Thursday, January 31, 2008

480. Heaven 17 - Penthouse and Pavement (1981)
















Track Listing

1. We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing
2. Penthouse And Pavement
3. Play To Win
4. Soul Warfare
5. Geisha Boys And Temple Girls
6. Let's All Make A Bomb
7. Height Of The Fighting
8. Song With No Name
9. We're Going To Live For A Very Long Time

Review

How 80's is this album. Well I'll tell you, it is quintessentially 80's could have been done at any other time, and like most of the 80's it is a mixed bag of awesomeness and kitsch. This is at the same time the great thing and the downfall of the whole decade.

This dichotomy pervades the whole album, there is something to like in almost all tracks but there is also something that grates with our modern sensibilities. The whole thing is a bit overdone.

So, in the end did I like it? Yes I did, would I go out of my way to listen to it again? Probably not. This is, however the synthpop that launched a thousand bands through the whole decade. So do listen to it, the influence on early Depeche Mode is for example more than obvious here.

Track Highlights

1. Geisha Boys And Temple Girls
2. We Don't Need This Fascist Groove Thing
3. Let's All Make A Bomb
4. Play to Win

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The first single, (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing, best demonstrates the left-wing outlook of the lyrics, criticising Britain at the beginning of the 1980s under Thatcher and the rise of the Yuppie. Other themes explored include nuclear war, religious extremism and American influence in the world.

Unlike the seemingly 'cold' music of other electronic bands, Heaven 17 drew on R&B and funk to create pop-friendly, danceable hooks. Whilst the singles charted poorly, the album charted at No. 14 and remained in the Top 75 for 76 weeks.

What a lovely video for Fascist Groove Thing:

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

479. Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju (1981)
















Track Listing

1. Spellbound
2. Into The Light
3. Arabian Knights
4. Halloween
5. Monitor
6. Night Shift
7. Sin In My Heart
8. Head Cut
9. Voodoo Dolly

Review

Again Siouxsie and her mates dazzle us with their dark post-punk stylings. Goodie for us. I really like Siouxsie, deeper and more interesting than most Goth music it deserves to be in the pantheon of Post-Punk together with all the great bands of this period.

That said this album is marginally less interesting than The Scream, it isn't as experimental and is taking the band into a poppier direction. This does make for some great sing along songs, of which the first track is a perfect example and is exponentially more danceable than The Scream for the same reasons.

So this is still after all a pretty amazing album, with some really nifty tracks, the experimentalism is more present in the second half, such as in Voodoo Dolly, but the great highlights here are the really catchy tracks of the first half, the first three tracks are just heaven for example.

Track Highlights


1. Spellbound
2. Arabian Knights
3. Into The Light
4. Halloween

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

After the electronic bent of their last album, Siouxsie & the Banshees returned to a more guitar-based sound for their fourth album Juju, due to the now-official new Banshees guitarist, John McGeoch. Released by Polydor Records in 1981, this album also featured prominently, for the first time, the intricate percussion work of band member Budgie.

Spellbound:

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

478. Einsturzende Neubauten - Kollaps (1981)
















Track Listing

1. Tanz Debil
2. Steh auf Berlin
3. Negativ Nein
4. U-Haft Muza
5. Draussen Ist Feindlich
6. Hören Mit Schmerzen
7. Jet 'M
8. Kollaps
9. Sehnsucht
10. Vorm Krieg
11. Hirnsäge
12. Abstieg and Zerfall
13. Helga

Review

If we ever get to the nuclear holocaust that we have been promised by Mad Max and so many other things, and which I am looking forward too because of the lax morals and cool cars, if you happen to be on the side of the freaks fighting the equivalent of Mel Gibson, I know I'll be, this is the vinyl you will want to have playing in your Victrola as you charge into battle. It will scare the bejeesus off that Aussie freak.

The first track sounds like something out of the seediest fetish club of the Berlin underground and that just makes it too cool for school. Then follows the sound of drills on metal and you know you are in for something special. This is probably one of the hardest albums to listen to in the whole list, but it brings its own rewards, it just sounds so angry and cool and perverted all at the same time that you need to have it.

This is mainly noise, but noise with a great sense of rhythm and that is what saves the album from the category of "unlistenable", you could actually dance to some of the songs here and there is even a cover of Serge Gainsbourg. Best heard at top volume (11).

Track Highlights


1. Tanz Debil
2. Kollaps
3. Horen Mit Schmerzen
4. Negative Nein

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The band name is usually translated into English as "Collapsing New Buildings". "Collapsing" here is a participial adjective, not the progressive participle of a transitive verb, i.e. the intended meaning is "buildings that are collapsing". The name is taken from the qualitative description of earthquakes of magnitude 5 given in the Richter Scale. Neubauten is a general term referring to buildings constructed in Germany after 1945. These are often regarded as cheaper, flimsier, and less aesthetically attractive than Altbauten, or pre-1945, especially pre-modernist buildings. Due to the extensive destruction throughout Germany during the Second World War, and the extensive rebuilding thereafter, Neubauten constitute a very familiar element of German cities.

A short film about Eistruzende in this phase, the first song Sensucht is from Kollaps:

Monday, January 28, 2008

477. Pretenders - Pretenders (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Precious
2. Phone Call
3. Up The Neck
4. Tattooed Love Boys
5. Space Invader
6. Wait
7. Stop Your Sobbing
8. Kid
9. Private Life
10. Brass In Pocket
11. Lovers Of Today
12. Mystery Achievement


Review

I quite like the Pretenders, although I am not a particular fan of Chrissie Hynde and her PETA crap, this was all before that time and she was good at music making. Well she was a big percentage of the talent in the band and it really is her voice which carries this album.

And it carries the album pretty well and so do her lyrics and particularly the delivery of said lyrics. For example when she says "fuck off" in the first track it is blurted out with a certain kind of rage that makes it almost seem like she has Tourette's.

When you look at the credits for the tracks they are almost all credited solely to Hynde with the exception of four tracks, one of which is a cover of a Kinks song. There is a kind of really great energy which makes the album stand out at this time, this is post-punk almost harking back to the early days of CBGB's and that was a fun time, so props to her!

Track Highlights

1. Precious
2. The Wait
3. Tatooed Love Boys
4. Brass In Pocket

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Pretenders has been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#52). In 2003, the album was ranked number 155 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 1989, the same magazine ranked it the 20th best album of the 1980s.

The song "Tattooed Love Boys" is featured as a playable track in the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 music video game Guitar Hero II, in the String Snappers (PlayStation 2) and Return of the Shred (Xbox 360) tiers. The instrumental "Space Invader" contains sound effects from the video game Space Invaders.

Brass In Pocket:

Sunday, January 27, 2008

476. Steve Winwood - Arc Of A Diver (1980)

















Track Listing

1. While You See A Chance
2. Arc Of A Diver
3. Second Hand Woman
4. Slowdown Sundown
5. Spanish Dancer
6. Night Train
7. Dust

Review

Steve Winwood deserves some of my respect, he was a member of Traffic after all... but this album is just beyond the pale. Why is this even here? I don't know, just listen to the beggninig of the first song, it sounds like a bad sitcom theme from the 80's.

The rest of the album isn't as awful, just boring and tacky. I was just going to write "Shit Sandwich" for this review.

Track Highlights

You're joking right?

Final Grade


4/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Featuring Winwood's first solo hit, "While You See a Chance" (which peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States), this was Winwood's true breakthrough album as a solo artist. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart, establishing him as a commercially viable act.

WHY?

Here's a dilemma what to put out first your eyes or your ears? :

Saturday, January 26, 2008

475. Specials - More Specials (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)
2. Man At C & A
3. Hey Little Rich Girl
4. Do Nothing
5. Pearl's Cafe
6. Sock It To 'Em JB
7. Stereotype/Stereotypes Pt 2
8. Holiday Fortnight
9. I Can't Stand It
10. International Jet Set
11. Enjoy Yourself (Reprise)

Review

Another excellent album by the Specials, only this one is excellenter! Really this is some amazing evolution by the Specials. They showed us how competent they were as a band in their self-titled effort, but here they show us what an experimental and crazily talented band they are.

If you can imagine, which you probably can if you know their stuff like Ghost Town, this is an evolution from the Reggae and Ska stuff into something more uniquely Specially. There is something like a Portishead in amphetamines sound here, particularly on Man at C&A and Stereotype. Then there is some lovely pop with female vocal backup spread around the thing.

The instrumental sound is both retro and completely new in a way which would be further developed and slowed down by people like Massive Attack and Portishead, but this is fast, furious and fun. A truly great album by the Specials and an essential addition to anyone's library.

