The 8000 series was introduced in 1979 to reissue many of the early CTI recordings which had, by that point, been out of print for a few years. Of the nearly 30 titles in this series, the majority were reissues of CTI's more revered or better known titles from the early pre-Motown half of the 6000 series. Although the records were priced at $8.98 (industry standard at the time), the issues were all single-sleeve reproductions of the glossy gatefold originals - considerably more austere than before.  

Some covers recreated their original famed sleeves, while others had entirely new artwork or new titles to play up their hit-worthiness. For instance, Bad Benson became Take Five (with two cover variations different from the original) and Good King Bad became Cast Your Fate To The Wind. Some of these releases even earned new titles to take advantage of relevant fame subsequent to the original issues (i.e., Airto's Free  became Return To Forever - after a first release of CTI 8000 bearing the same title as the original - and Joe Beck's Beck became Beck & Sanborn).  

It appears that most of the first 15 releases in this series were issued between 1979 and 1981, then reissued in 1982 with somewhat different cover art along with the remaining titles in the series.