Living in Oblivion Random Seventeen

I was listening to my Rhapsody radio station one day and heard a song I really liked. I think it was probably the Alternative History station, which plays new wave from the 80s, which I just can't resist. I'm not sure now even what song it was, but one thing lead to another and I discovered the existence of a series of CDs called Living in Oblivion, The 80's Greatest Hits volumes 1 through 5. They concentrate on alternative bands and songs and I found them quite fascinating. Then I saw that volume five even had one of my all time favorite songs, I Wanna Be A Cowboy by the immortal Boys Don't Cry, of course. And then I was hooked and had to get them.

Problem is, they are out of print, so I went searching. I found several of them on eBay, but they were going for too much money - US$20 or more each. A quick check on Half.com struck gold - someone was selling three of them (including the desired volume five) for only US$4 each! So I got all three shipped to me for less than US$20! Excellent!

So I've been listening to them over the past week. The selection is pretty hit or miss. Many of the songs are forgettable electronica like Perfect Way by Scritti Politti and others I barely remember. But on each of them there are three or four great songs, so thanks to the wonders of ripping, I should be able to create my own Living In Oblivion volume six. Here's what I'll put on it:

Volume 3

• Bananarama - "Cruel Summer" : According to Rhapsody, the "most successful British female act of all time". I wonder if that includes the Spice Girls?
• The Dream Academy - "Life In A Northern Town" : A fun little epic song, hearkening back to 60s psychedelia. I can picture the video even today.
• Timbuk 3 - "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades" : What a fun tune! Listen to this once and the song rattles around your brain all day. In fact, I'll bet just reading this is going to infect your brain right now!
• Pole Cats - "Make A Circuit With Me" : Another incredibly infectious ditty, even faster and bouncier than Timbuk 3's song. A perfect song for cranking up loud and driving through a summer's night.
• Stray Cats - "Rock This Town" : The three man band that popularized the swing craze. Brian Setzer went out to form his own swing orchestra. I love swing music, and so do the girls.
• Talk Talk - "It's My Life" : I recently wrote about Talk Talk, and here they are again, this time with their one big "hit". I have this on the original CD too, somewhere.

Volume 4

• Wang Chung - "Dance Hall Days" : The archetypal "alternative dance hit". A pretty solid CD, really, and their scoring of the Friedkin To Live And Die In LA is brilliant.
• Dexy's Midnight Runners - "Come On Eileen" : If you're gonna have an 80s hits CD, you have to have this song on it, right?
• Tones On Tail - "Go" : I liked the follow up band Love And Rockets better, but this is a pretty good song.
• Wall of Voodoo - "Mexican Radio" : Another all time favorite. I have the EP (vinyl!) with a nice long version of this song on it.

There's also an off beat song by The Motels (who I really like) and some other true 80s hits that I'm not crazy about ("True" by Spandau Ballet and anything by The Fixx).

Volume 5

• Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - "Enola Gay" : OMD was one of my favorite groups through the 80s and this is one of their most popular songs. I'm always glad to add another OMD song to my collection.
• China Crisis - "King In A Catholic Style (Wake Up)" : A real pleasant surprise! I have several of their albums and never expected to see a song by them on an 80s collection, but this is a very typical jumpy song. We went and saw Simple Minds, oh so many years ago, and China Crisis opened for them. I came away from the concert much more impressed by China Crisis, as my collection can attest - three China Crisis CDs to zero Simple Minds CDs.
• The Fun Boy Three - "Our Lips Are Sealed" : A very different version of the Go-Gos hit, as it was co-written by one of the FB3 members and Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Gos. A much slower, darker version of the song. What a blast from the past this one was!
• Rubber Rodeo - "Souvenir" : A local group gone national, Rubber Rodeo was a quiet fav of mine during the 80s. I still have both their albums on vinyl. I wonder if either ever made it to CD? I need to take the time and turn some of my vinyl into CDs, especially ones like Rubber Rodeo's "Scenic Views" and, even more importantly, Private Lightning's only album, which I know isn't on CD.
• Divinyls - "Pleasure And Pain" : Another spectacular Aussie band, the Divinyls rock big time on this hit song.
• The Icicle Works - "Birds Fly (Whisper To A Scream)" : You'll recognize this song from the "whisper to a scream" part - not sure I even knew this was actually called "Birds Fly"!
• Boy's Don't Cry - "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" : A song I remember fondly from my alternative radio days during the 80s, but that I never owned. This was the song that pushed these CDs into must have territory, I have to admit. A true one hit wonder, but man, what a fun song.

So number five is the best one, but they are all fun slices of 80s alternative hits. They also come with some great liner notes, written with a cynical voice, a paragraph or so for each song. Like I said, many of them are forgettable stuff, but there's just enough great songs to make me want to go grab volumes one and two.

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