Blast From The Past

A so-so compilation of '80s pop.

Here's yet another in the (seemingly) endless series of compilations. Most of these are half-hearted efforts to palm off sub-standard material onto an undiscerning public, but luckily this is one of the better ones.

The numbers featured have a decidedly `80's feel and are quite decent and therein lies the problem. There are a few classic pieces, which are eminently listenable, such as "Smooth Operator" (Sade), "Everytime You Go Away" (Paul Young), "Susanna" (Art Company), "Manic Monday" (The Bangles) and the evergreen "Wake me up" (Wham!). Almost as an after-thought, there is Savage Garden's "I Want You" , which is supposed to give a feel of the modern era. There are other semi-good numbers by Cyndi Lauper and Shakin' Stevens, to name a few, but the compilation really rests its hopes on the first few mentioned.

The selection does give a very good representation of pop music, but fails to include songs which really define the genre and that's why it's just decent. One wonders why songs like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun", "Land Down Under" and "Daddy Cool" do not find their way into this album. And of course, the absence of any Michael Jackson song is unforgivable. Thus, the album is definitely good for a party but not for a real pop music lover.

This article was first published on24 Jul 2000.