This is part seventeen of the twenty parts of the 1984 Hideaway 200. Like the previous sixteen parts, it features ten songs chosen at random from the ranked list of our 200 favorite songs from 1984. To read any of the earlier parts click HERE.
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Ratt's "Round and Round" is easy on the ears. The guitars are not too abrasive and the vocals though a little rough, go down relatively smooth. Almost everyone under 65 knows the words and sings along almost without thinking; it's more of a reflex. We liked it then and we like it now. The best-sounding version of Ratt's "Round and Round" from our collection is the 1985 West German target pressing for the U.S. compact disc of Out Of The Cellar.
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Even though we had two part-time jobs in the fall and winter of 1984, we had bungled up our finances. Our parents continued to provide a weekly food allowance but as we had done in high school, sometimes we spent that money on music. Spent $10 on the UK 12" of "Shout". Had buyer's remorse as the song really didn't resonate with us as we had thought and hoped it would. A few months later, "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" was released and became our favorite song. In July 1985, our new girlfriend bought us the U.S. 12" single of "Shout" which we warmed up to this time. Months with the album Songs From The Big Chair had changed our perspective, it would seem. Our favorite-sounding version of the Tears For Fears song "Shout" is the 6:31 album version on the 1998 U.S. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs gold compact disc of Songs From The Big Chair. Yes, the channels were reversed when the disc was mastered and pressed but that is an easy fix in Audacity.
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Our first glimpse of the Bus Boys came when they performed three songs from their debut album Minimum Wage Rock & Roll on an episode of Fridays! in November 1980. The band resurfaced a couple years later in the film 48 Hours performing four songs including "(The Boys Are) Back In Town" and then the Bus Boys showed up on the Ghostbusters soundtrack in 1984 with the manic, piano-driven tune "Cleanin' Up The Town". The best-sounding version of The Bus Boys song "Cleanin' Up The Town" to our ears is on the 1995 U.S. Rhino compilation Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits Of The '80s, Vol. 13.
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Pleasure Victim is a nice synth-pop sampler but we had no reason to expect that Berlin would ever return but then they did just that. We're not sure where we first heard the Dance Remix of "No More Words" but we know we loved it right from the ping-pongy water-dripping envelope synth riff at the start. The track absolutely throbs and pulses. Our only complaint is that the remix is too short; we'd love to hear it burblin' and gurglin' for another two or three minutes. Our favorite-sounding version of Berlin's Dance Remix of "No More Words" is on the 2020 Rubellan Remasters pressing of Love Life.
25
When "Don't Worry Baby" comes rumbling out of our speakers, we can't help but smile. The song absolutely rocks on every level, with the rhythm section holding it down while the guitars weave in & out. Singer David Hidalgo paints a picture of both paranoia and reassurance though the line in the chorus "Life is a fly/And then you die" never sat well with us. The best-sounding version of "Don't Worry Baby" by Los Lobos in our collection exists on two compact discs:
- How Will the Wolf Survive? (1984 U.S. 25177-2)
- Just Another Band from East L.A.: A Collection (1993 U.S. 828 400-2/4)
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We hear both a sweetness and a darkness in the grooves of "Tenderness". It's one of those songs whose lyrical payload is delivered effectively within the sweet melody of the music. As definitive an Eighties track as it can be in the most positive and pleasant way. Life is so much better with "Tenderness". Our favorite-sounding version of General Public's "Tenderness" is on the 1984 U.S. pressing of ...All The Rage.
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Smooth with a capital S. There are few voices in the world as instantly recognizable as that of Sade Adu. Her gentle crooning, backed by a skilled band who knows how to lay down and maintain a groove, is a universal romantic mood setter. While the lyrics of "Smooth Operator" in particular have nothing to do with love or romance, that hasn't stopped wannabe players and hustlers from using it for atmosphere. We find the song calming. Our favorite-sounding version of Sade's "Smooth Operator" is the full-length album version on the 1984 Japanese compact disc pressing of Diamond Life.
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Songwriter Desmond Child had co-written Kiss's "I Was Made For Lovin' You" with Paul Stanley and Vini Ponica in 1979. In 1984, Child teamed up again with Stanley to write "Heaven's On Fire", one of Kiss's better shout-alongs. The song still ranks as one of the group's harder and heavier numbers, produced with the hard rock/metal massive arena sheen of the time. The best-sounding version of Kiss's "Heaven's On Fire" is on the 1988 U.S. compilation compact disc of Smashes, Thrashes & Hits.
22
We were latecomers to the music of Metallica when we first heard "One" and the rest of the ...And Justice For All album one night in 1988 courtesy of a co-worker. We were transfixed by the group's heavy riffs and heavier lyrics. We soon picked up all four of the band's albums on compact disc and even pre-ordered the self-titled 1990 album that would launch them to superstardom. We saw Metallica in concert twice just two months and 100 miles apart in 1992. Those concerts are when we fell for the cathartic song "Fade To Black" from the band's 1984 album Ride The Lightning. It's been our go-to song whenever things get a little too dark for us and has never failed to restore hope. We enjoy the song's transition from a ballad to a galloping beast at the 4:00 mark before Kirk Hammett's spirited solo plays us out. Our favorite-sounding version of Metallica's "Fade To Black" is found on the 1989 U.S. promo-only compilation compact disc titled Mandatory Metallica.
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"New Girl Now" is featured in an episode of Miami Vice but KLPX was playing it in heavy rotation before that. The song has a stomping beat and a prominent synth sound throughout but it fit in with Billy Squier, Ratt, Whitesnake, the Scorpions, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, and all the other rock and metal bands that KLPX was playing in 1984. The best-sounding version of Honeymoon Suite's "New Girl Now" in the HERChives is on the 2010 U.S. Wounded Bird compilation of Honeymoon Suite: The Singles.
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