Hardest Hits, Vol. 4

Audio Mixer: Mel Simpson.
Audio Remixers: Neil Kernon; Richard James Burgess.
Liner Note Author: Dave Myrvold.
Arranger: Colin Thurston.
The fourth volume of Hardest Hits (an '80s series released by the SPG label in the U.K.) is a little heavier on the earliest years of the decade when compared to the other volumes in the series, featuring a handful of strong, heavily synthesized, dance-oriented singles that represent the decade as well as any others -- namely Duran Duran's "Planet Earth" (in its extended, superior "Night Version" format), Heaven 17's "Let Me Go," and Japan's "Life in Tokyo" (produced by Giorgio Moroder). Again, a few inclusions -- the Nails' "88 Lines About 44 Women" and the Flying Lizards' "Money" in particular -- should trigger memories from people who came of age in the '80s. Other tracks here: Robert Hazard's "Escalator of Life," Hitlist's "Into the Fire," Assembly's "Never Never," Furniture's "Brilliant Mind." ~ Andy Kellman