This is it! The twentieth and final part of the 1984 Hideaway 200. On the off-chance you are joining us just as we wrap this whole thing up in a pretty purple bow, click HERE to link to all the previous parts. Part Twenty is the only part done in a countdown style from number 10 to number 1. Of course, the image at the top of the page gives it all away but we hope you'll read on nonetheless...
10
It's doubtful we could have been more excited about a release than we were for Billy Idol's Rebel Yell in late 1983. He was coming off three high-power singles off his Don't Stop E.P. and self-titled debut album, songs that successfully welded a hard rock swagger to the new wave even punk attitude while appealing to the dance floor crowd. "Rebel Yell" simply sounds massive. There is so much going on in the mix, that it is possible to focus and isolate different elements with each listen. In light of the treatment given to successive singles from the Rebel Yell album, it is still surprising to us that "Rebel Yell" failed to earn a remix more squarely aimed at the dance floor. The best-sounding version of Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" is on the 2010 U.S. Audio Fidelity compact disc pressing of Rebel Yell.
9
On their own, the Culture Club songs "Miss Me Blind" and "It's A Miracle" are better than decent tracks. Fused together with a bit of studio voodoo, the resulting remix is a sonic delight. Maximum dance floor impact achieved, listeners like us also appreciated the clean-sounding guitar riffs and solos no doubt aided by synths and other studio trickery. As much as we enjoyed the two songs that made up the remix, our appreciation of the end result far exceeded that enjoyment. Bopping around the HERChives while the "It's A Miracle/Miss Me Blind" remix plays gives us great joy and seems to amuse our partner in crime. At nine minutes, this remix even seems a bit short at times. Special shout out to vocalist Helen Terry. The best-sounding version of this Culture Club Remix we have in our collection is on the 1987 Japanese black triangle compact disc pressing of the compilation This Time - Culture Club (The First Four Years).
8
If we had to say, we'd say we first heard Billy Rankin's "Baby Come Back" on KLPX or in the University location Zip's where we bought his specially-priced debut LP Growin' Up Too Fast brand-new for just $4.99 plus tax directly out of the box it shipped in. The song is a power-pop rocker along the lines of Greg Kihn, Tommy Tutone, Phil Seymour, and Dwight Twilley. Rankin has a great website and has done a decent job archiving his career (with some credited assistance) which he seems to regard with both a sense of humor and passion & pride. His recounting of the genesis, recording, and promotion of Growin' Up Too Fast is a cautionary tale that's as funny as it is sad. As a song, "Baby Come Back" is a relentless rhythmic assault with guitars flying in and out of the mix. Surprisingly, it was mostly a one-man show in the studio. There's no doubt that the inability to own the album on CD until nearly twenty years after its initial release contributes to its mythology but we'd like a few more options other than our original vinyl copy, our 45rpm single, and the 2002 compact disc on the Zoom Club label. There's supposedly a pbthal vinyl rip but we've been unable to track it down - all links have been invalid, even the one on his own site. Our go-to (and by default best-sounding) version of "Baby Come Back" is on that 2002 U.K. Zoom Club compact disc pressing of Growin' Up Too Fast.
7
Unlike a lot of Bangles fans, we pledge no allegiance to the single remix of "Hero Takes A Fall". It sounds a little different in parts but we spent too much time dropping the needle on All Over The Place and cueing up the track on the belatedly-released compact disc to be loyal to anything else but the good ol' album version. "Hero Takes A Fall" fades in like other favorites of ours from 1984 (we often confuse it with the similarly brief female-voiced fade-in of Torch Song's "Prepare To Energize") and then proceeds to rock like still other favorites of ours from 1984. What sets the song apart for us is Susanna Hoffs's subtly contemptuous reading of the song's lyrics and the chiming guitar sounds of Vicki Peterson and Hoffs. The group's harmonies add a sense of tension while scooting the song along at a decent clip and then before we were expecting it, the song ends. "Oh oh, oh oh, uh-huh oh". The best-sounding album version of "Hero Takes A Fall" by the Bangles is on the 1986 Japanese compact disc pressing of All Over The Place.
6
Several soundtracks feature prominently on the 1984 Hideaway 200. Multiple songs appear on the countdown from the Footloose, Purple Rain, Ghostbusters, and Streets of Fire soundtrack albums. "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" is typical Jim Steinman bombast and bluster, supposedly written on command in just two short days which leads us to believe he must have had some works in progress there in his notebooks and demos that he was able to rather quickly flesh out. The song is majestic and glorious, musically moving and appropriately dramatic with all the vocal parts placed and pieced together for maximum effect. "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" is an Eighties update on Spector's Wall Of Sound, an ambitious over-the-top epic dated by the electronic sounds Steinman had to use to meet his deadline. The best-sounding version of Fire, Inc.'s "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" is on the 1984 Japanese compact disc pressing for the U.S. of Streets Of Fire.
