Search - Various Artists :: Poptopia: Power Pop Classics Of The '80's

4 1/2 Stars

08/20/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"great series, and this is my favorite entry in the series (and i'm a 70's guy). the la's "there she goes" is simply a perfect song (and should be universally known). much the same can be said for marshall crenshaw's "whenever you're on my mind." many of the other tracks almost reach those heights, including the dB's number (i would have preferred "lonely is as lonely does," a truly great song - and predating forrest gump - but probably too much of a downer for this collection). and who can argue with the inclusion of tommy keene, the plimsouls, or the much-missed phil seymour? very few undeserving tracks, and several nice surprises (to me anyway): great buildings, the spongetones, let's active, the hoodoo gurus, bill lloyd. and nothing against the bangles (i liked the video with mr. spock), but how about katrina & the waves' version of "going down to liverpool" instead? regarding the opening cut, i agree with the other reviewer, "what i like about you" may be a great song but it suffers from overexposure (i mean, they were playing it on a braves broadcast and a beer commercial not long ago). and yes, xtc is greatly missed - 'skylarking' being one of the best albums of the 80's or any decade for that matter. one last note, rhino really outdid themselves with the packaging in this series: the booklets have short but interesting essays (many by the featured performers), abbreviated band histories, photos, several of the original 45 covers, and great "pop" artwork (in bright primary colors). even the jewel case is a small marvel: the tray card (beneath the cd spindle/holder) is a 3d depiction of a 45 record spinning on a turntable!"

A must-have!

Mark Wukas | 06/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you liked the 80s power-pop scene, then you probably have most of the songs on this disk on their individual albums. To have all of these cuts on one disk is a god-send. As a power-pop collection, this anthology stands without peer. Buy it; you'll love it."

Necessary but...

beetls4evr@aol.com | Tacoma, Washington | 07/27/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This compilation, like most of Rhino's power pop/new wave/D.I.Y. compilations adequately picks the most popular songs for that specific era/genre but fails to dig deeper as far as obscure tracks are concerned. While "What I Like About You" is a classic tune it's already on Rhino's other compilations, and they could have selected another Romantics song. Once in a while they will surprise me and toss in a lesser-known but well-deserved gem, such as "Whatever Happened to Fun" by Candy (and a few others in the D.I.Y. series), but the cynic in me says that it's only because some geek on the Rhino selection team wanted to show how "hip" he was and pick some tune he's only read about and for some reason or another be included, but not by any thorough research on the subject matter. Anyway, if you like pop this is a good collection to have if you want some of the classics on one disc."