The '80s: Flashback

Each volume of The '80s, an extensive series from the Bellevue label, should be avoided. The back of each disc notes that some of the selections are re-recordings, but there's no track-by-track specification. You won't know whether "Flashdance...What a Feeling" is the original studio version until you play it. These packages are cheap -- the volumes have the same artwork -- and some of the songs originated in the '90s. Among the selections for The '80s: Flashback are Level 42's "Living It Up," Kool & the Gang's "Cherish," Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell" (1979) and, laughably enough, Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" (a song released during the mid-'90s that samples a song released during the mid-'70s).