Living in Oblivion: The 80's Greatest Hits Volume 2 (1993)

Plenty of kitschy videos and wonderful one-shot hits came out of the Reagan era -- sometimes in reaction to the cultural suppression of the time -- but EMI was responsible for only a small portion of them, as this second collection, Living in Oblivion: The 80's Greatest Hits Volume 2, from the label's vaults proves. Culture Club's ''Church of the Poison Mind,'' the Motels' ''Only the Lonely,'' and Kate Bush's ''Running Up That Hill'' have held up as splendidly as any Springsteen or R.E.M. song from the '80s, but you'll also have to wade through dreck by the likes of Power Station and the Thompson Twins. And do we really need a Spanish-language version of Toni Basil's ''Mickey''? C

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