Unlike the other six entries in VH1 Classic and Legacy's
We Are the '80s series,
Scandal has not been subjected to numerous hits collections over the past 20 years. As a matter of fact, they not only have never had a compilation prior to 2006's
We Are the '80s, their original 1982 eponymous debut EP -- which contained "Goodbye to You," "Love's Got a Line on You," and "Win Some, Lose Some" -- has never appeared on CD at all, so their catalog was in need of some kind of collection, and thankfully this delivers exactly what fans of any stripe would want. For the casual fan, it has all the MTV and radio hits -- the aforementioned trio, plus "Hands Tied," "Beat of a Heart," and their stone classic, "The Warrior" -- but for the longtime fan, it has the entirety of the 1982 EP (not presented in order, but it's all here), plus three previously unreleased tracks from those 1982 sessions. Those three songs -- particularly the moody ballad "Grow So Wise" and the anthemic "If You Love Me" -- are closer to the album rock mainstream than the bright commercial new wave that brought them success, but the spunky "I'm Here Tonight" pointed toward the steeliness of "The Warrior," and when they're presented along with the EP and the highlights from the group's lone 1984 album, it completes a portrait of a good pop band that straddled the line between mainstream hard rock and new wave. They didn't belong to either world entirely, but they had a sleek, stylish sound combined with good professional assistance behind the scenes --
Nick Gilder co-wrote "The Warrior" and
Mike Chapman produced
The Warrior album -- and wound up with a sound that captures how radio and MTV sounded in the mid-'80s, just as new wave was dying out, turning into the sound of the mainstream. [We Are the 80's was reissued in 2008 as Playlist: The Very Best of Scandal]. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine