This is a good series, a 3.5 overall, the first three discs are great and even contain a few little surprises like "Mickey" in spanish. Despite the various referenes to a sixth disc in this series, it does not exist. Sorry.

(Available at Amazon)

Title   : Living In Oblivion (The Eighties Greatest Hits) Volume 1 (Available at Amazon)
Label   : EMI
Medium  : CD
TTime   : 64:29
Notes   : Pictures and Comments On The Groups/Songs
Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr.
Paid    : $12
Rank    : 4 out of 5.

Track Listing
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title                                  Artist(s)
-=-=-                                  -=-=-=-=-
Too Shy                                Kajagoogoo
Always Something There To Remind Me    Naked Eyes
Talk Talk                              Talk Talk
Kids In America                        Kim Wilde
Turning Japanese                       The Vapors
The Politics Of Dancing                Re-Flex
19                                     Paul Hardcastle
Homicide                               999
Romanticide                            Combo Audio
Guilty                                 Classix Nouveaux
(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)             The Stranglers
2-4-6-8 Motorway                       Tom Robinson Band
C30, C60, C90, Go                      Bow Wow Wow
(She's) Sexy + 17                      Stray Cats
She Blinded Me With Science            Thomas Dolby
Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This...)     Spandau Ballet
I Eat Cannibals (Part One)             Total Coelo
Shiny Shiny                            Haysi Fantayzee

Comments:
        This disc has some great songs on it, especially the song "Kids in
America" which pretty much named the music of the time, "There's a New
Wave Coming I Tell You" (though New Wave might have been used before then
to describe it).  Thomas Dolby, Stray Cats, Re-Flex, Kajagoogoo, Talk Talk,
Naked Eyes, heck these are all great songs.  Though why every compilation
that has new wave on it must include Shiny Shiny really baffles me,
basically if you end this disc with the Dolby song it would have ranked
a perfect score with me.

From Greg: EMI &BMG collaborated to bring songs from their alternative artists. Like
many compilations they weigh heavily on the names but the releases are
often not the ones that the artists are known for. Expect big cuts at the
top and bottom of the disk. Bonus points for several hard to find singles:
Hardcastle's "19", Vapor's "Turning Japanese", and strong selections from
Kajagoogo, Talk Talk, and Kim Wilde. Rating: 3.5

Title   : Living In Oblivion (The Eighties Greatest Hits) Volume 2 (Available at Amazon)
Label   : EMI
Medium  : CD
TTime   : 74:40
Notes   : Pictures and Comments On The Groups/Songs
Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr.
Paid    : $12
Rank    : 4 out of 5.

Track Listing
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title                                  Artist(s)
-=-=-                                  -=-=-=-=-
Mickey                                 Toni Basil
Get It On                              The Power Station
Lay Your Hands On Me                   Thompson Twins
Let Me Go                              Heaven 17
Love Plus One                          Haircut One Hundred
Heart And Soul                         T'Pau
Just Got Lucky                         Jo Boxers
It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way...) The Fun Boy Three With Bananarama
The Jam Was Moving                     Debbie Harry
Love Missile F1-11                     Sigue Sigue Sputnik
88 Lines About 44 Women                The Nails
Only The Lonely                        The Motels
Living In A Box                        Living In A Box
Walking On Sunshine                    Katrina And The Waves
Running Up That Hill                   Kate Bush
Church Of The Poison Mind              Culture Club
Destination Unknown                    Missing Persons
Never Ending Story                     Limahl
Mickey (Spanish Version)               Toni Basil

Comments:
        This disc is just like the previous disc in the series, it has
some really big name groups (of their time anyways) and some lesser known
artists from whom we have songs that we cannot forget, like "Walking
On Sunshine" or "Never Ending Story."  We even get to sample the cross
language nutiness of the eighties with the Spanish version of a popular
english tune which was stolen from an Italian, yikes!  And yes, the
Spanish version is just as bad as the English version!

Title   : Living In Oblivion (The Eighties Greatest Hits) Volume 3 (Available at Amazon)
Label   : EMI
Medium  : CD
TTime   : 72:27
Notes   : Pictures and Comments On The Groups/Songs
Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr.
Paid    : $12
Rank    : 5 out of 5.


