| Author | Message | ||
     Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 829 Registered: 01-2005 |
As always, feel free to rate 'em as you feel about them them, not like you did when we almost went ot war with Iran. Er, skip that last part as we seemed to be heading in that direction again... 1. The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight 2. Talking Head - Remain in Light 3. Joy Division - Closer 4. X - Los Angeles 5. Echo and The Bunneymen - Crocodiles 6. The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro 7. The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms 8. Peter Gabriel - Melting Face (III) 9. Pretenders - Pretenders 10. Colin Newman - A-Z 11. New Musik - From A to B 12. Squeeze - Argybargy 13. Kate Bush - Never For Ever 14. Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth 15. David Bowie - Scary Monsters 16. Ultravox - Vienna 17. Devo - Freedom Of Choice 18. Dire Straits - Making Movies 19. Prince - Dirty Mind 20. XTC - Black Sea | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1542 Registered: 04-2005 |
We haven't done this year before? I guess the confusion comes from the UK/US release dates. I had to look at my '79 and '81 choices to figure out what I'd already listed. Talking Heads - Remain in Light Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Get Happy!! Joy Division - Closer XTC - Black Sea Pretenders - Pretenders The Clash - Sandinista! (honoring its original UK release) David Bowie - Scary Monsters Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms Wow, lots of honorable mentions this year--albums that most years would make my top ten: The (English) Beat, Magazine, Prince, Springsteen, the Jam, Echo and the Bunnymen, Captain Beefheart, Peter Gabriel (III), the Only Ones, Squeeze, Pete Townshend. However, though it meant a lot to me at the time, now I can't put John & Yoko's "Double Fantasy" on this list...it just doesn't hold up. Damn, a very good year! | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 725 Registered: 10-2004 |
I thought we'd done this one before, too. At any rate, imho 1980 was a frighteningly, staggeringly phenomenal year for music, further proving what an outstanding decade the 80s were for music. Joy Division - Closer Japan - Gentlemen Take Polaraoids Siouxsie - Kaliedoscope Associates - Affectionate Punch David Bowie - Scary Monsters Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro John Cooper Clarke - Snap, Crackle, and Bop Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles Colin Newman - A-Z Talking Heads - Remain in Light Magazine - Correct Use of Soap XTC - Black Sea Kate Bush - Never Forever Durutti Column - Return of... Bauhaus - In the Flat Field Clash - Sandinista OMD - Organization YMG - Colossal Youth Pretenders - Pretenders Gary Numan - Telekon The Fall - Grotesque The Cure - 17 Seconds Ultravox - Vienna Devo - Freedom of Choice | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 934 Registered: 08-2006 |
These late 70s/early 80s lists are murder because there's still that gap between UK/US releases. I'm going to stick with American release dates, 'cause that's what I've been doing with other years and I'm a stickler for precedent. So: The Clash - London Calling Prince - Dirty Mind Gang of Four - Entertainment! Talking Heads - Remain in Light Professor Longhair - Crawfish Fiesta Tom Robinson - Sector 27 The Undertones - Hypnotized The English Beat - I Just Can't Stop It Bruce Springsteen - The River John Lennon/Yoko Ono - Double Fantasy | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2322 Registered: 03-2006 |
Congrats on your excellent taste including that Professor Longhair disc, Rob. It's a classic, and it goes on my list, too (as do most of your choices. Why reinvent the wheel?): Professor Longhair - Crawfish Siesta Prince - Dirty Mind Elvis - Get Happy! Talking Heads - Remain In Light Bombastic Bruce - the River Clash - London Calling Pretenders XTC - Black Sea Squeeze - Argybargy X - Los Angeles That was a dang good year, goshdangit! Though that was a long time ago, I do recall vividly that the one on my list that I couldn't stop playing, that got into my veins like a drug was the Pretenders. I loved that album so much I wanted to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 935 Registered: 08-2006 |
I figured you'd key on the Professor pick, LK! You can take a boy out of Louisiana... | ||
| frank bascombe Member Username: Frankb Post Number: 171 Registered: 01-2007 |
Elvis, Bruce , the Clash -don't get much better than that for me | ||
| David Gagen Member Username: David_g Post Number: 107 Registered: 02-2007 |
Very eclectic year Neil Y - Hawks and Doves Emylou - Roses In The Snow Stevie Wonder - Hotter Than July Dead Kennedy's - Fresh Fruit... Tom Waits - Heart Attack and Vine Van the Man - Common One Cure - 17 Seconds Devo - Freedom of Choice AC/DC - Back in Black (I don't have a tattoo but I am game enough to admit I still have this album!!) Orhestral Manoeuvers in the Dark Clash - London Calling XTC - Black Sea Stones - Emotional Rescue Ultravox- Vienna JD - Closer Decade started and ended well!! | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 306 Registered: 07-2006 |
psych furs - s/t abba - super trouper diana ross - diana prince - dirty mind japan - gentlemen take polaroids omd - organisation xtc - black sea dexy's - searching for the young soul rebels jd - closer peter gabriel - peter gabriel iii pretenders - s/t bruce - the river talking heads - remain in light the human league - travelogue | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 307 Registered: 07-2006 |
yikes - how'd i forget "never for ever" | ||
