1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die was first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Edited by Robert Dimery, it contains a chronological list of albums chosen by a panel of music critics to be the most important, influential, and best in popular music between the 1950s and the 2000s. It was reissued in 2008 with a revised list, and again in 2011, 2013 and 2016. From first publication the list has been a topic of much debate, with some disagreement regarding albums left out or included; however, it is widely regarded as a very useful starting point for the main musical references of the late 20th century. As the 2005 book is the first and has the most impact, that is the list I've used here.
I'm working my way through the list, and also comparing it with other lists.
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| The Eighties |
Albums so far: 482
Albums marked $ are ones I agree with (93)
Albums marked + are ones I have added to the list (68)
Albums marked + are ones I have added to the list (68)
Albums marked XX are ones I have removed (116)
Total albums recommended = 642
Total albums recommended = 642
Albums marked RS are on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums
Albums marked MC are on Mojo's 100 Records That Changed The World
Albums marked CCC are on Robert Christgau's Core Collection (pre-1980 albums)
Albums marked C4 are on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Albums
Albums marked NM are on NARM The Definitive 200
Albums marked G50 are on The Guardian 50 Albums That Changed Music
Albums marked UC are on Uncut's 200 Greatest Albums Of All Time
Albums marked NME are on NME's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time
Albums marked Q are on Q's 100 Greatest Albums Ever (2006)
Albums marked ATT are on Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1,000 albums (2000)
[HH] = hip-hop/rap
[SP] = synthpop
[HH] = hip-hop/rap
[SP] = synthpop
[SOP] = sophisti-pop
***
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| 1980 |
$ Talking Heads – Remain in Light (RS) (ATT) Breathlessly brilliant. Leans a lot on Fela Kutu's excellent Afrodisiac (1973) Score: 9
$ Dexys Midnight Runners – Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (C4) Special album. Score: 8
$ Brian Eno & David Byrne – My Life in the Bush of Ghosts Religious and political sampling use as the lead voice on an album of drum loops and African beats. Utterly fascinating. Confused and alienated many American critics who were unfamiliar at that time with European avant-garde rock music, but they have since noted the album's huge influence and impact on a range of music genres, including hip-hop. Essential. Score: 8
+ Various - We Do Em Our Way Covers by various punk era bands. Score: 6 1/2
+ Various - We Do Em Our Way Covers by various punk era bands. Score: 6 1/2
+ Bauhaus – In The Flat Field Debut album of band seen by some as the originators of gothic rock. Sort of a blend of Eighties Bowie, Siouxsie Sioux, and The Psychedelic Furs. Their follow up, Mask (1981), is similar, though it sold more so sometimes gets more attention, but those who are more aware of the band's output and gothic rock in general, regard the debut as the significant album. Score: 6
+ The Beat - I Just Can't Stop It One of the best, probably the best, two tone bands. A mix of ska and pop-rock. Score: 6
$ Pretenders – Pretenders (RS) (ATT) Score: 5 1/2
$ Pretenders – Pretenders (RS) (ATT) Score: 5 1/2
+ X – Los Angles Debut of American rockabilly pop-rock band. Nothing new here, but they are melodic and energetic, taking the straight ahead maximum RnB riffs of The Who, The Ramones and the Sex Pistols and hundreds of others before them and doing it with such innocent joy. Good fun. Score: 5 1/2
+ The Monochrome Set - Strange Boutique Debut album of a quirky UK new wave band. Score: 5 1/2
+ The Durutti Column - Return of The Durutti Column Debut album of ambient, dream pop from guitarist Vini Reilly recording under the name of The Durutti Column. Score: 5 1/2
+ The Sugarhill Gang - Sugarhill Gang [HH] The Sugarhill Gang are early hip-hop. But while their debut is the first hip-hop album (previous hip-hop had all been released on 12 inch singles), it contains more lush RnB and disco numbers than actual rap. It's an odd combination, but a fascinating historical document. Includes the 1979 hit "Rapper's Delight". Score: 5
$ Siouxsie and the Banshees – Juju This is the band's most popular and most acclaimed album. It opens with one of the band's best songs, "Spellbound", but then doesn't make much progress on what the band have already done. Call it a consolidation. Well done, but not quite as important as the band's first album. Score: 5
$ The Teardrop Explodes – Kilimanjaro Score: 5
$ The Teardrop Explodes – Kilimanjaro Score: 5
+ Young Marble Giants - Colossal Youth The only album by this Cardiff based trio who acknowledged the influence of early solo Eno - particularly Taking Tiger Mountain (1974). Interesting and attractive, and an influence on a range of others from Nirvana to Belle & Sebastian. Score: 5
$ The Soft Boys – Underwater Moonlight Score: 5
+ The Feelies - Crazy Rhythms Debut of American indie-pop band who largely remained under the radar, but produced gently bouncy attractive poppy music that would inform the approach of later American indie-pop bands. Score: 5
$ Tom Waits – Heartattack & Vine Score: 4 1/2
$ Tom Waits – Heartattack & Vine Score: 4 1/2
+ Ultravox - Vienna A commercially focused but intelligent and musical synthpop band who released the glorious title track, "Vienna", as a single. The rest of the album is not to that standard, but is always varied and interesting. This is widely regarded as their best album. Score: 4 1/2
$ The Go-Go's – Beauty & the Beat (RS) This is catchy pop. Perhaps a little bit power-pop. They are generally classed as New Wave in the same vein as early Blondie or perhaps The Ramones, who both reached back to the classic snappy harmony pop of the early Sixties. It's well done. I can listen to stuff like this all day. Is it important? Well, some regard this album as the one that really got America re-interested in classic pop (or New Wave as it was called then). Score: 4
$ The Go-Go's – Beauty & the Beat (RS) This is catchy pop. Perhaps a little bit power-pop. They are generally classed as New Wave in the same vein as early Blondie or perhaps The Ramones, who both reached back to the classic snappy harmony pop of the early Sixties. It's well done. I can listen to stuff like this all day. Is it important? Well, some regard this album as the one that really got America re-interested in classic pop (or New Wave as it was called then). Score: 4
XX The Cramps – Songs the Lord Taught Us Rockabilly and Pyschobilly. Hmmm. Score: 4
$ Killing Joke – Killing Joke Leaning toward hardcore and industrial metal. Considered influential on bands such as Metallica, Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden. If push comes to shove, this will possibly be removed. Score: 3 1/2
$ Dead Kennedys – Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables (ATT) American "punk" rock band who follow their British and American influences quite closely, with elements of The Undertones, The Ramones, The Jam, UK Subs, and The Sex Pistols in their style. There's nothing new or interesting here. Indeed, the musical style and attitude are out of place in the 1980s, but they were the most respected and authentic sounding of the early American punk rock bands, and so have a social significance. Their best track is "Holiday In Cambodia", which was a successful single. It takes musical and lyrical ideas from the Sex Pistols' "Holiday In The Sun", and kind of points out the gulf between the originals (the Pistols) and the copyists (the Kennedys). Hmmm. Score: 3
***
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| 1981 |
$ The Psychedelic Furs – Talk, Talk, Talk Great album. Contains "Pretty In Pink" and reminds me of a sexy girl in Salisbury in the late 1980s who played this to me on her very loud Walkman. Score: 9
$ Tom Tom Club – Tom Tom Club Side project from Talking Heads for Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, contains their best known work, "Wordy Wrappinghood". Attractive rhythm focused music. This is widely regarded as their best album. Score: 7 1/2
$ The Human League – Dare (C4) (G50) (ATT) One of the best Eighties synthpop albums. Contains the awesome "Don't You Want Me". Score: 6 1/2
$ The Human League – Dare (C4) (G50) (ATT) One of the best Eighties synthpop albums. Contains the awesome "Don't You Want Me". Score: 6 1/2
$ Prince – 1999 (RS) (ATT) Prince's breakthrough album, and contender for not only his best album (the two other contenders are Purple Rain and Sign "O" the Times) but apparantly for one of the best albums of all time. It contains "Little Red Corvette", the single that caught my attention, and apparently thousands of other people's - and I think that still remains my favourite Prince track, and the one I consider Prince's best. This album is packed with poppy, melodic, attention seeking and attractive songs. Not all of it works for me, but it starts with the James Brown funk of "1999" then the slick R&B pop of "Corvette", so it gets off to a heady start. It follows with the electronica of "Delirious" and "Let's Pretend We're Married" capturing the Eighties desire for cold robotic repetitive music and utilising ideas from "P-Funk" and other tracks by Parliament. Score: 6 1/2
+ Cabaret Voltaire - Red Mecca Experimental/Industrial music - part of the post-punk scene that returned to the interesting musical experiments that pushed music forward before the nervous, reactionary punk movement briefly made people afraid to explore. Respected, though not commercially popular. This is considered their best album. Score: 6
$ ABC – Lexicon of Love (ATT) [SOP] sophisti-pop Score: 5
$ ABC – Lexicon of Love (ATT) [SOP] sophisti-pop Score: 5
+ Luther Vandross - Never Too Much (NM) Attractive and popular R&B singer who worked with David Bowie on Young Americans. Score: 5
+ The dB's - Stands For Decibels Attractive and edgy power-pop wearing its Beatle's influence on its sleeve. Score: 5
+ The dB's - Stands For Decibels Attractive and edgy power-pop wearing its Beatle's influence on its sleeve. Score: 5
+ Queen – Greatest Hits Score: 5
+ Au Pairs - Playing With A Different Sex Lesley Woods, a slightly militant lesbian feminist, appears to be the driving force behind the lyrics at least in this band, who picked up some sounds from Siouxsie and the Banshees, but also have the rhythmic drive, polished approach and knowing lyrics of Britpop bands such as Elastica. After two albums the band broke up, and Woods made an album of unremarkable folky Christmas hymns under the name Dunstanfolk, before becoming a gay rights and immigration lawyer. Interesting. The band are often linked with Gang of Four and Young Marble Giants. Score: 5
+ The Sound - From The Lion's Mouth Associates of the Comsat Angels (Sleep No More 1981), so there is that spacious sound again, but there's also the gothic element of Joy Division/The Cult, which makes them a little more interesting. Score: 5
+ Aswad - New Chapter Possibly the leading non-Jamaican reggae act. Formed in mid 70s UK, and blending authentic roots reggae with soul and r'n'b. This is widely seen as their best album. More interesting than UB40, unfortunately they didn't achieve significant commercial success. Perhaps too much like Bob Marley. Score: 4 (Considering Aswad the 1976 debut)
+ Television Personalities - And Don't The Kids Just Love It Lo-fi music such as this emphasises the home-made aspect of the production with the sense that over production can isolate the listener from the experience and/or performer. There also needs to be good songs or music, which is not actually the case here. However, there's enough of interest in this, which presages the shambling C86 movement, to mark it as of cultural interest. Score: 4
***
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| 1982 |
$ Dexys Midnight Runners – Too Rye Ay I adore this album. Highly musical, inventive, and throbbing with authenticity. Score: 9
$ Michael Jackson – Thriller (RS) (MC) (C4) (NM) (G50) (NME) (Q) (ATT) Thriller continued what Jackson and Quincy Jones started with Off the Wall (1979) though with more pop, and with much more success. Pretty much every track on this album will be familiar to almost every living person in the Western world. This is the best selling album of all time with sales of around 60 million. Just edges Off the Wall in terms of playability and familiarity, and perhaps also in influence due to the widespread accessibility of the music, though Off The Wall is the ground-breaker and innovator. Score: 8
$ Michael Jackson – Thriller (RS) (MC) (C4) (NM) (G50) (NME) (Q) (ATT) Thriller continued what Jackson and Quincy Jones started with Off the Wall (1979) though with more pop, and with much more success. Pretty much every track on this album will be familiar to almost every living person in the Western world. This is the best selling album of all time with sales of around 60 million. Just edges Off the Wall in terms of playability and familiarity, and perhaps also in influence due to the widespread accessibility of the music, though Off The Wall is the ground-breaker and innovator. Score: 8
+ Laurie Anderson - Big Science Art as pop music. Score: 7 1/2
+ Squeeze - Singles (YouTube) Great singles band. Score: 7
+ Yellowman - Mister Yellowman Reggae - toasting/deejay - an influence on hip-hop. Yellowman is the heavy metal of reggae - and is best heard very loud through a huge sound system on a hot sunny day on the streets of London. Score: 7
$ Malcolm McLaren – Duck Rock [hh] A totally improbable album. McLaren was offered a recording contract as he was well known as the manager of the Sex pistols. When Trevor Horn starting to record McLaren in the studio, he realised that McLaren couldn't sing. Somehow he managed to construct a groundbreaking album in which South African music is blended with hip-hop scratching in some of the earliest examples of either genre to have high profile exposure, let alone both together. McLaren's name may be on the cover, but this is all about the genius of Trevor Horn. Score: 6 1/2
+ Squeeze - Singles (YouTube) Great singles band. Score: 7
+ Yellowman - Mister Yellowman Reggae - toasting/deejay - an influence on hip-hop. Yellowman is the heavy metal of reggae - and is best heard very loud through a huge sound system on a hot sunny day on the streets of London. Score: 7
$ Malcolm McLaren – Duck Rock [hh] A totally improbable album. McLaren was offered a recording contract as he was well known as the manager of the Sex pistols. When Trevor Horn starting to record McLaren in the studio, he realised that McLaren couldn't sing. Somehow he managed to construct a groundbreaking album in which South African music is blended with hip-hop scratching in some of the earliest examples of either genre to have high profile exposure, let alone both together. McLaren's name may be on the cover, but this is all about the genius of Trevor Horn. Score: 6 1/2
$ The Birthday Party (Nick Cave) – Junkyard Dark, abrasive, challenging, yet lyrical, rhythmic, compelling and interesting. A bridge between punk and post-punk, goth, and industrial noise. Similarities with The Fall and Psychic TV. This is generally regarded as their best album, and contains their most acclaimed piece, "Release The Bats". Score: 6 1/2
$ Haircut One Hundred – Pelican West [SOP] Sophisti-pop and similar to Orange Juice, ABC, Spandau Ballet and China Crisis; this was a band of its time, but notwithstanding that, this is a beautiful album. Well structured, poppy, and infectious. Good tunes. Nothing arty or ambitious, but very, very attractive. The main talent, Nick Heyward, left after this album for a solo career starting with the respected North Of A Miracle (1983) which has a similar sound to Haircut, but without the joyfulness which made them so appealing. Score: 6
$ Haircut One Hundred – Pelican West [SOP] Sophisti-pop and similar to Orange Juice, ABC, Spandau Ballet and China Crisis; this was a band of its time, but notwithstanding that, this is a beautiful album. Well structured, poppy, and infectious. Good tunes. Nothing arty or ambitious, but very, very attractive. The main talent, Nick Heyward, left after this album for a solo career starting with the respected North Of A Miracle (1983) which has a similar sound to Haircut, but without the joyfulness which made them so appealing. Score: 6
+ Psychic TV - Force The Hand Of Chance One of Genesis-P-Orridge's projects - this is their debut, and is widely acknowledged as their best. This is quirky, interesting, challenging, and sometimes actually attractive. Score: 6
$ Orange Juice – Rip it Up [SOP] Orange Juice slip nicely into sophisti-pop, along with label-mates Aztec Camera, and do it with an attractive edge of modern R&B thanks to lead singer Edwyn Collins. Score: 5 1/2
$ Orange Juice – Rip it Up [SOP] Orange Juice slip nicely into sophisti-pop, along with label-mates Aztec Camera, and do it with an attractive edge of modern R&B thanks to lead singer Edwyn Collins. Score: 5 1/2
+ Kid Creole and the Coconuts - Tropical Gangsters August Darnell's project after Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band (CCC), which blended disco with the big band sound was another band doing pretty much the same thing. By the time of their third LP they found the right groove and had a series of hits including "Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy", and "Stool Pigeon". Score: 5 1/2
+ Nurse With Wound - Homotopy to Marie Interesting avant garde musical concrete. Sometimes abrasive and/or disturbing tape loops of recorded sound, manipulated into musical collages. Score: 5
$ The The – Soul Mining Post-punk / Indie. Kinda odd on the verge of synth-pop, but more interesting and arty. Not sure how much I like it, but it's worth a listen. Score: 5
$ Duran Duran – Rio (C4) Very popular synthpop, New Romantic, and Philly soul influenced dance-pop (or dance-rock?) band who caught the Eighties MTV audience with a series of bold videos. This was their big album, and contains a number of their big hits. They represent the essence of the early Eighties with their range of music styles, and are musically quite polished and attractive. A decent band, somewhat critically overlooked because of their pop appeal. Score: 5
+ Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy A combination of the musicians from Adam and the Ants, a bold 13 year old girl with a mohican haircut, and the clumsy but effective promotional ability of Malcolm McLaren, the band were more controversial than successful or critically acclaimed. Yet they caught that transitional early 80s sound of post punk, new wave and world music, and were bright, breezy, and interesting. Some of their attitude and sound was reproduced by the more critically acceptable 1990s band Le Tigre (Bow Wow Wow's 13 year old lead singer Annabella Lwin was seen as exploited, while Le Tigre's front woman, Kathleen Hanna, is seen as feminist). Their albums were patchy, so this compilation works well. Score: 5
$ The Associates – Sulk (The) Associates are classed as part of the broad post-punk movement in which new bands were essentially returning to and carrying on the rock trends that occurred in the period just before punk, though informed both by the energy of punk and the general drift toward a gothic style of synth-pop. (The) Associates contain ideas heard in The Cure, Joy Division, Gary Newman, etc, yet are also quite poppy and synth. Quite bland and/or lacking in musical understanding compared to The Cure, etc. Score: 4
+ Fad Gadget - Under The Flag Eighties electronica - a somewhat darker and more interesting Human League. But not as engaging as Human League at their best. Score: 4
+ Nurse With Wound - Homotopy to Marie Interesting avant garde musical concrete. Sometimes abrasive and/or disturbing tape loops of recorded sound, manipulated into musical collages. Score: 5
$ The The – Soul Mining Post-punk / Indie. Kinda odd on the verge of synth-pop, but more interesting and arty. Not sure how much I like it, but it's worth a listen. Score: 5
$ Duran Duran – Rio (C4) Very popular synthpop, New Romantic, and Philly soul influenced dance-pop (or dance-rock?) band who caught the Eighties MTV audience with a series of bold videos. This was their big album, and contains a number of their big hits. They represent the essence of the early Eighties with their range of music styles, and are musically quite polished and attractive. A decent band, somewhat critically overlooked because of their pop appeal. Score: 5
+ Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy A combination of the musicians from Adam and the Ants, a bold 13 year old girl with a mohican haircut, and the clumsy but effective promotional ability of Malcolm McLaren, the band were more controversial than successful or critically acclaimed. Yet they caught that transitional early 80s sound of post punk, new wave and world music, and were bright, breezy, and interesting. Some of their attitude and sound was reproduced by the more critically acceptable 1990s band Le Tigre (Bow Wow Wow's 13 year old lead singer Annabella Lwin was seen as exploited, while Le Tigre's front woman, Kathleen Hanna, is seen as feminist). Their albums were patchy, so this compilation works well. Score: 5
$ The Associates – Sulk (The) Associates are classed as part of the broad post-punk movement in which new bands were essentially returning to and carrying on the rock trends that occurred in the period just before punk, though informed both by the energy of punk and the general drift toward a gothic style of synth-pop. (The) Associates contain ideas heard in The Cure, Joy Division, Gary Newman, etc, yet are also quite poppy and synth. Quite bland and/or lacking in musical understanding compared to The Cure, etc. Score: 4
+ Fad Gadget - Under The Flag Eighties electronica - a somewhat darker and more interesting Human League. But not as engaging as Human League at their best. Score: 4
***
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| 1983 |
$ Culture Club – Colour by Numbers Special album. Score: 8
+ The Jam - Snap! The Jam were the greatest singles band of the Seventies and Eighties, and possibly of all time. Their albums were appreciated, but it's the singles which are their enduring legacy, and so it seems more appropriate to have the album which collects them all together than to select any of their less successful and so incomplete studio albums. Score: 8
+ The Jam - Snap! The Jam were the greatest singles band of the Seventies and Eighties, and possibly of all time. Their albums were appreciated, but it's the singles which are their enduring legacy, and so it seems more appropriate to have the album which collects them all together than to select any of their less successful and so incomplete studio albums. Score: 8
+ Butthole Surfers – Butthole Surfers (aka Brown Reason To Live and Pee Pee The Sailor) The surfers were interesting with their loose, devil-may-care, tongue-in-cheek art-punk attitude, and 1986's Locust Abortion Technician did catch up with the critics, and brought them some attention. But it was their first album/EP that is the boldest, brightest, and most interesting. Like the first Velvet Underground album, it may not have sold many copies, or reached the attention of many critics (initially), but it was hugely influential. No Butthole Surfers, no Nirvana, no Grunge, no Britpop..... This is wide ranging, bringing in elements of Zappa and Beefheart, and is under-pined throughout with well constructed melodies that are constantly being thrown away, screamed over, or otherwise abused. This is clearly a band who are musically talented as well as brimming over with ideas, humour, and a desire to be bold and different. Score: 7
