Got You; The Motels - Dnager; Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach; Devo - Whip It; Ultravox - VIenna; Fischer-Z - So Long; Klark Kent - Away From Home; Vapors - Turning Japanese Gary Numan - Cars; B 52's - Private Idaho; XTC - Making Plans for Nigel; Rockpile - Teacher Teacher; Robert Palmer - Looking for Clues; Humans - I Live In The City; Pearl Harbor & The Explosions - Drivin'; Romantics - What I Like About You; Nails - 88 Lines about 44 Women; Lene Lovich - New Toy; Visage - Fade to Grey; Kid Creole & The Coconuts - Stool Pigeon; Squeeze - Tempted; Selecter - Too Much Pressure; Fools - It's A Night for Beautiful Girls; Gleaming Spires - Are You Ready For The Sex Girls? Devo - Freedom of Choice; XTC - Generals and Majors; Kings - Switchin' To Glide; Boomtown Rats - Up All Night; Greg Kihn Band - Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em); Motors - Love and Loneliness; Magazine - About The Weather; Phil Seymour - Precious To Me; Duran Duran - Girls On Film; Translator - Everywhere I'm Not; Altered Images - I Could Be Happy; Members - Working Girl; Monroes - What Do All The People Know; Undertones - It's Going To Happen!; Bauhaus - Ziggy Stardust; Soft Cell - Tainted Love Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy; Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like; Kim Wilde - Kids In America; Haircut 100 - Love Plus One; Marshall Crenshaw - Someday Someway; Great Buildings - Hold On To Something; Jam - Town Called Malice; Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny; Go Go's - Vacation; Frank & Moon Zappa - Valley Girl; Flock of Seagulls - I Ran; Soft Cell - Sex Dwarf; Gang of Four - I Love A Man In Uniform; Japan - Art of Parties; Pete Shelley - Homosapien; Toni Basil - Mickey
