American Pop Rock: Another Lost Decade: the 80’s—Hard to Find Hits

Oh, tragedy, when the music of the 80’s got lumped in with the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s. Oh, great tragedy, when the music of the 80’s became known as “oldies.” And oh, great, terrible tragedy, when TimeLife wasted such a good title on such a lackluster collection of songs. Another Lost Decade: the 80’s—Hard to Find Hits is a title which promises to finally recognize that there’s an incredible wealth of chart-hitting songs from the 80’s that are consistently ignored by your local Have a Nice Day Café or 80’s lunch hour radio show.

The compilation starts off with ABC’s “When Smokey Sings,” which is actually a strong track, but sadly then the compilation chooses songs from Hipsway, Deon Estus, and Hal & Oates which end up sounding like. . .ABC. Instead, go out and get the fine Absolutely ABC.

Later on The 80’s, TimeLife’s producers make another great choice: “Deeper and Deeper” by the Fixx. It finally changes up the tone and sound of the compilation, but again, you’d be better off sticking with the Fixx and purchasing One Thing Leads to Another: Greatest Hits.

Another mistake: One Big Pig needed to stay lost.

Thank you to TimeLife for the review copy.