| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1183 Registered: 05-2005 |
I came to the conclusion a long time ago that 1988 was when I moved away from childish things (ie heavy metal) and took a more nuanced listen to music. Not coincidentally it was the year I turned 21. Here then are my favourite records of 1988, most of which I still play reasonably regularly - two nights ago in the case of Love Junk. 1 The Waterboys – Fisherman’s Blues. One of the greatest, most enduring records ever made. Last year's remaster package is magnificent. 2 The Go-Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane. My favourite Go-Betweens record and the reason we're all here. 3 The Pursuit Of Happiness – Love Junk. Brilliant Canadian power pop. Also great live. 4 Mary Margaret O’Hara – Miss America. Also Canadian! There aren't two many years where two of the greatest records came from Canada. 5 Van Morrison & The Chieftains – Celtic Heartbeat. It still stirs my celtic soul. 6 The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God 7 Public Enemy – It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. My favourite hip hop record by a very long way. 8 Talk Talk - Spirit Of Eden. An astonishing change from their earlier Top 40 material. 9 Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Session. Make that three Canadian records! 10 Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation. When I saw that heavy guitars didn't have to be metal ... 11 Jane's Addiction - Nothing's Shocking. ... Except with Jane's where they were a bit metally 12 Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man. Awesome album. Awesome show in Dublin that year too. 13 Pixies - Surfer Rosa. I got Doolittle first a year later, but I then I went back to the source. 14 R.E.M. - Green. They signed to a major and didn't sell out. 15 The Church - Starfish. This album will forever remind me of wandering around suburban LA on a warm November day. 16 Dinosaur Jr – Bug. The other album that made me realise heavy guitars didn't need to be metal. 17 Enya - Watermark. I know I'm going to cop hell for this; but I love this beautiful, atmospheric, wintery album. I own no other Enya album though as I figure one is probably enough. 18 Hugo Largo - Drum. Produced by Michael Stipe and exceedingly strange. Brilliant though. 19 The Traveling Wilburys - Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 1. Love it at the time and still do. Wish it would get released on CD (I have it on cassette and on a CD copied from vinyl). 20 Crowded House - Temple Of Low Men. A great pop album with great pop songs. Mildly interesting sidebar: NME's top 3 albums of 1988 were It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, Irish Hearbeat and Fisherman’s Blues. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1184 Registered: 05-2005 |
I forgot to say anything about If I Should Fall From Grace With God... Shane McGowan at the peak of his songwriting power and a band able match his vision. The other songwriters in the band also peak on this album. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 98 Registered: 07-2006 |
now we're talking padraig! 1. 16LL - see above 2. marc almond - the stars we are 3. pet shop boys - introspective 4. rem - green 5. cocteau twins - blue bell knoll 6. erasure - the innocents (ho hum...) 7. morrissey - viva hate (the world is a much richer place for late night, maudlin st alone) 8. pixies - surfer rosa 9. sonic youth - daydream nation 10. house of love - house of love 11. mbv - isn't anything 12. neneh cherry - raw like sushi (89?) | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 99 Registered: 07-2006 |
i will have to listen to watermark sometime padraig. on my own, naturally. bananarama's greatest hits came out in 88 to and whilst i'm averse to listening a comp on an end of year list it's probably my most listened album in the past twelve months. and really good too! =))) | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 171 Registered: 09-2006 |
I'll take the GBs the Public Enemy the Sonic Youth the Trembling Wilburys the Pet Shop Boyeez the My Bloody Farking Valentine the Lenny Cohen and add: The Chills - Brave Words Prince - The Black Album Mahlathini/Mahotella Queens - Paris-Soweto Eric B. & Rakim - Follow the Leader (not as splashily groundbreaking as the PE but as the years pass it feels nearly as good) | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 172 Registered: 09-2006 |
Also, joe, though I thought "Viva Hate" was uneven I'd say the same for "Every Day is Like Sunday." | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 100 Registered: 07-2006 |
yeah. i just listened to it then and it still pales in comparison to bona drag and then the fall-to-ones-knees excellence of your arsenal. not that i'm partial or anything... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1504 Registered: 03-2006 |
