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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 5, 2024 11:54:33 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1984
#10 - Son Seals - Bad Axe
Son Seals is another one of those blues guys who was never quite as big a deal as I think he should have been (we'll see another farther up the list). He also wasn't terribly prolific, releasing only eight studio albums during his over 25 year career.
This is just a solid blues album in a very good year for blues albums (there are four on my list for this year). Seals gives us very good versions of Eddie Vinson's "Person to Person" and Little Sonny's "Going Home (Where Women Got Meat on Their Bones)." The standout track is probably Seals' own composition "Cold Blood" Just a solid electric boogie.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2024 11:59:36 GMT -5
Hope it's ok to add some thoughts to this thread. Back on 1974, I would have to say Herbie Hancock's Thrust and Budgie's In for the Kill might take my top couple of spots off the top of my head. Interesting seeing the list of 1984 hard rock albums, totally get people's tastes change. Two of those I have to give a callout to, Ratt and Dokken were young and quite hungry bands at that point, and the "MTV influence" that would dominate the second half of the 80's hadn't quite taken the edge off groups like this yet. The guitar work alone on Out of the Cellar (Warren Demartini and Robbin Crosby) and Tooth and Nail (George Lynch) was outstanding. Lyrically it was what it was, but the great riffs, hooks, and overall musicianship stand the test of time for me. There's a quote I like from a concert recording I have from around 1990 with glam rockers LA Guns where the singer says "you might have seen us on MTV for this song looking all pretty...not like tonight." Sometimes people forget that the image was what was marketable, but there were some great musicians from that era when you looked past that (and plenty of fluff too of course). Oh, and also for 1984, gotta add Run-DMC's self-titled debut album. Parents didn't understand it, kids like myself loved it. What a crazy and fun decade. I'm a big Herbie Hancock fan. I tend to avoid jazz albums in this exercise because I, personally have a hard time quantifying where they belong. I also, by and large, prefer my jazz from the 50s and early 60s. That's cool, I'm a jazz fan myself covering a lot of decades. Though some representative favorites would be Herbie, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Joe Pass, and some of Metheny's work. But again I like plenty of older traditional material too. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 12:05:54 GMT -5
As far as 1984 is concerned, I like everything about Iron Maiden’s Powerslave, from the album cover to their interpretation of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Is it my favourite Iron Maiden album? If not, it’s close.  Ha! When I was a teenager, a load of my friends were "Metallers" or "Metalheads", so I got to hear lots of this kind of stuff. I really dislike Heavy Metal as a rule, but because I know such 80s and 90s albums as Powerslave reasonably well -- almost through osmosis -- I can actually hold my own in a conversation on the topic. But yeah, I've really never been able to see the appeal myself. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 5, 2024 12:11:08 GMT -5
As far as 1984 is concerned, I like everything about Iron Maiden’s Powerslave, from the album cover to their interpretation of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Is it my favourite Iron Maiden album? If not, it’s close. Ha! When I was a teenager, a load of my friends were "Metallers" or "Metalheads", so I got to hear lots of this kind of stuff. I really dislike Heavy Metal as a rule, but because I know such 80s and 90s albums as Powerslave reasonably well -- almost through osmosis -- I can actually hold my own in a conversation on the topic. But yeah, I've really never been able to see the appeal myself. You should pull a Pat Boone and do a Kynd album with all heavy metal covers. "2 Minutes to Midnight", but played in your style  |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 12:15:48 GMT -5
I'm a big Herbie Hancock fan. I tend to avoid jazz albums in this exercise because I, personally have a hard time quantifying where they belong. I also, by and large, prefer my jazz from the 50s and early 60s. That's cool, I'm a jazz fan myself covering a lot of decades. Though some representative favorites would be Herbie, Chick Corea, Gary Burton, Joe Pass, and some of Metheny's work. But again I like plenty of older traditional material too. I like Jazz a lot, but I'm very specific about which sub-genres of jazz do it for me. I don't mind the Bebop of the 1940s and '50s (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk etc) or more straight ahead jazz of that period, such as Cab Calloway, Louise Armstrong etc, or even a little bit of British Trad Jazz, like Acker Bilk or Chris Barber. But the two genres I really, really like are late '50s/eary '60s Cool Jazz (The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan etc) or late '60s/early '70s Jazz Funk (Gil Scott-Heron, Herbie Hancock, Donald Byrd etc). You should pull a Pat Boone and do a Kynd album with all heavy metal covers. "2 Minutes to Midnight", but played in your style  |
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Post by driver1980 on Apr 5, 2024 12:20:38 GMT -5
As far as 1984 is concerned, I like everything about Iron Maiden’s Powerslave, from the album cover to their interpretation of “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Is it my favourite Iron Maiden album? If not, it’s close. Ha! When I was a teenager, a load of my friends were "Metallers" or "Metalheads", so I got to hear lots of this kind of stuff. I really dislike Heavy Metal as a rule, but because I know such 80s and 90s albums as Powerslave reasonably well -- almost through osmosis -- I can actually hold my own in a conversation on the topic. But yeah, I've really never been able to see the appeal myself. Osmosis is a good word because I went through something similar with my younger sister, who liked to listen to a lot of pop bands that I wouldn’t necessarily listen to. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Apr 5, 2024 12:41:00 GMT -5
Aw, hell, 1984 already? Just when I decided to belatedly throw my hat into the ring for 1974. Well, what the hell, here goes...
My whole list is jammed into a single post, because a) I’d been slammed with work since late February and didn’t have the time previously think much about this much less do posts one at a time, b) I’m not really knowledgeable enough about the music I like to write intelligently about it at length, and c) I only have the vaguest notion of the release years of various albums and don’t really categorize music in my head in that way (e.g., I had to go look up albums released in 1974 on Wikipedia just draw up this list).
Also, this is sort of a combination of my actually favorite albums from that year with a few honorable mentions at the lower end that I thought deserved a shout-out.
10. Popul Vuh – Einsjäger und Siebenjäger
When I confirmed that this one was released in 1974, I had to mention it; there was a point about 15 or so years ago when I briefly got into early prog-adjacent Krautrock from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s and these guys were among my favorites of the lot. Sometimes it’s nice to just let this play in the background while you’re doing some stuff around the house. Can't really single out a specific track, here's the whole album:
9. Quincy Jones – Body Heat
Another one that pleasantly surprised me when I found out it was a 1974 release. Hadn’t listened to it in a while and then found myself listening to a bunch of its mellow, groovy tracks.
8. David Bowie – Diamond Dogs
Had to include the Thin White Duke, alias Ziggy Stardust. Not his strongest album nor my favorite, but it’s got some pretty good tracks on it, including this timeless iconic number:
Now we’re past the honorable mention stage, and honestly, at this point the order is pretty arbitrary, as in any given week I may rank the top seven differently. But this is how they landed now.
7. Supertramp – Crime of the Century
This isn’t my favorite album by Supertramp, but it is a real tour-de-force, I think. It has some of their better known songs, like “Dreamer,” “Bloody Well Right” and the excellent and haunting “School,” but there’s not a weak entry here; I also like the title track and “Hide in Your Shell” quite a bit.
6. King Crimson – Red
The second album released by these guys in this year, and like everything done by Fripp, Wetton, Bruford et al., in the early ‘70s, this is just an amazing set of well-composed, well-performed and produced tracks, starting with this hard-edged relentless title track:
5. King Crimson – Starless and Bible Black
Their first album released in 1974. Everything I said about the album above applies here as well.
4. Funkadelic – Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
Not quite as good as 1971’s Maggot Brain, this is still a damn good funk rock album. I think a big reason why, though, is because guitarist extraordinaire Eddie Hazel (one of the things that makes Maggot Brain so awesome) came back to the band for this one and co-wrote most of the songs with George Clinton.
3. The Doobie Brothers – What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits
Crap, I’d almost forgotten what a good album this is, and not just because it includes what may be considered the Doobies’ signature song, “Black Water” (although one can argue that they have several signature songs). Just about every track is foot-tapping, sing-along fun.
2. Betty Davis – They Say I’m Different
Davis was pure awesomeness. She only released a few studio albums in the early to mid-1970s, and all contain some of the finest, soulful yet irreverent funk music ever recorded.
1. Yes – Relayer
Had to give Yes the no. 1 spot, just ‘cause I like the band so much. Anyway, Relayer is possibly the last album of what I consider the band’s golden era (early 1970s); not my personal favorite (that would be Fragile, by a long shot), but it still contains three damn excellent prog rock tracks.
And now on to 1984. Maybe.
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Post by commond on Apr 5, 2024 16:44:13 GMT -5
My favorite album from 1974.
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Post by commond on Apr 5, 2024 17:30:04 GMT -5
Wrong year. Forgive me, I'm almost done with this...
The Chameleons' Script of the Bridge... I would not argue with anyone who said this was the best album of 1983 and that The Chameleons were the best post-punk band in music at the time. I don't think too many people would see The Chameleons are tremendously underrated despite their influence on the Manchester music scene, but that small pocket from '83-86 has me gushing the same way people used to do over The Stone Roses. This is their best album, though.
Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues... this would be a lot of people's pick for the best album of 1983, and I would not argue with them. This record is phenomenal. That moment when Burning Down the House kicks in still makes me jump. And the music is so freaking good. I'm not sure that people realize what an amazing synth funk record this is. This album is so good that an instrumental version would have been just as good. The Stop Making Sense film is awesome. David Byrne is awesome.
Keith Jarrett, Gary Peacock & Jack DeJohnette's Standards, Vol.1... I haven't listened to a lot of Keith Jarrett. Mainly just a record or two when doing best of the decade polls, but that's neither here nor there since he's not doing his own material here. This is an album full of standards (duh) with some unique takes on some oldies. Nice record.
Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus' Love Thy Neighbour… this is a trippy, psychedelic roots reggae album that features a heavy mix by Lee "Scratch" Perry. Almost dub. If you're familiar with Black Ark Studios and Perry's innovative production techniques, this is, I believe the second Black Ark record and definitely notable for its sound.
Joe McPhee Po's Oleo... I'm a big fan of Joe McPhee's early 70s records but never ventured past that point. This is pure avant-garde free jazz. It feels like you're getting attacked at times instead of hearing a melody, which can be challenging, but if you're in the mood to concentrate on the music you're listening to, it's not too bad.
The Birthday Party's The Bad Seed and Mutiny! The Birthday Party didn't release an LP in 1983, but they did realize a pair of EPs. I'm fairly sure if they had realized an LP in '83 that it would be on many people's top 10 list simply because Nick Cave has a similar following to Tom Waits and this is some seriously dark Nick Cave. I sometimes wonder where it was all coming from, but then again Australia can be a pretty isolated place.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 5, 2024 17:43:38 GMT -5
Aw, hell, 1984 already? Just when I decided to belatedly throw my hat into the ring for 1974. Well, what the hell, here goes... My whole list is jammed into a single post, because a) I’d been slammed with work since late February and didn’t have the time previously think much about this much less do posts one at a time, b) I’m not really knowledgeable enough about the music I like to write intelligently about it at length, and c) I only have the vaguest notion of the release years of various albums and don’t really categorize music in my head in that way (e.g., I had to go look up albums released in 1974 on Wikipedia just draw up this list). Also, this is sort of a combination of my actually favorite albums from that year with a few honorable mentions at the lower end that I thought deserved a shout-out. 10. Popul Vuh – Einsjäger und SiebenjägerWhen I confirmed that this one was released in 1974, I had to mention it; there was a point about 15 or so years ago when I briefly got into early prog-adjacent Krautrock from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s and these guys were among my favorites of the lot. Sometimes it’s nice to just let this play in the background while you’re doing some stuff around the house. Can't really single out a specific track, here's the whole album: 9. Quincy Jones – Body HeatAnother one that pleasantly surprised me when I found out it was a 1974 release. Hadn’t listened to it in a while and then found myself listening to a bunch of its mellow, groovy tracks. 8. David Bowie – Diamond DogsHad to include the Thin White Duke, alias Ziggy Stardust. Not his strongest album nor my favorite, but it’s got some pretty good tracks on it, including this timeless iconic number: Now we’re past the honorable mention stage, and honestly, at this point the order is pretty arbitrary, as in any given week I may rank the top seven differently. But this is how they landed now. 7. Supertramp – Crime of the CenturyThis isn’t my favorite album by Supertramp, but it is a real tour-de-force, I think. It has some of their better known songs, like “Dreamer,” “Bloody Well Right” and the excellent and haunting “School,” but there’s not a weak entry here; I also like the title track and “Hide in Your Shell” quite a bit. 6. King Crimson – RedThe second album released by these guys in this year, and like everything done by Fripp, Wetton, Bruford et al., in the early ‘70s, this is just an amazing set of well-composed, well-performed and produced tracks, starting with this hard-edged relentless title track:
5. King Crimson – Starless and Bible BlackTheir first album released in 1974. Everything I said about the album above applies here as well. 4. Funkadelic – Standing on the Verge of Getting It OnNot quite as good as 1971’s Maggot Brain, this is still a damn good funk rock album. I think a big reason why, though, is because guitarist extraordinaire Eddie Hazel (one of the things that makes Maggot Brain so awesome) came back to the band for this one and co-wrote most of the songs with George Clinton. 3. The Doobie Brothers – What Were Once Vices Are Now HabitsCrap, I’d almost forgotten what a good album this is, and not just because it includes what may be considered the Doobies’ signature song, “Black Water” (although one can argue that they have several signature songs). Just about every track is foot-tapping, sing-along fun. 2. Betty Davis – They Say I’m DifferentDavis was pure awesomeness. She only released a few studio albums in the early to mid-1970s, and all contain some of the finest, soulful yet irreverent funk music ever recorded. 1. Yes – RelayerHad to give Yes the no. 1 spot, just ‘cause I like the band so much. Anyway, Relayer is possibly the last album of what I consider the band’s golden era (early 1970s); not my personal favorite (that would be Fragile, by a long shot), but it still contains three damn excellent prog rock tracks. And now on to 1984. Maybe. There's a lot to unpack here. Let's just say that our tastes in music...diverge wildly. I really dislike Prog Rock. That album by Funkadelic is certainly interesting. And that's a good Supertramp album. |
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Post by berkley on Apr 5, 2024 19:06:53 GMT -5
Aw, hell, 1984 already? Just when I decided to belatedly throw my hat into the ring for 1974. Well, what the hell, here goes... My whole list is jammed into a single post, because a) I’d been slammed with work since late February and didn’t have the time previously think much about this much less do posts one at a time, b) I’m not really knowledgeable enough about the music I like to write intelligently about it at length, and c) I only have the vaguest notion of the release years of various albums and don’t really categorize music in my head in that way (e.g., I had to go look up albums released in 1974 on Wikipedia just draw up this list). Also, this is sort of a combination of my actually favorite albums from that year with a few honorable mentions at the lower end that I thought deserved a shout-out. 10. Popul Vuh – Einsjäger und SiebenjägerWhen I confirmed that this one was released in 1974, I had to mention it; there was a point about 15 or so years ago when I briefly got into early prog-adjacent Krautrock from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s and these guys were among my favorites of the lot. Sometimes it’s nice to just let this play in the background while you’re doing some stuff around the house. Can't really single out a specific track, here's the whole album: 9. Quincy Jones – Body HeatAnother one that pleasantly surprised me when I found out it was a 1974 release. Hadn’t listened to it in a while and then found myself listening to a bunch of its mellow, groovy tracks. 8. David Bowie – Diamond DogsHad to include the Thin White Duke, alias Ziggy Stardust. Not his strongest album nor my favorite, but it’s got some pretty good tracks on it, including this timeless iconic number: Now we’re past the honorable mention stage, and honestly, at this point the order is pretty arbitrary, as in any given week I may rank the top seven differently. But this is how they landed now. 7. Supertramp – Crime of the CenturyThis isn’t my favorite album by Supertramp, but it is a real tour-de-force, I think. It has some of their better known songs, like “Dreamer,” “Bloody Well Right” and the excellent and haunting “School,” but there’s not a weak entry here; I also like the title track and “Hide in Your Shell” quite a bit. 6. King Crimson – RedThe second album released by these guys in this year, and like everything done by Fripp, Wetton, Bruford et al., in the early ‘70s, this is just an amazing set of well-composed, well-performed and produced tracks, starting with this hard-edged relentless title track:
5. King Crimson – Starless and Bible BlackTheir first album released in 1974. Everything I said about the album above applies here as well. 4. Funkadelic – Standing on the Verge of Getting It OnNot quite as good as 1971’s Maggot Brain, this is still a damn good funk rock album. I think a big reason why, though, is because guitarist extraordinaire Eddie Hazel (one of the things that makes Maggot Brain so awesome) came back to the band for this one and co-wrote most of the songs with George Clinton. 3. The Doobie Brothers – What Were Once Vices Are Now HabitsCrap, I’d almost forgotten what a good album this is, and not just because it includes what may be considered the Doobies’ signature song, “Black Water” (although one can argue that they have several signature songs). Just about every track is foot-tapping, sing-along fun. 2. Betty Davis – They Say I’m DifferentDavis was pure awesomeness. She only released a few studio albums in the early to mid-1970s, and all contain some of the finest, soulful yet irreverent funk music ever recorded. 1. Yes – RelayerHad to give Yes the no. 1 spot, just ‘cause I like the band so much. Anyway, Relayer is possibly the last album of what I consider the band’s golden era (early 1970s); not my personal favorite (that would be Fragile, by a long shot), but it still contains three damn excellent prog rock tracks. And now on to 1984. Maybe.
I still haven't finished my 1974 either but will try to do as you did and post them all in one shot with only a brief comment (two of yours will be appearing on mine, BTW).
I'll try 1984 too - partly because I'm curious to see what I'll come up with, since I was a bit out of touch with music through much of the 1980s.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 20:06:39 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1984 #10 - Son Seals - Bad Axe
I can honestly say that I have never heard of Son Seals, which is a little surprising because I'm a big fan of the blues. That said, I do tend to gravitate towards either pre-War blues or '40s, '50s and '60s Chicago blues, rather than anything more recent. I tend to find 80s blues records to be a bit too slick and showy for my tastes, with one or two exceptions. So, I guess that's why the name doesn't ring any bells. That song "Cold Blood" sounds pretty decent, but maybe a bit to "produced" for my tastes, as I say. You can really hear the Albert King and B.B. King influence in his playing and singing though. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 5, 2024 20:20:59 GMT -5
Aw, hell, 1984 already? Just when I decided to belatedly throw my hat into the ring for 1974. Well, what the hell, here goes... My whole list is jammed into a single post, because a) I’d been slammed with work since late February and didn’t have the time previously think much about this much less do posts one at a time, b) I’m not really knowledgeable enough about the music I like to write intelligently about it at length, and c) I only have the vaguest notion of the release years of various albums and don’t really categorize music in my head in that way (e.g., I had to go look up albums released in 1974 on Wikipedia just draw up this list). Also, this is sort of a combination of my actually favorite albums from that year with a few honorable mentions at the lower end that I thought deserved a shout-out. Of the albums/acts I know from the remainder of your list, these are my brief thoughts... I don't mind David Bowie, but I'm more of a casual, Greatest Hits-type fan, so I don't know Diamond Dogs in its entirety. I don't know that specific Quincy Jones album, but pretty much anything by Jones from this sort of era is worth hearing. Supertramp I have no time for whatsoever, I'm afraid. Great musicians, but their music is too slick, too polished, too middle-of-the-road for me and ultimately I find them a bit boring. I'm not a big prog rock fan, with the exception of early Genesis, so King Crimson are just one of those bands that never really spoke to me. Amazing musicians in that band though -- especially Robert Fripp. Funkadelic and other George Clinton-related bands like Parliament are a huge blind spot for me. I love late 60s/early 70s soul and funk though, so I really need to listen to some of this stuff more. The Doobie Brothers are always a fun listen -- especially in the first half of the 70s -- though for me their peak was a couple of years prior to this with Toulouse Street. |
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Post by commond on Apr 5, 2024 20:51:57 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1984 #10 - Son Seals - Bad a
I can honestly say that I have never heard of Son Seals, which is a little surprising because I'm a big fan of the blues. That said, I do tend to gravitate towards either pre-War blues or '40s, '50s and '60s Chicago blues, rather than anything more recent. I tend to find 80s blues records to be a bit too slick and showy for my tastes, with one or two exceptions. So, I guess that's why the name doesn't ring any bells. That song "Cold Blood" sounds pretty decent, but maybe a bit to "produced" for my tastes, as I say. You can really hear the Albert King and B.B. King influence in his playing and singing though. Son Seals was a great Chicago bluesman. Not the greatest singer but an incredible guitar player. I recommend his debut record, The Son Seals Blues Band, which he recorded after being discovered playing in the clubs on Chicago's South Side. That's closer to the Seals' true sound. He released an excellent live album too called Live and Burning. I'm a big fan of 70s blues in general. It's far from the heyday of electric blues, but that just means you need to dig a little deeper in the crates to find the good stuff. Some people dislike the funk elements that crept into 70s blues, but man, if you don't enjoy a funky blues groove, I don't know how to help you. |
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Post by berkley on Apr 5, 2024 21:30:05 GMT -5
Exotic Birds and Fruit by Procol Harum
Apparently this album got good reviews and the first track below, Nothing But the Truth, was picked by John Peel as his song of the week, but all to no avail, as it sold poorly. I think it's an awesome record, one of their most consistent all the way through. The synergy between Reid's lyrics and Brooker's music really comes through so strongly on these tracks, with lines that might read indifferently as poetry coming to life with incredible power when sung by Brooker in his restrained but soulful vocal delivery.
I picked the three tracks below as personal highlights but there isn't a weak song on the record. Perhaps a little ironically, I think they captured the spirit of Whiter Shade of Pale on this record as a whole more than they did on their earlier albums when they still had the same line-up as on Whiter Shade. I imagine this was deliberate but it never comes across to me as a cynical or mechanical attempt at recreating that sound for purely commercial motives. It feels entirely organic and natural, the perfect sound for the songs on this record, as I hope these three tracks will demonstrate:
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