Rhino Records | US | CD | 1994 | R2 71700
Various Artists: New Wave Hits of the 80s – Just Can’t Get Enough Vol. 7 US CD [1994]
- Haircut 100: Favourite Shirts [Boy Meets Girl]
- Josie Gotton: He Could Be The One
- The Blasters: I’m Shakin’
- Split Enz: Six Months In A Leaky Boat
- Paul Carrack: I Need You
- Animal Nightlife: Love Is the Great Pretender
- Fleshtones: Ride Your Pony
- X – Blue Spark
- Musical Youth: Pass The Dutchie
- Bad Manners: Samson + Delilah
- Wide Boy Awake: Chicken Outlaw
- Trio: Da Da Da I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha
- Joe “King” Carrasco + The Crowns: Party Weekend
- Fashiøn: Love Shadow
- Bill Nelson: Flaming Desire
- Laurie Anderson: O Superman [For Massenet]
I can recall the early 90s when the first New Wave Comps began to manifest. The first batches came from Oglio with their Richard Blade curated series and from Rhino with the “Just Can’t Get Enough” series. The latter was an especially far-reaching program with 15 volumes and four themed supplements between ’94-’98. At the time, I didn’t fall too hard for these, but I can remember chasinvictoris, then in the throes of his “Chas’ Crusty Old Wave” radio show, hitting this action but hard. Just one of these volumes could sate a dozen requests. Me? I already had the original albums of most of the songs on these volumes. Either that, or I planned on buying them. But volume 7 was Monk bail, largely for the appearance of the rarely anthologized Fashiøn single “Love Shadow.”
Yes, there was a time where I would buy a CD just to hear one song on the shiny silver disc. But even though I eventually got the “Height Of Fashiøn” CD years later, this CD was worth hanging onto. I’ve been recently revisiting it and it was an exceptionally well curated disc of material. It’s very scanty on the over-anthologized New Wave songs we’ve heard too many times already. The closest thing to that here might be the Haircut 100 song, and really, “Love Plus One” would better fit that profile! “Favourite Shirts” hewed much closer to the post-New Romantic vogue for latin funk ala Kid Creole than the Culture Club-esque pop that they had a bigger profile in America with.
We’ve all heard “Johnny Are You Queer” a few too many times, so it was nice to hear a different girl group New Wave cut from Josie Cotton. Her fun throwback sound was better served by something a little less crass. I recall when The Blasters emerged in late 70s L.A. scene with their greasy take on R+B/rockabilly. I had always planned on getting their slash debut album but until then, there’s “I’m Shakin’.”
The scope of this comp is almost best illustrated by how it featured Split Enz “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” instead of “I Got You.” Actually, the latter had turned up on volume 2, but this was an interesting choice for the second Split Enz track in this series. No one has ever complained about hearing “Six Months In A Leaky Boat” too many times!
Paul Carrack had an interesting career that first saw him fronting Ace whose late 70s hit was “How Long.” I next noticed him as a keyboard player on Roxy Music’s “Manifesto” and “Flesh + Blood.” He made a successful solo turn in 1982 with “I Need You> as included here. It’s a good blue-eyed soul record. I once bought the full “Suburban Voodoo” CD but found that it was not as succinct as the pleasures in this single.
I have the 1982 12″ of Animal Nightlife’s “Love Is The Great Pretender” but the version here was a re-record from their album in 1985. A far slicker, and bloodless version of the campy song. Too bad that the ’82 version was not here instead, but the fact that Rhino picked this song that never got a US release for this anthology shows class.
I have never been a fan of L.A’s X, owing to the tuneless wailing of Exene Cervenka, so “Blue Spark” was a revelation! The riff rocker sported John Doe lead vox and Exene actually harmonized with Doe for a change. I didn’t think she was capable. Billy Zoom’s high pressure guitar riff hook needed no apologies.
The one song here I have to hit the skip button on is probably the biggest hit here: Musical Youth’s “Pass The Dutchie.” Not my cuppa. Not by a long shot. Bad Manners was always a ska band that I never paid too much at the time, but their cover of “Samson + Delilah” was a more acceptable form of cod-reggae than the preceding song.
