Anthems Electronic 80s
Contents.UK Series Anthems 1991–2008 is the first in a series of albums released by the Ministry of Sound. The series is split into three mini-series, these are 'Anthems', 'Chilled' and 'Ibiza'. There is not an official name for the series, but is often called 'Anthems' after four albums in the series and the first mini-series.Currently, there are eight different albums in the series. The artwork scheme follows the Fifteen Years release of 2006, which is sometimes seen as the pre-runner to Anthems 1991–2008.
The Ibiza 1991–2009 album notably comes in a 3-CD digipack, rather than the larger fold-away digipacks (which are contained in slipcases) used for the other seven albums. The same album is overlooked when the series is being listed in the booklet for Anthems R&B. All copies of Chilled Acoustic feature a mistake in the artwork, where the top half of the Ministry of Sound logo used on the reverse side of the digipack; is upside-down.2011 saw the year with the most releases in the series, with seven being released, four of these featuring 'Anthems' in the name.
It's an interesting mix of the various sub-genres of electronica from the '80s. Obviously, it has a few of the most well-known mainstream electronic offerings from Gary Numan, Visage and so on, but there are also some songs that I'd class as an ordinary pop song where one of the many instruments just happens to be a synthesiser. I'd hardly call those 'electronic music', but such tracks aren't necessarily bad, and are still enjoyable.Seeing as it's supposed to be 'electronic 80s', there are also a couple of notable absences - the first that springs to mind is that there's nothing on the CDs by The Sisters of Mercy. When someone says 'electronic' and '80s' in the same sentence, they're the first band that pops in to my head.Not all tracks will suit all tastes, but as there are 3 CDs, that doesn't matter so much as there is bound to be something for everybody on this inexpensive compilation. Now, back to my listening.
M/A/R/R/S are instructing me to Pump Up The Volume, so I'm afraid I've simply got to comply with their request. Ok, music is subjective, or course it is. However, if you were at school during the 1980's as I was, this 3 CD pack will bring happy memories flooding back.
Anthems Electronic 80s
Even though I was in to Punk back then (and still am), this music is what was on Top Of The Pops and on the radio and it's what friends played or girlfriends listened to. It was what was played at school discos.So you'll love it, either because you already like Duran Duran, Human League, OMD and Japan, or because of the nostalgia value.It's just a pity they don't do it on cassette too!:). This is a very good selection of 80s pop/dance. There are some notables missing, for example Relax or Two Tribes and others (Don't u want me?) So I am not sure whether there were rights or permissions/licensing issues, but nevertheless there is a coherence running through each disc of the 'anthology' of 80s Electronica and this set is both Nostalgia and New. The style and versions of the songs show how progressive the 80s were in terms of proliferation of pop music, which is why to the younger generations some of the music may actually seem New.The sound quality and bass is very good and for a lot of the tracks an improvement on the sound quality of the original releases, I guess there is some remastering enhancement going on in the selection and transfer to this 3CD set.4 stars (not 5) because of omission of some obvious classics, and also the fact that unlike most MOS CD sets, this is not a mix in the true DJ sense, ie no mixing going on.
The songs are basically run like any other standard greatest hits album, which I was disappointed about (I assumed it would be a proper DJ'd mix compilation). But it is better than the many other 80s greatest hits albums even if it is not a true mix in the tradition of MOS.