Taken from the 2003 album "Other People's Songs", "Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)" is a cover of Cockney Rebel's smash UK hit. The US version of the single contains three versions of this song, plus three exclusive tracks.

The lead-off single for Erasure's album "Other People's Songs" is a cover of the Peter Gabriel classic "Solsbury Hill." The US version of the single contains four versions of this song, plus two new original songs, a recording of "Ave Maria," and an exclusive mix of "Video Killed The Radio Star."

Malcolm McLaren has never been a musician, at least never in any accepted sense of the word. Rather, he's a self-promoter. Even when he was managing the Sex Pistols, most of his press conferences concentrated on what a great scam he had come up with, not the music itself. On his own records, he's been supported by first-rate musicians who manage to hide his half-baked concepts. On Paris, he has nothing to hide behind – the musicians fade into the background, since the record is essentially a love letter to Paris.

Только французам удаётся придумывать такие куртуазные музыкальные смеси. Меломаньяки Vegomatic нашли "Правильное использование рок’н’ролла" - он у них идёт в качестве острого соуса к блюду из сбитого сёрфа и тушёного диско-панка! Альбом непременно придётся по душе поклонникам Electric Six, Scissor Sisters и других возмутителей сексуального спокойствия…

A major change of direction for Berlin, Count Three & Pray was an artistic triumph but a commercial disappointment. After making a name for itself playing very European-sounding synth pop, the L.A. trio recruited producer Bob Ezrin (known for his work with Alice Cooper and others) and unveiled a more hard-edged, guitar-oriented sound. From the rockin' "Trash" (which features none other than Ted Nugent – the last person one would expect to work with Berlin!) to the ballad "Pink and Velvet" (a tale of two heroin addicts' romance that is as poignant as it is disturbing), Count Three & Pray leaves no doubt just how much lead singer Terri Nunn and her colleagues were enjoying this radical change. But sadly, record buyers weren't ready for it. Despite the inclusion of the hauntingly pretty number one hit "Take My Breath Away" (included in the film Top Gun) the album didn't sell nearly as well as Pleasure Victim or Love Life. Geffen was bitterly disappointed, and Berlin soon broke up.

Though its musical legacy was brief, Malcolm McLaren's post-Sex Pistols project Bow Wow Wow left its mark on the 1980s as much as contemporaries like Adam and the Ants and Culture Club. This entry in the cross-promotional VH1 Classics/BMG '80s retrospective series features hits like the punky "C30, C60, C90, Go" and the Bo Diddley-influenced "I Want Candy," as well as also-rans like the intriguing rockabilly-jungle hybrid "Aphrodisiac," the loopy "Go Wild in the Country" (the latter complete with teen singer Annabella Lwin's modern primitive free-associations), and the Debbie Harry-esque "Mile High Club."

Flush the Fashion is the fifth solo studio album by American singer Alice Cooper, released on April 28, 1980 by Warner Bros. Records. It was recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles with producer Roy Thomas Baker, known for his work with the Cars. Musically, the album was a drastic change of style for Cooper, leaning towards a new wave influence. The lead single "Clones (We're All)" peaked at No. 40 on the U.S. Billboard Top 40.

There are some great mixes of "Rain"; two mixes of "In My Arms" and a fantastic remix of an Erasure classic "Sometimes". Also you get 3 live tracks as well as a B-side. "First Contact" was written for the Star Trek Next Gen film of the same name. Its a great song and the fact that you get it and the instrumental version as a hidden track make this purchase worth while.

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto first entered the public ear in the late 1970s, as a member of the seminal electro-synth band Yellow Magic Orchestra. Although short-lived, the band and its quirky approach to dance music influenced a generation of synth-poppers and techno artists. Sakamoto released a few experimental albums while still with YMO, but his solo career began in earnest with the acclaimed all-synth soundtrack to the 1982 film MERRY CHRISTMAS MR. LAWRENCE, which established him as a composer of some valence. His atmospheric film scores (THE SHELTERING SKY, THE LAST EMPEROR) and adventuresome collaborations with jazz, pop, and world musicians have contributed to his continued reputation as a visionary artist.

The Best of A Flock of Seagulls is an excellent 12-track roundup of A Flock of Seagulls' best material. Their catalog wasn't particularly deep outside of the hits "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" and "I Ran (So Far Away)," but they did do some good new nomantic synth pop, particularly on cuts like "Nightmares," "A Space Age Love Song," and "Telecommunications," all of which are here. As a matter of fact, this really does contain all of the group's best material, and while new wave fetishists will likely go for the actual albums anyway, most listeners will be more than satisfied with this.

Of all the various best-ofs and compilations that have come out over time that cover the Go-Go's career, this one is the clearest winner, by a long shot. Though by default it doesn't tell the full story, appearing as it did in 1994, in terms of containing both the famous hits and a slew of rarities and unreleased tracks, Return to the Valley of the Go-Go's is equally valuable for both neophytes and hardcore fans. The first 11 tracks alone make for an entertaining peek into the band's earliest days, with a slew of live cuts from both early rehearsals and gigs, including a number of songs taped at the legendary SF punk venue the Mabuhay Gardens. Everything's rough, energetic, and merry fun – while it's no surprise why some compositions remained unheard in later years, it's still worth hearing how the group pureed everything from straight-up punk to spaghetti Western guitar and girl group right from the start. A real treat is a romp through "Johnny, Are You Queer?" which would later get a more famous (and much more sedate!) take by Josie Cotton. Plenty of rare B-sides from the group's commercially dominant days surface here and there, and as for the big hits, they're available a-plenty: "We Got the Beat," "Vacation," "Our Lips Are Sealed," "Head Over Heels," "Turn to You," and more. Choice album cuts include "Skidmarks on My Heart" and "This Town".

Minimum-Maximum is the first official live album release by Kraftwerk, released in June 2005, almost 35 years after the group gave their first live performance. It features two CDs and tracks recorded on their world tour during 2004, including concerts in Warsaw, Moscow, Berlin, London, Budapest, Tallinn, Riga, Tokyo and San Francisco. Minimum-Maximum was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2006.

Coinciding with his fiftieth birthday, The View From Halfway Down signals a brand new chapter for Andy Bell thirty odd years into his career. The product of a gradual, four-year process and finished during lockdown, the album was entirely written and recorded by Andy, engineered by Gem Archer and mastered by Heba Kadry.

That's the Way I Like It: The Best of Dead or Alive collects 18 tracks from the androgynous British dance-pop outfit responsible for one of the '80’s most enduring club hits, “You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)”. Other highlights include a cover of KC & the Sunshine Band's disco classic "That's the Way (I Like It)," “Lover Come Back to Me," "In Too Deep," "My Heart Goes Bang,” and 1986's "Brand New Lover,” as well as the four extended/alternate mixes that populate the collections’ second half. Remastered from the original studio tapes, the anthology may not be exhaustive, but it’s solid enough for casual fans, and engaging enough to recommend to listeners with the false notion that Dead or Alive was a mere one-hit wonder.

The Style Council's albums were always weighed down by their far-reaching musical ambitions, which meant that their ideas were usually best heard on their singles. And while this period of Paul Weller's career has been criticized heavily, he wrote several excellent songs during the Style Council, most of which are featured on the fine compilation The Singular Adventures of the Style Council. Not all of the 16 songs are first-rate, as it begins to lose steam toward the end of the band's life, but "My Ever Changing Moods," "You're the Best Thing," "Long Hot Summer," "Shout to the Top!," "A Solid Bond in Your Heart," "Money Go Round," "Walls Come Tumbling Down," and "Speak Like a Child" are terrific, and make the collection worthwhile for fans of the Jam and Weller's solo career, as well as fans of New Romantic new wave and jazzy sophisti-pop.