Hardest Hits, Volume 1-5

OK, let me throw you a curveball worthy of Felix Hernandez (HELL YES it's finally baseball season! You don't like baseball? Well, sorry about your luck, because I LOVE it and plan to and likely will talk about it a couple of times a week during the season..... only thing better than baseball? Football, of course, and by that I mean FOOTBALL, not what you across the pond guys call "futbol" or whatever it is, and, by the way, how about the Wisconsin Badgers basketball team pulling off the amazing upset tonight and knocking off unbeaten Kentucky? Very exciting, and congrats Badgers....truly, I have no horse in this race, but gotta give props and best wishes to the Badgers for that stellar performance tonight!)

OK, anyway, a curveball .......normally I dislike this kind of music, but, hey, yo, I promote VARIETY (have I mentioned that?) on this site, and here are five actually pretty damn decent discs of early-mid 1980's new wave/new romantic/synth-pop/dance stuff, for an old punk/metal/grunge/stoner fan like myself, this is literally a lifetime supply of this stuff....... not EXACTLY my cup of java, but it does have its charms, a pure 1000% period piece and one that I might slip on every now and then (maybe when no one else is around?)

OK, so what's here? Well, I described it already, in an ironic way this might be similar to the death metal set of a few days ago, polarizing in a love-it-or-hate-it kind of way. What is interesting/cool about this set is that most of the tracks are extended/dance versions of the tracks which was a huge thing back in 1982 or whenever...... so, here they be, in all their New Romantic (ALWAYS hated that foolish term) glory......

Disc 1 opens and closes with different versions of The Puppets "The Way of Life" (The "dance version" and the " '91 Remix") ......in between there are forgotten legends of that era, B-Movie, Kirsty MacColl, Scary Thieves...... remember all that? I do, and I hated it all at the time, but like a lot of period pieces, once it settles into dust it becomes more relevant.

The second disc gives us Trio's notorious "Da Da Da", Pigbag's nearly-as-notorious "Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag", as well as Johnny Warman's cool "Screaming Jets", a good one from Jona Lewie, The Normal's "Warm Leatherette"...... if you LOVE this stuff (I don't, but I do enjoy it in the proper frame of mind), this will be like Christmas in April for ya!

Probably the highlight of Disc 3 is Lords of the New Church's extended "Dance With Me", we also get some more pure period stuff such as Lotus Eaters, Nick Heyward, Vicious Pink, and Night Moves, there is lots more..... I was (high school) Class of 79, we used to beat up people that liked this stuff, and to the classes of, say 1980-83 or so, what can I say? My bad........

The fourth disc hits us with Flying Lizards' bizarre version of "Money", Duran Duran's FIRST hit "Planet Earth" (in an extended dance version, this was before "Rio"/"Hungry Like the Wolf"/"Girls on Film", etc, it's also NOT AS GOOD AS THOSE, but being less well-known it is welcomed here)..... Japan and Heaven 17   contribute as well to make this maybe the most accessible of the 5 discs.

And finally, we have the final disc, which wraps up with Elton Motello/s "club mix" of "Jet Boy/Jet Girl", also SSQ's "Jet Town", China Crisis, Cosmat Angels...... OK, you CERTAINLY get the idea.....if you ain't figured it out, I LOVE these period piece comps when they are true to their intention (see: "20 Years of Nuclear Blast" a couple days ago), and this one is quite well sculpted, crafted, and assembled, which, again, if you LOVE this stuff, you will damn near cry over this set, if you are indifferent (like myself) this set will serve as a PERFECT marker of that scene (as well as be 5x more of this stuff than you will EVER want).

Really, it's pretty good...... it's hypnotic nature (long tracks, repetitive grooves, etc) would make it difficult to listen to on a 4 hour car trip, but in smaller doses, it without question has its charms.... never thought I'd say that "back then", but as I said before, some times with music, and more often with "scene" music, you need to wait for the dust to settle. This is a decent comp, take my word for it.