Wow - '88 was a banner year for music. Great list, Padraig. I would agree heartily with most of your choices. I won't even say anything about the Enya - I figure you're a big boy and know what you're doing. And yes, hell yes, 16LL! As Borat would say, high five! And it's certainly the reason I'M here. Some I'd add to my list of faves for that year: Lucinda Williams - the eponymous one, with the black and white picture and red lettering on the cover. This is the one where Lu broke loose, showed people that she was something special, a songwriter of considerable mettle. Contains amongst others, the immortal "Crescent City", which people still go apeshit over when she plays it live, typically as an encore. Lucinda is as important to me as the GBs, so if "Car Wheels" was her "16LL", then this is her "Spring Hill Fair". Lyle Lovett - Pontiac. A "watershed" for Lyle as well - the one where he showed he was more than just another pretty face. Twisted little ditties like the jaunty up-tempo murder ballad, "LA County" and the heavily jaundiced statement of romantic purpose demonstrated a fairly twisted psyche lurked beneath the Eraserhead hairdo. John Hiatt - Slow Turning. I like this record, recorded with Lafayette's Sonny Landreth and the Goners a little bit more than Hiatt's other "newfound sobriety" highwater mark, "Bring the Family". Contains one of the alltime great "let's chuck it all and run away" love songs, "Drive South". Allen, I'm a big fan of the Black Album, though I long ago misplaced my copy. What was that great song that featured the menacing sounding character (sung, of course, by the wee Purple One himself) ranting about Prince, calling him "that skinny MF with the high voice"? God, I loved that. The other great line, from the same scary dude, was "I pay the rent in this raggedy MF!"...That was sort of an amusing catch phrase for my girlfriend at the time and I, something we'd say to crack each other up. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1505 Registered: 03-2006 |
Oops - piss poor quality control rears its ugly head again...the jaundiced love song by Lyle was called "M-O-N-E-Y", which you, of course, probably couldn't have gleaned from the original sentence. | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 173 Registered: 09-2006 |
Damn, forgot about the Lucinda...definitely throw that one in there too. My fave is the one about stopping the car and getting out and spending a few minutes away from her beloved: "If only for a minute or two/I want to feel what it feels to be without you." Can't remember the title... The title of the Prince tune, however, was "Bob George"...agreed, a hysterical/rather scary little number, especially when he pulls out his gun and says "Oh, you're quiet now..." | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1225 Registered: 05-2005 |
For me, 1988 was a funny time and exciting, being in bands and being young and out all the time watching bands everywhere meant little time to really listen to much music. Not having any money didn't help, and consequently I was always playing catch up, so some of the bands/artists here had their releases in 87, and I eventually caught with them in 88. Even though after art college I was assistant manager at Virgin records, we used to play all the right things in the shop until the area manager Phil used to turn up and demand Radio Khaos by Roger Waters be played - UGH! One lunchtime though, my manager and I Colin, stuck the CD of Liberty belle on, I think it was Xmas '87, and while we were serving, Phil came in, the look on his face! No Roger Waters, where's my album? All he could hear was head full of Steam, y know what, someone came up toColin asked him who was playing, we told him and he bought the cd! Same could not be said of Roger Waters. Anyway 1988, here goes: 1. The Blue Aeroplanes - Friendloverplane. A double album on Fire Records. I was playing with them a lot around this time. They were really awesomns. they had changed line up and musical direction and became this large congregation of people who sounded an looked insanely good. One of the last gigs we did with them tail end of '88 was really memorable, as it ws the last time we saw them for a few months, next time we spoke to them, they had landed a corker, they were supporting REM on the UK leg of Green tour... 2. Scott Walker - Moviegoer His albums were hard to find, but I found a few of his cheaper vinyl at record fairs, this was not a classic but i loved it non the less. 3. Win - Uh tears Baby. I loved The Fire Engines, Meat Whiplash in parrticular. Then they turned into Win. They were awesome, like T rex doing Fire engines covers, but sheer glitzy pop, wonderful. 4. Microdisney - Crooked Mile. Peel played a few tracks befroe it came out, and since birthday Girl I had yearned for a new album, this was great. Town to Town evn featured on daytime TV, with Cathal staring menacingly at old grannies eating cake and sipping tea! 5. Morrissey. Not so much the album, it was a relief to hear his album, but Suedehead was so great. I used to dance to it every Tuesday night at Burberries the hip club in Birmingham at that time. 6. Momus - Poison Boyfriend. In my opinion, the last decent album he made, apart from Voyager in '92. Like Jaques Brel and Lenny Cohen doing the best of Suzanne Vega. I knew him at the time and one day round his flat in Sloane Square caught sight of hir record eal contract with Creation, wished they had mob phone camera's in those days! 7. Kraftwerk, Electric Cafe. The track Telephone Line is awesome, that was enough for me. 8. Felt - Pictorial Jackson Review, they were local guys, who later on i got to know, Marco the bassist produced some trax from a group I appeared in then I was briefly in a band with the drummer Gary, nice guys, good album. 