Check out the Rykodisc Home Page
Overall, this series isn't bad. The majority of the discs have a lot of lesser known artists, and in some cases this is more of a hinderence than a blessing as no one will know all of the songs on a single disc. This collection is better suited to listening than being used as a set for parties.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 1 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 52:48 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 2 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Ca Plane Pour Moi Plastic Bertrand Warm Leatherette The Normal One Way Or Another Blondie Hey, St. Peter Flash &The Pan Cruel To Be Kind Nick Lowe Too Young To Date D-Day Local Girls Graham Parker Rock 'N' Roll High School Ramones My Sharona The Knack Girls Talk Dave Edmunds Video Killed The Radio Star The Buggles I Do The Rock Tim Curry Dirty Water The Inmates I'm A Believer Tim Huey Gidget Goes To Hell Suburban Lawns Money (That's What I Want) Flying Lizards Comments: Definately more interesting as a study in period music than as an album you would want to play on a regular basis. There are some interesting songs, and some that are worth owning, but overall a dud.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 2 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 58:36 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 3 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Pop Muzik M Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick Ian Dury &The Blockheads Love Will Tear Us Apart Joy Division What Does Sex Mean To Me? Human Sexual Response My Mistake The Kingbees The Funky Western Civilization Tonio K. You Won't Be Happy The Beat I Don't Like Mondays The Boomtown Rats I Got You Split Enz Danger The Motels Echo Beach Martha &The Muffins Whip It Devo Vienna Ultravox So Long Fischer-Z Away From Home Klark Kent Turning Japanese The Vapors Comments: Not a bad album overall, but not great either. This disc tries to hard to be a serious discussion of the early eighties music scene and sticks with mostly unpopular no-hit wonders.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 3 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 61:07 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 5 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Cars Gary Numan Private Idaho The B-52's Making Plans For Nigel XTC Teacher Teacher Rockpile Looking For Clues Robert Palmer I Live In The City The Humans Drivin' Pearl Harbor &The Explosions What I Like About You The Romantics 88 Lines About 44 Women The Nails New Toy Lene Lovich Fady To Grey Visage Stool Pigeon Kid Creole &The Coconuts Tempted Squeeze Too Much Pressure The Selecter It's A Night For Beautiful Women The Fools Are You Ready For The Sex Girls? Gleaming Spires Comments: The first decent disc in this series, it has plenty of songs that charted. Songs like "New Toy" by Lene Lovich are also great as songs that you won't find elsewhere but were definately remembered. This is probably the best disc in the whole series.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 4 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 55:55 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 3 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Freedom Of Choice Devo Generals And Majors XTC Switchin' To Glide The Kings Up All Night The Boomtown Rats The Breakup Song (They Don't Write...) Greg Kinn Band Love And Loneliness The Motors About The Weather Magazine Precious To Me Phil Seymour Girls On Film Duran Duran Everywhere That I'm Not Translator I Could Be Happy Altered Images Working Girl The Members What Do All The People Know The Monroes It's Going To Happen! The Undertones Ziggy Stardust Bauhaus Tainted Love Soft Cell Comments: This disc has too many filler songs on it. Songs that no one is going to remember, though they do fit ok on the disc. If you don't mind listening to songs you probably won't remember, this disc should be fine listening, not a party disc at all.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 5 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 57:17 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 4 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- I Want Candy Bow Wow Wow I Know What Boys Like The Waitresses Kids In America Kim Wilde Love Plus One Haircut One Hundred Someday, Someway Marshall Crenshaw Hold On To Something Great Buildings Town Called Malice The Jam 867-5309/Jenny Tommy Tutone Vacation Go-Go's Valley Girl Frank &Moon Zappa I Ran (So Far Away) A Flock Of Seagulls Sex Dwarf Soft Cell I Love A Man In A Uniform Gang Of Four The Art Of Parties Japan Homosapien Pete Shelley Mickey Toni Basil Comments: Definately a must buy, this is one of the few compilations to have Frank &Moon Zappa's "Valley Girl" on it. There's also a good selection of popular tunes on here mixed with less popular, let memorable songs.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 6 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 58:16 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 3 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Who Can It Be Now? Men At Work Twilight Zone Golden Earing Talk Talk Talk Talk Johnny, Are You Queer? Josie Cotton White Girl X People Who Died The Jim Carroll Band Face To Face Code Blue Wot Captain Sensible Numbers With Wings The Bongos The Look Of Love (Part One) ABC Do You Really Want To Hurt Me Culture Club Never Say Never Romeo Void The Unguarded Moment The Church Second Choice Any Trouble A Woman's Got The Power The A's I Predict Sparks Comments: This CD lacks consistency between songs, and also lacks a lot of popular songs. Instead you get a lot of groups that were barely even known when they were being played on the radio mixed in with a few one hit wonders.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 7 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 59:20 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 1 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) Haircut One Hundred He Could Be The One Josie Cotton I'm Shakin' The Blasters Six Months In A Leaky Boat Split Enz I Need You Paul Carrack Love Is Just The Great Pretender Animal Nightlife Ride Your Pony Fleshtones Blue Spark X Pass The Dutchie Musical Youth Samson And Deliah Bad Manners Chicken Outlaw Wide Boy Awake Da Da Da I Don't Love You You Don't... Trio Party Weekend Joe "King" Carrasco &The Crowns Love Shadow Fashion Flaming Desire Bill Nelson O Superman (For Massenet) Laurie Anderson Comments: Another disc that has very little to offer, all these songs can be found on better compilations. This particular disc is barely even listenable. Unless you want to own the whole Rhino New Wave series, pass it over.