Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the 80s Underground

Disc 1
1	Radio Free Europe / R.E.M. 4:05
2	Going Underground / The Jam 2:56
3	A Forest / The Cure 4:54
4	Holiday in Cambodia / Dead Kennedys 4:38
5	I'm in Love With a German Film Star / The Passions 4:01
6	I Will Dare / The Replacements 3:19
7	That's When I Reach for My Revolver / Mission of Burma 3:52
8	Johnny Hit and Run Pauline / X 2:49
9	Just Like Honey / The Jesus and Mary Chain 3:01
10	Black Celebration / Depeche Mode 4:53
11	Tell Me When It's Over / Dream Syndicate 3:33
12	Hollywood (Africa) / Red Hot Chili Peppers 5:03
13	Temptation / New Order 5:43
14	Ghosts / Japan 4:32
15	A Song from Under the Floorboards / Magazine 4:11
16	Oblivious / Aztec Camera 3:11
17	Don't Want to Know If You're Lonely / Hüsker Dü 3:32
18	Rise Above / Black Flag 2:26
19	Back in Flesh / Wall of Voodoo 3:42
20	Cattle and Cane / The Go-Betweens 3:59
Disc 2
1	Message of Love / The Pretenders 3:28
2	Vienna / Ultravox 4:39
3	Freak Scene / Dinosaur Jr. 3:37
4	This Charming Man / The Smiths 2:43
5	Stigmata / Ministry 5:44
6	Ways to Be Wicked / Lone Justice 3:25
7	Wardance / Killing Joke 3:48
8	Enola Gay / Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 3:30
9	Mirror in the Bathroom / The English Beat 3:06
10	Fairytale in the Supermarket / The Raincoats 2:59
11	Behind the Wall of Sleep / The Smithereens 3:22
12	Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing / Minutemen 1:31
13	Punk Rock Girl / The Dead Milkmen 2:37
14	Still in Hollywood / Concrete Blonde 3:45
15	Love Will Tear Us Apart / Joy Division 3:27
16	Blister in the Sun / Violent Femmes 2:24
17	Lake of Fire / Meat Puppets 1:57
18	Amplifier / The dB's 3:07
19	When Love Breaks Down / Prefab Sprout 3:44
20	Goo Goo Muck / The Cramps 3:05
21	This Corrosion / The Sisters of Mercy 4:29
22	Senses Working Overtime / XTC 4:50
Disc 3
1	The Cutter / Echo & the Bunnymen 3:53
2	Pay to Cum / Bad Brains 1:26
3	Birthday / The Sugarcubes 3:59
4	Madonna of the Wasps / Robyn Hitchcock 3:06
5	We Care a Lot / Faith No More 4:03
6	Teen Age Riot / Sonic Youth 6:57
7	To Hell With Poverty / Gang of Four 4:59
8	Fa Cé-La / The Feelies 2:01
9	Ana NG / They Might Be Giants 3:20
10	Swamp Thing / The Chameleons UK 5:56
11	The Mercy Seat / Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 5:08
12	I Look Around / Rain Parade 3:06
13	All That Money Wants / The Psychedelic Furs 3:47
14	Under the Milky Way / The Church 4:59
15	Rise / Public Image Ltd. 6:18
16	Kundalini Express / Love and Rockets 5:51
17	Gravity Talks / Green on Red 2:37
18	Adrenalin / Throbbing Gristle 3:55
19	She Bangs the Drums / The Stone Roses 3:43
Disc 4
1	Monkey Gone to Heaven / Pixies 2:56
2	Uncertain Smile / The The Original 7" Version 4:54
3	Bela Lugosi's Dead / Bauhaus 9:34
4	Christine / Siouxsie and the Banshees 2:59
5	Straight Edge / Minor Threat 0:46
6	I Want to Help You Ann / Lyres 2:30
7	Our Secret / Beat Happening 2:48
8	Jane Says / Jane's Addiction 4:53
9	World Shut Your Mouth / Julian Cope 3:34
10	Running Up That Hill / Kate Bush 5:00
11	Sex Beat / Gun Club 2:48
12	Take the Skinheads Bowling / Camper Van Beethoven 2:30
13	Institutionalized / Suicidal Tendencies 3:49
14	Pearly-Dewdrops' Drops / Cocteau Twins 4:11
15	24 Hour Party People / Happy Mondays 4:38
16	I Want You Back / Hoodoo Gurus 3:11
17	Surburban Home / Descendents 1:42
18	A Pair of Brown Eyes / The Pogues 4:53
19	Jet Fighter / The Three O'Clock 3:27
20	Moving to Florida / Butthole Surfers 4:31
21	A New England / Billy Bragg 2:13

