80s Compilations: Living In Oblivion Volume 5

i love the 80s, but sometimes all of the songs i remember (and some good ones i don't) are hard to find. Enter the compilation album. Unlike many references i have seen online, i'm one of the few people who actually bought them new for over $9. i think i found these mostly at Camelot Music in the mall (mid 1990s). 

The last release in the Living in Oblivion series from EMI Records. There was a rumored Volume 6 that never was released. This series is a little tilted toward UK groups.

Tracklist:

• Major Tom (Coming Home) - Tom Schilling
• Hyperactive - Thomas Dolby
• Promises, Promises - Naked Eyes
• The Promise - When In Rome
• Vienna - Ultravox
• Enola Gay - Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD)
• King in a Catholic Style (Wake Up) - China Crisis
• Steady - Jules Shear
• Our Lips are Sealed - Fun Boy Three
• Pleasure and Pain - Divinyls
• Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) - The Icicle Works
• The Honeythief - Hipsway
• Souvenir - Rubber Rodeo
• I Wanna Be A Cowboy - Boys Don't Cry
• The Captain of Her Heart - Double
• When Your Heart is Weak - Cock Robbin
• Love Changes (Everything) - Climie Fisher
• More Than Physical - Bananarama
• Vanity Kills - ABC
• We Close Out Eyes - Go West 

Commentary:

No top 10 US hits, but to me, the best all-around album in the series. 6 top 20 songs. i should have remembered more of these.

Vaguely Remembered:

"Promises, Promises", "Our Lips are Sealed" not this version though, "I Wanna Be a Cowboy", "The Captain of Her Heart" - one of the songs i wanted for a while, but didn't know the artist.

Didn't Remember but was ok with:

"Major Tom", "The Promise", "Vienna", "Enola Gay" (a love song to the plane that dropped a nuclear bomb on Japan), "King in a Catholic Style", "Steady", "Pleasure and Pain", "Birds Fly", "The Honeythief", "Souvenir", "When Your Heart is Weak", Love Changes (Everything", "More than Physical", "Vanity Kills", "We Close Our Eyes" (knew 1990s "King of Wishful Thinking")

Not a Huge Fan of:

"Hyperactive" 

Albums Bought:

• Naked Eyes - Promises, Promises (Greatest Hits)
• Climie Fisher - Climie Fisher - no longer have
• ABC - Greatest Hits - no longer have
• Bananarama - Greatest Hits
• Go West - Aces and Kings (Greatest Hits)

At one point, i had around 400 CDs. Moves, subsequent garage sales, and selling them to places like Half Priced books resulted in a significant reduction in the number of CDs i owned. Now i find myself rebuying some of them occasionally. Some i sold because i got greatest hits, or their best songs were on compilations.

Fun Fact: i have Rick Astley albums (non-greatest hits).