Now Playing ( NON film / game / tv scores ) - Part ~~~~~

My collection of about 250 pop songs of the 80s at random. Essentially the content of my mix tapes back then.

Seeing my love for the period, I felt like playing something with its feet set firmly in the Eighties, but actually a album from 2011.

DURAN DURAN - All You Need Is Now

This is excellent !!!

WOJCIECH KILAR : KRZESANY - ANGELUS - EXODUS - VICTORIA

From the album Choral and Orchestral Works released by NAXOS.

'Angelus' and 'Exodus' clock in at 47 minutes combined and are two of the most amazing compositions I have ever heard. I can't even imagine how my life would be had I not known of their existence. 'Angelus' is the most emotional and features an opera-style female vocal and choir, but with a very hypnotic melody backing it up, as only Kilar could do so well. 'Exodus' is a bolero-like onslaught of orchestral power, building in intensity until its magnificent climax. It's truly mind-blowing how these two lengthy pieces never lose momentum or my attention.

The only smilie that exists to explain the power of this music is the one with the headbanging dude, but in such a gigantic size that it would crash this forum in an instant, and possibly cause the server to explode. So I won't post that smilie here, but you get the idea.

I thank the T-man for bringing this fantastic CD to my attention.

2nd Naxos Kilar album? Enlighten me !

Also, I gifted the CD to my dad, who's a huge classical nut, and he's very impressed with it. He normally doesn't think too highly of film composers, apart from maestro Williams. But this one was right up his alley.

This one Gilles...

http://cdn.naxos.com/SharedFiles/images … 557813.gif

Well worth having if secondary to the first Naxos release. Should still be easy to get.

I can't recommend this CD enough
Tom

No worries Gilles, big orchestra on both.

I dig solo piano stuff myself, and have actually been on the lookout for great solo piano albums -- whether classical or film -- for some time now (I obviously have some already, the most recent being Patrick Doyle's piano album from last year).

NP : OCEAN RAIN - Echo and The Bunnymen



Great album, here's my favourite track, very filmic and superbly orchestrated.

Who said the 80's had crap music?

Doomy gloomy angsty indie. Urgh!



I DID!

...but fair enough. To measure is to know!
So, I check my playlists, and as I'm organised (yes, I know there are other probably more apt psychological labels for this as well) enough to actually have created popular music playlists by decade, I can immediately tell you what my favourite and least favourite decades are musically.

1950s - 113 songs
1960s - 344 songs
1970s - 167 songs
1980s - 195 songs
1990s - 137 songs
2000s - 141 songs
2010s - 118 songs

Not surprisingly the sixties jump WAY out.
Well, it WAS a decade or musical renaissance and renovation, so no shocker to me.

And then it turns out the Eighties are actually my second favourite!!
I can probably guess why it's still lodged in my mind as a terrible decade for music: it's the size of the gap between good and bad. When eighties music is bad, it is really, REALLY terrible: awful production values with streamlined synth sounds, cold electronic drums and synthetic bass lines. When it's good, I apparently REALLY like it. But as the depths are still SO low, it's still not a "good decade" in my mind (apparently quite unjustifiedly so ).

What surprises me massively though is the low amount of songs in my 1950s playlist!
I absolutely LOVE old-time rock 'n' roll!
(I can only guess it's because at the end of the day a lot (and I mean a LOT) of classic rock 'n'roll really DOES sound the same).

Martijn, is it easy for you to display your lists? I'd love to see it.

Back when I grew up I instantly fell in love with music in various forms, but the first form was the pop music of the day, the catchy tunes with flashy videos that dominated MTV. Most of the hits of that decade (and the more obscure one hit wonders) can still entertain me, and I can listen to them regularly. And back then one artist was absolutely everywhere, I'm talking about the King of Pop. His music remains timeless and he is, for me, what made the 80s the defining decade. Of course there's so much more than him, but he was at the top of the world in those days, and no force could dethrone him, but that would ultimately happen in the decade after. Or maybe I'm just glorifying him, because he's done so much that I've loved ever since.

It's funny because back then, when I was just getting to understand how a song was constructed and couldn't barely pronounce english, I took all that music for granted, it was only much later that I really found appreciation for the artistry and genius of his songs and performances.

Since the 80s I've seriously broadened my horizons and to think I've discovered a band as important as Pink Floyd two years ago, astounds me.

Okay, I don't have Spotify and I really want to see those lists.

Please export it to a format of a document that is compatible with the software that does the decoding necessary to crack the mystery which has now taken hold of me. My fate depends on it.

This should take no more than 3 and a half minutes ** of your time.










** Rough estimation

So here is my 80s playlist for anyone interested. I created the file using the Snipping Tool and IrfanView.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3j1j1ykxzn1j … r.jpg?dl=0

Volker