9. McCarthy, i am a wallet. I played this album so much in 88 its unreal. i identifeid with them so much. They were very political, i loved the way they made the lyrics for the music, like the way you would write lyrics as a child and try and fit them into the music before you ran out of time. 10. This has to be a split between Lloyd Cole - From the hip, The Weather Prophets - Mayfolwer James' album The Fall and New Order's best of. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1185 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks lads, lots more suggestions to check out. I definitely must check out that Lucinda Williams album. I thought Electric Cafe was a few years before that though Spence? I could be getting mixed up with the single Tour De France though. Was that on that album? I just realised that I have a fourth Canadian - Leonard Cohen - on that list. What a champion year for Canada! 20% of my top 20 of the year from there! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1228 Registered: 05-2005 |
Pad Yep you are right, but as I said, i was on catch up, being skint n all that, but I remember '88 being the year this stuff impressed me, even though some of it is a year or two out. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 317 Registered: 08-2006 |
Ah, yes, 1988. The year I graduated college, got a big-boy job and discovered dry cleaning. The year I first paid rent, taxes and attention. Voted for Jesse Jackson in the presidential primary and covered my eyes during the general. Discovered that fall in Ohio is quite pleasant, as long as Ohio State fans don't catch sight of the University of Michigan license plate frame your grandmother sent you. A great year for African music. I remember it all. 1. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation... 2. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation 3. Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams 4. The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane 5. Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens - Paris-Soweto 6. Ornette Coleman - Virgin Beauty 7. Pere Ubu - The Tenement Year 8. African Connection Vol. 1 - Zaire Choc! 9. The Heartbeat of Soweto 10. Prince - The Black Album | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 968 Registered: 03-2005 |
Crap! I don't have time to put together a proper list before going to work. I'm just looking at the things I have from that year. Some of them were discovered later. 1. Go Betweens -- 16LL. This was discovered later. 2. The Fall -- I am Curious Oranj. I played the HELL out of this in '88. 3. Toots Hibbert -- Toots in Memphis. My absolute favorite Jamaican vocalist doing the music that inspired him in the first place. This was also played to death in '88 4. Wire -- A Bell is a Cup Until It's Struck. I was amazed that they could come back and make something worth hearing. 5. Leonard Cohen -- I'm Your Man. But this was discovered later. The only Cohen I had in '88 was "Songs from a Room." 6. Dream Syndicate -- Best of. This doesn't really count because it's an antho and the best stuff on it is their earlier stuff but it did come out in '88. 7. The Feelies -- Only Life. The album on which the Feelies really tip their hand about their VU fixation. Padraig, I do actually have all the Feelies discs. I'd just buy them when they'd show up with no clue how rare they were. I also didn't realize that I had all there was until much later. 8. Ed Kuepper -- Everybody's Got To. This was discovered by me far more recently but it qualifies and its a great album. A less shrill remaster would be appreciated however. 9. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry -- Nothing Wrong. I was really big on this drone band back then. I still think they're pretty listenable. 10. Tanita Tikaram -- Ancient Heart. She was preternaturally world-weary but in the right setting the and her songs are terrific. Rod Argent created the right setting. She was also unbelievably pretty too. Honorable mentions: 1. Nick Cave -- Tender Prey 2. Green on Red -- Here Come the Snakes 3. Tracy Chapman -- (untitled) 4. The Church -- Starfish. Catch me at a different time and this would be on the list above. Disappointments: 1. Cocteau Twins -- Blue Bell Knoll. They'd gone major label. 2. Luxuria -- Unanswerable Lust. Howard Devoto had found a dull stadium rock band. 3. John Mayall -- Chicago Line. Mayall forgot that his strength is blues ballads, something you should be able to do even better as you get older. 4. The Saints -- Prodigal Son. I didn't yet realize the crucial importance of Ed Kuepper. I just observed that this album seemed very by-the-numbers. | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 449 Registered: 01-2005 |
1. The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane The lyrics never fail to impress me. Could have used more of Lindy though. 2. Wire - A Bell Is A Cup...... My first Wire purchase. 3. Robyn Hitchcock and The Egyptians - Globe Of Frogs The best of his A&M period records by a long shot. Peter Buck plays on a couple of tunes. 4. Til Tuesday - Everything's Different Now Aimee becomes a writer. Too bad Epic stopped supporting the band, as it's by far the best of the three TT albums. Stunning lyrics about Aimee's break-up with Jules Shear. Almost too revealing lyrics. 5. Throwing Muses - House Tornado Not as good as the 1986 eponymus debut, but still a great album. 6. Everything But The Girl - Idlewild Has there ever been a more nostalgic look back a childhood, or introspective longing? Nice jazz quartet backs up Ben's acoustic guitar. Love the Hammond B3! Pefect album to listen to during the season of falling leaves and harvest moons. 7. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything The beginning of my fixation with shoegazing dreampop. 8. Lucinda Williams - Lucinda Williams I didn't get this until the remastered cd became available a few years ago. 9. Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden I didn't get this until last year. 10 Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation A remastered edition please!!!! Just missed: The Pixies - Surfer Rosa Camper Van Beethoven: Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart Cowboy Junkies - The Trinity Sessions Nice debut: Julia Fordham - Julia Fordham Totally sucked: R.E.M. - Green Right up there with Monster as my lease favorite. However, I don't own the last three. | ||
| Pat Boland Member Username: Pat_boland Post Number: 23 Registered: 05-2005 |
Great topic. Pretty much everything covered already but for the record; 1 The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane 2 R.E.M. - Green 3 The Feelies - Only Life 4 The Church - Starfish 5 The Smithereens - Green Thoughts 6 Surfer Rosa - Pixies 7 The House of Love 8 Randy Newman - Land of Dreams 9 The Pursuit of Happiness - Lovejunk 10The Pogues - If I should fall from grace with God It was also the year that Prefab Sprout gave us the hugely disappointing 'From Langley Park to Memphis' Also, regarding the Travelling Wilburys, Pádraig: George Harrison's widow Olivia Harrison is trying to follow his high standards for her recent and future reissues of the "quiet Beatle's" work. Last month, Harrison's 1973 Number One album Living In the Material World was reissued under Olivia's supervision. Olivia told us that the new reissue was one of the final projects Harrison worked on before his death in 2001. She also said that the next reissue will jump ahead 15 years, to the first Traveling Wilburys album: "It's really nice to get this one done. He'd remastered this already in 2001 himself, but he didn't get a chance to finish it. I think next year the Wilburys is so overdue -- way overdue. And there's a lot of great material on that as well, so I'm just trying to get to it." 1988's Traveling Wilburys Vol. One album featured Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, ELO's Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty. After Orbison's death in 1989, the band regrouped the following year for Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. Home footage from the albums' sessions is expected to be released on DVD in conjunction with the Wilburys reissues. There's no release date set for the reissues, nor any word whether they will released at the same time. Living In The Material World was the follow-up to Harrison's first mainstream solo album, 1970's All Things Must Pass, and featured his second Number One hit, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth)." George's album and single replaced Paul McCartney & Wings' Red Rose Speedway and "My Love" at the Number One spot on the Billboard 200 Album and Hot 100 singles charts, respectively. Living In The Material World was the first time a former Beatle recorded a solo project in the group's Apple Studios, which had last been used by the group in 1969 to record their album Let It Be. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1212 Registered: 04-2005 |
I recall the late '80s being something of a wasteland, yet looking at the lists above, I realize '88 was a pretty big year by any standard. 1. Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation 2. Go-Betweens - 16LL 3. My Bloody Valentine - Isn't Anything 4. Pixies - Surfer Rosa 5. Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions... 6. The Feelies - Only Life 7. Richard Thompson - Amnesia 8. Barbara Manning - Lately I Keep Scissors 9. The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace... 10. Camper Van Beethoven - Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart Bubbling under: Randy Newman, Lucinda Williams, Graham Parker, Nick Cave & Bad Seeds, Cowboy Junkies, Dinosaur Jr. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1508 Registered: 03-2006 |
Ah, of course, Allen, "Bob George". Another line occurs: "Go get your wig, the reddish brown one"...Yep, Bob George was one bad mofo... One song ID deserves another. The Lucinda song to which you refer is called "Side of the Road" and it IS a great song. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 482 Registered: 10-2004 |
I wish we could do '86 or '83, as those would be much easier years than '88. this year is a little tough, but here ya go: Go-Betweens - 16LL Microdisney - 39 Minutes (Production is lamentably glossy, but wow, what a strong album and a nice way to go out. Some of Cathal's best lyrics, imho) Wire - A Bell is a Cup Momus - Tender Pervert (Momus' first foray into techno pop, and arguably, his last truly good record) Dead Can Dance - The Serpent's Egg (a definite high point for them. amazing) Felt - Pictorial Jackson Review (not my favorite Felt record, feels a bit thrown together and casual, but not bad) Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll (for me, an artistic low point for them in the 80s, but had a few good songs, mostly on side one. i remember being fairly disappointed with this when it came out. i was 14 at the time, had been feverishly obsessed with them for a year up to that point, and thought they could do no wrong. but then they went "major", as Randy put it, and at the time this *really* sounded like the product of a band gone "major." fortunately, they did much, much better a few years later with heaven or las vegas) Morrissey - Viva Hate (*not* a cohesive or exceptional album at all, but has a few outstanding songs) McCarthy - I am a Wallet The Pixies - Doolittle The Fall - Frenz Experiment & Curious Oranj House of Love - House of Love Louis Philippe - Ivory Tower Siouxsie - Peepshow (Siouxsie's worst record of the 80s. i seem to recall accusations of "sell out" being tossed around in my circle back then, but at the same time thinking this album had a few redeeming qualities. Definitely not their best, but I'm struggling to come up with much for '88, so....) Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis (Seemed like everyone was bent on "selling out" in '88, and this was certainly no exception; maybe his was in fact, the epitome of a band sounding like they'd sold out. What a slick and garish and polished sounding record! *But* Paddy is a genius, so if you can dig through the layers of gloss, you can still find some great songs. Another case of an artistic low-point for a band, but mentioned it because, well, it's not terrible, and needed more to pad out my list) | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 321 Registered: 08-2006 |
Whoa, Kurt, I forgot "Amnesia." One of my favorites of Thompson's solo records. But how did Lucinda end up as a "bubbling under"? Don't you know that kind of talk makes LK take bad pills? There, there, LK, the bad man didn't mean it. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1510 Registered: 03-2006 |
What, "bubbling under" doesn't mean "even better"? This board has taught me, if nothing else, patience and tolerance. As they say, chacon a son gout. Plus, the Kurtigator has proven his great taste and bona fides in many other areas. Actually though, I think he's gone on about Lucinda here. Also gets points for mentioning Graham Parker - forgot that one... | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1511 Registered: 03-2006 |
Also like Amnesia...one of his better solo records - agreed. After that was Rumour & Sigh, right? then nothing, a vast wasteland, bupkes... | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 177 Registered: 09-2006 |
True, true...that Billion Years of Popular Song thing he did sounds rather interesting, but I haven't gotten around to looking into it. Oh, BTW, the funny thing is, I don't think the narrator of that Prince song is mentioned by name...Bob George is one of the fellas he accuses his girl of stepping out on him with - he keeps saying the name in this incredulous tone ("Bahhb! Ain't that a bitch?") like he can't believe that any woman of his would actually go out with a guy named Bob. | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 1512 Registered: 03-2006 |
Yeah, it's coming back to me, heh heh. "Ain't that a bitch?"...as I recall, whatever the storyline, things don't end too prettily, judging by the gunshots, sirens and screams... I'm guessing the narrator ends up popping a cap in somebody's ass! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1213 Registered: 04-2005 |
I should have listed 15 or 20 for the year. That particular Lucinda Williams album is very good, no question, but I find the sound of the original issue CD annoyingly thin, so I docked it a few notches for that. Time for a remastered version, or to hear it on vinyl. "Amnesia" is an underrated RT album, I think. It's more focused than "R and S," and has way more great guitar playing. Also, my bad for forgetting Wire's "A Bell is a Cup...," which is at very least a strong honorable mention in '88. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 322 Registered: 08-2006 |
I agree about "Amnesia," Kurt, and I think the reason it seems more focused than his later stuff touches on a point we've talked about at length here: length. I think "Amnesia" is right around 10 tracks, while R&S and subsequent RT records have several more, including that "Psycho Street" thing from R&S that should have ended up, at best, as a B-side. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1186 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks for the info on the Wilburys Pat. That's good news. I love Langley Park though and have done since the very first time I played it. It's absolutely pristine pop and the production is excellent, but that doesn't in any way make it a sellout to my mind. It was way more commercial than what came before it of course but if all chart bound pop sounded like that the world would be a better place! I remember being amazed the first time I played it on the walkman and hearing a didgereedoo on it! Can't remember which track though. Must play it again soon. And the spectacularly dumb lyrics at times - "Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerqee" - I loved them! And the brilliantly dumb video which featured people dressed up as a hot dog and a frog! And what about Golden Calf? I'm amazed no rock band has ever covered it; the guitar dynamics are wonderful and really heavy on it. Oh, I could talk all day about how much I love this album! | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 485 Registered: 10-2004 |
Padraig, Langley Park really is a good album, and I didn't mean to denigrate it so harshly. Bear in mind, I *love* Prefab Sprout, so my opinions of their music tend to be very, well, opinionated. Indeed, it's packed with some wonderful songs, but for me the undeniable studio sheen was a bit much initially. And I still rate Swoon, Protest Songs, Steve McQueen, and Jordan higher. Interesting that you mention the Golden Calf, which is a great song. It always struck me as sounding like it could've been written by the Replacements, which coming from me is a high compliment. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 486 Registered: 10-2004 |
OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I FORGOT TO LIST MY FAVORITE SHACK ALBUM: SHACK - ZILCH | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1382 Registered: 05-2005 |
I generally thought the 80s was a poor decade, 88 wasnt too bad I suppose, although strangely it was a poor year for The Fall compared to previous years. Partly agree with Michael that Green sucked, more so when you compare it to what was on my REM album of choice from 88. Public Enemy-It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Pixies - surfer rosa Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation Eric B. & Rakim - Follow the Leader Mary Margaret O'Hara - Miss America Pogues - if i should from grace with god The lilac time - The lilac time Happy mondays - bummed Jungle Brothers - Straight Out the Jungle R.E.M.- Eponymous | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1189 Registered: 05-2005 |
No comps Kevin! I almost added the word "yet" above when I said R.E.M. didn't sell out with Green. But I stopped myself because I don't think they have ever sold out; they just made some average and one downright awful (Around The Sun) albums. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1214 Registered: 04-2005 |
But "Green" was the first R.E.M. with a really crass, poppy-sounding song ("Stand"). And sure enough, it was a hit. Plus it had the dreadful "Orange Crush," which sounds way too much like U2. I hated "Green" when it came out, and it's only been in later years that I've come to like it more--maybe because most of their work since has been even weaker. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 323 Registered: 08-2006 |
Hey, Kevin, cool to see Mary Margaret O'Hara - Miss America in your list. It wasn't my favorite of '88 but it's a damn good, and weird, recording. Is it still in print? | ||
| Allen Belz Member Username: Abpositive Post Number: 178 Registered: 09-2006 |
I'll stand with Padraig on this one..."Green" sounds just fine, and would make my runner-up list...though I agree that "Eponymous" would be ahead of it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1190 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, I'll thank you to look at No 4 on my list and give credit and kudos where credit and kudos are due! Harumph. Kurt, I don't like Green as much as any of the albums that preceeded it and it's an album I've always been somewhat uneasy with. But I do still think it's the 14th best album of 1988! I really like Orange Crush btw. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1384 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, its still in print. I upgraded my (misplaced)vinyl copy to CD just a few months back. Think I got it from Amazon for about Ł5 | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 164 Registered: 01-2006 |
MMO'H's Miss America goes for about €10 in my local HMV....anyone heard her tracks off the Aparment Life Soundtrack? or the Christmas EP she did? A freined of mine saw her in London doing the stage play of Tome Waits' 'Black Rider'... | ||