Track Highlights


1. I Can't Stand It
2. Pearl's Cafe
3. Man At C&A
4. Stereotype/Stereotypes Pt. 2

Final Grade

10/10


Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Although More Specials was a hit in the two-tone movement, a late-1970s revival of Jamaican ska from the 1960s, it is broadly considered as one of the first 'lounge music' albums with far less emphasis on ska beats that its preceding album. Along with bands like the Bodysnatchers and Madness, The Specials would go on to be a leader in this revival, and later heroes for two further ska-punk revivals on the opposite side of the Atlantic: the late 1980s Southern California scene (NOFX, Operation Ivy) and the mid-1990s "third wave of ska" (Sublime, No Doubt) which popularised the mixture.

Stereotype:

Friday, January 25, 2008

474. The Teardrop Explodes - Kilimanjaro (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Ha Ha I'm Drowning
2. Sleeping Gas
3. Treason
4. Second Head
5. Poppies In The Field
6. Went Crazy
7. Brave Boys Keep Their Promises
8. Bouncing Babies
9. Books
10. The Thief Of Baghdad
11. When I Dream

Review

This is one of those albums that needs repeated listenings to be good, at first it is quite interesting but some of the horn arrangements do make you cringe a bit in a very out-dated 80s way. After some listen throughs, however it all starts to sound quite good.

The Teardrop Explodes is often put in the same bag as Echo and the Bunny men, they are both from Liverpool, they are contemporary, are post-punk, and have very close relationships, however nothing here is as good as the best of Echo, but it is all still pretty good.

This is an album that you shouldn't feel discouraged when listening to it the first time, it does become really good at about the third time you hear it, if you like Echo and are all of their albums this is definitely the place to go, excellent music which isn't easy... and the lyrics are great as well.

Track Highlights


1. Thief Of Baghdad
2. Poppies
3. Ha Ha I'm Drowning
4. Treason

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The original working title for the album was Everyone Wants To Shag The Teardrop Explodes. This was later used for the CD release of demos for the band's never-finished third album.

The song "Books" was originally a song by Julian Cope's previous band, The Crucial Three, and was also recorded by Echo & the Bunnymen (as "Read it in Books", released on the b-side of their debut single, and featured on some versions of Crocodiles).


Treason:

Thursday, January 24, 2008

473. UB40 - Signing Off (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Tyler
2. King
3. Twelve Bar
4. Burden Of Shame
5. Adella
6. I Think It's Going To Rain Again
7. 25%
8. Food For Thought
9. Little By Little
10. Signing Off
11. Madame Medusa
12. Strange Fruit
13. Reefer Madness

Review

This is, strangely enough, not nearly as horrible as I expected. We all know UB40 and what we know of them is quite awful, but this is widely considered their best album by far, and there is really no reason to doubt that.

No track here is actually shitty or even bad, all of it is quite competent if slightly boring Jamaicana. Some of the tracks are even quite good... shock! awe! So if all you know of UB40 is stuff like Red Red Wine you should give this a try for general knowledge purposes, although you won't necessarily want to put it in your iPod.

So, not bad at all, but also not that good, just genuinely surprising for anyone who knows the later UB40. And in terms of influence they do belong on this list, a lot of the shitty Big Mountain style music of the 90's wouldn't exists if it weren't for the UB's. So a worthy inclusion if not an excellent album.

Track Highlights


1. Burden Of Shame
2. Tyler
3. Strange Fruit
4. Food For Thought

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Signing Off was UB40's first album and it features a mix of reggae and dub material which was lyrically politically charged and socially conscious, while musically was reverb-heavy, doom-laden yet mellifluous, best exemplified in the hits "King" and "Food For Thought" as well as the searing "Burden of Shame".

"King" was a song written about the late Martin Luther King, questioning the lost direction of the deceased leader's followers and the state of mourning of a nation after his death. Perhaps the biggest success of the album was the song "Food For Thought", which charted high in the UK and subsequently was also a prominent feature of UB40's 2005 Live 8 appearance in Hyde Park, London - 25 years after the song had been first released. The original vinyl album included an additional 12-inch record with the tracks "Madam Medusa", "Strange Fruit" and "Reefer Madness".

Signing Off is considered by many to be by far UB40's best album, as well as one of the finest reggae albums by a British group. In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 83 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever.

Some BNP supporter has put up Tyler... confused? Yes, he must be:

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

472. Tom Waits - Heartattack and Vine (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Heartattack And Vine
2. In Shades
3. Saving All My Love For You
4. Downtown
5. Jersey Girl
6. 'Til The Money Runs Out
7. On The Nickel
8. Mr. Siegal
9. Ruby's Arms

Review

A Tom Waits album is always a good thing, and this is no exception. Thanks album compilers. This is very much a transitional album from the Tom Waits of Nighthawks at the Diner to the Tom Waits of Swordfishtrombones. It is this second phase that I like better.

All transitional albums have a problem of lack of focus, but here the problem is kind of non-existent although you can see Waits experimenting with styles. Jersey Girl is for example a perfect Springsteen song and it is therefore not weird that Springsteen would sing it in most of his concerts in the 80's.

That said Waits is Waits and Waits is God. So this is another great album by a guy who will be here several times still. Really good music by a very talented man. Highly recommended.

Track Highlights

1. Jersey Girl
2. On The Nickel
3. Ruby's Arms
4. Downtown

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Heartattack and Vine was Tom Waits' last album on the Asylum label. This album serves as a slight precursor to Waits' later, more experimental style he developed on Island Records. His recognizable "growl" from Swordfishtrombones onwards is clearly heard for the first time here.

Jersey Girl:

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

471. The Jam - Sound Affects (1980)
















Track Listing


1. Pretty green
2. Monday
3. But I'm different now
4. Set the house ablaze
5. Start
6. That's entertainment
7. Dreamtime
8. Man in the corner shop
9. Music for the last couple
10. Boy about town
11. Scrape away

Review

The Jam again sound like they are in the middle of two different worlds, the brit pop to come and the music that has come before, like the Beatles and the Kinks. They are innovative enough not to be a throwback but they do send you hints like crazy, so you know exactly where you are coming from.

So did I like it? Yes, yes I did, in fact I really enjoyed this, and curiously The Jam were not a band I thought I would really like and by the second time they prove me totally wrong. IT takes a bit to settle in but when it does it doesn't leave you.

So if you are into the Kinks, Beatles or the whole 90's brit-pop this is definitely the missing link that you need to listen to. And do it today. Also lyrically few are better than Weller in the early 80's if you are British or have lived in Britain for a while songs like That's Entertainment really hit a nerve.

Song Highlights


1. That's Entertainment
2. Start!
3. Boy About Town
4. Man In The Corner Shop

Final Grade


9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

After the ambitious, harder-rocking Setting Sons, The Jam returned to the pop-oriented outlook of All Mod Cons, albeit with a noticeably different sound. The most salient influence on this album is '60s British psychedelic pop, such as The Beatles' Revolver, The Who's The Who Sell Out, and The Kinks' The Village Green Preservation Society. The psychedelic overtones run throughout the album: in the backwards guitar on "That's Entertainment"; in the swirling, gauzy feel of "Man in the Cornershop"; in the punchy British horns of "Boy About Town" and "Dream Time". Other obvious influences are post-punk groups such as Wire, Gang Of Four, and Joy Division and, particularly evident in Rick Buckler's drumming, Michael Jackson's Off the Wall album. Indeed, singer/guitarist/songwriter Paul Weller said at the time that he considered the album a cross between Off the Wall and Revolver.

That's Entertainment:

Monday, January 21, 2008

470. The Undertones - Hypnotised (1980)
















Track Listing

1. More Songs About Chocolate And Girls
2. There Goes Norman
3. Hypnotised
4. See That Girl
5. Whizz Kids
6. Under The Boardwalk
7. Way Girls Talk
8. Hard Luck
9. My Perfect Cousin
10. Boys Will Be Boys
11. Tearproof
12. Wednesday Week
13. Nine Times Out Of Ten
14. Girls That Don't Talk
15. What's With Terry

Review


More Undertones music with more unforgettable hooks but also more of the same. I do like The Undertones, but they really don't blow me away, there was of course the great Teenage Kicks John Peel's favourite, but maybe The Undertones are one of those bands that would serve us better by having a Best Of compilation rather than an album.

Even a singles compilation would be great, this is no badmouthing, I love the Buzzcocks for example but their best album is Singles Going Steady, a single compilation.

So if you liked the first Undertones album on the list you are bound to like this one and if you didn't this won't change your mind. So I am giving it the exact same grade.

Track Highlights

1. My Perfect Cousin
2. Hypnotised
3. Wednesday Week
4. Whizz Kids

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The original LP release included the UK chart hits: My Perfect Cousin, which made #9 in April 1980, and Wednesday Week, which got to #11 in July the same year.

My Perfect Cousin:

Sunday, January 20, 2008

469. Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden (1980)
















Track Listing


1. Prowler
2. Sanctuary
3. Remember Tomorrow
4. Running Free
5. Phantom Of The Opera
6. Transylvania
7. Strange World
8. Charlotte The Harlot
9. Iron Maiden


Review


Ir0n M4id3n 4r3 l33t!

4m4zing3st 4lbum 3v3rs!

Well better than Judas Priest anyways.

Track Highlights

1. Phantom Of The Opera
2. Running Free
3. Prowler
4. Iron Maiden

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

This was the only album produced by Will Malone, who lacked interest in the project and allowed the band to produce most of the album themselves. The band (especially Steve Harris) criticised the quality of the production, but many fans like the raw, almost punk-like sound to the songs. This was also the only studio album for guitarist Dennis Stratton, who left a short time after the album was released. He was replaced by Adrian Smith. "Transylvania" is a well known instrumental piece by the band which was composed by founder and bassist Steve Harris. The song was covered by Iced Earth on the album Horror Show. "Strange World" tells of a dystopian society, where people never grow old. Amongst other things the narrator (singer) laments how "smiling faces [are] ever so rare". Meanwhile, "Charlotte the Harlot" is the first of four Iron Maiden songs which make reference to the fictional prostitute 'Charlotte'. The 7-minute epic "Phantom of the Opera" remains a fan favourite, and is still performed at many Maiden concerts, while live performances of "Iron Maiden" often signal the entrance of band mascot Eddie onto the stage.

Phantom Of The Opera:

Saturday, January 19, 2008

468. Joy Division - Closer (1980)















Track Listing


1. Atrocity Exhibition
2. Isolation
3. Passover
4. Colony
5. Means To An End
6. Heart And Soul
7. Twenty Four Hours
8. Eternal
9. Decades

Review


There are some bands which could do no wrong and Joy Division was one of those, one of those bands that ended too early to ever have reached the point of being shit. The same is not true of New Order which followed it, but you can see traces of the New Order to come in this album, but restrained enough to make it simply brilliant.

Closer is just as dark as Unknown Pleasures but is more turned towards the synths and stuff, the 80's are here, but the typical 80's elements are so restrained that if anything they enhance the sound. It is difficult to compare this to Unknown Pleasures this is the post-apocalypse of the apocalyptic first album, and this shows that the end of Ian Curtis was more or less inevitable.

Some may say that Joy Division is overrated due to the singer's suicide, but that suicide does retrospectively imbue the music with a certain power, it shows that this was not posing... if only Morrisey had the courage of his convictions.

Track Highlights


1. Twenty Four Hours
2. Atrocity Exhibition
3. Decades
4. The Eternal

Final Grade


10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The opening track, "Atrocity Exhibition", shares its name with The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard, a book that Curtis read and loved, but only after writing the bulk of the song. It was ranked 10th on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Albums of the 1980s, 72nd on NME's 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Music site Digital Dream Door placed it #30 on their list of the '100 Greatest Alternative Albums'[1].In 2003, the album was ranked number 157 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The rarest of finds... a not too horrible fan video of Twenty Four Hours:

Friday, January 18, 2008

467. Talking Heads - Remain In Light (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
2. Crosseyed And Painless
3. The Great Curve
4. Once In A Lifetime
5. Houses In Motion
6. Seen And Not Seen
7. Listening Wind
8. The Overload

Review

Finally the Talking Heads fulfil all of their potential and then some. This is an amazing album that is an essential addition to anyone's library. The Heads go deeper into the African rhythms and synths here and there is nothing but a good thing.

The whole thing is pretty much amazing, there is not a bad track in the whole album and specially interesting songs are Once In A Lifetime, probably the Heads' biggest hit and also a pretty amazing piece of music and Overload, which even if it is not one of the best songs in the album makes a brilliant work of mimicking Joy Division by a band which had heard of them but never heard them.

And if you know Once In a Lifetime you are missing a whole context, this is a very album album, it all works pretty well together and ends up being so much more than the sum of its parts. I had been waiting for this, thanks Heads, thanks Eno, I love you all... particularly Ms. Weymouth... she's a hottie.

Track Highlights

1. Once In A Lifetime
2. Houses In Motion
3. Crosseyed And Painless
4. Listening Wind

Final Grade

10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

In 2003 the TV network VH1 named Remain in Light the 88th greatest album of all time. In 1989, it was rated #4 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. In 2003, the album was ranked number 126 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was voted the second best album of the 1980s by Pitchfork Media.

