A slab of five homegrown hits on disc two saves this compilation from becoming more tragic ‘80s party fodder. Nick and those seedy lads lead a procession of iconic Aussie tracks (The Church, The Triffids, The Go-Betweens, The Saints) to ease that familiar ‘I want to laugh but I just can’t handle any more synth!’ tension that any ‘80s album induces. There are a few rebel fighters like Bowie and De La Soul, but regretfullythe dark side (led by Salt-n-Pepa and Olivia Newton-John) overcome with their continual crimes against sound. The sad thing is, Rage actually chose a representative sample of said decade, so if you’ve had
an operation to adjust your drum-machine tolerance to Bananarama, pick up a copy. I’d suggest the DVD – attack of the padded shoulders!
