Aussie 80s Comps, Part Two: 1981

HERC's feature on Aussie 80s Comps from 1980 went over pretty well judging by the emails and pageviews generated. Oh well, onward and upward as they say.  Since America's Top 10 is on Spring Break, HERC slotted another look back at a few more absolutely fabulous collections form the land Down Under.  This time around, the albums featured were all released in 1981.  Or were they?  Figuring in time zones, crossing the equator, eclipses, shifting orbits and Leap Years, they may have come out in 1982 but they all say 1981 on the tin so we're sticking with that, capiche?

"This record has been made possible through the unique co-operation of seven record companies" is what it says on the back cover with Festival Records claiming manufacturing and distributing credits.  The back cover also notes in bold lettering that the album has been mastered utilizing the Maxicut Process.  Several people have inquired over at the Steve Hoffman forums about this apparently uniquely Autralian process and one person even got a response from Dick Bartley, the mastering engineer who oversaw the discs himself.

1981 Over The Top was a big seller, ending up in the year end Top 100 ARIA charts for both 1981 and 1982.  The album has eighteen songs, sixteen of which are Top 20s, including eleven Top 10s and four Number Ones from the Australian charts.  Sadly, those seven co-operating record companies could not hash out a plan to feature all eighteen artists on the inner sleeve (above) so we only get fourteen instead.  Like HERC, you probably noticed that nearly half of the album's back cover was devoted to promoting other compilations, including the two HERC featured last time as well as the two others he's featuring in this post.  What HERC likes about 1981 Over The Top and all the 80s Aussie comps is the diversity and newness of the Australian acts and their songs amongst the familiar to him British and American acts and songs of the time.  Over on the Aussie version of the K-Tel Scale, this album scores a solid 31.44. Below is a scan of the detail-filled jcard from the cassette version of 1981 Over The Top:

For more information on the songs on 1981 Over The Top, including their peak chart position in Australia, click HERE. To see album cover, inner sleeve and label scans for 1981 Over The Top, click HERE.

Like 1981 Over The Top, 1981... Rocks On ended up as one of Australia's Top 100 best-sellers for 1981.  (But could not sustain the sales to also make the 1982 chart.)  Also like 1981 Over The Top, 1981... Rocks On has a song each by Rick Springfield, Kim Wilde and Mondo Rock.  Again, like 1981 Over The Top, 1981... Rocks On was made possible through the unique co-operation of seven record companies and is mastered utilizing the Maxicut Process.  And finally, like 1981 Over The Top, 1981... Rocks On scored a 31.44 on the Aussie formulated K-Tel Scale.  Happily and somewhat surprisingly given the evidence to the contrary presented thus far, HERC reports that 1981... Rocks On and 1981 Over The Top are two completely different albums. EMI takes manufacturing and distribution bragging rights this time on the album with designated catalog number GIVE 2003.

Though the album has less Top 20 chart hits and less Number One singles than 1981 Over The Top, it has more Top 10 songs and more songs HERC likes more than the songs he liked on 1981 Over The Top, if that makes sense? Given the choice between the two, HERC chooses this one over that one.

For more information on the songs on 1981... Rocks On, including their peak chart position in Australia, click HERE. To see album cover and label scans for 1981... Rocks On, click HERE.

And then there is 1981... The Sound with it's catalog number of GIVE 1981.  Based on when the eighteen tracks first charted and the albums advertised on the back cover, 1981... The Sound seems to be the first release chronologically of the three albums featured today, followed by 1981... Rocks On and then 1981 Over The Top.  (So basically, in reverse order of the way you presented them, HERC? - ed.)  There are eleven Top 10 singles but only two Number Ones on 1981... The Sound and two of the songs from the album missed the charts altogether which hurt it's K-Tel Scale score, netting it only a 27.28 on the scale of 1 (worst) to 40 (best).

1981... The Sound differs from the other two albums detailed above in another way as well.  Though EMI handled manufacturing and distribution duties, the small print says that the album was made possible through the unique co-operation of eight record companies.  HERC can't believe it either.  Like the two albums above, 1981... The Sound sold enough to land itself in the year-end chart of the Top 100 selling albums of 1981.

For more information on the songs on 1981... The Sound, including their peak chart position in Australia, click HERE. To see album cover and label scans for 1981... The Sound, click HERE.

The Oz answer to UK's Top Of The Pops (and later, Solid Gold here in the States) was Count Down, which ran from 1974-1987.  Here are some performance clips from vintage 1981 episodes of Count Down featuring songs from the albums above.  And don't forget to visit www.oz-compilation-albums.com to see more albums and more chart facts about the songs on those albums including record label and the artist's country of origin.  Tell 'em HERC sent ya.

album cover scans courtesy of 

http://www.oz-compilation-albums.com/

cassette scans courtesy of HERC's fellow Discogs users