lp1 includes synth and pop gems from established artists orchestral manoeuvres in the dark, blancmange, and talk talk, china crisis, and adam ant, plus electronic club tracks from yello and divine, with the first side closing with a live instrumental of ‘canton’ from japan. flip the lp over for fun boy three, xtc, the teardrop explodes, the stranglers, the retro-pop of tracie and the return of the kinks, and mari wilson’s gorgeous cover of ‘cry me a river’ closes the first lp.
the second lp opens with a stunning trio of indie-pop singles from bauhaus, marc and the mambas, and the glove – featuring members of both the cure and siouxsie and the banshees. the debut from freur gives way to us indie-pop from the b-52’s and wall of voodoo, before a track from joe jackson’s hit ‘night and day’ album – ‘breaking us in two’ finishes the side. kicking off the other side of lp2 is ‘get down saturday night’ from oliver cheatham, which would be sampled on the 2003 #1 single ‘make luv’ by room 5 featuring oliver cheatham, and followed by electro-dance floor-fillers from rockers revenge and freeez. level 42 and the belle stars are joined by culture club with ‘i’ll tumble 4 ya’ – a u.s. single that wasn’t released in the uk, and the lp winds down with a classic and beautiful ballad from daryl hall & john oates.
the final lp focuses on singles that found chart success in the u.s, opening with the collaboration between sparks and the go-go’s jane wiedlin, and including the romantics, the fixx, the motels, modern english, missing persons and naked eyes, before closing with taco’s synth cover of ‘puttin’ on the ritz’. turning the lp over, the final side opens with electric light orchestra and men at work, before rock and fm radio hits from pat benatar, styx, and journey, and to close this amazing collection, singles taken from the soundtracks of two huge films - giorgio moroder and joe esposito with ‘lady lady’ from ‘flashdance’ and ‘it might be you’, the theme from ‘tootsie’ by stephen bishop.
p1
side a:
1. orchestral manoeuvres in the dark - telegraph 2. blancmange - that’s love, that it is 3. china crisis - tragedy and mystery 4. adam ant - strip 5. divine - love reaction 6. yello - i love you 7. talk talk - my foolish friend 8. japan - canton
side b:
1. fun boy three – the more i see (the less i believe) 2. tracie – give it some emotion 3. the teardrop explodes - you disappear from view 4. xtc - love on a farmboy's wages 5. the stranglers - midnight summer dream 6. the kinks - don’t forget to dance 7. mari wilson - cry me a river
lp2
side a:
1. bauhaus - lagartija nick 2. marc and the mambas - black heart 3. the glove - like an animal 4. freur - doot doot 5. the b-52's - song for a future generation 6. wall of voodoo - mexican radio 7. joe jackson - breaking us in two
side b:
1. oliver cheatham - get down saturday night 2. rockers revenge - the harder they come 3. freeez - pop goes my love 4. malcolm mclaren - soweto 5. culture club - i'll tumble 4 ya 6. the belle stars - indian summer 7. level 42 - out of sight out of mind 8. daryl hall & john oates - one on one
lp3
side a:
1. sparks & jane wiedlin - cool places 2. the romantics - talking in your sleep 3. the fixx - saved by zero 4. the motels - suddenly last summer 5. modern english - i melt with you 6. missing persons - walking in l.a. 7. naked eyes - always something there to remind me 8. taco – puttin on the ritz
side b:
1. electric light orchestra - secret messages 2. men at work - overkill 3. pat benatar - little too late 4. journey - separate ways (worlds apart) 5. styx - mr. roboto 6. giorgio moroder & joe esposito - lady, lady 7. stephen bishop - it might be you
