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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 22:57:39 GMT -5
1984.4
A Pagan Place - the Waterboys
This one I didn't get into until the 1990s. I had got into the band through the Fisherman's Blues album and at first felt a little put off by how different sounding this and some of their other earlier material sounded. That didn't last long, as I became more familiar with their various records up to that time. I'll go with the title track as a sample of their sound on this one:
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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 23:03:20 GMT -5
1984.3
Reckoning - R.E.M
As I mentioned in response to Confessor's this was the first R.E.M. album I heard and So. Central rain (I'm Sorry) the first song. They're still up their with my favorites of the band of the 1980s in general and some of the few things from that time I feel any nostalgia for. Confessor already posted So. Central Rain so I'll go with Don't Go Back to Rockville, which has more of a country swing to it than most of their material:
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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 23:13:07 GMT -5
1984.2 Mirror Moves - the Psychedelic FursAnother album I bought at the time on the strength two or three tracks that got radio play at the time: The Ghost in You, Heaven, ... forget which other one now, maybe it was just those two. The whole album is really good and another rare nostalgia-inducing artefact from that era for me. Here's the song that first attracted me:
edit: what the hell, here's the other big single, it sounds so good:
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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 23:30:55 GMT -5
1984.1
Broadcasting from Home - the Penguin Café Orchestra
My pick for favourite album of 1984 is yet another that I didn't actually hear at the time, apart from one track. I had become a fan of this outfit in the late 70s or early 80s through hearing them on CBC radio and being immediately blown away by their unique sound. I bought their earlier two albums on vinyl around the time they first came out but didn't get hold of this one until the early 90s on cd. I don't actually think it's one of their very best but that's only because I like those first two so very much. Their quality really doesnt change much at all from album to album. One of my favourite musical acts and gone too soon, with leader Simon Jeffes dying in 1997 at only 48 years of age. Here's the one track I heard at the time, the album opener:
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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 23:37:31 GMT -5
Sortilège's Sortilège... this was the debut EP of arguably the greatest French metal band of the 80s. They'd follow it up with their blistering debut album, Métamorphose, the following year. I have a real fondness for European metal, but whereas it makes sense for the Nordic countries to produce metal albums, France isn't the first country that springs to mind when it comes to metal. When I think of French music, the first thing that comes to mind is Jacques Brel. But these guys were good. They burnt out reasonably quickly, though. Warlord's Deliver Us... I'm not a huge power metal fan. I'll listen to it, and there are some bands whose discographies I'll rip through, but I'd much rather listen to other types of metal. That said, this EP and the following year's LP, And the Cannons of Destruction Have Begun..., are a decent one-two punch. Another band that broke up too soon. Minutemen's Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat... One of my favorite EPs from 1983. I think I said it before, but I think I like this better than their LP from the same year. Not that the album is a bad record, it's just that this EP has a fantastic raw sound to it. Queensrÿche's Queensrÿche... I've never been big on Queensryche. I've tried on several occasions to get into their music, but I'm not a huge fan of mixing prog with metal, and I don't like to think too much when I'm listening to music. If you like high concept metal albums, they're worth listening too. Husker Du's Metal Circus... another great EP from '83. Another EP that I think is better than the band's LP from the same year. This was the bridge between that record and Zen Arcade, a record which launched the band into another stratosphere. Minor Threat's Out of Step... this was Minor Threat's third, and final, EP. Some say it's their worst, but is there really a bad Minor Threat record? I don't think so. Cocteau Twins' Sunburst and Snowblind... pretty music, but it still sounds like they're singing underwater. The Cure's The Walk... I'm not sure this is all that different from the Japanese Whispers compilation album that came out in '83. 1983 was a transition year for the Cure. There were rumors that they'd broken up or were going to. Instead, they changed music styles. The music they released in '83 was the first step towards that change. Hello, synthesizers. Butthole Surfers' Butthole Surfers... I always get put off by this band's name, but man was this some noisy ass shit. Very cool! The Style Council's Introducing the Style Council... I love The Jam. I don't hate The Style Council. I just think the type of music that made was done better by other people. This does have a couple of good songs on it, but like I said, I've heard better blue-eyed-soul. Gun Club's Death Party... welcome to the party, Gun Club. After releasing two great LPs, the gave us this little gem. Man do I love punk blues. I think I'm gonna crawl down a punk blues rabbit hole after listening to this.
I became a fan of Bob Mould's music in the 1990s and then tried to go back and explore the Husker Du albums but I never have got to know them well. I still plan to keep trying, though, any time I happen to be in the mood for anything 1980s.