| Pat Boland Member Username: Pat_boland Post Number: 24 Registered: 05-2005 |
Actually, in addition to all of the stuff I left off (MMO'H, MBV, Moz etc.) one of the great, overlooked albums of 1988 was Gladsome, Humour and Blue by Martin Stephenson & The Daintees. In fact, I had all but forgotten about it myself until the magnificent 'There Comes a Time' popped up on the iPod. Due for reissue soon, I believe. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 324 Registered: 08-2006 |
Hey, Padraig, apologies! It was Kev's MMO'H pick that caught my eye first. Glad to know "Miss America" is still in print. I'll have to pick it up. | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 9 Registered: 01-2007 |
Good year,for me the yeaers blur into one I don't know were to start but the Go-between,Richard Thompson, The Pogues, Waterboys and MMO'H are those I till listen to. Green I've not played in years, certainly their worst with Bill Berry,who incidently must be one the greatest drummers around. What were the Triffids up to at this point? was it Calenture or am I a year early | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 10 Registered: 01-2007 |
no 1987 Calenture | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1233 Registered: 05-2005 |
Pat, yep forgot that Daintess thang too, jeff, share a lot in common with you as usual, thanx for remninding me, Microdiney 39 minutes was masterpiece, I saw them live then, and it was like watching Chritopher lee fronting the Larry Grayson band!! Awesome, but weird. Wire too, also el records was in its prime from 86 - 88 wasn't, i forgot about Louis philippe, Bid, Gol gappas, Alwaye et el! Kev, Lilac Time, their first album was the best, beautiful beautiful album. Kurt, i'm with you green was carp when it acme out, but I like it now. Bill berry Frank, I think is one of the best drummers ever, clever, sophisticated but yet oh so simple. I also liked The Might Lemon Drops, and Pop will eat itself,m as I knew them and they were only down the road...and I was pleased theuy were on the way to making it... Clint Mansellfrom The poppies is now a successful film soundtrack composer. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1192 Registered: 05-2005 |
XYZ: The MMO'H Christmas EP is superb. Get it. The soundtrack album is also very good, but it's not up there with Miss America or the Christmas EP. It's still very much worth having though, and if it was by anyone else it might be considered a minor classic. | ||
| TROU Member Username: Trou Post Number: 77 Registered: 05-2005 |
REM - Green Morrissey - Viva hate Go-betweens - 16 ll McCarthy - I'm a wallet Anna Domino - Coulouring in the edge... They might be giants - Lincoln Dead can dance- The serpent's egg Marc Almond - The stars we are. Crooked miles, it was in 1987 Spence! 1987 to 1990 were very fine years. | ||
| Wolfgang Steinhardt Member Username: Berbatov Post Number: 51 Registered: 09-2006 |
all this & Sugarcubes - Life's too good Michelle Shocked - Short Sharp Shocked Ambitious Lovers - Greed Jeremy Days - st | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 186 Registered: 05-2005 |
I agree with most people - Waterboys, Blue Bell Knoll(try it stoned if you think it's major label). Starfish and Green were for me big disappointments apart from ,repectively, Hotel Womb and World Leader Pretend. Didn't the Crowdies first come out late 86? Anyway. One you should hunt out is Australian band Died Pretty. In 88 I think I played and saw them more than anyone else. Songs like Winterland, Crawls away etc from their album Lost were great at the time. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 187 Registered: 05-2005 |
...didn't Temple of Low Men come out in about march 89? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1197 Registered: 05-2005 |
Do you really think I'd get that wrong?! July/August 1988; depending on your location. http://www.etext.org/lists/house/ch-disc ography.html | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1236 Registered: 05-2005 |
TROU, yes you are right, but as i've stated b4, I was on CATCH UP! No money=buy next year when its cheaper!! Shit, dive for cover, somenone's mentioned the HOUSE! | ||
| XY765 Member Username: Judge Post Number: 166 Registered: 01-2006 |
Thanks for the info re MMO'H's Christmas EP Padraig. One of my favourite releases of 1988 not mentioned already was Jonathon Richman and the Modern Lovers 'Modern Lovers 88' which is my second favourite of theirs after the debut... | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 191 Registered: 05-2005 |
Gee Padraig, you have WAY more CDs than me but I'm reasonably sure it was easter of 89 that it came out.I first saw the Crowdies at Selinas(Supported by the Mentals) in 88 and remember waiting waiting for the next album until I got it the week it came out in Byron Bay the next year at easter, playing it at my Dad's place and marvelling at each song as it swam from the speakers! I could be wrong. I often am! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1202 Registered: 05-2005 |
