Wait! Didn't we just cover Electronic 80s compilations? Yes, yes we did. Those were all Ministry of Sound compilations. Today we're covering still more Electronic 80s compilations that are NOT Ministry of Sound albums. What's the difference? Let's listen... | track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 1 | | She Blinded Me With Science | Thomas Dolby | 3:39 | | 1982 |
| 2 | | Lucky Number | Lene Lovich | 2:47 | | 1978 |
| 3 | | I Love You | Yello | 3:14 | | 1983 |
| 4 | | Things Can Only Get Better | Howard Jones | 3:55 | | 1985 |
| 5 | | Sex (I'm A...) | Berlin | 5:05 | | 1983 |
| 6 | | Smalltown Boy | Bronski Beat | 5:02 | | 1984 |
| 7 | | Baby's In The Mountains (12" Version) | Peter Godwin | 6:46 | | 1983 |
| 8 | | Fade To Grey (12" Version) | Visage | 6:43 | | 1980 |
| 9 | | Trans Europa Express | Kraftwerk | 6:40 | | 1977 |
| 10 | | Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go (12" Version) | Soft Cell | 8:55 | | 1981 |
In early 1999, remixer John Luongo teamed up with Polygram's Chronicles catalog reissue label to compile two discs worth of synth-pop from the vaults. Electronic 80's Volume 1 features ten tracks from 1977-1985 for fifty-two minutes of retro fun. The compilation is mostly single edits with a few album versions and three twelve-inch remixes. When we first heard Chronicles was issuing a series of Electronic 80's discs, we hoped they would be along the lines of their 1998 12" Essentials Series, compiled with the assistance of Brian Chin, two discs with eleven 12-inch remixes apiece. But one look at the back of the Electronic 80's discs and the listed times dashed those hopes real quick. At least the discs sound pretty good and filled in a couple holes in our growing collection (gulp!) twenty-five years ago.| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 1 | | Everybody Have Fun Tonight | Wang Chung | 4:47 | | 1986 |
| 2 | | The Safety Dance | Men Without Hats | 2:43 | | 1982 |
| 3 | | One Thing Leads To Another | The Fixx | 3:23 | | 1983 |
| 4 | | The Look Of Love (Part 1) | ABC | 3:28 | | 1982 |
| 5 | | Shout (US Remix) | Tears For Fears | 8:05 | | 1984 |
| 6 | | Cars | Gary Numan | 3:47 | | 1979 |
| 7 | | Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (Special Re-Mix) | Ultravox | 10:02 | | 1984 |
| 8 | | Starchild | Level 42 | 6:52 | | 1981 |
| 9 | | Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) | Eurythmics | 4:51 | | 1983 |
| 10 | | Da Da Da (I Don't Love You You Don't Love...) | Trio | 6:35 | | 1982 |
Electronic 80's Volume 2 spans 1979-1986 in ten tracks and fifty-four minutes. The usual single edits and full-length album cuts are here along with four extended remixes. There's even a misprint on the back of the CD listing one of the remixes as a much shorter edit. Once again, the liner notes are bare-bones songwriting credits and copyright info. Why was Luongo given the assignment if he A) wasn't going to at least remix some tracks and B) provide some context for the tracks from the club scene in an essay?The emergence of the multi-disc budget-priced multi-artist collections represents great value and an easy way to get the songs you want without having to buy multiple albums by individual artists filled with... uh... filler. The rainbow-coloured standard for such compilations is the NOW Yearbook series that began in 2021 and just announced what feels like its 375th release with NOW Yearbook - The Vault '83. | track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 1-1 | | Tainted Love | Soft Cell | 2:35 | | 1981 |
| 1-2 | | Love Action (I Believe In Love) | The Human League | 3:43 | | 1981 |
| 1-3 | | Enola Gay | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | 3:26 | | 1980 |
| 1-4 | | Fade To Grey | Visage | 3:42 | | 1980 |
| 1-5 | | I Love You | Yello | 3:06 | | 1983 |
| 1-6 | | Pale Shelter | Tears For Fears | 4:26 | | 1983 |
| 1-7 | | The Walk | The Cure | 3:23 | | 1983 |
| 1-8 | | Temptation | Heaven 17 | 3:25 | | 1983 |
| 1-9 | | Whip It | Devo | 2:37 | | 1980 |
| 1-10 | | How To Be A Millionaire | ABC | 3:34 | | 1984 |
| 1-11 | | Promised You A Miracle | Simple Minds | 3:51 | | 1982 |
| 1-12 | | The Art Of Parties | Japan | 6:38 | | 1981 |
| 1-13 | | Soul Train | Swansway | 3:10 | | 1984 |
| 1-14 | | The Boy Who Came Back | Marc Almond | 4:44 | | 1984 |
| 1-15 | | Only After Dark | The Human League | 3:37 | | 1980 |
| 1-16 | | Flaming Desire | Bill Nelson | 4:44 | | 1982 |
| 1-17 | | Slow Motion | Ultravox | 3:20 | | 1978 |
| 1-18 | | No More "I Love You's" | The Lover Speaks | 3:56 | | 1986 |
| 1-19 | | Souvenir | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | 3:30 | | 1981 |
| 1-20 | | Christian | China Crisis | 5:41 | | 1982 |
| 1-21 | | Yellow Pearl | Philip Lynott | 2:51 | | 1980 |
Whereas the NOW Yearbook comps max out at four discs apiece, there are plenty of five-disc, 100 songs or more collections available. Like 101 Electronic 80s from 2017. The folks minding the Universal Music Catalogue (now known as Universal Music Recordings since 2023) under the Spectrum banner have managed to license one hundred and one Dalmatians tracks ranging from 1978 to 1989 with Disc One having twenty-one tracks while the other four discs clock in at twenty tracks each. | track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 2-1 | | The Visitors | ABBA | 5:42 | | 1981 |
| 2-2 | | Give Me Back My Man | B-52's | 3:54 | | 1980 |
| 2-3 | | Homosapien | Pete Shelley | 4:24 | | 1981 |
| 2-4 | | Sunset People | Donna Summer | 3:49 | | 1980 |
| 2-5 | | Tell Me When The Fever Ended | Electribe 101 | 4:33 | | 1989 |
| 2-6 | | Numbers | Soft Cell | 3:28 | | 1983 |
| 2-7 | | I Don't Depend On You | The Men | 4:33 | | 1979 |
| 2-8 | | Love Train | Holly Johnson | 3:59 | | 1989 |
| 2-9 | | I Want Your Love | Paul Rutherford | 3:49 | | 1989 |
| 2-10 | | Dancesucker | Set The Tone | 4:01 | | 1983 |
| 2-11 | | Let's Go To Bed | The Cure | 3:32 | | 1982 |
| 2-12 | | Visions Of China | Japan | 3:38 | | 1981 |
| 2-13 | | Messages | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | 4:42 | | 1980 |
| 2-14 | | Play To Win | Heaven 17 | 3:22 | | 1981 |
| 2-15 | | Mind Of A Toy | Visage | 3:32 | | 1981 |
| 2-16 | | State Of Independence | Jon & Vangelis | 4:16 | | 1984 |
| 2-17 | | Pulling Punches | David Sylvian | 3:03 | | 1984 |
| 2-18 | | Under Your Thumb | Godley & Creme | 3:35 | | 1981 |
| 2-19 | | Driving Away From Home (Jim's Tune) | It's Immaterial | 4:10 | | 1986 |
| 2-20 | | The Day My Baby Gave Me A Surprize | Devo | 2:37 | | 1979 |
There are plenty of the biggest and best hits from the 1980s as advertised but hidden in plain sight among them are a few little-known songs that keep the listener on alert. UK fans will undoubtedly recognize more tunes than we Yanks.
| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 3-1 | | The Look Of Love | ABC | 3:28 | | 1982 |
| 3-2 | | Bedsitter | Soft Cell | 3:27 | | 1981 |
| 3-3 | | Mad World | Tears For Fears | 3:28 | | 1982 |
| 3-4 | | Oh Yeah | Yello | 2:59 | | 1985 |
| 3-5 | | Change Your Mind | Sharpe & Numan | 3:50 | | 1985 |
| 3-6 | | Echo Beach | Martha And The Muffins | 3:27 | | 1980 |
| 3-7 | | (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thang | Heaven 17 | 4:13 | | 1981 |
| 3-8 | | African And White | China Crisis | 3:45 | | 1982 |
| 3-9 | | Dream Kitchen | Frazier Chorus | 3:34 | | 1988 |
| 3-10 | | Ed's Funky Diner | It's Immaterial | 3:04 | | 1985 |
| 3-11 | | The Honeythief | Hipsway | 4:25 | | 1986 |
| 3-12 | | Wouldn't It Be Good | Nik Kershaw | 4:21 | | 1984 |
| 3-13 | | Red Guitar | David Sylvian | 5:03 | | 1984 |
| 3-14 | | Empire State Human | The Human League | 3:06 | | 1979 |
| 3-15 | | I'm In Love With A German Film Star | The Passions | 3:57 | | 1981 |
| 3-16 | | The Damned Don't Cry | Visage | 4:01 | | 1982 |
| 3-17 | | Say Hello, Wave Goodbye | Soft Cell | 5:20 | | 1982 |
| 3-18 | | Wonderful Life | Black | 4:44 | | 1987 |
| 3-19 | | Ghosts | Japan | 4:25 | | 1982 |
| 3-20 | | Do They Know It's Christmas? | Band Aid | 3:44 | | 1984 |
The Human League appears most often with six tracks plus the track they were apparently forced to release by their label as The Men. One little thing I noticed in the sequencing is that solo tracks from Paul Rutherford and Holly Johnson, the two Frankie Goes To Hollywood vocalists, are back-to-back on Disc Two and Disc Five.
| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 4-1 | | Two Tribes | Frankie Goes To Hollywood | 3:52 | | 1984 |
| 4-2 | | Don't You (Forget About Me) | Simple Minds | 4:15 | | 1985 |
| 4-3 | | If You Leave | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | 4:16 | | 1986 |
| 4-4 | | I Won't Let The Sun Go Down On Me | Nik Kershaw | 3:12 | | 1983 |
| 4-5 | | Madam Butterfly | Malcolm McLaren | 6:22 | | 1984 |
| 4-6 | | Atomic City | Holly Johnson | 6:08 | | 1989 |
| 4-7 | | Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Hu) | Heaven 17 | 2:58 | | 1982 |
| 4-8 | | The Sound Of The Crowd | The Human League | 3:57 | | 1981 |
| 4-9 | | The Race | Yello | 3:11 | | 1988 |
| 4-10 | | Change | Tears For Fears | 3:51 | | 1983 |
| 4-11 | | Glittering Prize | Simple Minds | 3:50 | | 1982 |
| 4-12 | | Pop Muzik | M | 3:09 | | 1979 |
| 4-13 | | Independence Day | Comsat Angels | 3:38 | | 1984 |
| 4-14 | | Geisha Boys And Temple Girls | Heaven 17 | 4:29 | | 1981 |
| 4-15 | | Song For A Future Generation | The B-52's | 3:56 | | 1983 |
| 4-16 | | Kisses On The Wind | Neneh Cherry | 3:50 | | 1988 |
| 4-17 | | Don't You Want Me | The Human League | 3:49 | | 1981 |
| 4-18 | | Head Over Heels | ABBA | 3:40 | | 1982 |
| 4-19 | | Do You Really Want To Hurt Me | Culture Club | 4:13 | | 1982 |
| 4-20 | | Poison Arrow | ABC | 3:22 | | 1982 |
To fit twenty or more songs on a disc, the average song has to be just under four minutes long which means these are all single edits or album cuts with a handful of longer tracks. I imagine one of the cost-saving measures taken in assembling these mega comps is not hiring a producer or engineer to balance out all the recording levels from the master files resulting in an inconsistent sound throughout which is one ding against the NOW Yearbooks as well. There's not a lot of dynamic range - every track is loud.
| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 5-1 | | The Only Way Is Up | Yazz & The Plastic Population | 3:48 | | 1988 |
| 5-2 | | Buffalo Stance | Neneh Cherry | 4:00 | | 1988 |
| 5-3 | | Body Work | Hot Streak | 4:13 | | 1983 |
| 5-4 | | The Medicine Song | Stephanie Mills | 4:01 | | 1984 |
| 5-5 | | Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us | Ollie & Jerry | 3:40 | | 1984 |
| 5-6 | | Party Fears Two | The Associates | 4:06 | | 1982 |
| 5-7 | | Get Real | Paul Rutherford | 3:36 | | 1988 |
| 5-8 | | Americanos | Holly Johnson | 3:35 | | 1989 |
| 5-9 | | Night Train | Visage | 4:30 | | 1982 |
| 5-10 | | (Keep Feeling) Fascination | The Human League | 3:44 | | 1983 |
| 5-11 | | Desire | Yello | 3:40 | | 1985 |
| 5-12 | | Head Over Heels | Tears For Fears | 4:14 | | 1985 |
| 5-13 | | Torch | Soft Cell | 4:06 | | 1982 |
| 5-14 | | Cry | Godley & Creme | 3:56 | | 1985 |
| 5-15 | | The Riddle | Nik Kershaw | 3:51 | | 1984 |
| 5-16 | | Da Da Da (I Don't Love You You Don't Love...) | Trio | 3:20 | | 1982 |
| 5-17 | | Karma Chameleon | Culture Club | 4:05 | | 1983 |
| 5-18 | | Wishful Thinking | China Crisis | 4:06 | | 1983 |
| 5-19 | | Forbidden Colours | David Sylvian & Ryuichi Sakamoto | 4:36 | | 1983 |
| 5-20 | | Together In Electric Dreams | Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder | 3:50 | | 1984 |
| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 1-1 | | Radio Ga Ga | Queen | 5:44 | | 1984 |
