VARIOUS ARTISTS
Ministry Of Sound - Electronic 80’s
Another Monday and another 80’s compilation arrives, this time though on the Ministry of Sound label so will it offer anything out of the ordinary?
Well yes and no, this 3cd package ticks all the usual boxes: Vienna / Fade To Grey / Tainted Love etc.. and that’s just in the first four tracks but from then on its quite an interesting journey through the decade. Whilst the big hitters are generally all present and correct – and represented at least twice, there is at least an attempt to present tracks other than their trademark tunes. For example OMD are represented with Maid of Orleans (though Enola Gay appears elsewhere), The Human League have Being Boiled and Love Action – no odes to cocktail bar waitresses in sight.
The real treats come in those lesser spotted hits, those that spent a couple of weeks bothering the lower reaches of the Top 40, and frankly those you might just have forgotten about. So for every Smalltown Boy (Bronski Beat) there’s a Brilliant Mind (Furniture) and a Classix Nouveaux gem (Is It A Dream).
Elsewhere forgotten aural pleasure such as Driving Away From Home (Its Immaterial), and Beat the Clock (Sparks) are a step aside from the usual 80’s compilation. Pop Muzik (M) put a grin on this face too – and also the face of the woman next to me at the traffic lights who saw me lip-synching for all I was worth.. And yes ok its from 1979 but what's a few months between friends.
So would I recommend this? On balance yes, there are just about enough none regulation 80’s compilation tracks to make this a worthy purchase. But couldn’t we all do so much better?
Well yes and no, this 3cd package ticks all the usual boxes: Vienna / Fade To Grey / Tainted Love etc.. and that’s just in the first four tracks but from then on its quite an interesting journey through the decade. Whilst the big hitters are generally all present and correct – and represented at least twice, there is at least an attempt to present tracks other than their trademark tunes. For example OMD are represented with Maid of Orleans (though Enola Gay appears elsewhere), The Human League have Being Boiled and Love Action – no odes to cocktail bar waitresses in sight.
The real treats come in those lesser spotted hits, those that spent a couple of weeks bothering the lower reaches of the Top 40, and frankly those you might just have forgotten about. So for every Smalltown Boy (Bronski Beat) there’s a Brilliant Mind (Furniture) and a Classix Nouveaux gem (Is It A Dream).
Elsewhere forgotten aural pleasure such as Driving Away From Home (Its Immaterial), and Beat the Clock (Sparks) are a step aside from the usual 80’s compilation. Pop Muzik (M) put a grin on this face too – and also the face of the woman next to me at the traffic lights who saw me lip-synching for all I was worth.. And yes ok its from 1979 but what's a few months between friends.
So would I recommend this? On balance yes, there are just about enough none regulation 80’s compilation tracks to make this a worthy purchase. But couldn’t we all do so much better?
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