You didn't click on that link then, did you? | ||
| Lawrence Mikkelsen Member Username: Simplythrilledhoney Post Number: 75 Registered: 03-2006 |
hmmm ... it _was_ a good year, wasn't it. Sneaky Feelings: Hard Love Stories Shack: Zilch first House Of Love album Straitjacket Fits: Hail The Wild Swans: Bringing Home The Ashes The Travelling Wilburys: Vol I Talk Talk: Spirit Of Eden Morrissey: Viva Hate James: Strip Mine and 16 LL, of course ... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 487 Registered: 10-2004 |
Wow, thanks for reminding me Lawrence - 2 more albums I stupidly forgot to include on my list: Sneaky Feelings - Hard Love Stories Wild Swans - Bringing Home the Ashes | ||
| Lawrence Mikkelsen Member Username: Simplythrilledhoney Post Number: 76 Registered: 03-2006 |
I guess the point of this thread is that there is _always_ good music being produced if you can be bothered looking for it. Hell, I wasn't even buying music in 1988 - I was 13 and obsessing over fighter planes. (Actually, I think I may have bought the Traveling Wilburys album around the time it came out, and that year was my first introduction to REM.) Pick a year since the early 80s though, and I'm pretty sure I can come up with at least ten albums which are classics by my standards. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 192 Registered: 05-2005 |
Should I have ever doubted that you would be wrong Padraig???? Humblest apologies! You realise this piece of information has COMPLETELY screwed up my self concept of that year now! I WAS very busy as it was my first year of teaching at a difficult Campbelltown school. I must have gotten it during the winter holidays of 88 then. I am still waiting with baited breath for "Time on Earth". | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 459 Registered: 01-2005 |
I forgot a couple as well: Tirez Tirez - Against All Flags The Balancing Act - Curtains (songs arranged and produced by the Gang of Four's Andy Gill) They do a killer cover version of the Funkadellics "Can You Get To That" Oh yes, it does contain some of the Gill GoF guitar sound! IRS issue. Used copies available at amazon for a resonable price Hugh Cornwell - Wolf | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1204 Registered: 05-2005 |
Campbelltown eh? Did you get beaten up by all the Barnesy and Farnesy fans for listening to Crowded House and The Go-Betweens? | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 349 Registered: 08-2006 |
I remember that Balancing Act CD, Michael. My housemate had it when I lived in Ohio years ago and I loved it, as I recall. Haven't heard it since maybe 1990. Might be worth revisiting. | ||
| abigail law Member Username: Abigail Post Number: 112 Registered: 06-2005 |
daydream nation it takes a nation of millions isn't anything 16 ll and whatever felt album was released that year my predictable choices sorry for the delay in my response, im still trying to get over padraig's championing of enya ;-) | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 462 Registered: 01-2005 |
Rob, I talked a bit with the Gang Of Four's Andy Gill after seeing them in May of 2005, and mentioned that I liked his work on Curtains. He signed my Entertainment! cd insert. What a show GoF put on that night!! No one listed Keith's - Talk Is Cheap. I remember hearing numerous cuts of it from the radio program that introduced me to the G-B's. | ||
| Geoff Holmes Member Username: Geoff Post Number: 193 Registered: 05-2005 |
No, but I remember a kid asking me what I was doing for the weekend (Seeing the Church) and he said he didn't know I was religious!!! Campbelltown kids see themselves as outcast/rebels, much as they imagine the black community in America sees itself, and so they listen to all the latest outcast/rebel music which meant just about exclusively only black music. Late 80's/early 90's that was NWA. They had never heard of Public enemy(didn't profain enough)or Jungle brothers etc. They also "loved R and B" but had never heard of Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder etc! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1210 Registered: 05-2005 |
So Campbelltown in wigga territory? I thought it was more generic bogan rock ... that's what I get for having opinions based on only ever meeting one person from there. Your Church story reminded me of a similar experience I had. One Saturday night in Dublin I met a couple of friends who were brothers to go to see The Church. I phoned my mother before going into town. My mother reported to their mother after mass in our home village the next morning that Peter, Dave and Pádraig had gone to church in Dublin the night before! That put all three of us in the good books for a few months! | ||
| Hugh Nimmo Member Username: Hugh_nimmo Post Number: 11 Registered: 03-2007 |
Padraig, re the Traveling Wilburys, it would appear that your wish is about to be granted. www.ftmusic.com/news/index.html | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1363 Registered: 05-2005 |
Thanks for that Hugh. Good news and about time. |