| Little Keith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 2328 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rob, you know your LK, predictable guy that he is... Love that album, don't know if it's his best, but I think it's his most accessible, easily enjoyable. Now, if I could find some crawfish... Good to give the good Professor props whenever possible, since he lived the bulk of his life in obscurity, working as a janitor. I got an insight into how great the Prof's technique is a few years ago, when a girlfriend gave me George Winston's cover album of his stuff. Now, Winston is not my thing, but I realize he has his place in doctor's offices, etc. I would've at least guessed he had good enough chops to play the stuff, but nooooo...talk about ham-fisted, no swing, no rhythm or lightness of touch. Btw, Winston's cover album of Vince Guaraldi standards suffers from the same problem. Winston is just too much of a honkie, I guess. The granola and sprouts he no doubt subsists on just don't give him enough oomph or juice to play music that really swings. Now, if I could only find some crawfish! Frank, add Talking Heads into the mix and it does indeed seem like an embarrassment of riches! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 830 Registered: 01-2005 |
1980 is one of my favorites, even without including London Calling and Entertainment! as 1980 albums. Wild Planet by The B-52's just missed my list, as did The River by da Boss. Emmylou's Roses In The Snow I forgot about, as I did The English Beat's I Just Can't Stop It. Both should be included in my list. 1989 is the last of the 1980's albums that needs to be reviewed, and it's not a great year as I recall. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1545 Registered: 04-2005 |
If I remember correctly, 1989 had De La Soul's "Three Feet High and Rising," Neil Young's "Freedom," Lou Reed's "New York," Pixies' "Doolittle," Bob Mould's "Workbook," etc. Not the most terrible year...we should try it. And some of us were still buying new music in the '90s...isn't it time to explore that decade? | ||
| Catherine Vaughan Member Username: Catherine Post Number: 261 Registered: 05-2005 |
There's already a 1989 thread there somewhere... | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 938 Registered: 08-2006 |
I think Catherine's right. I distinctly remember doing that year not long ago... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 727 Registered: 10-2004 |
Catherine's right, there is a 1989 thread. We've covered the entire decade. Maybe we should move into the 70s? I know we've already done 2 or 3 years in the late 70s. What will be depressing is when we tackle the 90s. That was a comparitively dreadful and dreary decade for me. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1546 Registered: 04-2005 |
For you, not necessarily for everybody. Some of us would argue there was lots of good stuff in the '90s: PJ Harvey, Nirvana, "Loveless," Sugar, Sleater-Kinney (yeah, I know, many hate them), Dylan's and Neil's comebacks, Pavement, Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, Wilco, Lucinda Williams, "Fear of a Black Planet," Beck, Luna, Elastica, Blur, Pulp, Sinead's last good album, etc. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 728 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kurt - I did qualify my comment about the 90s with "for me." Good stuff for me in the 90s was Stereolab, High Llamas, Magnetic Fields, Lush, Divine Comedy, Nice/Ashtray Boy, Nick Cave's early 90s stuff like "Let Love In," Saint Etienne, to name a few. Some of Louis Philippe's best work came out in the early to mid-90s. But in general, for me the 90s was like the dark ages compared to the 80s. Grunge and the massive major label co-opting of it, pretty much killed the first half of the 90s for me. There was enough new and interesting music to help get me scrape through that decade, but I was largely disillusioned with the 90s. You know how Kevin is always dissing the 80s? The 80s for him are what the 90s are for me. Although I see our current decade as similarly bleak in many ways. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 939 Registered: 08-2006 |
It's funny, I always remember the 90s as kind of a bleak music period, too, Jeff, until I look back at the best-of lists from that time I used to trade with a couple college friends (we'd make a compilation tape of our faves and send 'em to friends). And I find my top 10s hold up every bit as well as the top 10s I'd make from any other decade. If I tried to get into the teens and 20s, maybe I'd find things get a bit thin, but if a year gives me ten really good records and a bunch of pretty good ones, I'm a happy man. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1547 Registered: 04-2005 |
For a long time, the '70s was the vilified decade. Then the '80s came along and a lot of Seventies music seemed pretty good. Likewise the '90s following the '80s. Repeat cycle to infinity. Every decade has its overwhelming loads of crap with some amazing diamonds to be found within. That's why I try not to generalize about the relative worth of any decade. As Keith Richards once said (roughly paraphrasing), 90% of popular music is utter shit, but the 10% that's good is REALLY good. (The number's probably much smaller than 10%, but that still leaves plenty of good records.) | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 729 Registered: 10-2004 |
