Various Artists - Class Reunion '81: Greatest Hits Of 1981 (1996)

A varied but decent budget-priced compilation from Rebound Records. Yes, that's the actual cover art.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks:

1. Kiss On My List - Hall & Oates
   With its near-perfect guitar solo that chooses melody and shape over technique, this is my favorite tune on a stacked Voices album.
2. Endless Love - Diana Ross & Lionel Richie
   I don't particularly care for this song anymore, but I can sing both duet parts if you need that sort of thing. During fall 1981, I rode with a older neighbor (we'll call her Nancy because that was her name) to marching band rehearsal each morning. She'd drive to the local donut joint on the way and that's when I developed the decidedly unhealthy habit of starting each day with a popular caffeinated carbonated cola beverage. Nancy loved Endless Love endlessly and had the cassette of the movie soundtrack. So, for three months, she'd listen to the first track on side one (this song), then flip over the cassette and listen to the last track on side two (titled "Endless Love Reprise" but it was the same damn song), then back to side one, repeat ad nauseum.  Never seen the movie and have no plans to change that fact. At least I got donuts.
3. The One That You Love - Air Supply
   A soft rocker's dream.  Starts slow and builds, sappy lyrics, big strings, power ballad bridge, and lots of characteristic vocal harmonies. I quickly learned all the lyrics because the ladies loved Air Supply and this skinny geek desperately wanted to become a ladies man.
4. Hold On Loosely - 38 Special
   I wouldn't call myself a diehard Southern Rock fan, but this group sure could write some hooks and I always enjoyed their charted singles in the early '80s. At some points, this one sounds a lot like The Cars to these ears.
5. Slow Hand - The Pointer Sisters
   Smooth and sultry, sure, but this tune but it was never a favorite of mine. I was in the minority, obviously, as this would have topped the Hot 100 if not for Endless Love.
6. While You See A Chance - Steve Winwood
   Such a great song - always puts me in a good mood. It just seems to constantly move upward. I'm grateful they included the album cut here instead of the 45 version which contains one of the worse editing jobs in the history of single edits. Even K-Tel must have felt embarrassed.
7. Lady (You Bring Me Up) - The Commodores
   Let the feelin' good continue! If this doesn't get you up and moving, change the batteries in your pacemaker.  Lionel Richie didn't write it, but he sure sings the crap out of the thing.  The strings and EWF-ish horns over that downward bass line?  Please.  Soon after this release, Richie left for his extremely successful solo career (see track 2, above).
8. Cool Love - Pablo Cruise
   A non-descript power ballad from a band on its descent - it was the fifth and final Top 40 hit for the band.  It’s a pity because I really like the band’s late ‘70s output. 
9. Being With You - Smokey Robinson
   Simply put, Smokey Robinson should be on money.
10. Super Freak (Pt. 1) - Rick James (CD bonus track)
    And now I'm suddenly transformed into a dancin' fool. Written in a time when "incense, wine and candles" was considered to be "such a freaky scene" - these days that's a normal Tuesday night. Backing vocals by the Temptations, the catchiest bass line of the year, and a funk groove capped off by a manic sax solo by Daniel LeMelle. Overplayed, for sure, but it nevertheless gets a thumbs up from me.
11. Gemini Dream - The Moody Blues
    I liked this upbeat tune from the get-go, probably because it sounds a lot more like ELO than The Moody Blues I remembered from ten years earlier. With it's bouncy synth-bass and harmony vocals, this is easily my favorite song on Long Distance Voyager. I don't put any stock in astrology, but I am a Gemini and I do dream, so there's that.
12. Square Biz - Teena Marie (CD bonus track)
    This track from the 'Ivory Queen of Soul' was definitely ahead of tis time - the world wasn't yet ready for it. That's a shame because this is a great R&B tune. The rapping hasn't aged well, but this single might have been a hit if it had been re-released later in the decade, but who the hell knows? I don't remember this cut at all from 1981 and probably first discovered it on Rhino's Phat Trax series.

Charts, we got charts:

Song	Year End	Hot 100	AC	R&B	Rock	Dance
Kiss On My List	5	1	16	-	54	-
Endless Love	3	1	1	1	-	-
The One That You Love	16	1	2	-	-	-
Hold On Loosely	153	27	-	-	3	-
Slow Hand	20	2	6	7	-	-
While You See A Chance	56	7	17	-	2	-
Lady (You Bring Me Up)	58	8	13	5	-	53
Cool Love	88	13	14	-	23	-
Being With You	23	2	4	1	-	-
Super Freak	101	16	-	3	-	1
Gemini Dream	86	12	-	-	13	36
Square Biz	240	50	-	3	-	12

The overall #1 year-end song for 1981? Physical by Olivia Newton-John, which spent 10 weeks at #1 and I couldn't tell you the last time I heard it on radio whereas both the Hall & Oates and Rick James tracks on this CD seem to have found real staying power over the last 40 years.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I don't remember buying any of these tunes as 45 singles back in '81 (if I had any, it was probably the While You See A Chance), but I sure heard them on the radio all the time, save for track 12.

In the summer of 1980, a good friend of mine moved with his family to another city over 300 miles away. Long distant phone calls were needlessly expensive back then and cost-prohibitive for this skinny teen, so at some point during 1981, we started recording taped messages, mailing a cassette back and forth as our way of keeping in touch. There was one cheap C-60 cassette that passed between us - one guy would listen to what the other had recorded, tape over what was just heard, then send it back. This went on for several months before we lost interest and, unfortunately, any recorded proof of these 'conversations' is now slowly decomposing in a landfill. On the recordings, we would talk about the latest goings-on in our lives, gossip, girls, and would record our current favorite songs from the radio. Of course I can't remember all the songs that we sent back and forth to each other, but I'm pretty sure the Winwood and Hall & Oates tunes included here made the cut at least once.