Old romantics

>> The '80s British Invasion repackaged

by LORRAINE CARPENTER

What was so great about the '80s anyway? We had the Mulroney-Reagan-Thatcher triad, the Cold War (continued), corporate rock, pastel pants (pastel everything?) and, arguably, the worst movies of any decade, ever. Even those of us too young for fully developed critical faculties clued in to the fact that headbands, Huey Lewis and Porky's were vapid and frightening. But every dystopia has a silver lining, and ours was the wave, or the "new wave," of music coming out of Britain, and reverence for that period continues to grow with the (newer) wave of young bands and DJs aping that souped-up, synthetic style. After years of new wave CDs and their more mainstream Time Life compilations, one would think there's little left of '80s radio fare to digest, but pop has eaten itself and continues to excrete greatest hits discs and box sets like everybody's business.

Before we get to the Brit synthpop fare we most associate with new wave, there's the original meaning of the term, the pack of upstarts who emerged parallel to punk, but with less frenetic, freakish sounds and aesthetics. That style is represented this holiday season with re-issues of Blondie's entire discography (all six discs with bonus tracks, on Chrysalis/Capitol) and the Stranglers' No More Heroes (1977), Black and White (1978) and La Folie (1981), all on EMI. Still freaks in their own right, with "Fuck" shirts and naked ladies on stage in their early days, the Stranglers were hit and miss with their awkward grumblings, rumblings and organs, but had their good share of shining moments that set the standard for a pocket of Britain's '90s set.

A collection of a band's alleged "greatest" is the best test of their quality overall, which is why some bands prefer to release only their early work, as on Modern English's The Best of Modern English: Life in the Gladhouse 1980-1984 (4AD/Beggars Group). This disc charts the band's transition from dark post-punk à la Joy Division to all-out keyboard-heavy pop ("Melt With You"), a surprisingly decent set of tunes by these under-appreciated Englishmen.

Moving up and over to Scotland, and to a more comprehensive collection, we have Simple Minds, who began with the near-Goth tones of early synthpop and fell steadily downhill after "Don't You Forget About Me" in '84, most recently (2001!) with a sad stab at a cover album. Their other release this year was The Best of Simple Minds, a near-chronological two-disc set, and, while much of the first disc still holds up, you may as well use that second disc as a coaster.

Big-haired bunnymen

If you want comprehensive, if you want big Brit '80s hair, if you want that rich, emotive male vocal style, get your pants a-creamin' with Liverpool's Echo and the Bunnymen and Crystal Days 1979-1999 (Virgin/EMI), four discs with a lovely colour booklet full of bio and pics. It's post-punk and proto-Britpop, or the Cure without eyeliner, and I mean that both aesthetically and musically.

Following that Echo format, there's a fantastic Roxy Music box set called The Thrill of It All (also Virgin/EMI), which compiles the best of their albums (really) along with an entire disc of B-sides, rarities and alternate versions. Now Roxy Music is a '70s band, essentially, but their eccentricity, inventiveness and pop know-how (and Bryan Ferry's singing, above all) figured heavily in Britain's new romantic movement in the early '80s, that facet of synthpop with make-up, hair and fruity Victorian clothes. (David Bowie, an '80s casualty, was the other new romance forefather. His instrumentals were compiled this year on All Saints: Collected Instrumentals 1977-1999.) Representing new romantics is ABC's Look of Love: The Very Best of ABC. This Sheffield act, led by Bowie-Ferry lovechild (he wishes) Martin Frey, is good for about two tracks, after which the synth-ey, sax-ey R&B water becomes unpalatable. Stick with the Human League and Duran, I say, or the more guitar-oriented (but still Bowie-loving) Psychedelic Furs. But best avoid the P-Furs' Greatest Hits Live: Beautiful Chaos (Sony), unless you're that kind of fan.



If you're the opposite of that kind of fan and you crave the hits pre-mixed by some awful hack who's consistently last on the bandwagon, there's always M.C. Mario Presents 80's Rewind (Sony), a great stocking stuffer. Happy cramming.