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Looking back from a vantage point thirty years on, there’s no denying the special place that the 1980s have in the history of popular music. It was a decade that surveyed past musical ground while simultaneously advancing the art form further, making an indelible mark on music to come. With dancefloor grooves, yearning ballads, infectious pop, and more, it was a decade of great music. Now, Rhino has announced a new collection that reimagines some of the smash hits from the decade: 80s Symphonic.
The album, which arrives to CD and digital on November 9, and double-vinyl on December 7, blends 15 original ’80s tracks from across Warner’s celebrated catalogue and blends them with brand-new, symphonic arrangements performed by the London Symphony Orchestra. Among the tracks given the symphonic treatment are The Cars’ “Drive,” Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It,” and a-ha’s “Take On Me.” The latter is available now as a single on all digital music services.
All but one of the tracks on the new collection were recorded in the legendary Studio 2 at Abbey Road Studios and created under the guidance of Andy Wright, the producer and arranger whose impressive resume includes Simple Minds, Eurythmics, Jeff Beck, and Massive Attack, among others. He worked with orchestrator-arranger-conductor Sam Swallow to augment the performances by judiciously incorporating the 48-piece orchestra in their reimagined versions.
Meanwhile, the reworking of David Bowie’s iconic track, “Let’s Dance,” was the brainchild of Nile Rodgers, who produced the original smash hit. For this new version, Rodgers handled the production, arranging, and orchestration. He recorded the London Symphony Orchestra at Studio 1 at Abbey Road Studios, where he currently works as Chief Creative Adviser.
Remarking on his orchestral arrangement, Rodgers said, “My work with David Bowie and specifically ‘Let’s Dance’ is sacrosanct to me so when I was asked by David’s family and Warner’s to add orchestration to the original recording I approached it with extreme trepidation. In fact, my only concern was to protect David’s artistic vision and integrity. In the end, I’m very grateful that we did this, as I believe anyone who loves the original will be excited by it. I’m certain David would approve from above.”
The collection will be available on CD and as a digital download, available November 9. A double-LP configuration will follow on December 7. We will update this post with Amazon pre-order links as they become available. You can check out the full track listing below.
Various Artists (with The London Symphony Orchestra), 80s Symphonic (Rhino, 2018)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Link TBD
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Link TBD
- David Bowie – Let’s Dance*
- a-ha – Take On Me
- Simple Minds – Alive & Kicking
- Ultravox – Vienna
- Echo & The Bunnymen – The Killing Moon
- Bronski Beat – Smalltown Boy
- Howard Jones – What Is Love?
- Tina Turner – What’s Love Got To Do With It
- Simply Red – Holding Back The Years
- Chris Rea – Josephine
- Chicago – Hard Habit To Break
- Roxette – It Must Have Been Love
- Foreigner – I Want To Know What Love Is
- The Cars – Drive
- Pretenders – 2000 Miles
Original version of Track 1 released on Let’s Dance, EMI America AML 3029, 1983
Original version of Track 2 released on Hunting High and Low, Warner Bros. Records 925 300-1, 1985
Original version of Track 3 released on Once Upon a Time, Virgin 2364, 1985
Original version of Track 4 released on Vienna, Chrysalis 202 701, 1980
Original version of Track 5 released on Ocean Rain, Korova KODE 8, 1984
Original version of Track 6 released on The Age of Consent, Forbidden Fruit BITLP 1, 1984
Original version of Track 7 released on Human’s Lib, WEA/Elektra 9 60346, 1984
Original version of Track 8 released on Private Dancer, Capitol ST-12330, 1984
Original version of Track 9 released on Picture Book, Elektra 960 452-1, 1985
Original version of Track 10 released on Shamrock Diaries, Magnet MAGL 5062, 1985
Original version of Track 11 released on Chicago 17, Warner Bros. Records - 9 25060-1, 1984
Original version of Track 12 released on “It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted)” single, EMI 1362887, 1987
Original version of Track 13 released on Agent Provocateur, Atlantic 7 81999, 1984
Original version of Track 14 released on Heartbeat City, Elektra 60296, 1984
Original version of Track 15 released on Learning to Crawl, Sire 9 23980, 1983
Producer: Andy Wright (unless indicated*)
Orchestrated, Arranged and Conducted: Sam Swallow (unless indicated*)
Performed by the London Studio Orchestra
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios
*Produced, arranged and conducted by Nile Rodgers
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I see these symphonic versions popping up as an annoying trend. Do the original musicians involved have any say or better still recieve payment?
I see now Gary Numan is involved with a few shows as well as Midge Ure and OMD. And A Flock of Seagulls recently released an album of their old tracks with a symphonic backing.
When will it end?
If you do not like them, don’t buy them. The original recordings are still available for you. Many of us enjoy these symphonic releases and find them fun.
Um, yeah, I don’t like it and I won’t buy. This totally takes away how the musicians intended their music.
Let’s hope it’s another trend like swing music otherwise this will happen to the Beatles in two years.
I think it depends on who own’s the work in question, essentially meaning they can do what they like with them. Like you, I can’t bear these “re-imaginings” but I’m sure they’ll continue to be made forever.
I don’t know. The Beach Boys symphonic thing was a total waste of time. I’d be interested in hearing a couple of these tracks maybe, like the Ultravox one and mayber Foreigner and Chicago. Could be interesting. The rest of them I’m not sure about – the 80s instrumentation was what made them unique.
OK, I’ve listened to the album on Spotify now, and it’s as I expected – it doesn’t really work. I’ve come to the realization that pop songs are actually an art form all of their own and rarely work when you try to ‘culture them up’ with an orchestra.
The only times I’ve heard this sort of thing work well was with the symphonic renderings of classic Joni Mitchell songs on her “Travelogue” album, and then only on certain songs such as “Slouching Towards Bethlehem”, “Sire of Sorrow”, and “Refuge of the Roads”. I think the arrangements on Mitchell’s album (by former husband and bassist/collaborator Larry Klein) were more dynamic than what we’re hearing in these modern ‘band x + the Philharmonic Orchestra’ offerings, which are essentially re-mixings with added strings.
I hope this sort of thing falls out of favour, soon.
Funny, I was just listening to Travelogue earlier! Those Travelogue versions also featured new vocal takes from Joni with her more matured voice which really work well. The arrangements were done by Vince Mendoza, who also orchestrated the songs on the Both Sides Now album as well as Joni’s cover of “Trouble Man,” which can be found on Kyle Eastwood’s ‘From There To Here’ album.