I have the exact same feelings about the Style Council - though I did go back a few years ago and give one of the early albums a closer listen and found I liked it a little more than I did at the time, so I'll probably try some more of their stuff eventually. Still, not a patch on the Jam.
Haven't heard Sunburst and Snowblind: when I started to listen to Cocteau Twins a few years back I started with Treasure, their third I think.
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Post by tartanphantom on Apr 16, 2024 23:43:57 GMT -5
1984.4 A Pagan Place - the WaterboysThis one I didn't get into until the 1990s. I had got into the band through the Fisherman's Blues album and at first felt a little put off by how different sounding this and some of their other earlier material sounded. That didn't last long, as I became more familiar with their various records up to that time. I'll go with the title track as a sample of their sound on this one:
Unfortunately for Mike Scott and crew, The Waterboys most popular album (Fisherman's Blues) was an outlier in terms of the material and the production. But man, what an outlier!
While I have other Waterboys albums, I don't listen to them nearly as much as Fisherman's Blues, which has its own special je ne sais quoi-- it really is difficult to describe how special that record is. Lightning in a bottle, you might say.
I've sung the title cut with one of my bands for years now, and it never, ever gets old.
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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 23:46:01 GMT -5
OK, I've just about caught up... #2 - Purple Rain by Prince and the RevolutionPurple Rain was Prince's sixth album (though his first with backing band the Revolution) and was also a soundtrack to his feature film of the same name. This is another album that I saved up my pocket money to buy at the time, having absolutely loved the singles "When Doves Cry", "Purple Rain", and "Let's Go Crazy". This was without doubt Prince's catchiest and most focused collection of songs to date, which is, of course, a big part of why it was the album that transformed him from a reasonably popular American R&B artist into a global phenomenon. It takes in a far greater array of influences than Prince's previous albums, as the pop maestro effortlessly blends elements of soul, rock, funk, pop and even heavy metal across its nine tracks. The album's final three songs ("I Would Die 4 U", "Baby I'm A Star", and "Purple Rain") were all recorded live, though they received additional overdubs and studio polishing before Prince was satisfied with them. Standout tracks for me, aside from the aforementioned big hit singles, would be "Take Me with U", which is one of the most playfully seductive songs Prince ever wrote, the self-empowering "Baby I'm a Star", and the daringly risqué "Darling Nikki". The apocalyptic and spiritual title track is featured here in its full 8-and-a-half-minute version, which I recall was a bit of a mind blower for 11-year-old me, having only previously heard the 4-minute single edit. In terms of picking a song to showcase for this post, every track on Purple Rain is a total gem, but here's "Take Me with U" (a duet with actress and singer Apollonia). I've always loved the way this track swings and the playful romanticism of its lyric…
I never had any Prince albums but I liked the 1999 album, which I heard at a friend's house. I would probably like this one too, since all the hits were good. Maybe I got a little tired of it on the radio. He was a huge talent, undoubtedly. I have a bad impression of him as a person because of some story I heard about him involving Sinead O'Connor.
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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 23:48:07 GMT -5
1984.4 A Pagan Place - the WaterboysThis one I didn't get into until the 1990s. I had got into the band through the Fisherman's Blues album and at first felt a little put off by how different sounding this and some of their other earlier material sounded. That didn't last long, as I became more familiar with their various records up to that time. I'll go with the title track as a sample of their sound on this one:
Unfortunately for Mike Scott and crew, The Waterboys most popular album (Fisherman's Blues) was an outlier in terms of the material and the production. But man, what an outlier!
While I have other Waterboys albums, I don't listen to them nearly as much as Fisherman's Blues, which has its own special je ne sais quoi-- it really is difficult to describe how special that record is. Lightning in a bottle, you might say.
If I remember rightly, I thought the next one, Room to Roam, had some of the same feel, or at least was less dissimilar to it than their other records. Regardless, another great album by them.
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Post by berkley on Apr 16, 2024 23:51:08 GMT -5
And my all-time favourite album from 1984 is... #1 - Hatful of Hollow by The Smiths
I like all The Smiths most popular songs but have never gotten into their albums, for no particular reason. Sounds like this might be the best one for me to start with and I'll be having a look for it soon.
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Post by commond on Apr 17, 2024 3:29:19 GMT -5
I absolutely adore The Smiths. The Queen is Dead is one of my favorite albums ever. The way I got into them was a little odd as Neil Finn covered a couple of their songs during a gig with Johnny Marr. Marr got on the mic beforehand and said something like, "right, who's feeling depressed?"
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Apr 17, 2024 8:03:45 GMT -5
I never had any Prince albums but I liked the 1999 album, which I heard at a friend's house. I would probably like this one too, since all the hits were good. Maybe I got a little tired of it on the radio. He was a huge talent, undoubtedly. I have a bad impression of him as a person because of some story I heard about him involving Sinead O'Connor. I think he was certainly a very complex person. And not a little strange too, to be brutally honest. I'm not sure what story you are referring to regarding Sinead O'Connor, but I know in the 2000s he developed a bit of a dislike of other artists covering his material, regardless of the songwriting royalties it brought him. That always struck me as a bit weird insofar as he was being financially compensated for those covers and also because he was an artist who regularly gave songs away to other acts -- and, in fact, "Nothing Compares 2 U" was given to The Family years before O'Connor recorded it (if that is the gist of the story that you're referring to?). Myself, I loved Prince back in the '80s and still do...but only up to a point. I enjoy and own all of his albums (and several bootlegs) from his debut in 1978 up to the point in 1993 where he changed his name to "symbol" or The Artist Formerly Known As Prince. His last couple of albums prior to that -- Love Symbol and Come -- were patchy as hell, but I drew the line when he released the God-awful "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" single. That song was a piece of cheesy sh*t unbefitting of an artist of Prince's magnitude and I never bought another album by him. Still, there was a golden period from between, say, 1980's Dirty Mind album and Diamonds and Pearls in 1991 where his output was incredibly good and incredibly prolific. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 17, 2024 8:29:43 GMT -5
And my all-time favourite album from 1984 is... #1 - Hatful of Hollow by The SmithsI like all The Smiths most popular songs but have never gotten into their albums, for no particular reason. Sounds like this might be the best one for me to start with and I'll be having a look for it soon.
Oh man, Hatful of Hollow is just one of those "bury me with this album" type of records for me. A real "soundtrack of my life" kind of album. You really can't go wrong with it...though, as I mentioned, many fans don't consider it a bona fide Smiths album, due to its contents coming from different sources -- radio sessions, recent non-album singles, new studio recordings etc. But all of its contents (except one song) were committed to tape within a 14 month period, and there are plenty of albums by other acts with recordings spread out over a similar period or even longer. So, if that's the criteria we use to define an album by, then Let It Be ain't a proper Beatles album either! I had taped singles like "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now", "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "How Soon is Now?" off the radio in 1984, but I didn't actually buy Hatful of Hollow until 1987, when I picked it up on cassette. Once I heard it in its entirety it was instantly my new favourite album at that time. It was a hugely influential album for me in terms of my songwriting too (if I may flatter myself to mention my own songs in the same sentence as Morrissey and Marr  ). I actually own three copies of this album these days: a pristine first UK vinyl pressing from 1984, a CD reissue from 1993, and my original old, battered, well-loved cassette. Definitely find yourself a copy, you won't be sorry you did. |
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Post by Confessor on Apr 17, 2024 8:49:14 GMT -5
#11 – The Brian Setzer Orchestra – The Brian Setzer Orchestra
I don't know this album, but Brian Setzer is a dude, so I'm sure it'd be worth a listen. I know the Stray Cats 80s stuff reasonably well, due in large part to a teenage friend having been a fairly big fan. Given the retro roots of his Stray Cats stuff, I guess having Setzer do a swing album with a big band must've seemed like a bit of a no-brainer. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 17, 2024 9:42:14 GMT -5
Favorite albums of 1994
#10 – Ian Tyson – Eighteen Inches of Rain
Tyson pretty much disappeared from the U.S. market after the break-up of Ian and Sylvia. But he released albums in Canada while ranching in Alberta. And slowly, after signing with Vanguard, his albums started showing up back in the U.S. Along the way he influenced a number of artists that I love including, Tom Russell, Corb Lund and Colter Wall.
This is just a super solid western album about cowboys and ranchers and folks. All are either written or co-written by Tyson so the authenticity is absolutely there. This isn't that fake crap sung by suburb babies that they play on the radio. This is the real deal written by a rancher who happens to have been a damn fine singer-songwriter.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Apr 17, 2024 9:45:31 GMT -5
1984.5 Treasure - the Cocteau Twins1984.4 A Pagan Place - the Waterboys1984.2 Mirror Moves - the Psychedelic Furs1984.1 Broadcasting from Home - the Penguin Café OrchestraI got nuthin'. I've literally only heard of two of these bands. |
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