“The series contained 15 volumes. The first five were released on 21 June 1994, and concentrated mostly on music issued between 1977 and 1981, with a few tracks from 1982. (Despite the “New Wave Hits of the ’80s” subtitle, Volume 1 actually contains no tracks from the 1980s; tracks from 1980 and later begin appearing midway through Volume 2.) Volumes 6–10 were issued on 18 October 1994, and mostly featured songs from 1982, spilling a little into 1983. The last five volumes were issued on 20 June 1995, and featured songs covering 1983 to 1985. Additional themed volumes—New Wave Dance Hits, New Wave Women,[ New Wave Halloween, and New Wave Christmas—came out in subsequent years. Rhino Records discontinued the series, due to rights issues and with no plans to re-release them. Many of the songs in the series are mastered from the 7-inch single masters. The series includes some songs making their first CD appearance (in some rare cases, their only CD appearance).”–Wikipedia
I have several Rhino compilation CDs, but I found these two volumes and I’m now debating whether to buy the other 13 volumes. Maybe you can help me make that decision by evaluating these two CDs.
I like Volume 5 a bit better than Volume 6. Volume 5 has that ear worm “867-5309/Jenny” by Tommy Tutone and Frank & Moon Unit Zappa’s “Valley Girl.” But, I could do without Toni Basil’s “Mickey.”
Volume 6 has ABC’s “The Look of Love (Part I)” and Men at Work’s “Who Can It Be Now.” I can do without Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me.” Do you remember these songs from the 1980s? And favorites here? GRADE: B (for both)
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | Bow Wow Wow– | I Want Candy Written-By – Berns*, Feldman*, Goldstein*, Gottehrer | 2:47 |
| 2 | The Waitresses– | I Know What Boys Like Written-By – Butler | 3:15 |
| 3 | Kim Wilde– | Kids In America Written-By – Wilde*, Wilde | 3:29 |
| 4 | Haircut One Hundred– | Love Plus One Written-By – Heyward | 3:40 |
| 5 | Marshall Crenshaw– | Someday, Someway Written-By – Crenshaw | 2:52 |
| 6 | Great Buildings– | Hold On To Something Written-By – Wilde*, Ainsworth*, Solem | 3:49 |
| 7 | The Jam– | Town Called Malice Written-By – Weller | 2:57 |
| 8 | Tommy Tutone– | 867-5309/Jenny Written-By – Call*, Keller | 3:48 |
| 9 | Go-Go’s– | Vacation Written-By – Caffey*, Wiedlin*, Valentine | 3:01 |
| 10 | Frank* & Moon Zappa– | Valley Girl Written-By – Zappa*, Zappa | 3:50 |
| 11 | A Flock Of Seagulls– | I Ran (So Far Away) Written-By – Score*, Maudsley*, Score*, Reynolds | 3:46 |
| 12 | Soft Cell– | Sex Dwarf Written-By – Ball*, Almond | 5:16 |
| 13 | Gang Of Four– | I Love A Man In A Uniform Written-By – Gill*, King* | 3:35 |
| 14 | Japan– | The Art Of Parties Written-By – Sylvian | 4:12 |
| 15 | Pete Shelley– | Homosapien Written-By – Shelley | 3:24 |
| 16 | Toni Basil– | Mickey Written-By – Chinn / Chapman | 3:26 |
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| 1 | Men At Work– | Who Can It Be Now? Written-By – Hay | 3:24 |
| 2 | Golden Earring– | Twilight Zone Written-By – Kooymans | 4:53 |
| 3 | Talk Talk– | Talk Talk Written-By – Hollis*, Hollis | 3:24 |
| 4 | Josie Cotton– | Johnny, Are You Queer? Written-By – Paine*, Paine | 2:49 |
| 5 | X (5)– | White Girl Written-By – Cervenka*, Doe | 3:34 |
| 6 | The Jim Carroll Band– | People Who Died Written-By – Caroll | 5:02 |
| 7 | Code Blue (5)– | Face To Face Written-By – Chamberlain | 3:05 |
| 8 | Captain Sensible– | Wot Written-By – Captain Sensible | 3:20 |
| 9 | The Bongos– | Numbers With Wings Written-By – Barone | 4:28 |
| 10 | ABC– | The Look Of Love (Part One) Written-By – ABC | 3:33 |
| 11 | Culture Club– | Do You Really Want To Hurt Me Written-By – O’Dowd*, Moss*, Craig*, Hay* | 4:23 |
| 12 | Romeo Void– | Never Say Never Written-By – Bossi*, Iyall*, Zincavage*, Carter | 3:29 |
| 13 | The Church– | The Unguarded Moment Written-By – Parker*, Kilbey | 3:11 |
| 14 | Any Trouble– | Second Choice Written-By – Gregson* | 3:02 |
| 15 | The A’s– | A Woman’s Got The Power Written-By – Bush*, Notte | 3:37 |
| 16 | Sparks– | I Predict Written-By – Mael* | 2:53 |
I stand by my statement that very little of note was written after 1972! I recognize a couple of these tunes but don’t find them worth hearing again! So, yes, buy the others by all means!
Bob, thanks for your encouragement to buy the JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH series. You should receive a package tomorrow.
I like these better than most of the compilations . I know everything except the A’s. and Code Blue. Odd selection by Sparks. Not one of there better known songs. New Wave is a rather loose definition ( what is Zappa , Sparks and Golden Earring doing here).? Favorites are X, Marshall Crenshaw ( who is from about a mile from me), Talk Talk, Jim Carroll, The Jam, Gang of Four, Go Go’s, Japan, Sparks, and The Church. I don’t care much for Toni Basil, A Flock of Seagulls, Haircut bOne Hundred, and the Frank Zappa.
Toni Basil was a dancer and choreographer who worked on a few Elvis films and was in Easy Rider.
A lot of artists lumped under the term New Wave are not here- Blondie, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Joe Jackson, The English Beat, The Specials, The Pogues, Devo. All better than most of the artists here. Although The Jam and Marshall Crenshaw are favorites of mine.
Steve, your analysis is spot on! Some groups that seldom show up on compilation CDs, but with songs that are unfamiliar. Blondie, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Joe Jackson, The English Beat, The Specials, The Pogues, and Devo probably show up on Volumes 7-15. I’ll find out when I buy them.
I consider myself one of the fortunate ones. I was too busy during the 80s having a life so most of the music scene passed me by. After listening to some of the music available then, I have no regrets. And get of my lawn!
Jerry, some people have no appreciation for 1980s music. But, I thought you were a fan of Big Hair music…
This is at least better than hair metal which was popular then, but which I consider a low point in rock history.
Steve, despite the music, Big Hair bands appealed to a wide swath of fans back in the 1980s. Plenty of tours, concerts, and record/CD sales.
Why should I be a fan of big hair when I’ve started to lose my own?
Jerry, haven’t you ever heard of “Hair Envy”?
I’m drawing a blank on most of these. The only familiar ones are the few that crossed over to Top 40 radio in my carpool days–Go-Gos, Tommy Tutone, and Culture Club. Can it really be that we’re forty years out from that decade of Reagan, Jim&Tammy Faye, and Madonna?!
Fred, I had the same sensation while listening to these 1980s song: many are 40 years old! Time flies…
I love these sets—probably because I was listening to lots of New Wave and what was then termed “Alternative Music” in the 1980s, and most of these songs hit my sweet spot. I would suggest listening to Sirius/XM’s Channel 33 (First Wave Classic Alternative) and, if you like that blend of music, buying the rest of the CDs.
Deb, I hope your power has been restored. I love these sets, too. Rhino is one of my favorite record companies because of all the great (and not so great) music they collected.
Power back on at 8:30 this morning! Much happier now!
Deb, back in 2006 when we had a surprise October snow storm, we lost power for three days. That experience convinced us to buy a GENERAC natural gas generator. Since then we’ve had power outages a dozen times, but only for short periods. Of course, once the power goes off, our generator goes on. It’s eerie being the only house on the street with lights!
What Jerry said. Just Say NO!!!
Toni Basil’s “Mickey” needs to be pounded into oblivion. My next door neighbor is going to see Colin Hay (lead singer of Men at Work) at City Winery.
Jeff, listening to Toni Basil’s “Mickey” tortures my ears! I think some of the Men at Work are no longer with us, but I’m glad Colin Hay is still around.
I don’t remember most of these songs and so I’m not interested at all.
The late 70s and 80s music passed me by.
A reaon for that?
A few days ago I read somewhere that the music taste of many people “stabilizes” at 25 to 30 years of ages, so new stuff is not interesting unless it follows the old stuff in taste. For me that would be “real” Rock and Blues.
I think this is one of the reasons I love (contemporary) EDM so much—it sounds just like the fusion/evolution of my two favorite genres from my early-to-mid twenties: 70s Disco and 80s New Wave. Unsurprisingly, many of the best-known EDM producers today have remixed Disco & Alternative classics into “new” songs…although, DiscoDollyDeb, for one, is not fooled!
Deb, I just ordered the 13 other volumes of JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH: NEW WAVE HITS OF THE 80s. As soon as they arrive, I’ll start featuring a couple volumes at a time on Thursdays.
Wolf, I’m an outlier when it comes to music. I’ll listen to just about anything and have favorite songs from the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, Eighties, Nineties, Oughts, and right up to date!
I spent most of my life attending as many concerts as I could afford. Now they are just too pricey so I tend to see acts at smaller venues like the Ark in Ann Arbor. Going to see Willie Nile there April 19 for $25. I’ve always been interested in new stuff and support a lot of “younger” bands like The National, Wilco, Black Keys. I guess the 25-30 stat doesn’t pertain to my group of friends. I know too many people who seem to only like what they listened to in HS.
Right now I have tickets for Neil Young, The Pixies, and The National.
Steve, I wish I’d attended more concerts when I was younger. Now, it takes a lot of effort, time, and money to go to a concert in this area.
While not all of these songs were hits (in the US, at least), Rhino is a more responsible packager than most of what you’ve featured over the years. I started listening to rock radio willingly again in the early ’80s (but not exclusively to rock radio, as Honolulu had, briefly, a Jazz station for a while, and Hawaiian-music stations–surprise!–but not many, and I was listening to most of my music off recordings, as well as hanging around the University of Hawaii radio station in ’82-83 (barely did any radio broadcasting there, though did so in Virginia and Philadelphia).
I’m familiar with nearly all of them, and might recall them if I heard them.
Todd, I’m fond of Rhino Records because they remastered songs before they compiled them on CDs like this one. The songs sound a lot better than on Rhino than on the original recordings.
The Textones’ (Kathy Valentine’s first recording band) original version of “Vacation” (used as the theme song for the recent fine crime-drama series HIGHTOWN): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GawVyj-XXrQ
I’m wondering if the Waitresses and the Busboys have ever toured together, back when or on the revival circuit. The Splitting Tips Tour would seem a natural.
Todd, if The Splitting Tips Tour happens I’d go see it!