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So80s are a series of compilation albums curated by deejay/production duo Blank & Jones featuring 1980s music. They were released on CD and some in digital formats from 2009 to 2019 and included 24 albums. [1]
Frustrated with finding '80s 12" mixes on CDs, Black and Jones set out on a mission to release '80s 12" compilations of their favourite tunes. [1]
The series had 13 compilation volumes (1-13) of various artists, 2 more compilations of various artists, including So80s presents Formel Eins, So80s Presents ZTT [2] and 10 compilations dedicated to specific artists, including Kajagoogoo, [3] Ultravox, Heaven 17, Billy Idol, Culture Club, Falco, [4] Sandra, [5] Alphaville, [6] [7] [8] [9] Hubert Kah and OMD. [10]
Some of the albums are only sold from the Black and Jones website. In 2016, the physical issues of the first 5 volumes were discontinued as their licenses expired. However, the first 4 volumes are available only in digital format via EMI, which have only EMI artists.
In 2016, a limited edition box set featuring volumes 1-10 was also released. [11]
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed on the Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of founding duo and principal songwriters Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, along with Martin Cooper and Stuart Kershaw (drums). Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming key figures in the emergence of synth-pop; McCluskey and Humphreys also introduced the "synth duo" format to British popular music. In the United States, the band were an early presence in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion.
Art of Noise were a British avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and music journalist Paul Morley. The group had international Top 20 hits with its interpretations of "Kiss", featuring Tom Jones, and the instrumental "Peter Gunn", which won a 1986 Grammy Award.
Kajagoogoo were an English pop band. They are best known for their 1983 hit single "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, and the top 10 in numerous other countries.
Big in Japan were a punk band that emerged from Liverpool, England in the late 1970s. They are better known for the later successes of their band members than for their own music.
Forever Young is the debut studio album by German synth-pop band Alphaville. It was released on 27 September 1984 by Warner Music Group. Four singles supported the album: "Big in Japan", "Sounds Like a Melody", "Forever Young", and "Jet Set". The album charted well, hitting the top 20 in six European countries and reaching number 1 in Norway and Sweden. Alphaville followed up with their second album in 1986 with the release of Afternoons in Utopia.
Claudia Brücken is a German singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist of the synth-pop band Propaganda.
Metamatic is the debut solo album by John Foxx, released in 1980. It was his first solo project following his split with Ultravox the previous year. A departure from the mix of synthesizers and conventional rock instrumentation on that band's work, Metamatic was purely electronic in sound. The name 'Metamatic' comes from a painting machine by kinetic artist Jean Tinguely, first exhibited at the Paris Biennial in 1959. The album peaked at #18 on the UK Albums Chart.
The Breathtaking Blue is the third album by German synth-pop band Alphaville, released in April 1989. A companion video, Songlines, was released in September 1989. The CD release of this album was one of the first commercial CD+G format discs. Alphaville released three singles from the album, "Romeos", "Summer Rain" and "Mysteries of Love", the first of which charted internationally.
Blank & Jones are a German electronic music group, consisting of Jan Pieter Blank, known as Piet Blank; René Runge, better known as DJ Jaspa Jones; and the producer Andy Kaufhold (N*D*K). They have released twelve albums and more than two dozen singles since their first single release "Sunrise" in 1997.
"Enola Gay" is an anti-war song by the English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), and the only single taken from their second studio album Organisation (1980). Written by lead vocalist and bassist Andy McCluskey, it addresses the atomic bombing of Hiroshima by the aircraft Enola Gay on 6 August 1945, toward the conclusion of World War II. As is typical of early OMD singles, the song features a melodic synthesizer break instead of a sung chorus.
"Sounds Like a Melody" is a song by German band Alphaville, released on May 14, 1984 as the second single from their debut album Forever Young.
Vienna is the fourth studio album by British new wave band Ultravox, first released on 11 July 1980 through Chrysalis Records. Vienna was Ultravox's first album with their best-known line-up, after Midge Ure had taken over as lead vocalist and guitarist following the departures of John Foxx and Robin Simon, as well as the group's first release for Chrysalis. The album peaked at number 3 in the UK Albums Chart and reached the top ten in Australia, New Zealand and several European countries.
"Big in Japan" is the debut single of German synth-pop band Alphaville, from their 1984 album Forever Young.
"Talking Loud and Clear" is a song by English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released on 4 June 1984 as the second single from their fifth studio album Junk Culture (1984). The single was a European hit, reaching the Top 10 in Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, and No. 11 in the UK. It also charted at No. 18 in Germany. The song was edited for its 7" single release.
"Tesla Girls" is a song by the English electronic band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD), released as the third single from their fifth studio album, Junk Culture (1984). It peaked at No. 21 in the UK and Ireland, and No. 8 on the Dutch Top 40. Although only moderately successful on the charts, it became one of the group's biggest club hits.
Universal Daddy is the sixth single by Alphaville, and their second from their album Afternoons in Utopia. It was released only in Europe.
Red Rose is the fifth and final single from Alphaville's 1986 album, Afternoons in Utopia. It was released in April 1987, and is their ninth single overall.
John Foxx and the Maths is a musical project featuring electronic music pioneer John Foxx, Benge and more recently Hannah Peel. The group specialises in the use of analogue synthesizers and drum machines. It was initially a studio based project working from Benge's studio in Shoreditch, London but has also engaged in live work.
So80s presents Alphaville is a compilation album for the band Alphaville, released in October 2014. The release includes all of their original 12-inch 1980's maxi-singles and their respective B-sides, many for the first time on CD in their original form.
Ian Peel is a British music journalist. He is founder of the magazines Classic Pop and Long Live Vinyl and is a writer with special interests in Eighties pop music, ZTT Records, and Paul McCartney's experimental works.