REVIEW: Various Artists, Flashback Favorites (5&6) (Oglio)

- Bob Gajarsky

Those folks at Oglio are back again with two more volumes of their reissue material known as Flashback Favorites. KROQ disc jockey Richard Blade has also returned and provided liner notes for some of the songs which helped launch the "modern rock" craze so prevalent in American radio.

Volume 5 and 6, however, are almost as different as night and day from previous volumes. The pop side of the 80's is reflected in Volume 5, with the Bangles, Men At Work, Psychedelic Furs and Tommy Tutone all duly represented. Even Real Life, who had more success after the decade was nearly over, appear with their biggest hit, "Send Me An Angel".

Boz Boorer appears with the Polecats, well before Morrissey ever took an interest in him, on the club version of "Make A Circuit With Me", while Wide Boy Awake (The Ants, minus Adam) appear with their offbeat and wacky "Chicken Outlaw".

Volume 6 takes a much more underground approach than anything else Oglio has produced. Of the twelve tracks, only Nick Lowe's "Cruel To Be Kind" has achieved any kind of success. The Suburbs "Music For Boys" and Mi Sex' "Computer Games" are both tracks which have received plenty of play at clubs in the mid 80's, but couldn't break through to a more conservative environment. The rest of the album includes five more extended / dance versions of tracks which are unlikely to be found anywhere else, ever.

Both albums, as is almost anything that Oglio produces, are well researched and compiled. However, if you need to purchase a CD for a friend whose only knowledge of "80's radio" consists of "Too Shy", stick to Volume 5. If you're a fan of more obscure material, Volume 6 could be an answer to a long-lost prayer. And, if you're just a fan of good music, pick up both volumes.

If not available at a local record shop, these discs can be purchased directly from Oglio at 1-800-COOL-CDS.

Track listing: Volume 5 - Real Life - Send Me An Angel (Extended); Pete Shelley - Telephone Operator; Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny; Men At Work - Overkill; Bangles - Hero Takes A Fall; Psychedelic Furs - The Ghost In You; Bill Nelson - Acceleration (Remix); Plimsouls - A Million Miles Away; Polecats - Make A Circuit With Me (Club Mix); JoBoxers - Just Got Lucky; Bad Manners - Samson and Delilah (Biblical Version); Wide Boy Awake - Chicken Outlaw

Track listing: Volume 6 - The Suburbs - Music For Boys (Remix); 3D - X Ray Eyes; Mi Sex - Computer Games (Extended Mix); Nina Hagen - Universal Radio (Universal Dance Mix); Bollock Brothers - Harley David (Son Of A Bitch); Chameleons - In Shreds; Romeos - Seriously Affected; Nick Lowe - Cruel To Be Kind; Payolas - Eyes of A Stranger (Full Length Version); Stranglers - All Roads Lead To Rome; I Am Siam - Talk To Me (Extended Dance Mix); Shriekback - Nemesis (Extended Mix)