Pop Goes the World by Men Without Hats is one of my absolute favorite albums of all time. Other albums come and go, taking a spot as a favorite for a time then giving way to something new, but this one is always in my top 3 at any point in time. It is a positive, up-beat album that has been with me through countless good times, and helped me through bad times, including a period of severe depression. It is impossible to listen to this album without feeling good, or at least better that you did when you put it on.I first got this album way back in 1987 on cassette when it was first released. It immediately became my favorite tape, One of the very few I carried between my house, my car, and the furniture refinishing shop I worked at to save $$$ for college - listening to it in all 3 places at least 4 times a week. A few years later, I got my first CD player, and I began replacing my favorite tapes with CDs. Unfortunately, I was unable to find this one anywhere. It appeared to have gone out of print.Fast forward to 1996. I am now an IT professional, and I discovered a new program at a trade show - a program that allows you to capture tapes and vinyl records, clean them up, and burn them to CD. I jumped on it, buying it as fast as I could save up the price of the software. This was the very first tape I used the software on - spending a good 12 + hours working on it (the computers of the day were slow for this kind of work). I was so happy to have a CD of this album that I could use in my car and other CD players, not to mention preserving it since, as a tape, it was getting worn out.The other day I was doing a search on Men Without Hats and ran across this CD here an Amazom.com. I was ecstatic! Here was my old friend, revitalized to it's original splendor on CD from the original studio masters! Naturally, I ordered it on the spot, and I am absolutely thrilled with it. This appears to truly be a simple transfer from the original master, not an over-compressed re-mastered re-release. I am also an audio engineer, and I am often disappointed with "digitally re-mastered" releases of old classics because the compression used in the re-mastering changes the sound of the original release, decreasing both the stereo width and dynamic range of the recording. This CD does not have this shortcoming - it is as wide, clear and dynamic as I remember my tape originally being.This is a beautifully performed and masterfully engineered recording that any '80 collection simply must have.