Hello and welcome to part VII of the 1984 Hideaway 200. These ten songs were selected at random to be featured today and while they appear with their ranking they do not appear within their ranked system. Make sense? We created a ranked list from 200-1 and then shuffled it up, revealing ten songs at a time. We'll eventually countdown all 200 songs just not in numerical order. You get it now? Read on for ten more songs...
181
We are on record somewhere on the internet as not being fans of Yes's 90125 album upon its release late in 1983 despite Trevor Horn's involvement. Through the years, we've slowly come around, seduced by the sonic treasures within the recording as they've revealed themselves. Or better yet, they were always there and our ears became more attuned to them. It (can) happen, right? The best-sounding pressing we've heard of the full-length album version of "It Can Happen" is on the 2013 high-resolution digital release of 90125 from HDTracks. The 2024 Analogue Productions SACD sounds very good, too, but we'd rate it just a couple hairs below the files. The previous 90125 SACDs were very underwhelming to our fuzzy ears.
94
When we were ranking our 1984 Hideaway 200, we were considering the 4:04 album version of "Why?" from The Age of Consent but during the critical listening phase of this project we grew to prefer the 6:19 (Harvey) Goldberg Remix of the song that is featured on the Hundreds & Thousands EP from 1985. The remix simply sounds amazing. Our favorite-sounding version actually appears on two discs in the HERChives: "Why? (Goldberg Remix)" is on an undated German pressing of the compact disc Hundreds & Thousands and the exact same master can also be found on the 2016 three-disc compilation Classic Pop: 12".
140
There were a couple songs in 1984 that either sounded like they were from an earlier era or were actual covers of songs from the Sixties. Tracey Ullman will eventually show up to the party with one or two such tracks but right here right now at number 140 we have Pat Benatar's fabulous "Ooh Ooh Song". The song combines Pat's multi-octave vocal abilities with Neil Giraldo's guitar riffing in a cool retro-flavored pastiche. The best-sounding version of the "Ooh Ooh Song" on our systems to our ears is on the 1985 triangle Japan pressing of Tropico on compact disc.
150
We first heard this one on KLPX or possibly in Loco Records. Later, it was featured in an early episode of Miami Vice. "Voices" is a cool blend of spacey synthesizers and rock guitar; Tony Carey did a similar blend with his Planet P Project stuff. Admittedly, it took us a while to connect Russ Ballard's name to several of our favorite songs he composed, including:
- "New York Groove" - Ace Frehley (1978)
- "Since You Been Gone" - Rainbow (1979)
- "Liar" - Three Dog Night (1971)
- "You Can Do Magic" - America (1982)
- "I Know There's Something Going On" - Frida (1982)
- "Winning" - Santana (1981)
- "Can't Shake Loose" - Agnetha (1983)
Though we've always been thrown off by the way the album version of the song ends, our favorite-sounding master of "Voices" is the full-length album version on the 1989 German pressing of Russ Ballard on compact disc.
30
The Footloose soundtrack was huge in 1984 and we had a blast revisiting it and all the songs for the 1984 Hideaway 200. Our favorite Footloose remix is the positively rockin' Jellybean Benitez remix of "Dancing In The Sheets" which just hits harder and deeper than the original album cut. It should come as little or no surprise that our favorite-sounding version of the extended version of Shalamar's "Dancing In The Sheets" is the one DJPaulT ripped back in 2019. Special honorable mention goes to the 2001 U.S. Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) of the Footloose soundtrack which features the 15th Anniversary expanded version of the album with four bonus tracks including the extended version of "Dancing In The Sheets".
199
We love the Missing Persons EP from 1982 and we find their Spring Session M album released later that same year very listenable, too, but 1984's Rhyme & Reason made little impression on us and we ended up giving our copy of that album away shortly after buying it. Fast forward to 2020. We took a chance on a new label (Rubellan Remasters) and ordered a couple of discs from them. They sounded amazing so we ordered even more discs from Rubellan, including three from Missing Persons. We were blown away by the magnificent bassline on the track "Give". To review, the best-sounding version of "Give" by Missing Persons (according to our ears) is on the 2021 Rubellan Remaster compact disc of Rhyme & Reason.
32
"I'll Wait" is the fourth and final song in the 1984 Hideaway 200 from Van Halen's 1984 album. We love Michael Anthony's throbbing synth bass in the right channel throughout the song and Eddie's slinky guitar solo. Much to the song's benefit, Roth's vocals and Alex's drumming are more understated than their usual performances. Our favorite-sounding version of "I'll Wait" is on the 1987 U.S. pressing of 1984.
88
We've already confessed how anemic our R.E.M and Pink Floyd collections were when our friend Stephen moved out of state. We had to buy our first R.E.M. compact disc but we did already own two Floyd(ish) records: the very lacking compilation A Collection Of Great Dance Songs and the gold-stamped promo 12" single Blue Light from David Gilmour we picked up at Al Bum's. Is it Gilmour's best guitar work? Not even close but we really liked it. Through the years, we came to prefer the full-length album version to the remix or the edited single version. To our ears, the best-sounding version of "Blue Light" is on the 1987 U.S. pressing of About Face on compact disc.
116
When we purchased the very first Now That's What I Call Music album in December 1983, we discovered a few new songs and artists that weren't yet released here in the States. One such discovery was Tracey Ullman and her song "They Don't Know". We got into that song so much that we followed it up the line and eventually discovered songwriter Kirsty MacColl's original version of "They Don't Know" - it sounds like Tracey's voice was just dubbed over Kirsty's backing track to us. Our favorite-sounding version of Ullman's take on "They Don't Know" is on the 1992 U.S. pressing of The Best Of Tracey Ullman: You Broke My Heart In 17 Places.
48
We were huge Thomas Dolby fans after 1982's Blinded By Science EP and The Golden Age Of Wireless album but neither prepared us for "Hyperactive! (heavy breather subversion)". The vocoder, delicate guitar strumming, emphatic percussion/horn stabs - it's all beautiful chaos! We hear elements of an Arthur Baker or Trevor Horn remix though we're fairly certain it's mad sonic scientist Dolby himself on the remix here. While DJPaulT's excellent and true-sounding vinyl rip from 2018 is mighty tasty, the best-sounding version of "Hyperactive! (heavy breather subversion)" to our ears is found on the first compact disc of the 1994 two-disc "Hyperactive!" single.
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We're seventy songs in and things are going well. For those of you playing along at home and asking for a playlist, we are undecided if we'll be sharing one or not. DIY might be the best way to go with the 1984 Hideaway 200. A reminder that the Top 10 will be featured in ranked order countdown style as Part XX. We're rushing the parts out to beat a self-imposed December deadline so that we can squeeze in a few other non-countdown posts before the end of the year. We appreciate your time and your patience. Check your cards with those below - tracking 200 songs is a labor of love.
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