DISC 1-THE PUPPETS-The Way of Life (Dance Mix)/02 SCARY THIEVES-The Waiting Game (Extended Version)/03 KIRSTY MACCOLL-A New England (Extended Version)/04 JON ST JAMES-The Girl Who Seduced the World/05 THE MOOD-I Don't Need Your Love Now (Remix)/06 PASSION PUPPETS-Like Dust (Extended Version)/07 UROPA LULA- Our Love Has Just Begun (Extended Remix)/08 B-MOVIE-Our Love has Just Begun (Extended Version)/09 THOMAS LEER-Heartbeat (Extended Mix)/10 THE PUPPETS-The Way of Life (91 Remix)

DISC 2-01 JOHNNY WARMAN-Screaming Jets/02 SCARY THIEVES-Tell Me Girl (remix)/03 BOYS BRIGADE-The Passion of Love/04 JONA LEWIE-You'll Always Find Me In the Kitchen at Parties/05 RE-FLEX-The Politics of Dancing (Extended Version)/06 TRIO-Da Da Da/07 CETU JAVA-Situations/08 NAKED EYES-Always Something There to Remind Me (Long Version)/09 PIGBAG-Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag/10 THE BIG SUPREME-Don't Walk (Extended Version)/11 WEST END DANCE PROJECT-92 In the Shade (remix)/12 ABECEDARIANS-Smiling Monarchs/13 THE NORMAL-Warm Leatherette/14 SHARPE & NEWMAN-Change Your Mind (Extended Version)

DISC 3-01 VOICE OF AMERICA-Story of Love (extended Version)/02 CHAMELEONS UK-Swamp
Thing/03 LOTUS EATERS-The First Picture of You/04 THE COMSAT ANGELS-You Move Me (One Good Reason)/05 JACKIE LEVEN-Love Is Shining Down On Me/06 FRICTION FACTORY-Feels Like Heaven/07 NICK HEYWARD-Goodbye Yesterday (Extended Version)/08 STEVE HARLEY-Heartbeat Like Thunder (Extended Version)/09 LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH-Dance With Me (Extended Version)/10 GLAMOROUS CULT-Tokyo Streets/11 THE HAWAIIAN PUPS-Baby Judy/12 VICIOUS PINK-Can't You See (Extended Version)/13 MICRO CHIP LEAGUE-New York (Dance Floor Cut)/14 NIGHT MOVES-Transdance

DISC 4-01 THE ASSEMBLY-Never Never/02 SAL SOLO-San Damiano (Heart and Soul)/03 FLYING LIZARDS-Money/04 VICIOUS PINK-Take Me Now/05 THE NAILS-88 Lines About 44 Women/06 ROBERT HAZARD-Escalator of Life/07 LOTUS EATERS-You Don't Need Someone New (Charleston Mix)/08 THE CALL-Everywhere I Go/09 FURNITURE-Brilliant Mind/10 JAPAN-Life In Tokyo (Disco Mix)/11 DURAN DURAN-Planet Earth (Night Version)/12 HITLIST-Into the Fire (Full Version)/13 HEAVEN 17-Let Me Go

DISC 5-01 ENDGAMES-First Last For Everything (Club Version)/02 NICK HEYWARD-Whistle Down the Wind/03 BOYS BRIGADE-Melody/04 CHINA CRISIS-Working With Fire and Steel (Mix)/05 PETER GODWIN-Baby's In the Mountains (New York Mix)/06 THE COMSAT ANGELS-Day One/07 VISAGE-Pleasure Boys (Dance Mix)/08 THE FLYING PICKETS-Only You/09 FREUR-Doot-Doot (Extended Mix)/10 SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK-Love Missle F-1-11 (Extended Version)/11 SECESSION-Simon Says/12 THOMAS LEER-International (Global Mix)/13 SSQ-Jet Town/14 ELTON MOTELLO-Jet Boy/Jet Girl (Club Mix)