'80s Chillout

What was it like to chill out in the fast-moving '80s? Well, judging by the decade's dominant pop aesthetic, our chillout space was a metropolitan penthouse, where the lines and colours of the furniture made the perfect complement to Patrick Nagel's cover art for Duran Duran's Rio — and from that album we give you the semi-mystical, supremely glossy "Save a Prayer." Now that your head's in the right place, take a flight of fancy to Roxy Music's Avalon, or soak up the cascading synths of Platinum Blonde's "Somebody Somewhere," before joining Midge Ure and Ultravox in "Vienna," more a state of mind than a geographical location, where razor-sharp sideburns run parallel to raincoat lapels. There are many shades of '80s Chillout, as you'll discover in Next Steps.

Just because you were chilled out in the '80s didn't necessarily mean your brain was completely disengaged — the Elvis Costello-penned "Shipbuilding," recorded by Robert Wyatt, is a meditation on the industrial and social effects of the Falklands War, and holds up well as a beautifully melancholic jazz-pop classic. There are dark undercurrents running through "Asleep" by the Smiths, enhanced by the soporific piano, whereas the gently glowing ambience of Brian Eno's "An Ending (Ascent)" is custom-made for opening the mind to ultra-zen levels of perception. B.C.'s the Grapes of Wrath take a folk-rockin' approach to all things existential with "Peace Of Mind." Billy Idol chills with the Boss and Glass Tiger, in Next Steps.

Even rock gods and guitar heroes found the time and space to chill out in the '80s — Bruce Springsteen ditched the E Street Band for "One Step Up" (about the breakup of his marriage to Julianne Phillips) on Tunnel of Love, choosing to play all the instruments himself, with only future wife Patti Scialfa on backing vocals, while Billy Idol stinted his rebel yellin' for a couple of minutes and made like the balladeer on 1984's moody "Eyes Without A Face." With "Someday" Glass Tiger proved that the quickest route to chill-ville was a stunning melody, Images In Vogue swathed "Just Like You" in blankets of synth, and Haywire confirmed the therapeutic power of liquid bass on "Thinkin' About the Years."

Surely the jet-set, hair-gelled Me! Generation of the '80s was far too dynamic and upwardly mobile to relax, with all that money ready to be splashed and all that life to be lived at 100 miles per hour — but even the zippiest of '80s fast-laners understood that the best way to prevent burnout was to chill out, and these prime examples of the decade's most mellow, mind-soothing tunes confirm that you didn't necessarily require a personal flotation tank to unload your stresses. Here, you can immerse yourself in the sublime synth and sax waves of Vangelis's "Love Theme" from Blade Runner, become weightless as China Crisis anoints you from the gently trickling melody fountain of "Christian," and spiral off into bliss with This Mortal Coil's cover of Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren."