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| Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground | 
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| Artist: Various Artists
Label: Rhino / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $64.98
Buy New: $40.28
You Save: $24.70 (38%)
New (33) Used (17) Collectible (2) from $31.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 8793
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 12.3 x 6.3 x 1.6
MPN: 76490
UPC: 081227649029
EAN: 0081227649029
ASIN: B0002XL2X4
Release Date: October 12, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New sealed stock. Immediate shipment
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | Radio Free Europe - Berry, Bill [2] | | • | Going Underground - Weller, Paul | | • | A Forest - Gallup, Simon | | • | Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys | | • | I'm in Love With a German Film Star - Passions | | • | I Will Dare - Westerberg, Paul | | • | That's When I Reach for My Revolver - Conley, Clint | | • | Johnny Hit and Run Pauline - Cervenka, Exene | | • | Just Like Honey - Reid, William | | • | Black Celebration - Gore, Martin | | • | Tell Me When It's Over - Wynn, Steve | | • | Hollywood (Africa) - Meters | | • | Temptation - New Order | | • | Ghosts - Sylvian, David | | • | A Song from Under the Floorboards - Magazine | | • | Oblivious - Frame, Roddy | | • | Don't Want to Know If You're Lonely - Hart, Grant | | • | Rise Above - Ginn, Greg | | • | Back in Flesh - Wall Of Voodoo | | • | Cattle and Cane - Forster, Robert |
Disc 2
| • | Message of Love - Hynde, Chrissie | | • | Vienna - Ultravox | | • | Freak Scene - Mascis, J. | | • | This Charming Man - Morrissey | | • | Stigmata - Ministry | | • | Ways to Be Wicked - Petty, Tom | | • | Wardance - Coleman, Jaz | | • | Enola Gay - McCluskey, Andy | | • | Mirror in the Bathroom - English Beat | | • | Fairytale in the Supermarket - Raincoats | | • | Behind the Wall of Sleep - DiNizio, Pat | | • | Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing - Watt, Mike | | • | Punk Rock Girl - Dead Mllkmen | | • | Still in Hollywood - Napolitano, Johnett | | • | Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division | | • | Blister in the Sun - Gano, Gordon | | • | Lake of Fire - Kirkwood, Curt | | • | Amplifier - Holsapple, Peter | | • | When Love Breaks Down - McAloon, Paddy | | • | Goo Goo Muck - Cook, Ronnie | | • | This Corrosion - Eldritch, Andrew | | • | Senses Working Overtime - Partridge, Andy |
Disc 3
| • | The Cutter - Sergeant, Will | | • | Pay to Cum - Bad Brains | | • | Birthday - Sugarcubes | | • | Madonna of the Wasps - Hitchcock, Robyn | | • | We Care a Lot - Faith No More | | • | Teen Age Riot - Sonic Youth | | • | To Hell With Poverty - Gang Of Four | | • | Fa Ce-La - Mercer, Glenn | | • | Ana Ng - Flansburgh, John | | • | Swamp Thing - Burgess, Mark | | • | The Mercy Seat - Cave, Nick | | • | I Look Around - Roback, David | | • | All That Money Wants - Psychedelic Furs | | • | Under the Milky Way - Kilbey, Steve | | • | Rise - Lydon, John | | • | Kundalini Express - J., David | | • | Gravity Talks - Stuart, Dan | | • | Adrenalin - Throbbing Gristle | | • | She Bangs the Drums - Squire, John |
Disc 4
| • | Monkey Gone to Heaven - Francis, Black | | • | Uncertain Smile - Johnson, Matt | | • | Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus | | • | Christine - Sioux, Siouxsie | | • | Straight Edge - Minor Threat | | • | I Want to Help You Ann - Conolly, Jeff | | • | Our Secret - Johnson, Calvin | | • | Jane Says - Farrell, Perry | | • | World Shut Your Mouth - Cope, Julian | | • | Running Up That Hill - Bush, Kate | | • | Sex Beat - Pierce, Jeffrey Lee | | • | Take the Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethove | | • | Institutionalized - Muir, Mike | | • | Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops - Cocteau Twins | | • | 24 Hour Party People - Happy Mondays | | • | I Want You Back - Faulkner, David | | • | Surburban Home - Lombardo, Tony | | • | A Pair of Brown Eyes - MacGowan, Shane | | • | Jet Fighter - Quercio, Michael | | • | Moving to Florida - Butthole Surfers | | • | A New England - Bragg, Billy |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
