Happy Thanksgiving! Welcome to Part VIII of the twenty-part 1984 Hideaway 200. Each part consists of ten songs chosen at random from the ranked list of our 200 favorite songs from 1984. Some of the songs are single edits, some are full-length album versions while others still are remixes or extended versions. Click HERE to catch up on any of the previous seven parts of the 1984 Hideaway 200. Here we go...
168
We have already featured a song from Face To Face back at number 200 on the 1984 Hideaway 200 and Laurie Sargent & Co. have returned to nab the number 168 spot here with their song "10-9-8". Like a few other listeners, it sounds to us that some parts of the song were lifted from Chic's "I Want Your Love" or Romeo Void though we hold that against no one. It sounds great. Interestingly, "10-9-8" and "Under The Gun" were both produced by Arthur Baker and relegated to side 2 of the album/tape. Wounded Bird did collectors a solid favor by issuing Face To Face on compact disc with Arthur Baker's Dance Mixes although our favorite sounding version of "10-9-8" is on the 2005 Time Life compact disc Another Lost Decade - The 80s: Hard To Find Hits.
153
"Some Guys Have All The Luck" is the first of two Rod Stewart tracks on our countdown, both from his album Camouflage. Stewart's unmistakably Eighties-sounding take on a song previously recorded by The Persuaders and Robert Plamer gets us with the borrowed "Woo Woo Woo/Woo Woo Woo" from the classic "Ain't Got No Home". (Palmer's version sounds even more Eighties though not in a good way.) The best-sounding version of "Some Guys Have All The Luck" to our ears is the 1984 West German pressing of Camouflage on compact disc.
43
One of the best specially-priced 2-cut maxi singles issued in 1984 was Madonna's "Borderline" b/w "Lucky Star". Both songs are labeled as New Mix(es) from John "Jellybean" Benitez and we consider both tracks as some of Jellybean's best work. Each song is absolutely wonderful on Madonna's self-titled debut album but he maximizes their effect on the dance floor. Sad to say we somehow missed DJPaulT's 2020 vinyl restoration of the single but in 2021 we managed to score the 1986 Japanese compact disc EP Like A Virgin & Other Big Hits that contains our favorite sounding versions of both "Borderline (New Mix)" and "Lucky Star (New Mix)".
193
Up until a few years ago, we had forgotten all about "(What) In The Name Of Love". Sure, we loved "Always Something There To Remind Me", "Promises Promises" and the whole Naked Eyes album but the duo's second album (Fuel For The Fire) and Arthur Baker-produced single had leaked out of our memory. Then we stumbled across a digital download of the album on Qobuz and it became one of our earliest purchases on the site. The files sound really good, right up there with the best-sounding versions of "(What) In The Name Of Love" we've ever heard on two Naked Eyes compilation discs: 1991's U.S. pressing of The Best of Naked Eyes and 1994's U.S. pressing Promises, Promises: The Very Best of Naked Eyes.
We did not watch many music videos but there are a few acts whose music videos we know very well because of their music video collections on VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray during our twenty years at Blockbuster. Among our discoveries was a VHS copy of Heartbeat City from The Cars. A few of the stores we worked at had really good Stereo VCRs and decent in-store amps and speaker systems. We played and rented the Cars tape until it broke and we could not get a replacement. It was some kind of irony when Warner Archives released the Heartbeat City video compilation on print-on-demand DVD-R in 2014, a few months after we closed down the last Blockbuster in town. Our favorite-sounding version of "You Might Think" is on the 1986 Japanese pressing of The Cars Greatest Hits compact disc.
135
We have been Bryan Adams fans since we first heard his 1982 single "Lonely Nights". We read somewhere that Bryan Adams originally offered "Run To You" to Blue Öyster Cult and 38 Special but both bands turned it down. Hopefully, they regretted their decision because the song rocks, allowing Bryan to live out his bad-boy fantasy. Reckless was a huge album in 1984 and 1985 but we still maintain that Bryan Adams is underrated as a songwriter and performer even if none of his stuff since 1995 has thrilled us. The best-sounding version of "Run To You" in our collection is found on the 2012 Japanese SHM pressing of Reckless on compact disc.
108
Julian Lennon made a bold statement with his 1984 album, Valotte, displaying a level of talent as a twenty-one-year-old songwriter and a performer that sure would have made Papa John proud. (By comparison, when John was 21, the Beatles were still gigging with Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best. Ringo wouldn't join the group until August 1962.) Dad gave me Valotte for Christmas along with another album I cannot remember. Julian's musically buoyant but lyrically longing "Too Late For Goodbyes" was not an immediate hit with us but it certainly has grown on us over the years. Our favorite-sounding version of "Too Late For Goodbyes" is on the 1984 West German target pressing for the U.S. compact disc of Valotte.
132
There is a line in the lyrics of "People Are People" that has always made our ears perk up and listen no matter what else is going on. It is "... And different people have different needs" and it rings truer than ever as this year fades into the next. We've voted in eleven U.S. Presidential elections in our lifetime; being born in 1966, that's exactly how many we've been eligible to vote in. In six of those elections, including this year's mess, we have been on the losing side. We can only hope that these next four years fly by with minimal friction. The best-sounding version of "People Are People" in the HERChives is found on the French pressing for the U.K. of The Singles 1981>1985 on compact disc.
161
There are two Tony Carey songs in the 1984 Hideaway 200. Both are from his Some Tough City album. "The First Day Of Summer" is the lower-ranked of the two though it rocks harder. Carey is on record saying that despite its title the track is not exactly about the fabled first day of summer but more about the feeling when something goes right in your life. The song's hooky chorus helps to obscure the misadventures of the small-time protagonists. Our favorite-sounding version of "The First Day Of Summer" is on the 2008 Rennaissance Records pressing of the Some Tough City compact disc.
36
The Time's first three albums were outlets for Prince's funkier James Brown instincts and intents. A prime example of this premium-grade funk is "My Drawers"; it's all synths, drums, and guitars on the one. The song slams right from the start, slowing only for Morris Day's spoken interlude as the song's lothario before ramping back up though there is some debate about whether Prince or Jesse Johnson plays the guitar solo that swirls and swishes from the left channel to the right channel and back again. The best-sounding version of the song to our ears is on the 1987 U.S. pressing of Ice Cream Castle on compact disc.
🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧🎧
Eighty songs in with only 120 more to go on the 1984 Hideaway 200. Those of you playing along at home, check your cards with ours.
No comments:
Post a Comment