Track Listing
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title                                  Artist(s)
-=-=-                                  -=-=-=-=-
(Keep Feeling) Fascination             The Human League
Perfect Way                            Scritti Politti
Cruel Summer                           Bananarama
Life In A Northern Town                The Dream Academy
Election Day                           Arcadia
Shattered Dreams                       Johnny Hates Jazz
Sunglasses At Night                    Corey Hart
The Future's So Bright (I Gotta...)    Timbuk 3
Make A Circuit With Me                 The Polecats
Rock This Town                         Stray Cats
Sidewalk Talk                          Jellybean
It's My Life                           Talk Talk
(I Just) Died In Your Arms             Cutting Crew
Hanging On A Heart Attack              Device
Posion Arrow                           ABC
AEIOU Sometimes Y                      EBN-OZN
Are You Sure                           So
The Way You Are                        Tears For Fears
What Do All The People Know            The Monroes

Comments:
        This is another great disc in this set, the best I've heard so far,
songs like "Sidewalk Talk" aren't immediately recognizable by name alone,
but as soon as you hear some of these, you remember them all too vividly.
This is one of those few discs that you don't need a remote to skip over
less worthy songs.  This disc is definately worth paying full retail for.

Title: Living In Oblivion (The Eighties Greatest Hits) Volume 4 (Available at Amazon)
Label   : EMI
Medium  : CD
TTime   : 76:17
Notes   : Pictures and Comments On The Groups/Songs
Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr.
Paid    : $12
Rank    : 3 out of 5.

Track Listing
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title                                  Artist(s)
-=-=-                                  -=-=-=-=-
Dance Hall Days                        Wang Chung
One Thing Leads To Another             The Fixx
True                                   Spandau Ballet
Come On Eileen                         Dexy's Midnight Runners
Digging Your Scene                     The Blow Monkeys
Sister of Mercy                        Thompson Twins
Under The Milky Way                    The Church
Lean On Me (Ah-Li-Ayo)                 Red Box
Since Yesterday                        Strawberry Switchblade
You Don't Know                         Scarlett &Black
Some People                            Belouis Some
Shock                                  The Motels
Belly Of The Whale                     Burning Sensations
Tenderness                             General Public
Get Out Of London                      Intaferon
Go                                     Tones On Tail
Slang Teacher                          Wide Boy Awake
Lawnchairs                             Our Daughter's Wedding
Mexican Radio                          Wall Of Voodoo

Comments:
-=-=-=-=-
        The arraignment of songs on this disc was some what poor, the overall
content is not that great.  There are only a few big hits on here, and the
lesser known songs really don't come out and grab you as songs you either
forgot or really wanted to hear.  Also, the version of "Lean On Me" on here
is not the really popluar version (or even a remake of the original as you
might first believe), that version is by Club Noveau which I haven't seen on
a compilation yet.

Title: Living In Oblivion (The Eighties Greatest Hits) Volume 5 (Available at Amazon)
Label   : EMI
Medium  : CD
TTime   : 77:22
Notes   : Pictures and Comments On The Groups/Songs
Reviewer: Charles R. Grosvenor Jr.
Paid    : $12
Rank    : 3 out of 5.

Track Listing
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Title                                  Artist(s)
-=-=-                                  -=-=-=-=-
Major Tom (Coming Home)                Peter Schilling
Hyperactive                            Thomas Dolby
Promises, Promises                     Naked Eyes
The Promise                            When In Rome
Vienna                                 Ultravox
Enola Gay                              Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
King In A Catholic Style (Wake Up)     China Crisis
Steady                                 Jules Shear
Our Lips Are Sealed                    The Fun Boy Three
Pleasure And Pain                      Divinyls
Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)        The Icicle Works
The Honeythief                         Hipsway
Souvenir                               Rubber Rodeo
I Wanna Be A Cowboy                    Boys Don't Care
The Captain Of Her Heart               Double
When You Heart Is Weak                 Cock Robin
Love Changes (Everything)              Climie Fisher
More Than Physical                     Bananarama
Vanity Kills                           ABC
We Close Our Eyes                      Go West

Comments:
-=-=-=-=-
        This disc has a few songs on that are better described as novelty
songs than pop songs (the Fun Boy Three take off of Our Lips Are Sealed, I
Wanna Be A Cowboy for instance).  It was neat to hear a song by the Divinyls
since they are better known for the song "When I Think About You I Touch
Myself", and "The Captain Of Her Heart" is a rare soft pop find.  But, like
the previous disc in this series, the arraignment is poor as we find
ourselves jerked into different genres quickly, not really a party disc at
all.

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]