+ The Chameleons - Script of the Bridge [AR] Debut album of this early Indie/alternative rock band. Incorporates some of the sounds and ideas of Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, Julian Cope's The Teardrop Explodes, Joy Division and Big Country. Singles were "Up The Down Escalator", "As High As You Can Go", and "A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days". Interesting, talented, atmospheric, they somehow never quite made it. Score: 6
+ Billy Bragg – Life's A Riot With Spy vs Spy Bragg's short and roughly recorded debut album caught everyone's attention, and everything he did afterwards springs from this. These are the songs that people will for ever associate with Bragg, and the delivery here is the essence of what he is about. Later recordings gradually soften, enrich, and add harmony and production to his sparse style, and that makes the later recordings more listenable and commercial, but none of them better this. A significant part of the attraction here is that this is a man alone with his electric guitar singing about what he believed in, and doing it in a simple and direct manner. If you want the real Bragg, here it is. Political and romantic folk music brought into the modern world. Score: 5 1/2
+ Spandau Ballet - True Similar to Duran Duran, but less rock/pop and more soul - more grown up. Spandau Ballet were part of the New Romantics and also the Second British Invasion. Score: 5 1/2
+ Billy Bragg – Life's A Riot With Spy vs Spy Bragg's short and roughly recorded debut album caught everyone's attention, and everything he did afterwards springs from this. These are the songs that people will for ever associate with Bragg, and the delivery here is the essence of what he is about. Later recordings gradually soften, enrich, and add harmony and production to his sparse style, and that makes the later recordings more listenable and commercial, but none of them better this. A significant part of the attraction here is that this is a man alone with his electric guitar singing about what he believed in, and doing it in a simple and direct manner. If you want the real Bragg, here it is. Political and romantic folk music brought into the modern world. Score: 5 1/2
+ Spandau Ballet - True Similar to Duran Duran, but less rock/pop and more soul - more grown up. Spandau Ballet were part of the New Romantics and also the Second British Invasion. Score: 5 1/2
+ New Order - Power, Corruption And Lies Synthpop/rock-pop. Not my sort of band - and I think they had the wrong sort of influence on the 80s, but they did have an influence, and were highly, highly regarded for a while (their standing is fading fast, and I am pondering if I do need to keep this on this list, merely because this band were temporarily popular). This is the album that made them big, and is generally regarded as their most important and influential album, so I would opt for this. Score: 5
$ Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes (1983) Moderately likeable sub-Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. Quite quirky, and poppy, though not substantial. Score: 5
+ Bananarama - Deep Sea Skiving Very successful female vocal group who would later get involved with Stock Aitken and Waterman (SAW), (a very commercial song writing and production team who imposed their own distinctly superficial and repetitive style on their artists, and who almost came to define pop in the Eighties). In Bananarama's early days they were independent and interesting, with a good visual image. The debut, Deep Sea Skiving, is a cool and stylish ska influenced album. Their second, more polished yet more lyrically thoughtful album, Bananarama, has "Robert De Niro's Waiting..." and "Cruel Summer", which were hugely successful singles. The 1988 compilation album, Greatest Hits Collection, is useful as they were a singles band, and the album covers their career from the cool debut, though the polished and thought provoking second album, to the deadening dross of the SAW period (when Siobhan Fahey left to form the fascinating Shakespears Sister). Score: 4 1/2
XX U2 – War (RS) (ATT) Contains "Sunday Bloody Sunday", an early success for the band. And "News Years Day" is also a decent song. The album is a marked improvement on their first two, but still has the stilted sound of early 80's New Romantics. A little earnest (these boys do seem to take themselves seriously by gawd) yet at the same time a bit too much pop for authentic rock. There's not enough distance here from Adam and The Ants ("Desperate"), Duran Duran ("Something") and Spandau Ballet ("Chant") for comfort. This, however, is generally seen as one of the band's best albums, usually third behind Achtung Baby and The Joshua Tree. It's an OK album, just not that special for non-U2 fans. Score: 4 1/2
$ ZZ Top – Eliminator (RS) (NM) (ATT) ZZ Top were everyone's favourite long bearded boogie band in the 80s, taking over from Status Quo in the 70s and Canned Heat in the 60s. Simple good time music, but rather limited, and gets tedious after a while. Score: 4
XX The Police – Synchronicity (RS) (C4) (NM) The Police became one of the most popular bands of the Eighties, and championed the fusion of rock and reggae such that it became their identifiable sound and an influence on other artists. As such they have a cultural significance that demands they are represented on this list. But which album? The debut, Outlandos D'Amour (1978), is their most focused and energetic, consciously reflecting the energy of the then popular UK punk movement in the hope of commercial success, plus showing their prog-rock/jazz influences which would become clearer on subsequent releases. Their second album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979), dropped any pretence at punk and concentrated on a smoother, more commercial style - blending their prog-rock/jazz influences with a mainstream rock-pop approach that the public found very appealing. The professional and attractive music, combined with Sting's intelligent and literary lyrics (and his good looks), ensured the band's success, and all subsequent albums followed Reggatta's style rather than the debut's. Their final album, Synchronicity, was their most successful, selling over 8 million in the USA, and is the one most often mentioned by critics, especially as it was their most musically accomplished and ambitious album. I don't think there is much to choose between their albums, though for me the energy and excitement and commitment of the first album makes it stand everything that the band were and would become is present in that album, but with the added bonus that the band sound honest and that they really want it. Score: 4
***
1984
+* The Smiths - The Smiths (RS) (G50) (ATT) Like the Fall, there needs to be at least one album from the Smiths, and possibly two or more. This one was the debut and set out exactly what the band were about. Did they better this? Score: 9
+* The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow (ATT) Released a few months after the debut, this rounds up the first three singles and b-sides plus loose alternative takes of the key tracks from the debut recorded in sessions for BBC Radio 1. It offers an interesting and compelling alternative to the debut as it contains a more powerful selection of tracks, though the Radio 1 sessions are less intensive and finished than the studio recordings for the debut. All in all the debut is the better album, but it's damned close. Score: 8 1/2 *I don't think I shall keep two such similar albums - I'll make a decision as to which one to keep.....
