Despite the title, only four of the 19 tracks on Gold & Platinum: Hits of the '80s, Vol. 4 went gold or platinum according to the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA). But all of them reached the Billboard Hot 100 in 1986 and 1987, and 16 of them made the Top Ten, including four chart-toppers, Bruce Hornsby & the Range's "The Way It Is," Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now," Michael Jackson's "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," and Gregory Abbott's "Shake You Down." So, most of them were big hits of the '80s. More significant, the album boasts a much wider scope than most comparable collections; most of the tracks come from the vaults of Sony, but there are also selections from three of the other four major record labels, and among them are songs by artists who usually withhold their work from compilations, such as Jackson, Bruce Springsteen ("Brilliant Disguise"), and Billy Joel ("Modern Woman"). The broad cooperation comes about because the disc, issued by the Columbia House music club label Realm Records, is a benefit album for the music industry's favored charity, the T.J. Martell Foundation for Leukemia, Cancer and AIDS Research. The album may be another randomly sequenced sampler of big pop hits, but the selection is above the average. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide