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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: $37.98
You Save: $27.00 (42%)
New (34) Used (16) Collectible (2) from $35.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  32 reviews
Sales Rank: 29702
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: Factory sealed!
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great, but where are the women? March 8, 2005
8 out of 8 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..."
 A Mediocre Primer In A World Of Diminished Expectations October 20, 2004
7 out of 33 found this review helpful
Odd sequencing of tracks plus "conservative" song selections
equals less music that goes bang for your bucks. On a positive note, The Raincoats and Magazine selections are stellar (as is
The Jam's "Going Underground" which should have been the lead-off
track). Since I own most of these recordings on shinyl vinyl, the lure of these re-packagings is the time saved hunting for downloads or physically making the recordings (requiring the use of cassettes). Lots of important bands here (though Japan was hardly left of the dial, as I recall). The song selection, again, is not representative of how incredibly innovative and
gripping some of the music from this era was. Let me suggest some correctives.
The Black Flag cut "Rise Above" introduced the world to Henry Rollins, but their Damaged record featured "scarier" tracks, like
"Room 13." As for Throbbing Gristle, how about "Hamburger Lady"
as opposed to "Adrenalin?" And when will the original version
(Yellow EP at the time) of Gang of Four's "Outside The Trains Don't Run On Time make it onto a comp.? As for Mission of Burma, something from the vs. record as opposed to the great, but poppy and familiar "Revolver." As for Joy Divison, one can't fault the sparse beauty of "Love Will Tear Us Apart," but it's the default alt. radio track. How 'bout "Passover" or "Insight"
as an alternative selection. A listener friendly mindset seems to inform the selection of a great number of these tracks (as in the Three O' Clock's "Jet Fighter" vs. say their early cover
Great Society's "Grimly Forming." Nice to see a Rain Parade song, however).
Who and what is missing. Pere Ubu, Articles of Faith, The Embarrassment, Bush Tetras, Scream, The Germs, Flipper,
Christmas, Human Sexual Response, The Birthday Party, The Scientists, Crass, Flux of Pink Indians, Radio Clash, Virgin Prunes, A live Dead Boys track, Rank and File, Really Red,
The Neighborhoods, The Dinosaur b-side "Bulbs of Passion,"
something from PIL's "Flowers of Romance," Savage Republic,
Conflict, Saccarhine Trust, and "Flower" by Sonic Youth to name a few.
Do seek out some of these artists and titles. With a few exceptions, most are available as reissues and some never went
away. While you're at it, send a "friendly" e-mail to record company headquarters and demand something more challenging and representative of an amazing time in "Left of the dial" pop.
A Musical Crack-Pipe for Aging Indie-Rockists November 26, 2004
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
If you grew up in the 1980s (and were of a somewhat progressive mindset muscially), these CDs will provide a nostalgic rush that's stronger than crack. (Or at least I imagine so; I've never smoked the stuff personally.)
The tracks here are, for me, evenly divided between music I loved back then and still do (X, Robyn Hitchcock), music I loved back then and had forgotten about (the Jam, Hoodoo Gurus) and music I somehow missed the first time around (the dBs, the Feelies.) Other reviewers have complained, but I found some of the more atmospheric stuff is vastly improved by the sequencing. For example, the swirly "Teen Age Riot" by Sonic Youth benefits enormously from being sandwiched between more angular songs by Gang of Four and Faith No More.
Since it's impossible to review a set of this nature without complaining that some of one's personal faves got slighted, here are mine: Where is "Nemesis" by Shriekback? Why no Throwing Muses? And why represent "mid-80s LA funk-rock" with a third-rate Chili Peppers track instead of "U.G.L.Y." or "Party at Ground Zero" by Fishbone?
There, I've got that off my chest. In closing, I'd say this set was well worth the money and is highly recommended.
 I'm not complaining, but... May 19, 2005
6 out of 8 found this review helpful
As far as comps of 80's alternative goes, this is generally a pretty exhaustive collection of artists and styles that us weirdos were grooving on at the time, and even now (as many writers have dutifully noted, many of today's alternastars take their cues from the artists represented here). There are very few outright duds here, and I suppose even then that's more a matter of personal taste (personally, I could never stand the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I've known a few intelligent people who loved 'em). With such a bounty of ace material, it would be kinda churlish to whine about what was left out. After all, it's not MY compilation--if I don't like it I could just make my own, this being the age of the ipod and all. Nevertheless, whine I shall, so if you don't like whiners just scroll on down to the next review. Don't worry, I won't mind.