$ The Style Council (Paul Weller) – Café Bleu [SOP] Paul Weller's next adventure after he broke up the excellent Jam. As with The Jam, Weller takes inspiration from not just an older musical style, but also an older vibe and scene. With The Jam he recreated the mod scene of the Sixties along with the maximum R&B (or power pop) approach of Sixties British bands; with The Style Council he recreated the cool jazz scene of the late Fifties and early Sixties, and in so doing influenced the Eighties sophisti-pop scene. Score: 8 1/2
$ Echo & the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain Contains "The Killing Moon", their best song. This is widely considered to be their best album. Score: 7 1/2
+ U2 - The Unforgettable Fire (ATT) This is an expansive album, and though it sits comfortably among contemporary albums, such as the Bunnymen's Ocean Rain, it is distinctive due to Bono's clear voice and Romantically passionate delivery. The Edge's melodic jangly guitar is also a feature, though his playing is rather more limited than fans and critics are generally prepared to admit. It is Bono who really makes the band, and this album. This was the first album in which Eno and Daniel Lanois were involved, and the band's first serious album. Includes proper U2 big Romantic songs such as the meg-hit "Pride", and "Bad", the song that broke U2 onto a global audience when the band vamped anxiously while Bono went into the audience to dance with some girls at Live Aid. Score: 7
+ This Mortal Coil - It'll End In Tears Related to both dream-pop and the goth movement - atmospheric pieces sometimes reminiscent of The Cure but more ambient, lush and beautiful. They were a collective on the 4AD label, which focused on this sort of material, and included musicians from the Cocteau Twins. All tracks were reinterpretations of existing songs, including some originally recorded by the 4AD musicians on the labum. Good stuff. Score: 7
+ Bob Marley - Legend (RS) (ATT) This was a very popular compilation. I suspect I'll not keep it as I think his regular releases will be enough, but it's here for consideration. Score: 5
+ Julian Cope - World Shut Your Mouth Cope's debut solo album retains sounds and ideas from his band The Teardrop Explodes, but incorporates sounds and ideas from Syd Barrett and points forward to the more individual and idiosyncratic sound of the 1990s Cope. It was critically and commercially poorly received and misunderstood. Cope also appears to dislike it as it has been deleted, and tracks are hard to find. But it's a fascinating, lively, and engaging album. Score: 5
+ The Fall - The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall (ATT) The Fall is Mark E Smith with a changing group of supporting musicians. Smith falls into the Beefheart, Zappa group of strongly committed, authentic, individualistic, unique, and somewhat demanding artists. Certain line-ups and individuals of The Fall had more of an influence than others. The most important Fall individual was Brix, Smith's American wife, who joined the band as guitarist just before The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall, introducing a more melodic and accessible aspect that Smith had previously rejected. The sense of melody and structure that Brix introduced lifted The Fall out of an obscure niche, and gave balance to Smith's abrasive approach. Score: 5
$ Big Black – Atomizer Emerging from the noise-rock of Sonic Youth and the atmosphere of the post punk movement, especially the Gang of Four, bands such as Big Black created a music and an attitude that critics termed Post-hardcore - a fairly juvenile-male orientated music, slightly disturbed and resentful with no real will to rebel, simply complain and snigger, especially over disturbing subjects such as child rape. It's dubious, borderline music of very questionable value both morally and aesthetically, and it wasn't commercially successful. But it has a power, and this band are somewhat more interesting than most. Score: 3 1/2
+ Hüsker Dü – Zen Arcade [AR] The first album in which Husker Du gained attention. Hmmm. New Day Rising is the better album, but this has much to commend it, not least the size and ambition and impact. Score: 3
$ Lloyd Cole and the Commotions – Rattlesnakes Lacks an edge. Score: 2 1/2
***
 |
| 1985 |
$ Tom Waits – Rain Dogs (RS) (Q) (ATT) Often regarded, as with Swordfish Trombones, as Waits best album. Score: 8 1/2
$ Simply Red – Picture Book [SOP] Simply Red's debut skilfully and professionally blended pop, soul, and jazz in an attractive and very popular manner that would later be classed as sophisti-pop, along with bands like Sade, The Style Council, and Prefab Sprout. Sophisti-pop, along with the contemporary acid jazz, would by the Nineties merge into neo soul. Mick Hucknall is the voice, face, and creative force behind the band. Though Stars would be the band's biggest seller, it is this debut that has the best songs and performances, and was a significant part of the development of sophisti-pop. Hucknall, though becoming commercially successful, also attracted contempt for his arrogance and his slide into superficiality, and is not regarded as authentic or interesting. However, on this recording, as he emerges from obscurity and poverty, and his politics are carried like a flag throughout the album, and he imbues both his own songs and the covers, with a subtle passion, he exemplifies not just sophisti-pop or blue-eyed soul, but the real thing. This is genuine civil rights soul - not quite as moving and dramatic and beautiful as Sam Cooke or Otis Redding, but just as authentic. Score: 7 + The Waterboys - This Is The Sea Widescreen and dramatic folk/folk-rock. Huge songs, nicely done. Score: 7
+ The Cult - Love (ATT) [AR] This is the main Cult album. A perfect meld of bright power-pop, the moody rock of The Doors, and the Gothic atmosphere of the Eighties alternative scene. They got it right here, and never bettered this (though Electric was their breakthrough in America), and were simply more anthemic and moody than their contemporaries Sisters of Mercy and The Mission. Score: 7
+ Fine Young Cannibals - Fine Young Cannibals Elegant sophisti-pop by some ex-members of The Beat Score: 6 1/2
+ Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel - Nail Foetus is JG Thirlwell, an Australian musician who creates somewhat challenging industrial style music under variations of the name Foetus. This is largely regarded as his most successful work. Challenging but fascinating. Score: 6
+ Various - Synth Pop Sony Music compilation album released in 2015 of the popular synthpop and electopop of the late 70s / early 80s. Contains Gary Numan / Tubeway Army, Soft Cell, Heaven 17, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, OMD, etc. Does not contain Depeche Mode or Pet Shop Boys, possibly for licensing reasons. Placed in context in 1985. Good round up. Score: 5 1/2
+ R.E.M. - Fables of the Reconstruction Largely ignored by fans and critics, REM's third album was recorded in England by Joe Boyd, who coaxes a deeper, richer sound out of the band. The band were unhappy during recording, and, initially, that unhappiness and general dissatisfaction (which feeds into the album's lyrics and sound) led them to dismiss the album, which fans and critics picked up on. But over time the band members have praised the album, feeling that it is their best Eighties album, and for some it is their personal favourite. It is a magnificent album, rich in Gothic experience, with music and lyrics combining to create a disturbing and fascinating piece of art. Score: 5
$ Prefab Sprout – Steve McQueen (ATT) Sounds at times like The Smiths and Echo & The Bunnymen, yet firmly in the sophisti-pop arena with echoes of the jazz-pop of Steely Dan. A respected Eighties band. This is their most highly regarded album. Very song based, with languid decorative flourishes. Score: 4
+ Marillion - Misplaced Childhood The most acclaimed album from the leading neo-prog band. The album sounds too much like Genesis and Supertramp to be significant in itself. However, it is indicative of the interest in music revivals during the Eighties; and in particular reviving a genre that had been at its peak prior to punk, and was much castigated by the punk movement, so, perhaps indicating a return to the more developed and interesting music that the punk movement had found too challenging. The band was helped to success by the theatrics, lyrics, and Gabriel-sounding vocals of lead singer Fish. They were less successful after his departure. Score: 3 1/2
$ The Pogues – Rum Sodomy & the Lash (RS) (ATT) Traditional Irish music delivered by a band which got associated with the punk movement, even though the band were formed after the punk scene had ended. There are similarities with The Men They Couldn't Hang (with whom they share a lively and punk tone), The Dubliners and The Chieftains. But their ace in the hole was their lead singer Shane MacGowan who captured the public's imagination, especially with the lyrics to "Fairytale of New York". Score: 3
***
 |
| 1986 |
+ Public Image Ltd – Album Metal Box is PiL's most respected album, and almost universally regarded as PiL's most significant. My personal favourite is Album, which contains PiL's finest moment, the extraordinary single "Rise", and other music very close to "Rise" in beauty and strength. Score: 8 1/2
+ The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4 Jangly pop and intelligent lyrics. Awesome stuff. Score: 7 1/2
+ Felt - Forever Breathes The Lonely Word Expressive, well crafted pop with echoes of the Bunnymen (hah, that was accidental) and Jonathan Richman. Good stuff. Score: 6
+ Smiley Culture - Tongue In Cheek London reggae artist who used a fastchat style of toasting similar to rap. He had a hit in 1984 with "Police Officer". Score: 6
$ Beastie Boys – Licensed to Ill (RS) (NM) (ATT) [HH] Hip-hop. It's tiresome and trivial, but has its moments. "Fight For Your Right" is a moment of commercial teenage rebellion, in the spirit of "Summertime Blues". Can be a bit tedious listening to the whole album. Perhaps it's just that one song which is notable, but the album does have some kind of status. Produced by Rick Rubin, who was responsible for bringing music to hip hop, and giving it significance and a wider audience. Score: 5
$ Run D.M.C. – Raising Hell (RS) [HH] Hip-hop Contains "Walk This Way" Enjoyable and ground-breaking with it's emphasis on the beat yet incorporating strong musical elements (albeit reluctantly by the band - the producer, Rick Rubin, had to convince them, and to this day they attempt to diminish his involvement, though happy to take the fame and money and acclaim he brought them!). Very commercial. Light, tongue in cheek. Rather juvenile, and that gives it such a youthful, infectious spirit. Rubin is the talent here. The similarities between Run D.M.C. and The Beastie Boys is not coincidental - Rubin produced them both. Score: 4 1/2
$ Dinosaur Jr – You’re Living All Over Me [AR] Alternative American rock - Sonic Youth and Pixies. A bit of Neil Young. A bit early grunge. Prominent electric guitar. This is their most acclaimed album. They are regarded as somewhat influential on other alt rock bands, though I am not seeing their influence as much as I am seeing the influence of Sonic Youth and Neil Young. Hmmm. Score: 4
$ Prince – Sign ‘O’ the Times (NM) (ATT) Score: 3
$ Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force – Planet Rock: The Album [HH] Hip-hop. Bambaataa is regarded as important in the early development of hip-hop. The title song, "Planet Rock" is regarded as "old school" hip hop, being among the earliest hip hop singles; what marks it out is the incorporation of electronic elements copied from Kraftwerk. The stilted on-the-beat singing/rapping and simple repetitive beat are typical hip hop, but the electronics, some typical early Eighties synth, make it interesting (though not necessarily attractive or satisfying. Some regard the song as significant not just in the development of hip hop, but also of electro music. In itself the song and the album are not aesthetically or intellectually interesting, but there appears to be some cultural significance here, so keeping for now. Score: 3
***
 |
| 1987 |
$ Terence Trent D’Arby – Introducing the Hardline According to… Special album.