Living Colour's Vernon Reid describes its African polyrhythms: "Instead of alienation turning into dark angst it turns into celebration, the dance."

Once In A Lifetime:

Thursday, January 17, 2008

466. Circle Jerks - Group Sex (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Deny Everything
2. I Just Want Some Skank
3. Beverly Hills
4. Operation
5. Back Against The Wall
6. Wasted
7. Behind The Door
8. World Up My Ass
9. Paid Vacation
10. Don't Care
11. Live Fast Die Young
12. What's Your Problem
13. Group Sex
14. Red Tape

Review

14 songs in less than 16 minutes must be a new record of some kind, and the Circle Jerks in the tradition of Wire make very short punk songs... still they are no where near the quality of Wire.

Circle Jerks make fast and angry music, but then there is not much more to it, firstly it is almost anachronistic, punk is moribund by this time and post-punk/new-wave are in, so this has the feel of the past to it.

Another criticism of the album is the fact that it isn't particularly smart or particularly well thought out, there are also not many hooks, when compared to Wire they are no more than a pale reflection. Of course there are some cool songs here, like Deny Everything or World Up My Ass, so it is not a complete waste of time (particularly as it is so short).

Track Highlights


1. Deny Everything
2. World Up My Ass
3. Group Sex
4. Wasted

Final Grade


7/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Two songs on the album, "Wasted" and "Don't Care", were originally songs Morris had co-written and performed with Black Flag. The former song appears on the Nervous Breakdown EP, while the latter was recorded during an early recording session for what was supposed to be Black Flag's first full length album. After Morris quit Black Flag, the tapes were shelved. Morris also performed "Red Tape" with Black Flag, although a studio version was never recorded. When Morris recorded and released "Don't Care" with the Circle Jerks (without crediting Greg Ginn, who composed the music), Black Flag responded by rewriting the lyrics, and recording and releasing the song as "You Bet We've Got Something Personal Against You" for the Jealous Again 12" EP.


World Up My Ass:

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

465. Judas Priest - British Steel (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Rapid Fire
2. Metal Gods
3. Breaking The Law
4. Grinder
5. United
6. You Don't Have To Be Old To Be Wise
7. Living After Midnight
8. Rage
9. Steeler

Review

Firstly I must say that I have been singing Breaking The Law for the past few days. That said this album is incredibly shitty... it is lauded as the album that finally purged the blues element out of metal... living the shit element clearly.

Still it is incredibly funny, for all the wrong reasons, it is ridiculous writing allied to ridiculous composing and as far from cool as you can get. It is incredible... unfortunately the only time it goes all the way around to bad and back to good is in Breaking The Law, so ludicrous that it is amazingly funny.

This is the album that heralds the downfall of all metal into the hair-band bunch of manure of the 80's and that should never be praised... but you can chuckle inwards all you want listening to this pearl among pearls.

Track Highlights

1. Breaking The Law
2. Living After Midnight

Final Grade

5/10


Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The album was recorded at Tittenhurst Park, which was the home of the Beatle Ringo Starr. Sampling did not yet exist at the time of recording, so the band recorded the sounds of smashing milk bottles to be included in "Breaking the Law", as well as various sounds in "Metal Gods" produced by "trays of cutlery" and "billiard cues."

Breaking The Law:

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

464. Killing Joke - Killing Joke (1980)
















Track Listing


1. Requiem
2. War Dance
3. Tomorrows World
4. Bloodsport
5. Wait
6. Complications
7. So 36
8. Primitive

Review

Killing Joke seems to be marrying the genres of post-punk and Metal into a cohesive sound, and that they do in a way that is so influential that they sound almost like many other bands that came after them, but still they are one of the best of the bunch.

The music is instilled with a darkness and a driving beat all of its own that makes this album very interesting in itself. It is clearly coming out of stuff like PiL but making it much harder and almost metal in the way it sounds, just look at Complications or The Wait.

In the end the album pleases but doesn't astound but it is one of the template for industrial rock music and you could hardly have Nine Inch Nails without this template so their place is very well deserved on the list.

Track Highlights


1. Requiem
2. Wardance
3. Bloodsport
4. The Wait

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Killing Joke influenced many later bands, such as Nirvana, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Napalm Death, Big Black, Prong, Metallica, Jane's Addiction, Soundgarden, Foo Fighters, Econoline Crush, Faith No More and Korn, all of whom have at some point cited some debt of gratitude to 'The Joke'.