| 1-2 | | Blue Monday | New Order | 7:29 | | 1983 |
| 1-3 | | Love Is A Stranger | Eurythmics | 3:40 | | 1982 |
| 1-4 | | Vienna (Single Version) | Ultravox | 4:40 | | 1980 |
| 1-5 | | Fade To Grey | Visage | 3:50 | | 1980 |
| 1-6 | | Quiet Life (7" Version) | Japan | 3:35 | | 1979 |
| 1-7 | | Tainted Love | Soft Cell | 2:38 | | 1981 |
| 1-8 | | The Sound Of The Crowd | The Human League | 4:04 | | 1981 |
| 1-9 | | Planet Earth | Duran Duran | 3:56 | | 1981 |
| 1-10 | | To Cut A Long Story Short | Spandau Ballet | 3:20 | | 1980 |
| 1-11 | | Cars | Gary Numan | 3:56 | | 1979 |
| 1-12 | | Enola Gay | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | 3:30 | | 1980 |
| 1-13 | | Einstein A Go-Go | Landscape | 3:00 | | 1981 |
| 1-14 | | Mad World | Tears For Fears | 3:32 | | 1982 |
| 1-15 | | Temptation | Heaven 17 | 3:25 | | 1983 |
| 1-16 | | Living On The Ceiling | Blancmange | 3:59 | | 1982 |
| 1-17 | | (Feels Like) Heaven | Fiction Factory | 3:32 | | 1983 |
| 1-18 | | The First Picture Of You | The Lotus Eaters | 3:39 | | 1983 |
| 1-19 | | I Ran (So Far Away) | A Flock Of Seagulls | 3:41 | | 1982 |
| 1-20 | | The Race | Yello | 3:18 | | 1988 |
It was just a matter of time before NOW Towers would jump in the Electronic 80s ring with their own collection and in 2022 they dropped NOW That's What I Call ELECTRONIC. Four discs filled with 78 tracks of the usual suspects, happy surprises, and the occasional head-scratcher.
| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 2-1 | | I Feel Love (12" Version) | Donna Summer | 8:15 | | 1977 |
| 2-2 | | I Feel For You (Single Version) | Chaka Khan | 4:11 | | 1984 |
| 2-3 | | I.O.U. (7" Version) | Freeez | 3:49 | | 1982 |
| 2-4 | | Let The Music Play (Radio Edit) | Shannon | 3:36 | | 1983 |
| 2-5 | | Fascinated | Company B | 3:50 | | 1986 |
| 2-6 | | Just Be Good To Me | The S.O.S. Band | 4:10 | | 1983 |
| 2-7 | | I Can't Wait | Nu Shooz | 3:38 | | 1985 |
| 2-8 | | Automatic (Single Version) | The Pointer Sisters | 4:02 | | 1984 |
| 2-9 | | Male Stripper | Man 2 Man | 5:01 | | 1986 |
| 2-10 | | Do Ya Wanna Funk (Radio Edit) | Patrick Cowley feat. Sylvester | 3:30 | | 1982 |
| 2-11 | | Losing My Mind | Liza Minnelli | 4:13 | | 1989 |
| 2-12 | | I'm Not Scared | Eighth Wonder | 4:22 | | 1988 |
| 2-13 | | Obsession | Animotion | 3:53 | | 1985 |
| 2-14 | | Living On Video (Radio Edit) | Trans-X | 3:43 | | 1986 |
| 2-15 | | Let It All Blow (Single Version) | Dazz Band | 3:57 | | 1984 |
| 2-16 | | Axel F (From "Beverly Hills Cop" Soundtrack) | Harold Faltermeyer | 3:01 | | 1984 |
| 2-17 | | Close (To The Edit) (Single Edit) | Art Of Noise | 4:06 | | 1984 |
| 2-18 | | Buffalo Gals (Edit) | Malcolm McLaren and T.W.F.S.T. | 3:42 | | 1982 |
| 2-19 | | Steppin' Out | Joe Jackson | 4:22 | | 1982 |
It's a decently diverse track listing ranging from 1977 to 1989 with only three acts appearing more than once: Soft Cell, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, and The Human League each bringing two tracks to the party. Although the three preceding compilations were entitled Electronic 80's or 80s yet featured tracks from the late 70's or 70s, NOW Electronic dropped the decade from the title and expanded the scope of its playlist by including disco, Hi NRG, funk/soul, and freestyle tracks underneath the broader synth-pop banner.
| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 3-1 | | Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) | ABBA | 4:50 | | 1979 |
| 3-2 | | Atomic (Original 7" Edit) | Blondie | 3:47 | | 1980 |
| 3-3 | | Video Killed The Radio Star (Single Version) | The Buggles | 3:19 | | 1979 |
| 3-4 | | Pop Muzik | M | 3:18 | | 1979 |
| 3-5 | | 19 | Paul Hardcastle | 3:32 | | 1985 |
| 3-6 | | Rock Me Amadeus (The American Edit) | Falco | 3:14 | | 1985 |
| 3-7 | | Yellow Pearl (First 7" Remix) | Phil Lynott | 2:57 | | 1980 |
| 3-8 | | Kids In America | Kim Wilde | 3:25 | | 1981 |
| 3-9 | | Don't Talk To Me About Love | Altered Images | 3:48 | | 1983 |
| 3-10 | | Take On Me | a-ha | 3:48 | | 1985 |
| 3-11 | | Together In Electric Dreams | Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder | 3:52 | | 1984 |
| 3-12 | | New Song | Howard Jones | 3:14 | | 1983 |
| 3-13 | | Wouldn't It Be Good (Album Version) | Nik Kershaw | 4:32 | | 1984 |
| 3-14 | | The Never Ending Story | Limahl | 3:30 | | 1984 |
| 3-15 | | Love On Your Side | Thompson Twins | 3:30 | | 1983 |
| 3-16 | | The Safety Dance | Men Without Hats | 2:44 | | 1983 |
| 3-17 | | I Beg Your Pardon | Kon Kan | 4:00 | | 1988 |
| 3-18 | | Major Tom (Coming Home) (Single Version) | Peter Schilling | 4:10 | | 1982 |
| 3-19 | | If I Was | Midge Ure | 4:51 | | 1985 |
| 3-20 | | Christian | China Crisis | 4:27 | | 1982 |
| 3-21 | | Crockett's Theme | Jan Hammer | 3:32 | | 1986 |
The tracks are loud and will sound pretty good on any system you play them through. Obsessive NOW collectors (is there any other kind?) will find most if not all of these songs on other compilations with NOW on the cover. I didn't check every track but "Radio Ga Ga" shows up on at least four other NOW albums in the HERChives with "Blue Monday" appearing on at least three other NOW-branded collections.
| track | | title | artist | time | | year |
| 4-1 | | You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) (Performance Mix) | Dead Or Alive | 7:26 | | 1984 |
| 4-2 | | Love Action (I Believe In Love) (Edit) | The Human League | 3:52 | | 1981 |
| 4-3 | | Dr Mabuse | Propaganda | 4:19 | | 1984 |
| 4-4 | | The Walk (Album Version) | The Cure | 3:30 | | 1983 |
| 4-5 | | Love Will Tear Us Apart | Joy Division | 3:25 | | 1980 |
| 4-6 | | Messages | Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark | 4:44 | | 1980 |
| 4-7 | | Lawn Chairs | Our Daughter's Wedding | 3:27 | | 1981 |
| 4-8 | | Nightclubbing | Iggy Pop | 4:15 | | 1982 |
| 4-9 | | Smalltown Boy | Bronski Beat | 5:00 | | 1984 |
| 4-10 | | Drama! | Erasure | 4:07 | | 1989 |
| 4-11 | | Absolute | Scritti Politti | 4:25 | | 1984 |
| 4-12 | | Party Fears Two | The Associates | 4:08 | | 1982 |
| 4-13 | | Brilliant Mind | Furniture | 3:41 | | 1986 |
| 4-14 | | It's My Life | Talk Talk | 3:54 | | 1984 |
| 4-15 | | Glittering Prize | Simple Minds | 3:59 | | 1982 |
| 4-16 | | Soul Train | Swans Way | 3:15 | | 1984 |
| 4-17 | | I'm In Love With A German Film Star | The Passions | 3:59 | | 1981 |
| 4-18 | | Say Hello, Wave Goodbye (7" Single Version) | Soft Cell | 5:25 | | 1982 |
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