Score: 8 1/2
$ U2 – Joshua Tree (RS) (C4) (NM) (Q) Hugely popular stadium rock band who combined commercial romanticism with a desire to be taken seriously. This is their best album.
Score: 8
$ Michael Jackson – Bad (RS) (NME) (ATT) This is the last of the MJ trilogy of great albums - Jackson moving more toward urban/modern R&B and funk, which he would explore more fully on Dangerous. The sound he worked on here would become very popular among black female singers who would become big sellers. There is a superficiality about it which is troubling - though its potential significance needs to be considered. Score: 7
$ Mudhoney – Superfuzz Bigmuff [AR] Early grunge. Wow. Great stuff. This is where Nirvana comes from. Lots of energy, lots of drive, with roaring, grungy, yet harmonic guitar, and complex shuffling drums. Score: 6 1/2
$ The Pogues – If I Should Fall from Grace with God (ATT) Contains the sublime "Fairy Tale", and in general stands head and shoulders over much of the synth garbage of the Eighties. Score: 6
+ Suzanne Vega – Solitude Standing (ATT) Vega is part of a bunch of folks who restored interest in the notion of a troubadour or singer-songwriter. An individual who writes and sings intelligent observational songs rather than loud and largely empty pop songs. As her career developed she moved more and more away from the sparse folky roots displayed on her debut and into surrounding her lyrics with more instrumentation and production. This had mixed benefits, though much of her appeal really relies on the songs. This, her second album, has her best songs. Score: 6
$ The Smiths – Strangeways Here We Come (ATT) There is an epic sweeping musical quality to this album that is very seductive. Score: 6
$ George Michael – Faith (RS) (C4) (NM) (ATT) A skilled and highly popular song-writer and performer both with Wham! and as a solo artist. Some of Michael's songs go beyond ephemeral RnB pop and have a depth and sophistication that is aesthetically and intellectually rewarding, or is simply supremely pleasurable, such as "Freedom", "Outside", "Careless Whisper", "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go". Sadly those songs are scattered randomly throughout his career, and only one, "Faith", is on this album. However, this, his solo debut, is his most critically acclaimed and is by far his most popular, being one of the best selling albums of all time. Score: 5
$ Tracy Chapman – Tracy Chapman (RS) (ATT) Singer-songwriter similar in sound and style to Joan Armatrading with a rich dark voice. Strong, though not quite evocative lyrics, such as the sarcastic and despondent "Talkin'": "While they're standing in welfare lines ...Talking about a revolution", and the long going nowhere story of "Fast Car": "You got a fast car ... Leave tonight or live and die this way". There's a lot of words, warmly delivered, but like the fast car, they are not going anywhere. Chapman is a singer-songwriter dated and out of her time, who adds little to a genre that contains some of the most interesting songwriters that have ever lived. Score: 4 1/2
$ My Bloody Valentine – Isn’t Anything (Isn't Anything - YouTube) Debut album of prominent and influential ambient music band whose sound has been described as belonging to shoegazing, noise-pop and dream-pop. Their second album is the major one, but this set the ground for that, and was influential in its own right, serving as a bridge from earlier ambient and sonic music bands such as The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Sonic Youth with later bands such as Ride, Slowdive and Spiritualized. Score: 4
$ The Go Betweens – 16 Lovers Lane Indie. Jangle-pop. Small but attractive. Score: 4
+ Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston (NM) Debut of popular contemporary RnB singer who would go on to sell millions, and set a trend for impassioned big production ballads by pure voiced divas. She had a good voice, and matched with good songs and good production, that will always appeal to the masses, though here she balances that approach with tenderness and soul to produce a surprisingly sophisticated and appealing album on several levels. Score: 3 1/2
$ Laibach – Opus Dei Slovenian avant garde industrial music band. Quirky, tongue-in-cheek (or, if not, then incidentally amusing), and quite compelling. Not something you'd listen to everyday, but it's good to know it is there for when you want to have a little grin at the absurdity of fascism and/or heavy metal. Score: 3
***
 |
| 1988 |
$ Jane’s Addiction – Nothing’s Shocking (RS) (ATT) [AR] Alt rock. Melodic, inventive, and always surprising. Score: 8 1/2
+ Cardiacs - A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window Variously classed as punk prog-rock or post-punk as the band combined some of the immediacy and directness of punk with more developed, progressive, or arty music ideas. Apparently they severely divide opinion, with most critics disliking them intensely. After some initial somewhat oddly vitriolic reviews in which the band were described as old fashioned, the NME refused to talk about them at all, and AllMusic is dismissive, only commenting on two of their albums. I find them fascinating, energetic, and hugely inventive. Sort of a cross between prog-era Genesis, Crass, and The Fall, and somehow the combination transcends all three. Score: 6 1/2
+ The Wolfgang Press - Bird Wood Cage Eighties indie dance/rock funk - reminiscent of The Shamen, but a little earlier, more pleasant and more interesting, and also of Talking Heads. A sort of cross between Talking Heads and The Shamen. Score: 6 1/2
$ Sonic Youth – Daydream Nation (RS) (ATT) [AR] The first of an excellent trio of albums that is completed with Dirty, and of which the best is Goo, right in the middle. Many feel this is the best Sonic Youth album. Score: 6 1/2
$ American Music Club – California Indie rock, folk-rock, country. They are loosely considered an influence on slowcore (yep, I hadn't heard of it either, but seems to mean that the music isn't fast - hmmm) and Americana (which appears to be not so much a music style, but a loose grouping of musicians whose music is mostly acoustic and could be called "American" - so The Byrds, Bob Dylan, and Johnny Cash would be Americana). While some consider California as their best album, others feel that Everclear (1991) is their masterpiece. I prefer California. It's an attractive album with solid songs. The band attracted critical attention, but have never really ignited commercial or even cult interest and have moved along under most people's radar, while producing good albums. I can understand the lack of public interest - the music is worthwhile, but lacks hooks and glitter and magic. Score: 6
$ The Sugarcubes – Life’s Too Good Score: 5 1/2
$ Spacemen 3 – Playing with Fire Trance music on a line from neo-psychedelia to shoegazing. This is regarded as their best album. Yes. Score: 5 1/2 $ The Young Gods – L' Eau Rouge Industrial rock - but softer and more melodic and beautiful than the genre name suggests (well, the genre would later become another outlet for heavy metal, but at this point was still intelligent and considered experimental music). Score: 5 1/2