Wide Boy Awake was the band fronted by Kevin Mooney ex-Adam + The Ants. “Chicken Outlaw” was like a more listenable version of what Haysi Fantayzee were trying to do [and what ultimately Malcolm McLaren did first and best]. The full 12″ version was used here, and I’m thinking that maybe the succinct 3:05 7″ mix might have worked a little better for me. This was the second longest song here and it showed.
Trio’s great “Da Da Da I Don’t Love You You Don’t Love Me Aha Aha Aha” is one of those songs that I never tire of. Its deadpan minimalism always manages to put me in a good mood. It;s probably the second most anthologized song here, but every home needs at least one copy. The fantastic cheesy Farfisa-driven New Wave classic that was “PArty Weekend” by Joe “King” Carrasco + The Crowns is a must. I sing this one all of the time and one of these days, I need to remaster the first three albums, which sit [this one in multiple copies!] in my Record Cell! MCA just put out a three-in-one best of for this period and I want the whole enchilada. I truly loved the one Joe King show that I caught at The Junkyard in Maitland back in ’93/’94. The man is a non-stop energizer bunny of Tex-Mex party rock!
“Love Shadow” was the reason why I bought this CD so, ’nuff said! I have used a fair number of electrons outlining my devotion to this band at this time with the sterling production of Zeus B. Held. As we have also recently gushed over Bill Nelson’s frenzied e-bow workout, “Flaming Desire.” Then the program came to a stunning conclusion with Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman [For Massenet].” Including this song which stood apart of everything else in the 1981 firmament spoke highly about the high caliber of the curation of this series.
By the mid 90s, New Wave Comps were a dime a dozen, yet this volume was so fresh at capturing an expansive slice of the dozens of styles that sat under the New Wave umbrella. The selection of songs here is second to none at avoiding New Wave cliché and it sidestepped all of the songs that I can go the rest of my life without hearing again, and yet it’s strongest virtue is how it captured music from that era that was not synth pop! Too often, the whole New Wave = Synth pop trope that clings to the neck of New Wave like a resilient albatross threatens to recast the actually more diverse history of the movement in our rear-view mirror. I’m pleased that compilers David McLees and Andrew Sandoval took the high road when putting this volume together.
– 30 –
![Chris Cross: 1952-2024 [part 2]](https://postpunkmonk.files.wordpress.com/2024/04/ultravox-cross.jpg?w=200&h=200&crop=1)
Post-Punk Monk 
Ah, the Just Can’t Get Enough series…how I gobbled each and every volume up when released, and they still get a fair amount of car-play these days. Still waiting for the scant catalog of Wide Boy Awake to make it to CD, but that doesn’t seem likely. I love all five plus minutes of Chicken Outlaw, even though I haven’t a clue what it’s about it sure sounds like the soundtrack to some zany new wave hoedown and I wanna go. Agree that volume 7 here is very well curated (that includes Pass The Dutchie, which I find charming).
LikeLike
Taffy – I didn’t pay too much attention to on to these because they were largely redundant to me by 1994 (9 years of CD by then) as I mentioned. Are there any other volumes that were this fresh? It seemed like the minds putting this one together picked the tracks incredibly well to avoid genre burnout. I also have the one laserdisc they released mashing up the two 35 min VHS video compilations. I can’t remember if they pruned it down to 60 min to fit on one side of a LD or not. Must check in the Record Cell later.
LikeLike
Well, I only bought my first CD player (and discs) in 1990, and I wasn’t even sure I was going to re-purchase all my vinyl on shiny discs (altho that did end up being my goal), so compilations like this were a great way for me to hear stuff I loved and owned on this “new” digital technology. I’d have to go search my music library to see how well the other volumes were assembled, but I do recall loving well over 90% of the contents.
And I own those two VHS comps too…with nothing to play them on (my last VCR RIP). There’s always youtube… :/
LikeLike
I love Wide Boy Awake! (And definitely do not love Haysi Fantayzee.) And of the few tracks they released, I’d put most of the others above Chicken Outlaw.
LikeLike
Hands down the best series of 80s stuff. By now I guess a lot of what is on these things is also on other stuff, but like you said, in the early 90s it was this or nothing.
LikeLike
I bought a few of them for the same reason it appears that you did, some choice cuts that otherwise couldn’t be found on cd. If you could snag one of these that had 3-5 tracks like that it was a real deal.