Requiem:

Monday, January 14, 2008

463. Mötorhead - Ace Of Spades (1980)















Track Listing

1. Ace Of Spades
2. Love Me Like A Reptile
3. Shoot You In The Back
4. Live To Win
5. Fast And Loose
6. We Are The Road Crew
7. Fire Fire
8. Jailbait
9. Dance
10. Bite The Bullet
11. Chase Is Better Than The Catch
12. Hammer

Review

ROCK! This is an album better known for its title track and for good reason, Ace Of Spades is one of the best Metal songs of all time, the rest of the album is unfortunately very similar to it. All songs sound a bit like Ace Of Spades without exactly getting there in the coolness factor.

This is not a major criticism of the album all in all I like it and Mötorhead in general, they are one of the least poserish of Metal bands, they are what they are naturally and there are few men sexier than Lemmy.

The songs are generally entertaining here and this isa rare occasion of a Metal album that is actually quite listenable and enjoyable. So a good album that lacks variety in its songs but still packs the right kind of metal punch, you could do much worse.

Track Highlights


1. Ace Of Spades
2. Shoot You In The Back
3. Jailbait
4. The Chase Is Better Than The Catch

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

On Ace Of Spades:

For the lyrics, Lemmy said he "used gambling metaphors, mostly cards and dice - when it comes to that sort of thing, I'm more into the one-arm bandits actually, but you can't really sing about spinning fruit, and the wheels coming down"


Ahh Ace Of Spades is loved all over the world!, Tokyo Yankees and Hide And Pata from X-Japan :

Sunday, January 13, 2008

462. Echo And The Bunnymen - Crocodiles (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Going Up
2. Do It Clean
3. Stars Are Stars
4. Pride
5. Monkeys
6. Crocodiles
7. Rescue
8. Villiers Terrace
9. Read It in Books
10. Pictures on My Wall
11. All That Jazz
12. Happy Death Men

Review

Yesterday it was The Cure today it is Echo and this is great! Again just like with Seventeen Seconds this is not the best of all Echo albums but that is splitting hairs because their stuff is just generally amazing and this is no exception.

Echo and the Bunnymen was one of those bands I discovered about 5 years ago and has since become one of my top five bands of all time, and when I say 'the four from Liverpool' this is the band I mean. That has also led me to the conclusion that Echo are probably one of the most underrated bands in the world, while many bands which were kind of obscure have received their deserved recognition (i.e. Joy Division) the same is not true of Echo. And it should be!

This album is a great way to start listening to them, and one of the best debut albums on the list, they would eventually reach perfection with Ocean Rain, but this is a 10 just the same.

Track Highlights

1. Rescue
2. Villiers Terrace
3. Pride
4. Pictures On My Wall

Final Grade


10/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Echo & the Bunnymen’s critically-acclaimed debut single “Pictures on My Wall”, was released on Bill Drummond's Zoo in May 1979, the B-side being the McCulloch/Cope collaboration “Read It in Books” (also recorded by The Teardrop Explodes approximately six months later as the B-side of their final Zoo Records single “Treason”). In two Echo and the Bunnymen biographies Never Stop (1987) and Turquoise Days (2002), McCulloch has denied that Cope had any involvement with the writing of this song. As it's now over twenty years after the event, this case will most likely never be proved one way or another, but the "Read It In Books" saga does provide a fascinating insight into the depth of the dysfunctional McCulloch/Cope relationship.

By the time of their debut album, 1980’s Crocodiles, the drum machine had been replaced by Trinidad-born Pete de Freitas, and a single, “Rescue”, climbed to UK #62 and following critical acclaim, the album broke into the Top 20 at #17.

Rescue:

Saturday, January 12, 2008

461. The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Reflection
2. Play For Today
3. Secrets
4. In Your House
5. Three
6. Final Sound
7. Forest
8. M
9. At Night
10. Seventeen Seconds

Review

Yay! The Cure! There's few things I love better than crap-lipstick-applier Robert Smith and even if this is not my favourite Cure album it is still a damn sight better than most other stuff in the world ever! Yes indeed!

So I am writing this in the morning after a night of debauchery so excuse my curtness and by the way, HAPPY BIRTHDAY WIFEY! Now that that is out of the way let's resume music-talk.

