Search - Various Artists :: Sedated in 80's

Michael K. (destroyalltacos) from MALDEN, MA
Reviewed on 6/15/2010...

This album doesn't really offer much that hundreds of 80's compilations don't also cover - Arcadia's "Election Day" and The Fixx's "Saved By Zero" are probably the most obscure cuts, and even those have shown up on plenty of other anthologies. Still, it's a really good mix of songs, with every track appearing in it's original version, so it's worth picking up if you don't have most of these songs in your collection already.

2 of 2 member(s) found this review helpful.

Think you've heard it all from the '80s? Think Again...

M. Montgomery | 12/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...At least, I had to think again after buying this CD. I had never heard "Lucky Number" by Lene Lovich, which according to the liner notes was a European dance floor staple in the '80s. Wonderful bouncearound head-bobbing happy dancey NWave. Ditto (though not as bouncy) for Romeo Void's "Never Say Never," with its unforgettable spoken (not sung) line from the female vocalist "I might like you better if we sslllept together." Finally, near the bottom of the playlist is a brilliant NW cover of "Money" (I remember this track, by Barrett Strong according to the liner notes, from the Beatles' cover of it on "The Beatles Second Album"). The Flying Lizards put a whole new twist on this ancient track--and that is hard to do with something this old and so multi-covered over the years. It would be hard to find three tracks that better capture the essence of New Wave.



Those were the newbies for me. But "Sedated" has some more great obscurities too--Berlin's "Sex (I'm A...)" (a verrry racy song for the early 80s, too racy for air time in fact), "Saved by Zero" by The Fixx (vs. their better known, commonly included, "One Thing Leads to Another"), and ABC's "Poison Arrow"--from their unbelievably outstanding first (1982) album, "The Lexicon of Love." So often the relatively obscure songs on collections like these are throwaways, but someone here has done a great job picking-over the candidates and selecting the obscure winners. Most of the rest of the tracks are mega-hits, so it is a great combo of the well-known and the should-be-well-known.



This is one of the best compilations for NW, and fidelity of the CD is very good too. Liner notes are extensive and interesting, and show the TLC someone put into this CD. Buy and enjoy!"