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 8 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 62:31 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 4 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Come On Eileen Dexys Midnight Runners Red Skies The Fixx Walking In L.A. Missing Persons Jeopardy Greg Kihn Band She's A Beauty The Tubes Cath The Bluebells Voo Doo Rachel Sweet If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? Mental As Anything She Blinded Me With Science Thomas Dolby Mexican Radio Wall Of Voodoo Lies Thompson Twins Whirly Girl Oxo Kiss Me Tin Tin (We Don't Need This) Facist Groove... Heaven 17 Escalator Of Life Robert Hazard Goodbye To You Scandal Comments: This disc has a lot of popular songs and songs that you will most likely remember upon hearing. Most of these songs are found on other compilations however, so if you already own a lot of eighties compilations, you might wish to pass this one over.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 9 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 56:25 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 3 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Rio Duran Duran I Melt With You Modern English Cool Places Sparks &Jane Wiedlin Love My Way Psychedlic Furs Save It For Later The English Beat Whenever You're On My Mind Marshall Crenshaw Keep It Tight Single Bullet Theory Blister In The Sun Violent Femmes The Cutter Echo &The Bunnymen Sign Of The Times The Belle Stars Poison Arrow ABC Too Shy Kajagoogoo Let Me Go Heaven 17 Dancing In Heaven (Orbital Be-Bop) Q-Feet Teenage Enema Nurses In Bondage Killer Pussy I Eat Cannibals Total Coelo Comments: This disc has a few artists on it that are certainly not found on many compilations, like Violent Femmes and Echo and The Bunnymen. If you don't already own their albums, I would recomend this disc.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 10 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 56:34 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 3 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Desperate But Not Serious Adam Ant Do You Wanna Hold Me? Bow Wow Wow China Red Rockers (Keep Feeling) Fascination The Human League Beat Surrender The Jam The Walls Came Down The Call Amanda Ruth Rank &File A Million Miles Away The Plimsouls Our House Madness Shy Boy (Don't It Make You Feel Good) Bananarama Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You) A Flock Of Seagulls Promises, Promises Naked Eyes Stand By Roman Holliday Whistle Down The Wind Nick Heyward Earthquake Song Little Girls Puttin' On The Ritz Taco Comments: There's a few songs on here worth owning, "Puttin' On The Ritz" is hardly ever on compilations, but overall this disc has few songs that are must have songs.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 11 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 62:27 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 4 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- In A Big Country Big Country 99 Luftballons Nena Just Got Lucky JoBoxers Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime) The Flirts Change Tears For Fears Talking In Your Sleep The Romantics Emotion DFX2 President Am I Slow Children One Thing Leads To Another The Fixx The Fanatic Felony Shiny Shiny Haysi Fantayzee Mirror Mirror (Mon Amour) Dollar The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the...) The Fun Boy Three Black Coffee In Bed Squeeze Send Me An Angel Real Life True Spandau Ballet Comments: This is a great disc, some of these songs are real hard fines, yet they were on the charts. "Send Me An Angel", "Jukebox", "Talking In Your Sleep" should all be easily recognized when you heat them. The order of songs on this CD are also very well laid out.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 12 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 59:50 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 4 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Karma Chameleon Culture Club It Must Be Love Madness Gold Spandau Ballet Come Back And Stay Paul Young Oblivious Aztec Camera They Don't Know Tracey Ullman Positively Lost Me The Rave-Ups Fields Of Fire Big Country (She's) Sexy + 17 Stray Cats Sixty Eight Guns The Alarm Our Lips Are Sealed The Fun Boy Three Only You Yaz The Politics Of Dancing Re-Flex Calling Your Name Marilyn Sensoria Cabaret Voltaire Images Of Heaven Peter Godwin Comments: Yes, that's the same Tracy Ullman from TV. This disc does have a lot of songs by groups that were famous for songs other than the ones here, but overall they're songs you shouldn't miss.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 13 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 63:04 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 4 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Relax Frankie Goes To Hollywood Dance Hall Days Wang Chung Hero Takes A Fall Bangles Wouldn't It Be Good Nik Kershaw Hold Me Now Thompson Twins Cruel Summer Bananarama Working With Fire And Steel China Crisis Cleanin' Up The Town The Bus Boys Girls Dwight Twilley The Stand The Alarm Free Nelson Mandela The Special AKA General Public General Public (Feels Like) Heaven Fiction Factory Dancing With Tears In My Eyes Ultravox Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly) Icicle Works The Killing Moon Echo &The Bunnymen Comments: While there is some filler interspersed throughout this disc, overall the disc stands up pretty will to repeated listenings. The songs by the easily recognized groups were all minor hits, but still faired rather well on the charts and should be easily recognized.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 14 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 59:20 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 4 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Close (To The Edit) Art Of Noise Tenderness General Public Der Kommissar After The Fire Smalltown Boy Bronski Beat Voices Carry 'Til Tuesday One Night In Bangkok Murray Head Imagination Belouis Some Never Never The Assembly Sunglasses At Night Corey Hart Free Yourself The Untouchables Every Word Means No Let's Active Exception Of Love The Truth Can't Get Enough Of You Baby The Colour Field The Backyard Miracle Legion Anywhere With You Rubber Rodeo True Men Don't Kill Coyotes The Red Hot Chili Peppers Comments: This disc starts off strong and then falters towards the end with songs that weren't all that great. If you liked "One Night In Bangkok" then you'll be happy to own it on a compilation with this disc, most of the other songs are available on other compilations though.