Barnes & Noble

This sprawling four-disc set -- something of a bookend to Rhino's encyclopedic punk collection, No Thanks! The '70s Punk Rebellion -- digs deep into the history of what some call post-punk and others have dubbed indie-rock. It's a dauntingly large amount of territory to cover, but the producers have done so effectively, crisscrossing this country, as well as swaths of Europe, and cherry-picking both easily recognizable bands and equally worthy obscure names that might otherwise be consigned to rock history footnotes. The former category yields songs that have become standards -- including R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe" and the Smiths' "This Charming Man" -- as well as surprising, under-aired material, notably the pre-fame Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Hollywood/Africa" and the Cure's "A Forest." While Left of the Dial touches on virtually every subgenre imaginable -- hitting on hardcore with Minor Threat's anthemic "Straight Edge," goth with Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi's Dead," and second-wave garage rock via the Lyres' "I Wanna Help You Ann" -- the songs are mortared together so carefully that it all holds together perfectly. Even so, there are standouts, mostly those that don't fit easily into any readily identifiable category, thus flaunting the era's sonic variety. The Gun Club's feral "Sex Beat," for instance, straddles Angeleno punk and Delta howl; the Feelies' hyper-kinetic "Fa Cé-La" speeds up Velvet Underground–style sonic grind, adding a heaping helping of buttoned-up suburbiana in the process; and Prefab Sprout's "When Love Breaks Down" is a tip of the hat to Stephen Sondheim (perhaps as adventurous a move as one could muster in the '80s underground). More than anything else, however, Left of the Dial proves that its contents -- particularly the Gang of Four's revolution-funk call to arms "To Hell with Poverty" -- stand up every bit as well two decades on. David Sprague

All Music Guide

Alternative rock of the 1980s was such a large and diverse scene that any box set documenting the genre is bound to be the cause of debate as to what is and isn't included, even a four-CD, 82-track production such as this one. Despite the inevitable exclusions, Left of the Dial: Dispatches from the '80s Underground does a decent job of collecting representative cuts from all spectrums of the style, even if it does tilt toward the more mainstream of such acts. Of course, artists like R.E.M., the Cure, Aztec Camera, the Pretenders, Ultravox, Lone Justice, the Smithereens, Concrete Blonde, Echo & the Bunnymen, and the Church (all sampled on this box) were "mainstream" only by the standards of the more left-leaning college radio programmers; by the measurements of the actual mainstream, they were still pretty "alternative," even "underground" in some cases. And the set doesn't neglect the edgier side of '80s underground rock, with tracks by the Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Throbbing Gristle, the Minutemen, Black Flag, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Gun Club, the Butthole Surfers, the Raincoats, and Beat Happening as well. Between the poles are numerous slices of music of different shades of anti-mainstreamdom, from the paisley underground (the Three O'Clock, the Rain Parade, the Dream Syndicate) and an iconoclastic singer/songwriter (Billy Bragg) to British guitar-grounded sounds (the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Stone Roses, XTC), goth (Sisters of Mercy, Bauhaus), folk-punk (the Violent Femmes), retro-garage (the Lyres), ska (the English Beat), and even punk novelty (the Dead Milkmen).

Naturally, there's room for argument about some of the choices: Prefab Sprout's alt-rock credentials are certainly specious, for instance, and the roll call of missing notables includes the Fall, Shonen Knife, the Chills, Romeo Void, the Television Personalities, the Wipers, the Mekons, and many others. There are few real surprises or underexposed gems: the Passions' 1981 single "I'm in Love With a German Film Star" is about the only item by a group that hasn't been canonized in the '80s alternative rock pantheon, though actually that song was a British hit. On the other hand, the astute and eclectic programming makes for a better listen than other attempts that have been made to compile '80s alternative rock. It's sort of like listening to an actual '80s college radio station, but one that's more listenable than any college radio stations actually were, both because of the catholic stylistic assortment and the selection of some of these artists' very best songs. If you did listen to this sort of music devotedly back in the '80s, in fact, much of this will be like revisiting familiar hits and standards, even if few of them actually made the charts as actual hits (and then usually in the U.K.): R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe," the Dead Kennedys' "Holiday in Cambodia," the Jesus and Mary Chain's "Just Like Honey," Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart," the Violent Femmes' "Blister in the Sun," XTC's "Senses Working Overtime," the Sugarcubes' "Birthday," Faith No More's "We Care a Lot," the Church's "Under the Milky Way," Siouxsie & the Banshees' "Christine," Gun Club's "Sex Beat," and Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized," for instance, all fall into that category. And if you didn't experience the music directly during the era, this box set still gives you a pretty good idea of what was going on, and what paths to travel down for further investigation. Richie Unterberger

Rolling Stone

Virtually all of these songs and recordings have held up beautifully. Douglas Wolk