COMPILATION 80s REVIEWS: Sedated In The 80s No. 5 /
_Wedding Singer Volume 2 / Chart Toppers series
- Bob Gajarsky
The latest volume of the Sedated In The 80s No. 5 (Capitol) series again returns the focus to singles, rather than B-sides and live versions which graced Volume 4. Represented by most of the cool genres - power pop (The Kings and Dwight Twilley), underground (Josie Cotton, Pato Banton), alternative (Concrete Blonde, Patti Smith), alterna-pop (Tears For Fears, Crowded House) and the tough-on-CD (Russ Ballard's "The Fire Still Burns") - Sedated manages to cover many of the bases in an already crowded field of reissues.
Breaking no new ground is The Wedding Singer Volume 2. While the first volume of this series focused on the bigger hits from the movie - and thus was probably *not* essential to hardcore 80s fans - it still provided an excellent vehicle for passive music fans to complement their music collection. Volume 2 unfortunately offers up only one 'difficult' track, the Flying Lizards' cover of "Money", which inevitably won't fit the demographics of the probably purchaser. The artists chosen here, for the most part, are fine - but if going for the lowest common denominator 80s hits, why choose 'lesser' big hits?
It will still sell well, but doesn't provide the same type of value for your money as volume 1.
The Priority label has also joined in the reissues with several individual discs associated by the 'chart toppers' name. These discs, broken down by musical category, offer a mixed bag of readily-available tracks.
The Modern Rock volumes (1 and 2) offer a selection of music which best stands the test of time. Common cuts (Culture Club, Robert Palmer) combined with well-known, but more difficult tracks (After The Fire, Bronski Beat) to provide listeners (in anywhere but Los Angeles) the music opportunity to compete with their local radio stations' Flashback lunch hour.
The line between modern rock and rock is blurred in many fans' eyes, and indeed is blurred on the Rock Hits collection. Nearly half the acts featured here would be included in many of those flashback 'alternative' hours, and it's interesting to see how many of the cuts included here - including REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You" and Rick Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" - are among the songs which have lasted the longest in the musical archives.
The Priority series is best recommended for passive music collectors who have already purchased The Wedding Singer, part 1...
SEDATED ARTISTS: Bow Wow Wow, Fine Young Cannibals, The Kings, Dwight Twilley, Concrete Blonde, Patti Smith Group, Russ Ballard, Motels, Divinyls, Josie Cotton, Dead or Alive, Pato Banton, Billy Idol, Tears For Fears, Crowded House
WEDDING ARTISTS: Kajagoogoo, Cars, Spandau Ballet, B-52's, Flying Lizards, Dead Or Alive, Depeche Mode, J. Geils Band, Hall & Oates, Madonna, Adam Sandler
CHART TOPPERS: Modern Rock Volume 1 - INXS, Flock of Seagulls, Bow Wow Wow, Psychedelic Furs, Culture Club, Men At Work, Fixx, Church, Bangles, After The Fire, Living Colour, Nena, XTC, Til Tuesday, Something About You
Modern Rock Volume 2 - Modern English, Plimsouls, Big Country, Icicle Works, Bronski Beat, Bananarama, ABC, Power Station, Tears For Fears, Romeo Void, Robert Palmer, Oingo Boingo, Timbuk 3, World Party, Michael Penn
Rock Hits - Eurythmics, Tears For Fears, Fixx, Madness, Wang Chung, Stray Cats, Eddie Money / Ronnie Spector, Hooters, Gary Numan, Crowded House, Hall & Oates, REO Speedwagon, Rick Springfield, The Call, Styx
