MUSIC: VARIOUS ARTISTS – 80s H’ITS HUGE – RARE & RECYCLED

MUSIC: VARIOUS ARTISTS – 80s H’ITS HUGE – RARE & RECYCLED
Sony
September 2018
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
9/10

Shitty compilation albums featuring the same blinkered track listings as FM Radio playlists are a dime a dozen, so it’s a real treat to find something assembled with heart and soul and more than a cursory cash-in vibe about it.

80s H’ITS HUGE – RARE & RECYCLED is one such gem, doing very much what it says on the tin.

Containing some of the biggest acts of the garish ‘80s, the featured tracks are never the obvious megahits, but feature some tracks that many who grew up in the Countdown years may relish the opportunity to rediscover.

Starting with Jona Lewie (most known Down Under for his You’ll Always Find Me In The Kitchen At Parties) and Louise (We Get It Right), through The Romantics’ Talking In Your Sleep and KISS’s Shandi (a hit only in Australia), through Jermaine Jackson, Bill Wyman, The Bureau, Hall & Oats, Culture Club, The Motels, The Who, OMD, Cyndi Lauper’s wonderful The Goonies R Good Enough from The Goonies movie, the hilariously ridiculous Haysi Fantayzee, Stray Cats, The Firm’s novelty classic Star Trekkin’ and many, many more, 80s H’ITS HUGE is a time capsule to another world of music.

I’m unsure who Brent James is, but he has compiled this triple disc brilliantly and written some cool liner notes, giving each song a little paragraph of usually interesting info, and even including state-by-state chart placings for each track.

Category: CD Reviews