As a sequel to 2004's similarly packaged Rhino box No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion, this four-disc set tackles the punk/indie/modern rock of the 80s with equal panache. Subtitled "Dispatches from the 80s Underground," these 82 non-chronological tracks play like a great college station from the later part of the decade. Encompassing a dizzyingly diverse musical palate, styles range from the artsy Southern twang of R.E.M., to the sugary pop of Aztec Camera, the blistering hardcore of Black Flag, the ghostly techno of Japan and the chilly, noir dance floor attack of New Order. And that's just on disc one. Sure, there are some omissions, but the box does a remarkable job balancing more popular acts such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Cure and Echo & the Bunnymenwith cult faves like Green On Red and obscurities from the Lyres and the Three O'Clock . Even those who were radio fanatics during these years will likely find tracks they aren't familiar with, along with getting a flashback rush from those they are. A colorful 64 page book provides track-by-track background information as well as a handful of essays about the decade that approach the music from different perspectives. There are no public service announcements or aspiring DJ's to interrupt the flow and the remastered sound brings the music to life with crispness low powered FM radio could never rival. --Hal Horowitz
Album Description
In his notes for this passionately compiled box, producer Gary Stewart writes, "the diversity from the late-70s punk/new wave scene turned into a full-blown, variety-fueled, genre-busting orgy in the '80s...The music became, in the best sense of the words, more complex, more literate, a bit more serious, and as a result, made astrong impact on mainsteam rock culture." From funk punk to revisionist roots rock to hard-core to smart-ass clever pop-and every musical nook and cranny in-between-Left of the Dial presents many of the '80s' most important tracks. Savor the far more influential flip side of the "Where's the Beef?" decade's musical output!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 27 more reviews...
 My 20s relived... ignore the nitpickers December 26, 2004
53 out of 57 found this review helpful
Every single song on this collection, all 82, are happy memories of a time before "alternative" hadn't been coopted by MTV and a raw spirit of experimentation and musical excitement was possible amid a sea of mainstream radio dross. Inspired choices abound, along with some that are obvious but also essential in a round-up of this era. I'm worried that I'm becoming trapped in my youth for listening to music, but it's so rare for me to hear new music that has this energy and drive.
Complain all you like about Joy Division being represented by "Love Will Tear Us Apart," that song was emblematic of it's time and essential for inclusion here. So are many others.
There will always be nitpickers who don't appreciate what they've got. Sure, there are things I would have included, and anyone familiar with this era can play armchair record producer. But what the producers have done here is such a joy all around that you hope they simply plan to do a Volume 2 to include more of this material.
Oh, and to the confused fellow who somehow believes that the "Left" in the title refers to a political leaning: You really seem so driven by a political motivation that you simply ignore the origin of the title. This is college radio stuff. College radio stations almost always sit in the FM high 80s through low 90s. On the left of your dial. If some of the material on this collection is of a liberal leaning, that's because the right gives them so much to be disgusted by. But the name originates elsewhere.
 say what? October 28, 2004
13 out of 47 found this review helpful
I haven't purchased this cd or listened to it. I'm commenting on the track listing here on Amazon. Who provides these track listings?
The Dead Kennedys had a song called "Holdiay in China"?
Why do so many of those songs in the track listing not even mention the artist who performed the song?
I was interested in this set when I first heard the title, but this very shoddy track listing has scared me away from making a purchase.
 Good alternative history lesson November 2, 2004
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
I will probably wind up purchasing this box set because to me it represents a lot of the post-punk era's best work, but it might be too scattered for a lot of people. Great box sets like No Thanks! and Nuggets have unifying musical themes. The closest Left of the Dial has to a theme is that these artists weren't Madonna or Michael Jackson or any of the other zillion-selling money machines of the 80's.