The main problem is probably all my fault. I got fixated on the subtitle of the set--"Dispatches from the 80's Underground," esp. the "Underground" part. A good deal of the music here was originally released on major labels. I don't know about you, but to me you just ain't "underground" if you have the marketing muscle of Warner Bros. to back you up. So really, this is just a matter of semantics; if they just called it "Dispatches from the 80's Alternative Nation" or something less awkward, theoretically I wouldn't be compelled to be spilling this much verbiage. Please let me note that I love love love groups like Depeche Mode, the Smiths, Echo & the Bunnymen et al as much as anyone, maybe even more so, but I'm sorry to say they don't have "underground" cred.
So who's M.I.A.? off the top of my pointy head here's a few: Flipper, Mudhoney, Big Black, Foetus, Swans, Einsturzende Neubauten, the Fall and even a few REALLY obscure bands with a couple of great songs like Nomeansno, Honor Roll, Helios Creed, the God Bullies, Pain Teens, Feedtime, Tragic Mulatto and on and on and so on...
Okay, so maybe I'm a helpless snob, but I honestly and sincerely loved those artists and believe that more people would too if only they heard them. Again, the music that's actually on this box set is mostly well worth owning and singing along tunelessly to and even obsessing over, but I just can't help but thinking "what if..."
Perfect Gift for the Nostalgic New Waver December 29, 2004
5 out of 12 found this review helpful
The people at Rhino know their audience. The songs given loving homage in this beautifully packaged and well-executed box set are a sublime valentine for all the new waver alterna geeks who still bring gladiolas to Morrissey concerts and delicately brush dust off all their 7" New Order singles. YOU ARE NOT ALONE, each of these songs seem to be saying...NOT NOW, NOT EVER.
The boxset focusses on those "Left of the Dial" gems of the 80s, so instead of Madonna, Michael Jackson, and Guns N' Roses, we are given candlelit eulogies by the Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, Siouxsie Sioux, Bauhaus, and Joy Division. We are given snappy forgotten masterpieces from They Might Be Giants, Aztec Camera, Robyn Hitchcock, and XTC. Who knew Concrete Blonde had an ingenious dirty postpunk number called "Still in Hollywood" or that Wall of Voodoo had ANOTHER song, and have you ever heard (or danced to) "Enola Gay"? Wow.
We are also reminded of the seminal gifts of the Pixies, the Smiths, New Order, The Cure, Kate Bush, and Depeche Mode, which are of course substantial. These are real artists included here, if a bit underground, and not one-hit wonder fluff. Sorry Plastic Bertrand. Each of these bands are given a concise history (and somewhat salivatory praise) in the intelligent and pretty booklet included; the writing isn't quite up to Pitchfork Media standards, but the passion is obvious.
For the most part all these songs are luminous 80s alternative classics, but the folks at Rhino balanced those tracks out well with some clever little ditties you probably missed out on, and then balanced THOSE out by including some OTHER songs by artists you most certainly know if you're buying this thing (The Psychedelic Furs don't sing "Pretty in Pink" on here and Echo and the Bunnymen sing "The Cutter"). And thank you thank you for seeing the importance of The Dead Milkmen.
I agree with some other reviews that the specific order of the songs could have been better thought out, it does sound a bit random to me at times. Haven't these guys ever made a mix tape before? Also, how do you truly define what's "Left of the Dial"? The liner notes mention how the Cult was really just a mainstream hair band, and therefore omitted, but, um, are you sure about that? "She Sells Sanctuary" would have sounded real good on here.
When you're compiling a project of this magnitude, there's gotta be some level of damned-if-you-do and damed-if-you-don't fate to the response; after all, you can't put on everything...but I'm not sure how you can include headscratcher tracks from Faith No More and Black Flag and yet omit true "Left of the Dial" epitome outfits like Dramarama, Cristina, or even Adam Ant. I mean, that's just common sense, man!
Perhaps there are one too many abrasive punk numbers best left to their other boxset, and perhaps they felt compelled to put on a few yep-it's-still-sucky songs like the tediously dismal "Bela Lugosi's Dead" because they wanted to show how well they know their subcultures, but overall these songs will kick you in the head and make you cry all over again they're so good.
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