Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80's, Vol. 11 (CD - 1995)

Includes liner notes by Andy Zax.

Liner Note Author: Andy Zax.

The 11th volume of Just Can't Get Enough: New Wave Hits of the 80's is the beginning of the third and final volume of the series, and here, they start to wrap things up rather quickly. That means that they begin favoring hits instead of obscurities which, all things considered, is hardly a bad thing. In fact, the collections become more listenable after this point, largely because they have a number of big songs in their arsenals. But it just isn't a matter of hits -- even the lesser songs are excellent examples of what made new wave great. Still, it's nice to have a preponderance of great songs, and here, they devote a lot of space to fantastic crossover singles. There's Big Country's "In a Big Country," JoBoxer's "Just Got Lucky," the Flirts' "Jukebox (Don't Put Another Dime)," the Romantics' "Talking in Your Sleep," Fun Boy Three's ominous "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum," Haysi Fantayzee's frivolous "Shiny Shiny," Squeeze's "Black Coffee in Bed," and Real Life's eerie "Send Me an Angel." Then, there are two of the greatest singles of all time, the Fixx's tense, winding "One Thing Leads to Another" and "True," a stylish ballad by Spandau Ballet that might not say anything in particular, but says miles and miles in terms of its sound and attitude. All this results in a disc that might not be the best in the series (there is some considerable filler, after all), but it stil feels that way, given the strength of the featured hits. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine minimize