And that's great, but unless you actually like both the Bad Brains and the Cocteau Twins, or Kate Bush and the Cramps, or the Go-Betweens and the Dead Kennedys, this collection might be too artistically unfocused. But if you want to get a good overview of what eventually came to be known as "alternative" because we ran out of other things to call it, there are a lot of classic tracks here that no discriminating record collection should be without. And yes, as one reviewer pointed out, it seems as though there must be a law requiring "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division in every box set this side of Pat Boone, but it is just about the greatest song ever written. I'd like to have seen the Fall, Wire and Cabaret Voltaire included and I can't understand how Prefab Sprout wound up surviving the cut, but I admit that's nitpicking. And sticking in artists like the Raincoats and Throbbing Gristle was a good move, they're the types of bands who often get overlooked for these projects.
Now I'm waiting to see a good box set of '78-'80 skinny tie/pointed shoes new wave pop like the Cars/Knack/Vapors/Split Enz, etc.
Oh, and Amazon, the Dead Kennedys' track is "Holiday in Cambodia," not "Holiday in China." Wrong regime.
Sometimes 5 discs Better than 4! October 16, 2004
10 out of 21 found this review helpful
First Off: I LOVE Rhino Records and Most of their Box sets!
A Very Good Retrospective of A Great Time in the Music World. I was (sorta) in the Thick of it myself. I was a Clerk in an Independent Record shop. MTV was New (& still Cool) New Bands Every Week, From Everywhere! Different Styles of Music to discover: HardCore, Electronic, Pop, Folk, Punk, & New Wave From Everywhere too.
This set Covers A lot of Ground, & even has Essays of What is Missing & why. Fair Enough, but My Beef is with Some of the Omissions too & Some of the Selections of Included groups. Yes I Know Gang of Four is a Great Group, BUT if To Hell With Poverty is on One more Compilation...! Or Love Will tear us Apart?(Joy Division) Or Holiday in Cambodia?(Dead Kennedys) Or Ghosts?(Japan) Or Senses Working Overtime?(XTC)or Rise Above?(BLack Flag) Or Running Up that Hill?(Kate Bush) Or Enola Gay(OMD) or Vienna(Ultravox)!! Each one of these Artists have a Rich & a Varied Catalog to Reach into. Preaching to the Choir is One thing, but Being So Redundant is Another. The Balance between "Commercial" Alternative & Most of the Choices Were actually Inspired & FarReaching! Minor Griping on my Part. Missing Groups include Lets Active! Pylon, The Cult, Oingo Boingo, The Alarm, Mental As Anything, Boomtown Rats, Au Pairs, Pere Ubu, & The Waitresses, Romeo Void & more!
Gripes=only 4 stars
Inspiring song Choices:
A Forest(The Cure)
A song From The Floorboards(Magazine)
Don't Want to Know if you are Lonely(Husker Du)
Cattle & Cane(The Go-Betweens)
Punk Rock Girl(The Dead Milkmen)
Fa Ce-La (the Feelies)
Kundalini Express (Love & Rockets)
Sex Beat(The Gun Club)
Lots Of Good & great Choices!
Pick yours Up today!
Great, but where are the women? March 8, 2005
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I love reading these reviews that say "great but they should've included..." This compiliation introduced me to bands I'd somehow missed, and your reviews are pointing out more great bands I'd missed.
My $0.02 about what's missing: when I was in college (Reed, '82) women were starting to take off their high heels and put on combat boots. "Left of the Dial" should have included more of the women that started the riot grrrl movement. This compilation includes The Raincoats "Fairytale in the Supermarket" (I would've picked "In Love" as their best song) and Siouxsie & the Banshees "Christine." I can see skipping Patti Smith, The Pretenders, Blondie, and Joan Jett as they were commercial successes in the early '80s (although the compilation includes male commericial successes such as REM). IMHO this compilation should have included:
The Slits "Typical Girls"
The Waitresses "I Know What Boys Like"
Barbara Manning (28th Day) "25 Pills"
Bow Wow Wow "Louis Quatorze"
Martha and the Muffins "Echo Beach"
Wendy and the Plasmatics "A Pig Is a Pig"
Two other bands I would've included:
Stiff Little Fingers "Alternative Ulster"
The Specials "It's Up To You"
I just read this on a website about The Slits:
"...are one of the most significant female punk-rock bands of the late '70s. Not only did they bravely (or foolishly, you be the judge) leap into the fray with little, if any, musical ability (on their debut tour with the Clash, Mick Jones used to tune their guitars for them), but through sheer emotion and desire created some great music..."
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