Yeah, but I've really searched the 90s up and down and have consistently come up with a lower percentage of genuinely good music when compared to the 80s, 70s, and 60s. I actually approached the 90s with an open mind when living though them. And some of my favorite records came out in the 90s; records which, to this day, I still love. But there were a lot of musical trends at the time that just didn't do it for me. The musical landscape shifted dramatically (as it should), but a lot of the trends that took shape that decade just didn't move me. Some did, luckily, but it was a smaller number than previous decades. But you have to remember, this is all subjective. When I make sweeping statements like "the 90s were crap," it applies only to me and my little world. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 730 Registered: 10-2004 |
At any rate, despite my relatively grim view of the 90s, I'm anxious to get into some yearly best of lists for the decade. I'm very curious about what we'll turn up. | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 1548 Registered: 04-2005 |
Yeah, me too. These lists are great because they remind me of things I haven't listened to in years or point me to things I never quite discovered in their day. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 1857 Registered: 05-2005 |
This is more like it, things went rapidly downhill after this year from the decade that taste forgot. Closer - Joy division Social Living -Burning Spear Grotesque - The Fall Get happy - Elvis Costello Sinsemilla - Black uhuru The correct use of soap - Magazine Remain in light - Talking heads Voice of America - Cabaret Voltaire Crocodiles - Echo and the bunnymen Bass Culture - Linton Kwesi Johnson Scary monsters - David Bowie Searching for the young soul rebels - Dexys midnight runners Sound affects - The jam Songs the lord taught us - The cramps Suicide - Suicide Colossal youth - Young marble giants Kilimanjaro - The teardrop explodes Doc at the Radar Station - Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band Countrymen - The Twinkle Brothers Jeopardy - The sound | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 741 Registered: 10-2004 |
Kevin - thank you for reminding me that I totally forgot Dexys' "Searching for the Young Soul Rebels." A classic album that definitely would've made my list had I remembered. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1817 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff and Kev pretty much supply my list, cheers dudes!!!! Bowie and The Clash, the two singles, Ashes and Bankrobber, touched me as a 11/12 year old, they really did blow me away, I knew I was on the right track (though some would proabably have somethig to say about that!) | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 851 Registered: 01-2005 |
Having enjoyed Tin Drum so much since I bought it last month, I just ordered Gentlemen Take Polaraoids. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 758 Registered: 10-2004 |
Michael - Polaroids is a bit different in that there's not much of the Asian influence so prevalent on Tin Drum, and the songs have a slightly longer, more meandering quality. But I love it about as much as I love Tin Drum, which is an awful lot. It's beautiful, moody, highly inventive, atmospheric, and arty and slightly difficult in that distinctly Japan-like way. I hope you dig it! | ||
| Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 853 Registered: 01-2005 |
Jeff - My friend Cindy recommended it highly as well. I really like Mick Karn's bass, and I don't think he's too busy a bass player, even when he was with Dalis Car. The Waking Hour DC album is the only cd I have with Peter Murphy, so I have zippo Bauhaus. Did you get the remastered Rain Tree Crow? I bough my RTC cd way back in 1991 or so, and it sounds decent enough. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 313 Registered: 07-2006 |
polaroids is worth it for methods of dance alone. one of the great late-night listens....weirdly ominous-sounding stuff. i have the rtc remaster, though i never got into it much. i'm probably long overdue in giving it another go. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 760 Registered: 10-2004 |
Michael - I don't have the Rain Tree Crow remaster, only the original LP. I'll have to pull it out sometime soon. I remember not being too floored by it, but it's been a while since I've listened to it. My personal Polaroids fav might be "Swing," which is another one of those great, late-night listens, to copy Joe's description. | ||
| joe Member Username: Dogmansuede Post Number: 314 Registered: 07-2006 |
agreed jeff....swing is great. i love the version on oil on canvas as well. bah, i refuse to accept i have to spend the next six hours at work doing this mindless rot rather than being able to go home and listen to some of this stuff again! | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 1841 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rain Tree Crow's is it Black Water? Its a lost classic, it really is/was. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 765 Registered: 10-2004 |
Michael - you **might** want to check out Mick Karn's solo album "Titles." It's by no means a great album, and is, if anything, a bit self-indulgent. But there's some interesting stuff, a few genuinely good songs, and loads of Mick Karn's fretless bass weirdness. Also worth checking out (I don't know how findable this is digitally or on CD, but...) is the David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto single Bamboo Houses/Bamboo Music. The two songs are thoroughly awesome and *very* Tin Drum. A "lost" classic. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1805 Registered: 05-2005 |
There's a David Sylvian and Ryuichi Sakamoto single called Darshan which always reminds me of a favourite ex. Must see if I can find that song somewhere. It only plays in my head when I think of it. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 1811 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just found out that it's actually Sylvian and Fripp and is available. |