And the Haircut 100 album from start to finish is dead good. Some of Nick Heyward’s solo stuff is pretty good, too. Love “Whistle Down the Wind.” Just don’t watch the VH1 Bands Reunited episode about them….
LikeLike
I have quite a few 80s compilation CDs, and many are hit and miss. The Sire series “Just Say …” was sometimes interesting, especially “Just Say Yesterday” as that one has one of my guilty pleasure tracks, Tim Scott’s “Swear,” which I haven’t seen on CD elsewhere.
The Richard Blade series: many good tracks, my taste doesn’t always agree with his but often. His Flashback Favorites volume 4 has another track I’ve always liked and I don’t know where else you’d find it on CD, “Nevermore” by +1.
There was another series called “Classic Alternatives” that has lots of gems.
LikeLike
One more: the Canadian series “Hardest Hits” also had a lot of interesting tracks.
LikeLike
i think i have at least one of every series mentioned here.
i do have vol 9, 12 of these just cant get enough ones, due to some rare edits being on there.
i also have the laserdisc you mention, ripped somewhere, would have to check.
in general, i was pretty picky about compilations, and only if it had more than
50% of stuff i knew, i would consider it. unless it was one of those ones that
had a super rare remix that was previously on vinyl only.
i think some of the hardest hits ones were like that.
once in awhile, i would discover a song or group that i didn’t know about, and
really enjoy it. i think i discovered the group japan that way, and also some other groups.
i rarely get compilations nowadays. but there are still some good ones out there.
and don’t forget soundtracks, that would have some exclusive songs, that were
never on albums. new order did that a few times.
later
-1
LikeLike
I never understand why Wide Boy Awake’s Chicken Outlaw is the track that shows up on these compilations. It was Slang Teacher that was a revelation for me when it came out. It was super early Electro with a bass that is so funky and fractured it makes the hair stand up on my arms.
And just for the record, Kevin Mooney was a McLaren denizen. His wife was Punk model and publicist Jordan (she used to sport white pancake makeup and a “guillotine line” around her neck.) It seems to me that the Electro Funk of Wide Boy Awake predated McLaren by a year and knowing the Great Appropriator, I wouldn’t be surprised if he took some influence from it.
LikeLike
Echorich – Mooney was married to Jordan? I learn something new every day. I should look into “Slang Teacher.” I only ever heard “ Chicken Outlaw.” And McLaren was trying to get a pseudo kiddy-porn magazine called “Chicken” running while in the middle of his Bow Wow Wow exploits. Coincidence?
LikeLike
You should definitely give “Slang Teacher” a listen. Wide Boy Awake released all of 8 tracks, on three different singles; never released an album. I like the b-sides better than the a-sides. Of the 8 tracks, “Chicken Outlaw” is around number 6 for me. Also check out the simplicity of “Come Back Friday,” and I do quite like the third single a-side “Billy Hyena.”
Kevin Mooney later worked with Leslie Winer–interesting listening.
LikeLike
Oh yes, “Billy Hyena” is great – probably my favourite WBA song. But they really never did anything weak so it’s a touch choice to make.
LikeLike
Not only he married Jordan – whom Adam Ant held as one of his best and closest friends so the fact in itself enraged him – but he did it after leaving Adam & The Ants. Which enraged Adam even move. Kevin became enraged in return and wrote “Chicken Outlaw” which is about Adam and his “rebellious” image.
What do I know all this for… :)
LikeLike
I’ve been collecting the JCGE series since the end of 2015. I’m 1 disc away from owning the complete set (I just need the Halloween edition, which, judging by the tracklist, appears to be the weakest) and just received a copy of the Dance Hits CD off Discogs. The JCGE series is my favorite among the assorted new wave/post-punk compilation series from the ’90s (the other great ones, IMHO, are the Richard Blade’s Flashback Favorites from Oglio, DIY and Postpunk Chronicles from Rhino, and Living In Oblivion from Capitol/EMI).
Volume 7 is one of the tougher ones to acquire (along with Vol. 15 and Dance Hits), but definitely worth picking up for the left-field tracklist. I dig the Haircut 100 track, whose funk vibe is reminiscent of Spandau Ballet from the same timeframe (I love the sax/trumpet solos, guitar hook, and Nick Heyward’s buoyant vocals). I was also psyched with the inclusion of Six Months in a Leaky Boat. The intro is so evocative, with its ascending synth moving like an ocean wave entering the shore at a beach. I actually enjoy the 1985 version of Love Is Just The Great Pretender. The slick production enhances the song for me, especially in how it complements Andy Polaris’ smooth-as-silk vocals and Billy Chapman’s smoky sax solo (I love Andy’s shout-outs to Billy and the Animalettes). As a sophisti-pop fan, I think the ’85 re-recording of LIJTGP fits in well with the other great sophisti-pop singles of the same year.
Regarding the X song, I think Billy Zoom’s guitar leads are the only virtue of Blue Spark. I’m with you on Exene’s caterwauling; she’s the biggest reason I’ve never liked X, although John Doe isn’t any better on the ears. Doe sings like he’s stuck outside shivering in a blizzard. For my money, the Blasters song is the worst on the CD. It’s a pale xerox of the Little Willie John original, which swings like a bat compared to the Blasters’ cover band-level version. I truly despise the whole reactionary rootsy “we’re real rock bands from Americuh” scene that spawned the Blasters and other abominations in the 80s, but I’ll spare you the diatribe.
Finally (for now, at least; I could discuss this and the other JCGE discs for pages), I love the sequencing on this disc, with Bill Nelson and Laurie Anderson back-to-back. Having 2 of the top art music auteurs close out the CD just warms my heart :)
LikeLike
There’s also the Volume series and while they weren’t retro 80’s comps they were contemporary to a lot of these other comps. They were pricier, had a largish book with each one and largely covered non-grunge UK music in the early 90’s. I woulda bought more of them but they were damn expensive.
LikeLike
Tim – I bought Volume 1 because it had a Nitzer Ebb remix. Volume 4 roped me in because it had Cocteau Twins “Frosty The Snowman” in its first release. How could you not spring for that? The other ones were deemed missable. That was the CD version of the good old “Debut” LP/magazine of the mid 80s. But the music [even non-grunge] of the early 90s was tough going for me. The good thing is that all of these seem to be quite cheap on Discogs now.
LikeLike
I was amazed by the prices for used Just Can’t Get Enough sets on Amazon, easily 12-20 each. I almost never see those prices on used cds there.
LikeLike
Tim – Then you must not get out much. The Amazon market skews high, and for things I usually want, that’s relatively cheap. Discogs, by the other hand has volumes well under $10.
LikeLike
To me, this series just had a lot of fluff between the meat and potatoes of the genre (granted, ‘fluff’ is part of what makes new wave such a fun minefield). But I can understand the love for this particular volume.
For me, rhino’s 4-disc “left of the dial” comp was a better distillation of what being a ‘weird music’ fan in the 80s was all about. Not all obscurities, and not all obvious choices.
Includes California hardcore and later 80s college-y stuff so not a true ‘new wave collection’….but might be the one I play for the aliens when asked to explain the genre I love.
LikeLike
I dunno, I thought the Left of the Dial box set was severely lacking in multiple aspects, which I’ve outlined in my Discogs review linked below. You inadvertently identified one of the chief flaws with this set (namely the presence of sophomoric hardcore punk and generic guitar college rawk at the expense of the more avant-garde/experimental music deserving of inclusion [e.g., The Residents, Laurie Anderson, the Some Bizzare and Ralph Records rosters, Oingo Boingo, Cabaret Voltaire], Pere Ubu). I’ll give credit where it’s due for the inclusion of Japan, The The, The Passions, Wall of Voodoo, Magazine, Aztec Camera, Ultravox, Killing Joke, OMD, English Beat, Prefab Sprout, XTC, Throbbing Gristle, and Cocteau Twins, all of whom who contributed the best tracks on the set. Cherry Red’s To the Outside of Everything set from 2017 blows Left of the Dial out of the water, even though the former concentrates on English post-punk and only covers the 1977-81 timeframe. The definitive ’80s alternative music box set has yet to be compiled/released.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Left-Of-The-Dial-Dispatches-From-The-80s-Underground/release/539252#comment1160049
LikeLike
Zach – I think an 80s box would be painful no matter how I might slice it up. When it comes to music, what I really like is the late 70s! Which I say lasted through 1981. I think a “definitive” 80s alt rock box would be something for me to largely skip.
LikeLike
Oh, I agree that even a definitive ’80s alternative box would still have its clunkers, but it would still provide a more satisfying overall package than Rhino’s Left of the Dial set. The dearth of the avant-garde side of the ’80s underground is a huge sticking point for me.
I, too, view the late ’70s as a high point in music. The years spanning 1978-1981, in particular, contain a metric ton of outstanding albums, EPs, and singles. I’d also consider 1982 and 1983 mostly strong years, on account of such LPs as Call of the West, The Dreaming, The Golden Age of Wireless, Arabic Yodelling, Big Science, Rio, Soul Mining, Vacation, and Dazzle Ships. The big drop in quality, for me, started sometime in 1984 or 1985 (The short version: Far too many U.K. acts compromised their sounds to earn success and fame in the U.S., while the American scene began turning away from avant-garde experimentalism and toward safer, more guitar-friendly styles). Even still, there were enough strong works from established and newer bands alike to keep those years from being total misfires (My favorites of those 2 years would be Kate Bush, Tears for Fears, The Blue Nile, Scritti Politti, Thomas Dolby, Prefab Sprout, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Simply Red, Laurie Anderson, Grace Jones, and Rhythm & Noise).
Thanks for your comment on my Discogs review of Left of the Dial! If you (or others) are interested, I wrote reviews for Rhino’s 3 Postpunk Chronicles CDs on Discogs. They should have continued the series for at least another 6 discs!
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Postpunk-Chronicles-Scared-To-Dance/release/475690#comment986883
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Postpunk-Chronicles-Left-Of-The-Dial/release/475780#comment996366
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Postpunk-Chronicles-Going-Underground/release/475795#comment1011129
LikeLike
I don’t look at Discogs prices much, tend to do a lot of stuff via Amazon. If not mistaken checkout at Discogs is via Paypal, which i am not a fan of (and don’t use). If you can pay another (and easy) way there to buy stuff my budget is doomed, doomed I tell you.
LikeLike
Tim – I think Discogs just instituted their own payment system. What’s your beef against PayPal? Now that eBay sold it off, I can’t think of any negatives. For the record, I’m against Amazon for reasons I can’t begin to enumerate right now.
LikeLike
I wasn’t a huge fan of eBay and PayPal gouging the sales process with fees every time you turn around. I used to buy and sell a fair amount over on eBay and when I had a paypal account it was relentless phishing attempts on my account and that got old really fast. It’s just not worth it to me when I open my email every day and there’s a dozen email telling me that someone’s trying to hack my account and click this link to verify it’s safe. Yeah I know that stuff is spam but I really try to minimize that kind of noise.
LikeLike
Tim – Oh eBay has been dead for at least a dozen years now! The moment that they pushed for stores instead of auctions is their shark-jump moment. Apart from the usual right wingers owning all of this tech infrastructure trope! I used to buy a lot on ebay and then I sold stuff off when we moved/downsized and it has always been onerous. Now it’s incredibly painful to sell there. Their search engine is geared to minimize any sellers who do not “deluxify” their posting with add-on$.
That whole “we take a portion of your shipping charges” policy when sellers began selling low and shipping high was the worst way out of that cul-de-sac. I get that weasels scammed a way to sell while shorting eBay their cut. I’d find a way to stop that, too, but I wouldn’t penalize sellers who weren’t doing that! Presumably a majority of the sellers [I hope], but noooooooo! eBay basically played just as dirty with their entire sales base! Double dipping a percentage of SHIPPING COSTS as well as the sale price! Why couldn’t they have just targeted ship scammers and closed their accounts after a warning? The new way almost doubled their profits. This shifted selling to a “free shipping” model with [ever increasing] sales costs jacked into the sales price. Unfortunately, this meant that you couldn’t get rid of some tchatchke sitting around your home on eBay for $1.50 plus buyer shipping. Pocketing, maybe $1.10 in the process. Now, that tchatke had to sell for at least $6.99 with [free] shipping and that price point acted as a large psychological dampener on the whole “online garage sale” model that had worked for me for years. There’s a difference, and eBay just found a way to suck twice as much per sale from the seller.
