Various Artists - Just Say Yes... (1987)

Sire's Winter CD Music Sampler (awesome!)

The first of seven volumes in the "Just Say Yes" sampler series by Sire Records. The series began in 1987 and lasted through 1994. Of the four volumes I currently own and have heard, this is the most enjoyable throughout.

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

Tracks, with my (somewhat predictable) picks for the top tracks checked:

1. Depeche Mode - Never Let Me Down Again (Split Mix) 9:31 ✔
   #63 pop, #12 dance, from the maxi-single
2. Echo & The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar (12" Mix) 6:44 ✔
   from the maxi-single
3. The Mighty Lemon Drops - Out Of Hand (Extended Version) 5:25 ✔
   from the 12" single
4. James - Ya Ho 3:31
   from the album Strip-Mine
5. The Smiths - Work Is A Four-Letter Word 2:45
   previously unavailable in the U.S., available internationally on the Girlfriend In A Coma single
6. Figures On A Beach - No Stars 4:40 ✔
   from the album Standing On Ceremony
7. The Wild Swans - Young Manhood 3:46
   from the album Bringing Home The Ashes
8. Ice-T - Somebody Gotta Do It (Pimpin' Ain't Easy!!!) (12" Mix) 3:27
   from the maxi-single
9. Ramones - I Wanna Live 2:36
   from the album Halfway To Sanity
10. The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait 3:02
    from the album Pleased to Meet Me
11. Throwing Muses - A Feeling 3:07
    from the album The Fat Skier
12. Aztec Camera - How Men Are 3:38 ✔
    from the album Love
13. The Casual Gods - Cherokee Chief 4:30
    from the album The Casual Gods
14. Erasure - Hideaway (Little Louie Vega Mix) 7:12 ✔
    from the remix album, The Two Ring Circus

If Billboard had started its Modern Rock Tracks chart earlier, surely a few of these would have placed there. However, that chart didn't begin until the September 10, 1988 issue so we're left guessing.

Every time I hear a track from Aztec Camera, I always wonder why I don't have any Aztec Camera CDs. Easily remedied, perhaps, but that doesn't explain why I've waited so long. And if Cherokee Chief doesn't rip off The Talking Heads tune Girlfriend Is Better, I'll eat this liner note booklet. Is that Jerry Harrison's little dig at David Byrne?

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None. This sampler was released just a couple of months before I bought my first CD player in January 1988. At a $6 price point, I wish I'd seen it then.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Vol. VII: Just Say Roe (1994)
Vol. IV: Just Say Da (1990)
Vol. II: Just Say Yo (1988)