Title : New Wave Hits Of The '80s Vol. 15 (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 66:04 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 4 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Walking On Sunshine Katrina &The Waves Head Over Heels Tears For Fears It's A Mistake Men At Work Life In A Northern Town The Dream Academy Beat's So Lonely Charlie Sexton Guitar, Talk, Love &Drums Gary Myrick Since Yesterday Strawberry Switchblade Obsession Animotion Endicott Kid Creole &The Coconuts Perfect Way Scritti Politti So In Love Orchestral Manoeuvers In The Dark Election Day Arcadia 19 Paul Hardcastle Why? Bronski Beat Some People Belouis Some Like A Virgin The Lords Of The New Church Comments: This disc has a lot of popular songs on it as well as some lesser known songs. The overall arrangement of songs though is quite pleasurable and makes up for the lesser known groups.
Title : New Wave Dance Hits Of The '80s (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : 78:35 Notes : Descriptions with Pictures of the Groups Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $8 Rank : 3 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- Lawnchairs Our Daughters Wedding Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag (Ext.) Pigbag Bostich (Ext. Remix) Yellow Ball of Confusion (Ext.) Love and Rockets Rapture (Disco Mix) Blondie Precious (Ext.) The Jam Beat Box Art Of Noise The Wildstyle Time Zone The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight (Mix) Dominatrix Think (About It) Justin Moody E.S.G. Cavern Liquid Liquid Too Many Creeps Bush Tetras Konk Party (Master Cylinder's Jam) (Ney York City Club Mix) Konk Comments: Very Dance oriented. I don't recognize a lot of these, the explanation for that would probably be that I didn't spend much time in dance clubs when I was ten. Most of the songs here are dance remixes, and while I recognize the band Love and Rockets or Art Of Noise, I don't recall these songs by them at all, let alone the remixes.
Title : New Wave Halloween (Available at Amazon) Label : Rhino Medium : CD TTime : : Notes : Brief song descriptions and some pictures. Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr. Paid : $12 Rank : 5 out of 5. Track Listing -=-=-=-=-=-=- Title Artist(s) -=-=- -=-=-=-=- The Time Warp Rocky Horror Picture Show Everyday is Halloween Ministry Devil in my Car The B-52's Dead Man's Party Oingo Boingo Pet Sematary Ramones Theme From Halloween MX-80 Sound The Munsters Theme Comateens The Creature From the Black Lagoon Dave Edmunds Halloween Siouxsie and the Banshees Halloween The Dream Syndicate Halloween Sonic Youth Halloween Dead Kennedys Halloween The Misfits Halloween Mudhoney Creature with the Atom Brain Roky Erickson and the Aliens Comments: Well, they got Christmas covered, so what was left? I can honestly say this is the best 80s Halloween CD I've heard, but that's only because it's the ONLY 80s Halloween CD I've heard. This CD though suceeds as being a great compilation of odd B sides and rare songs you wouldn't normally find. The only downside for me is the inclusion of the Time Warp which isn't really from the new wave era. "The Munsters Theme" is an excellent synth version of the classic theme and gives it a whole new dimension. I give this disc the highest rating of the season because of it's originality and inclusion of such oddball delights. You WON'T find these songs on other compilations, so it's a nice breath of fresh air. I didn't even know there were so many songs names Halloween.
Compilation Review Listings:
[A-D]
[E-I]
[J-R]
[S-Z]
[Rhino's]
[Rock 80's]
[Soundtracks]
[Videos]
[Oblivion]
[Flashback]
[Sedated]
[Time Life]
[Rolling Stone's]
[Christmas]
[Vendors]