Once ebay sold Paypal, I was more than fine with it. It has been the only way I could buy things from other countries if I had wanted to in the last 20 years or so. I think I have already posted on the futility of getting the seemingly mythical but necessary “international money order” in the 80s and 90s!
LikeLike
This series ranks among my favourite anthologies of the era. In fact, I have all of these plus the supplements & promo cds, the DIY series, the Post Punk Chronicles series, the Hang The DJ series (shame only went 3 volumes), Faster & Louder series, the relevant box sets (Goth, Left Of The Dial, Punk, Sire), Sedated In The 80s series, The Indie Scene series, Flashback Café, Richard Blade series, Living In Oblivion series, A Kick Up The Eighties series, New Wave Club Class-X series & the 12″ 80s series…among others. There’s crossover for sure but there’s also heaps of hard to find stuff here. However, nothing really beats the original Just Can’t Get Enough series – I wish I could find out the definitive list of what versions are used on each disc as this info is lacking in the liner notes.
LikeLike
RobC – You name many New Wave Comp series there. I have volumes of DIY, Richard Blade, Living In Oblivion, Just Say…, Retro: Active, and Hardest Hits. The latter two were Canadian, and clearly superior for my money. I have three volumes of “Retro:Active” [in spite of their bad mastering] and almost all of the “Hardest Hits” series. To this day I still revel in their track selection. I think that the best US stabs at this genre were the Blade series on Oglio.
LikeLike
“Chicken Outlaw” is one song I never need to hear again. KROQ used to play it on the regular but, like Haysi Fantayzee’s “Shiny Shiny” and a few others (I’m looking at YOU “One Night In Bangkok”), the novelty wears off quickly and the song becomes a major irritant. For the most part, the New Wave Hits Of The 80s collections have great choices.
LikeLike
DJ Craig – Welcome to the comments! I hear you, pally. There so many New Wave Novelty songs that fester under the skin over time. Heck, I’ve not really heard “Chicken Outlaw” other than playing this disc, and all day yesterday I had the syncopated lyrics running through my brain and I was not exactly enjoying the experience. I refer to Zydeco as “Cajun Techno” for its repetitive overkill factor!
“Shiny Shiny” [or really almost ANY Haysi Fantayzee] can make me want to kill things. And Bjorn + Benny have a lot to answer for with “One Night In Bangkok.” Certain songs of the New Wave get banished to the New Wave Hall Of Shame; mostly through overplay. But these you cite – any playback of them was excessive. On the flipside, there are certain overplayed New Wave songs that I simply never tire of, no matter how many hundreds of times I might be subjected to them. There’s a post there…
LikeLiked by 1 person
New Wave Hall of Shame post.
Please.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed on “Shiny Shiny.” Somehow I went through a long stretch without hearing “One Night in Bangkok” and now I love when I catch it.
The one that really makes me cringe, and silence the source as quickly as possible, it “Politics of Dancing.” Oh, and “Come On Eileen” hasn’t aged well with me either.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Now we’re speakin’ my language!
New Wave comps, I just can’t get enough of em … Rob C has my number for sure. I think my overall favourite series was the Indie Scene, but I certainly agree that the JCGE series discussed here had exactly what my old show’s angle was: a few familiar tracks but lots of deep cuts from the well-known artists and those adjacent to them.
The Living in Oblivion CDs were more hit-prone but they also threw in some tasty deep-cut morsels, much like the DIY series did. As a DJ the Monk is right in that these were a more efficient way (remember this is all waaaay pre-iPod, kiddos!) to handle likely requests, but I’ve always been the sort to hit the random button on my playing devices of choice — desperate for, well, radio with taste and less ads (though I always appreciated the DJs back in the days when they actually programmed their shows. I was an iPod before it was cool!!
The Just Say series introduced me to a lot of stuff, as did Volume 1-4 (I think I opted out after that). I don’t mind a hit/miss ratio on comps as long as the hits surpass the misses either in number or in greatness. I appreciate albums but I typically rarely listen to a whole one straight through unless its a unified work, or I’m doing a review. Never knowing what’s next on the shuffle but knowing it’s very likely to be awesome is one of my favourite music-related feelings.
LikeLike