+ The Wonder Stuff - Eight Legged Groove Machine For a while the Wonder Stuff were Britain's biggest Indie pop band, and helped prepare the way for guitar based Indie bands and the sounds of Madchester and Britpop with their modern approach, yet folky sound reflecting back to bands of the Sixties like the Byrds. Score: 5
+ The Wonder Stuff - Eight Legged Groove Machine For a while the Wonder Stuff were Britain's biggest Indie pop band, and helped prepare the way for guitar based Indie bands and the sounds of Madchester and Britpop with their modern approach, yet folky sound reflecting back to bands of the Sixties like the Byrds. Score: 5
+ Guy - Guy Teddy Riley created new jack swing with this album, which fused RnB with hip-hop and soul. He would go on to work with Michael Jackson on Dangerous, and would be a significant influence on music in the late 80s - early 90s. Score: 5
+ Enya - Watermark Enya started in the Irish band Clannad, then worked as a composer of soundtrack music, and that background ambiance sound is a key element of her approach. Her first solo album, Enya, in 1987 was the soundtrack to a TV series Celts, and sounds like it. This is her first proper album, and contains her global hit "Orinoco Flow". She is probably the leading artist associated with New Age music, an association she herself resists (as do many professional musicians who are associated with that term). There are elements of her sound that would associate it with ambient music, though there seems a lack of the musical authenticity that supporters of that style regard as essential. However, she is highly popular, and it is interesting to note the blurred boundaries between ambient and New Age music, especially when it starts to become melodic and "commercial". Score: 5
+ Ali Farka Touré - Ali Farka Touré Toure is an African singer. This brought him international attention. It's stunning and beautiful and fascinating. Score: 5
$ Public Enemy – It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (RS) (C4) (NM) (NME) (Q) (ATT) [HH] Hip-hop Score: 5
$ fIREHOSE – fROMOHIO Kinda retro - a bit psychedelic, a bit Byrds, a bit Monkies. Folky bits. A bit R.E.M. Likeable. Score: 4 1/2
+ Soundgarden – Ultramega OK [AR] Soundgarden are regarded as a grunge band, which was a Seattle based music movement that blended punk attitude and heavy metal. I'm only seeing metal in this recording, and nothing new or interesting. This is their debut album; it is a blend of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Superunknown, their most popular and well known album, works in the same area., though I prefer the debut album as it has more energy and pith. Score: 4
***
 |
| 1989 |
$ The Cure – Disintegration (RS) (Q) (ATT) Widely regarded at the band's best album, this is a classic. It stands at a poised mid-point between two different musical cultures and captures the essence of both. The cold, austere, popsynth drenched 80s, and the guitar driven rock, pop, and soul joy of the 90s. Disintegration has the structure and sweep of the 80s, but it also has a more direct guitar driven sound. There is a feel of shoegazing and the Scene That Celebrates Itself, which would be torn apart by Madchester, Grunge and BritPop - more direct and populist music that contrasted with the Cure's style, and would later see them lose their popularity. Score: 9
$ De La Soul – 3 Feet High & Rising (RS) (C4) (G50) (ATT) [HH] Special album. Hip-hop. Debut album. Gang Starr's debut album No More Mr Nice Guy was released just a month later, and contains similar ideas in the area of jazz rap. Score: 8
+ Transvision Vamp - Velveteen Great fun. Power pop - an under-appreciated musical style. Score: 5 1/2
+ The Lightning Seeds (Ian Broudie) - Cloudcuckooland Primary colour pop, sweet as candy, done with genuine skill and affection. Score: 5 1/2
+ Various - Produced by Trevor Horn (2005) Neither Youtube nor Spotify have the actual album, but the links give a general idea of the album. Covers the best of Frankie, The Bangles, ABC, Duck Rock by McLaren, and others. Horn was behind so much interesting stuff in the 80s. Score: 5
+ Various - Produced by Trevor Horn (2005) Neither Youtube nor Spotify have the actual album, but the links give a general idea of the album. Covers the best of Frankie, The Bangles, ABC, Duck Rock by McLaren, and others. Horn was behind so much interesting stuff in the 80s. Score: 5
+ Lisa Stansfield - Affection Stansfield's debut. Modern R&B. Best track is the hit single "All Around The World" which has a retro 70s feel but back with modern production and drums. The blend of the old and the new is interesting - the authenticity and soul of the old with the freshness and immediacy of the modern. Score: 5
+ Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls Kinda similar to The Waterboys, but more country, and less transcendental. Very likable. Score: 5
+ Indigo Girls - Indigo Girls Kinda similar to The Waterboys, but more country, and less transcendental. Very likable. Score: 5
+ S'Express - Original Soundtrack Early commercial success for acid house. Score: 5
$ Soul II Soul – Club Classics: Vol One (ATT) Soul / Dance / Modern RnB. Attractive. Score: 5
$ Soul II Soul – Club Classics: Vol One (ATT) Soul / Dance / Modern RnB. Attractive. Score: 5
$ Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation 1814 (RS) (ATT) Jackson appears to have a similar journey to Madonna. They deal in similar music and styles. Jackson is much closer to modern R&B, and is much smoother, she is fairly consistent in her musical style, and less interesting and confrontational in her imagery and social significance. The music is close in style to her brother - indeed, it appears her Rhythm Nation influenced his Dangerous, but the lyrics are very weak. The 1993 Janet is a more complete and attractive album, and was her big breakthrough, but this is the more important album. Score: 5
$ Coldcut – What’s That Noise? Eighties house music. Clean, bright, poppy and danceable with interesting bits here and there. Contains Lisa Stansfield and Mark Smith from The Fall. Score: 4 1/2
$ N.W.A.– Straight Outta Compton (RS) (MC) (NM) (G50) (ATT) [HH] Hip-hop. A Southampton brewpub makes its own pizzas which they call P.W.A. (Pizza With Attitude), and the serving guys wear t-shirts with the slogan "Straight Outta Da Oven". Does that indicate the social impact of this album? Rather questionable..... Simplistic vocal delivery and basic musical noises as background. Not clever. Not attractive, other than emotional immature and intellectually limited male teens. But it has a social significance as the most notable gangster rap album. Score: 4
$ Queen Latifah – All Hail the Queen [HH] Hip-hop Quite listenable though run of the mill hip hop. The main interest was that Latifah was female singing about female interests in an otherwise male dominated and sexist musical genre. Score: 3
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