VA - Platinum 80s (3 CD) (2020)

Sometimes only 80s music will do and when you reach for that CD for the car or at home, don’t you wish you had one that was packed with 100 Percent mega-hits, from the elegant ballads to the all-time sing-a-long favourites? Well… YOU CAN.

Released on November 13th - we are delighted to present ‘PLATINUM 80s’

Queen’s ‘A Kind Of Magic’ gets this party started, followed by the #1 combination of Philip Bailey and Phil Collins on ‘Easy Lover’. Two of the biggest ballads EVER are up next from ABBA with ’The Winner Takes It All’ and Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’.

80s music is as popular today as ever and the next run of songs will defy you to not sing (or shout!) along to… ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life’ from ‘Dirty Dancing’, ‘Islands In The Stream’ and ‘Footloose’. The 80s produced a huge number of young artists whose hits made them household names and the rest of this first disc is a salute to them: Bananarama, Kim Wilde, Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, Japan and Belinda Carlisle are all here alongside massive hits from The Human League with ‘Don’t You Want Me’, Soft Cell’s ’Tainted Love’, Dead Or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round’, Heaven 17 with ’Temptation’, Visage and ‘Fade To Grey’, Culture Club’s ‘Karma Chameleon’ and the 9-week #1 from Frankie Goes To Hollywood, ’Two Tribes’. The disc draws to a close with ‘Jealous Guy’, the beautiful tribute to John Lennon by Roxy Music.

One of the most shocking and saddest events of 1980 was the murder of John Lennon and Disc Two opens with his posthumous #1 ‘(Just Like) Starting Over’ followed by four of the biggest radio hits of the decade: Billy Joel’s retro classic ‘Uptown Girl’, Elton John’s inspirational ‘I’m Still Standing’, Electric Light Orchestra’s thrilling ‘Hold On Tight’ and Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’ - the lead track from his genre defying ‘Graceland’ album. Then we present a run of softer rock classics from Simple Minds, Pat Benatar and Kim Carnes with karaoke favourites including Bonnie Tyler’s ’Total Eclipse Of The Heart’, Toto’s magnificent ‘Africa’ and Cher’s anthem ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’.

Time to switch gears to a couple of #1 ballads from T’Pau and Paul Young and the fantastic combination of UB40 and Chrissie Hynde on ‘I Got You Babe’, before some of the best dance music of the decade takes us to end of this disc: Disco and electro essentials from Blondie with ‘Rapture’, Joe Jackson and Malcolm McLaren lead into the smoothest grooves from Womack and Womack (’Teardrops’), The S.O.S. Band (‘Just Be Good To Me’) and closing with the still fresh ‘Back To Life’ from Soul II Soul.

Platinum 80s is no filler, all ‘Thriller’… literally… as Disc Three kicks off with Michael Jackson’s title track to the biggest selling album of all time and then into ‘Ghostbusters’ from Ray Parker Jr. If you’re not singing & dancing yet, you soon will be as the next five tracks are pure joyful floor-fillers by Billy Ocean, Donna Summer and Five Star along with Diana Ross’s Chic-produced ‘Upside Down’ and Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)’.

A reason that 80s music is still so popular and relevant is in its timeless celebration of pure pop so join the party with Cyndi Lauper, Haircut 100, ABC with Matthew Wilder’s ‘Break My Stride’, Adam and The Ants’ ‘Stand And Deliver’ and the party anthem ‘Come On Eileen’ from Dexy’s Midnight Runners. It was also the decade where new wave bands started to achieve mainstream chart success and the best of those (The Clash, The Jam, Siouxsie And The Banshees and The Cure) are all featured here.

We wrap things up with three of the ideal synth-pop hits of the decade that will have you singing along to the very final word - Tears For Fears’ massive ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ and Nik Kershaw’s unforgettable ‘The Riddle’ are completed by, perhaps, the ultimate 80s track – ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ by Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey.

60 Truly Timeless Classics including 22 UK Chart #1 Hit Singles. A fantastic gift for someone else or to yourself… PLATINUM 80s.