Seventeen Seconds is a really downbeat album for Cure standards, Cure have always seemed to me to be actually a happy band behind all the gothy posing but here there is a quite oppressive, almost industrial sound to the music which works really well. A Forest, the best known single of the bunch, is a perfect example of this, this is the earlier gloomier Cure, none of the Friday I'm In Love malarkey here. And this is actually better, the beat of the whole thing is pretty ahead of its time going for the apocalypse disco sound that post-punk has loved since Fodderstompf by PiL and developed to perfection here. Highly Recommended.

Track Highlights


1. A Forest
2. Play For Today
3. Seventeen Seconds
4. In Your House

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

Seventeen Seconds was lauded by some critics, and panned as a "collection of soundtracks" by others. One reviewer described the album as a "sad Cure, sitting in cold rooms, watching clocks". Despite the mixed reception, the band was featured in several lengthy articles with numerous photos of a slender Smith, without makeup, who one critic called "alarmingly handsome". There was controversy concerning the band's "anti-image", established by the cover of Three Imaginary Boys, which this album contributed to by blurring the photos of the band's members and the cover art. This is the first Cure album Smith was able to choose the art for.

The Forest:

Friday, January 11, 2008

460. The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight (1980)
















Track Listing

1. I Wanna Destroy You
2. Kingdom Of Love
3. Positive Vibrations
4. I Got The Hob
5. Insanely Jealous
6. Tonight
7. You'll Have To Go Sideways
8. I'm An Old Pervert
9. Queen Of Eyes
10. Underwater Moonlight

Review

Here is a band which sounds strangley like the Byrds, but with a post-punk sensibility. The jangly sound jars with the message of I Wanna Destroy You, but in a good way. This strange mix is fascinating at first and never ceases being interesting, but quickly loses the novelty value.

Then we have to ask ourselves if after the novelty value is gone there is enough to hold our love. Well, there is something there but not enough to make this a permanent addition to my Ipod.

This is peppered with retro sounds from the sitar in Positive Vibrations to the general harmonies of the group, reminiscent of American bands of the 60's. So this is a fun little album which even if it is interesting it ends up being slightly inconsequential.

Track Highlights

1. I Wanna Destroy You
2. Positive Vibrations
3. I Got The Hots
4. Underwater Moonlight

Final Grade

8/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

The band broke up in 1980 after Underwater Moonlight. They briefly re-formed for a UK tour in 1994 and then again in 2001 for the 20th anniversary of Underwater Moonlight (in 2001) and the release of a new album, Nextdoorland (in 2002). They disbanded once again in 2003.

Underwater Moonlight, sorry about the lack of proper video:

Thursday, January 10, 2008

459. Peter Gabriel - Peter Gabriel III (1980)
















Track Listing

1. Intruder
2. No Self Control
3. Start
4. I Don't Remember
5. Family Snapshot
6. And Through The Wire
7. Games Without Frontiers
8. Not One Of Us
9. Lead A Normal Life
10. Biko

Review

So here is another Peter Gabriel album, and it is not the last in the list, but after this Gabriel took a more populist stance on music, even if he would later return to more obscure stuff. This is a great album, Gabriel has been influenced not only by his own prog past but also by the new electronic and ambient music of Kraftwerk and Brian Eno and also by "World Music".

This last influence is particularly noticeable in the last track of the album, Biko, a song of constant mirth for the Portuguese among you as the work Bico, pronounced the same way, means blowjob in the language. It is always funny to hear the epic, ecstatic cries of 'Biko, Bikooo'.

Then there are some perfect pop songs here, and the best known is probably the best example, Games Without Frontiers merges a great pop song with funny pop-culture imagery and more high-brow political commentary. This is all enhanced by the backing vocals of Kate Bush which recur throughout the album. In the end this is a great piece of intelligent pop by one of the masters of the genre.

Track Highlights

1. Games Without Frontiers
2. Biko
3. And Through The Wire
4. Intruder

Final Grade

9/10

Trivia

From Wikipedia:

This album is often referred to as Melt, referring to the album cover by Storm Thorgerson using image manipulation techniques employing a Polaroid SX-70 instant camera (though Thorgerson has said that Gabriel himself was involved with the smudging of several photos from the same session, and he does not remember whether he or Gabriel is responsible for the cover's final look.)

This album marked the first reunion of Gabriel with a member from Genesis: drummer, and current Genesis vocalist (as Gabriel's successor), Phil Collins.

Some guys made a video of Games Without Frontiers...Universal has the original video up on Youtube with embedding disabled, one day recording companies will figure out the fact that videos are adverts for music: