Travelling back through sound II

The series that never seems to stop continues on from where we left back in February  with a new volume issued on Friday that sees us going further back in time and no doubt the extra edition shortly afterwards.

Anyone who was around in 1981 knows this was one of the finest ever years for popular music and specifically the top twenty singles chart with many new and exciting sounds from new artists on a weekly basis even if in truth some of their influences had been about a year or so before.

The year was also different from the point of view that music videos to hit recordings while existing for a couple of years before really took off with long form arty productions from both newer acts such as Duran Duran and Adam and The Ants to evergreen chart fixtures such as Cliff Richard with his very topical Wired For Sound .

We were wired for sound as the Walkman, the portable headphone based tape player introduced in late 1979 really took off with cheaper versions so many of us walked and roller skated to portable stereo sound of our own choosing.

That's why this set is so much a must having either in the deluxe with booklet form or the slightly cheaper all card four cd set.

Back then we bought our copies of Chart Hits '81 and other albums on Ronco and K Tel that came out around every three months or so filled with hits but with compromised sonics and edits get it all in and increasingly they were on tape too.

This is five lp records worth of hits that cover everything from songs from stage shows such as Cats with Memory, Ska from The Specials with Ghost Town, the electronic New Wave sounds of the Human League with Don't You Want Me, Rockabilly revival with Shakin' Stevens with Green Door and Rock This Town by the Stray Cats and Soul from the Four Tops and Smokey Robinson.

The world of hard rock was represented by Rainbow, the band lead by Richie Blackmore with I Surrender and the combination of Motorhead with Girls School with a remake of the Johnny Kid and the Pirates number Please Don't Touch while such staples of previous years such as the Electric Light Orchestra  with Hold On Tight, The Pretenders with the Ray Davies song I Go To Sleep and The Jam with That's Entertainment also feature.

Today this is the most complete anthology of the whole of that years amazing mixture of sounds we heard on Radio One and on Top Of The Pops

July 1st saw the release of Extra, the now familiar package of an extra three discs worth of hits that is part of this series bonus touches expanding the scope of the initial selection with some less obvious choices.

This adds tracks like the original single of My Own way by Duran Duran rather than the remake for the Rio album this group have effectively disowned, Me And Mr Sanchez by the much talked about but ultimately not the the next big thing Blue Rondo A La Turk, the forgotten The Elephant's Graveyard by the Boomtown Rats, Ant Rap, the last hurrah of Adam And The Ants before they split and a good selection of classy soul from Diana Ross and Randy Crawford amongst others.

Not so classy but unavoidable stuff included the Birdie Song by the appropriately named The Tweets popular with the under tens and  number of not so popular at the time tracks that remind me of the KTel and Ronco albums which had a few like Tears For Fears's Suffer The Children and Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield, a massive US hit that did nothing here as much as I loved it and the brilliant Joan Of Arc by OMD that did well and Barry Manilow's Bermuda Triangle that was a "guilty secret" by a guy who is a brilliant performer.

So we round of 1981, a magnificent year in pop but, pop pickers, what will be the next year to get the Now Yearbook treatment?