Jase on Compilations/Soundtracks

For the Masses tribute album

Depeche Mode tribute albums are a dime a dozen. So why did this 1998 release receive so much attention? Because you've probably actually heard of some of the bands here! (Most DM tributes are by struggling garage bands.) Unfortunately, this tribute didn't really do a lot for me. It was interesting to listen to a few times, but I don't find myself listening to it that much anymore.

My brother pointed out this note of the Locus version of "Master and Servant": They decided to do it as a duet, but exchanging the lines "With you on top" and "And me underneath" makes absolutely no sense at all.

Friends sountrack

I bought this soundtrack primarily for the Hootie & The Blowfish tune. "Good Intentions" is another good track. The R.E.M. offering "It's a Free World Baby" isn't bad for a raw track. Yes, "In My Room" is a remake of the popular Beach Boys song. The songs are interrupted by audio clips from the TV show, which fans will enjoy.

Batman Forever sountrack

I bought this soundtrack for U2's "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me", one of 1995's best releases. I like Seal's "Kiss From a Rose", but it was overplayed on the radio. The Offspring's version of "Smash It Up" doesn't add much to the original version by The Damned. (Actually, I prefer the Damned version.) Other interesting standouts on this album include "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game", featuring vocals by Eveything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn, and "The Passenger" by the late Michael Hutchence of INXS.

The Living in Oblivion series is subtitled "The 80s Greatest Hits". A more appropriate subtitle might be "Some Songs That Were Somewhat Popular in the 80s and a Bunch of Other Songs For Which EMI Owns the Rights". This series could easily be condensed into two discs. I listened to the radio a lot in the 80s, but I haven't even heard a lot of these songs. The gem on this disc is "Major Tom" - a sort of continuation of David Bowie's "Space Oddity". "Enola Gay" and "Promises, Promises" are also good tracks, but I already have those elsewhere. Included here is the insufferable "I Wanna Be a Cowboy".

Volume Four of the series is probably the best, with classic 80s tunes "Dance Hall Days", "True", and the fantastically catchy "Come On Eileen". Other standouts are "Under the Milky Way", "One Thing Leads to Another", and "Go".

If you're going to buy any of these discs, buy volumes three and four. While they have their fair share of unheard tracks, they both have some legitimate hits from the 80s. Here we get some good ones including "Life in a Northern Town", "Shattered Dreams", and "Sunglasses at Night".

Living in Oblivion - The 80s Greatest Hits Volume Two

Volume Two features some memorable (albeit cheesy) tunes like "Mickey", "Walking on Sunshine", and "Never Ending Story".

Living in Oblivion - The 80s Greatest Hits Volume One

Volume One is another disc with a fair balance of tunes you've probably heard and a bunch of crap. I still get a kick out of "19", one of the first mainstream "industrial" songs.

Forrest Gump soundtrack

Listening to the soundtrack of this popular movie isn't as fun as listening to the songs in the movie. The songs are somehow more enjoyable to listen to in short little clips while watching Tom Hanks making comments about life and chocolates. I do like hearing the Joan Baez version of "Blowin' in the Wind", which, along with "Rainy Day Women", was written by Bob Dylan.

Cool World soundtrack

I have never seen this movie, and I probably won't. I bought the soundtrack for Electronic's wonderful "Disappointed". It's a pretty good disc, with good cuts by David Bowie, Thompson Twins, and Ministry. "Papua New Guinea" is a cool instrumental featuring the bassline from Meat Beat Manifesto's "Radio Babylon" sampled in.

This is one of those promo discs that record companies put out for the record stores to play on the intercom. I picked it up at a used record store. (I guess they didn't want to play it on the intercom.) I'm not really sure why I bought it. There are a few interesting ones here, like The Mighty Lemon Drops' "Unkind".

Here's another promo disc. I picked this one up for the single mix of Electronic's "Get the Message" and the live version of "No One's Leaving" by Jane's Addiction. I was most impressed by "The Other Side of Summer" by Elvis Costello, however.

Mute Records released this compilation in 1991 when most of its signed artists were hitting it big. This is the European version of the compilation; the U.S. version omitted the Depeche Mode, Erasure, and Nitzer Ebb tracks, since they were singned to a different label (Sire) in the U.S. (The U.S. version did include a Meat Beat Manifesto track on it, though.) I bought this import because it was mis-priced at the record store; they actually had it tagged as cheaper than the domestic version. The disc was worth it just for the live version of "Push Me Shove Me" by Erasure.

I have never seen the musical version of Les Misérables. I bought this album in France to help improve my language skills. The lyrics are very colorful, and so my French improved quite a bit... You have to be careful if you want to get the French version of Les Misérables, because two versions exist. The version that is the easiest to find has a white cover; this is the original version. After the original musical suffered from low sales, the songs were re-written. The re-written songs are the ones on which the English version is based. The version I have has a blue cover and features the re-written songs.

Until the End of the World soundtrack

I haven't seen this movie either. I picked up this soundtrack for Depeche Mode's "Death's Door". "Fretless" by R.E.M. is pretty good, too.

The songs on this disc are broken up by spoken-word segues, some which are funny (Jello Biafra, Timothy Leary), some of which are stupid (Hunter Thompson, Bob Guccione, Jr.). This disc has a couple good tracks, such as "I'll be Your Chauffer" by David J (of Bauhaus), another mix of "Slave" by Revenge, and "Faster Than Light" by Ministry spin-off Lead Into Gold.

This disc has a couple of good ones: "She Says" by Rave-Ups and "Pineapple Face" by Revenge.

Listening to this disc takes me back to that first year I spent in college. It's just like listening to the radio back then.

Just Say Da (Volume IV of Just Say Yes)

This is the fourth installment of Sire Records' cheap promo discs. This is a pretty good one, too. Besides the Depeche Mode and Erasure remixes, there are some good songs by Debbie Harry (of Blondie) and Danielle Dax. "When the Beatles Hit America" is an amusing "what if" song about a Fab Four reunion.

Here's Columbia Records' "alternative" promo offering. The most interesting track here is the Big Audio Dynamite b-side "If I Were John Carpenter", which features several samples from the Megatop Phoenix album.

I'm trying to remember why I bought this one. I do like "Someplace" by Duncan Dhu, and some of the others are interesting.

Just Say Mao (Volume III of Just Say Yes)

Here's another Sire compilation. The gem here is "Pistol" by Eraure, which was previously unreleased in the U.S.

Just Say Yo (Volume 2 of Just Say Yes)

This is the first CD I ever owned. I had commented to my sister on seeing it in the newspaper, but it was only available on CD. I didn't have a CD player yet. (Remember at this time that they were a fairly new thing!) Well, my sister bought it for me for Christmas, but I still didn't have a CD player. Nobody got that for me. I remember being fascinated by how shiny it was, and I was really careful not to get any fingerprints on it - not even on the top (I didn't know how they worked back then). Anyway, the disc is good for the full version of "Will Never Marry" by Morrissey and the Depeche Mode mega-mix. I think "Bacchanal Lady" is good, too.

Just Say Yes

Here's the original Sire compilation that spawned a bunch of stupidly-titled sequels. This is actually a really good disc, with a rare track by The Smiths and "Cherokee Chief" by Jerry Harrison (of Talking Heads) under the "Casual Gods" name.

Flashdance soundtrack

Well, this is my wife's CD, but I do have to admit to owning a copy of the tape a long time ago. What were we thinking in the 80s?

The Sting soundtrack

This disc is a good showcase of Ragtime pianist Scott Joplin's work. I grew up listening to my mom play Joplin on the piano. It's still my favorite kind of piano music.

American Graffiti soundtrack

Here's another one of my wife's discs. She's really into 50s music. I can listen to it for a while, but after that I feel like I'm in a "Happy Days" episode.