5
The film Purple Rain opens with a great scene of Prince and the Revolution performing "Let's Go Crazy" at the First Avenue club. The scene is intercut with other scenes as "Let's Go Crazy" continues to play on the soundtrack. This version differed greatly from the previously released 4:39 soundtrack album version we had committed to memory as it had been released more than a month ahead of the film in June 1984. The dang near eight-minute 12" Special Dance Mix that turned out to be the film version and the original recorded version of the song before it had been edited for inclusion on the soundtrack album and then edited further for the 7" single and subsequent airplay. The B-side of the 12" of "Let's Go Crazy" features the non-album track "Erotic City", a duet with Sheila E. It is our humble opinion that the record is perhaps the greatest twelve-inch single ever pressed. The best-sounding version of the Special Dance Mix of "Let's Go Crazy" in our collection is the 2021 pbthal high-resolution vinyl archive rip of the 1984 U.S. twelve-inch vinyl single of "Let's Go Crazy" though it is unclear exactly which pressing received the transfer.
4
We had developed a real appetite for driving synth-laced rock songs like Journey's "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)", Saga's "Wind Him Up" & "On The Loose", Loverboy's "Turn Me Loose" and "Come Back" by the J. Geils Band among others. Then one night on KLPX we heard the intro to Bon Jovi's "Runaway" and we were hooked though it would be a few weeks before we'd hear the whole album and a few paychecks later before we remember buying Bon Jovi at a special low price of $5. "Runaway" fit in very well with those others we liked and we began making a list of tracks for a possible mixtape which we don't recall ever making though writing this post has us thinking along those lines once again. The best-sounding version of Bon Jovi's "Runaway" here in the HERChives is on the 1985 West German atomic label compact disc pressing for the Netherlands compilation of Hits On CD Volume 3.
3
"Wrapped Around Your Finger" is another one of those 1983 songs we consider 1984 songs for whatever reason. Every other track off Synchronicity is a 1983 song but "Wrapped Around Your Finger" stands apart as both our favorite Synchronicity track and an indelibly 1984 song. The track is also another musical Trojan horse, featuring darker lyrics wrapped in pretty music. Listening to the track on repeat just now, "Wrapped Around Your Finger" might just be our favorite Police song ever. Bonus points for using Mephistopheles in the lyrics. There is something we find irresistible in the song's third verse, the turnabout in the chorus, accompanied by the slight musical uptick that sends chills through us every time listen. The best-sounding version of The Police's "Wrapped Around Your Finger" in our collection is on the 1986 U.S. compact disc pressing of the compilation Every Breath You Take (The Singles).
2
Contradicting the usual practice of fading out album versions sooner on their corresponding singles, the single version of "Here Comes The Rain Again" has an ever-so-slightly longer fade-out than the album version. We love the delicate beauty of the music featuring the sound of real strings alongside the drum machine. Another impressive aspect of the song is the way Annie Lennox's vocals gently glide along the top of the music, equally strong and vulnerable. There is a widescreen cinematic quality to the sound of "Here Comes The Rain Again" which begs for an immersive Dolby Atmos mix. We'd love to hear the entire Touch and Touch Dance albums get the Atmos treatment and released on Blu-Ray Audio on the off-chance someone reading this has any sway. Determining the best-sounding instance of the single version "Here Comes The Rain Again" within our library posed quite a challenge as it seems that the master we rated the highest appears on at least four or five discs, including three discs from Time Life's Modern Rock series: Mid-'80s, Club '80s, and Love Songs. Ultimately, the best-sounding version of "Here Comes The Rain Again" in the HERChives is on the 1991 U.S. compact disc pressing of the Greatest Hits compilation.
1
"When Doves Cry" as the Number One song on the 1984 Hideaway 200 should as no surprise to regular Hideaway viewers. It would have been and will most likely be our Number One song of 1984 then, now, and forever. Like "Dancing in The Dark", "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" and others we're no doubt forgetting, "When Doves Cry" was written by request near the end of a project; in this case, the film and accompanying soundtrack of Purple Rain. Hearing the song for the very first time blew our little minds. And then it blew everybody else's minds. And we're still wild about it. Just don't play the single edit around us. And then we played the non-album B-side, the gloriously groovy "17 Days (the rain will come down, then U will have 2 choose. If U believe look 2 the dawn and U shall never lose.)" and we flipped out again. The best-sounding full-length album version of "When Doves Cry" in our library is the 2013 HD Tracks high-resolution digital download of Purple Rain.
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