Search - Various Artists :: Radio Daze: Pop Hits of the 80s, Vol. 1

The Second Attempt At A Massive Series

James Fenos | Columbus, OH United States | 03/19/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Rhino graced the world with the massive 25 volume series "Have A Nice Day, The Greatest Hits Of The Seventies." It tried to anthologize the eighties as well, but that decade not only saw the demise of AM radio as a pop music forum, but also saw the division of styles of music, hence rock, pop, country, and all other stations pidgeon holed to program a specfic genre. Oh sure, there are artists still able to "cross over" to pop charts from other genres (Norah Jones), but those artists are now far and few between. The splintering of music led to the failure of this next series. There were only five produced, and all are out of print. Like radio, Rhino had to splinter to produce this series. The songs presented here and on the other four volumes cater to the "AC" crowd, other series produced with the eighties theme include "New Wave Dance Hits." Even with the severe seperation of music style and audience, Rhino produced a fine AC series, which of all eighties music, is the most overlooked. That said, take a look at the fine choice of song here.
"Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes is probably the most hated/loved song of the eighties, Rupert had two more, "Him" and "Answering Machine," "Him" is presented on a later edition of this series.
"This Night Won't Last Forever" is by Michael Johnson, also popular for "Bluer Than Blue." "This Night" has a lilting country feel, similar to the work by England Dan and John Ford Coley. "Do That To Me One More Time" is the standard recorded by The Captain and Tennille. The version here is the referred single, the album version is a touch longer, by fifteen seconds. "An American Dream" is by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Nitty Gritty dropped from their name during their "pop" career, hence the group title, and their one pop hit. "Your Only Lonely" by JD Souther is a dreamy ballad with a tropical feel. "Romeo's Tune" isn't really known by it's title, you'll know the song when you here it. It's an "Oh, Yeah" moment. Bonnie Pointer left her famous sisters to record her one solo hit, I prefer the 12" mix opposed to the single version presented here. Her "Heaven Must Have Sent You" was recorded and released toward the end of the disco era. Lauren Wood sounds like the missing Doobie Brother with good reason, her minor hit "Please Don't Leave" was produced by hubby Michael McDonald. "Gee Wiz" was a blip on the radio, and should have stayed such. The apparantly ageless Bernadette Peters covering a song from the fifties isn't her style. Melissa Manchester was closing her career at Arista, "Pretty Girls" was a minor hit, a radio friendly upbeat ditty, similar to her late hits on that label. Overall, this collection best represents pure radio hits, it's an excellent collection of AC pop songs beautifully mastered by people who excel in handling vintage material."

A Good Sample of Early 80s AC Pop Hits

James Fenos | 06/28/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A few of the more obscure tracks don't stack up against the big hits, "Escape (Pina Colada Song" and "Do That to Me One More Time," but there are some nuggets worth hearing again, some of which can't be found easily on CD. All original versions."