TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 11, 2023 19:35:07 GMT 1
Do you like anything from new (Bucks) Fizz material ? I try not to listen to it, the production is awful , it’s that generic sound that new Radio 2 music has, it.just annoys me. I didn’t really like anything they do after 1986
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 9:50:52 GMT 1
75 Positive Touch - The Undertones
I wasn't too impressed with their third album at first but the side 2 was much better than side 1, I don't know any of the songs after this record so we will see if they make the lists at all after this one. This record went to #17 in the UK 3/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 9:56:38 GMT 1
74 Level 42 - Level 42
First appearance and debut album for the English pop band, this record is very jazz-funk and I can see why Mark King is hailed as such a great bassist. There is no real stand out songs yet but I can see this going down well as music at a yuppy dinner party. The albim did well though reaching #20 in the UK. 3/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 10:01:56 GMT 1
73 Luther Vandross - Never Too Much
One of my favourite soul singers from my music buying era and its another debut album. He really hits the ground running with his first solo album, a couple of songs are a bit too syrupy but you can never knock that vocal. It raeched #19 in the US. The laed single 'Never Too Much' will be a top 20 hit in the UK later in the decade. 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 10:07:53 GMT 1
72 Grace Jones - Nightclubbing
Another appearance for Grace Jones and I prefer this record top her previosu album although it is slightlky lower down the list. Again the production is top notch and the first 4 tracks are all great especially 'Pull Up To The Bumper' of course. Gets a bit weaker in the econd half especially the dodgy version of 'Demolition Man' which isn't a great Sting song in the first place. It reached #35 in the UK and #32 in the US 3/6
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 10:13:58 GMT 1
71 The Who - Face Dances
I knew 'My Generation' of course but 'You Better You Bet' was probably the first song other than that I heard and knew was The Who, it turns out I actually knew loads. And considering this is 20 years intop their career its a good album, if you are a fan of the band I doubt you woudl be disappointed with this album. But with no Keith Moon I know that didnt set well at the time. But it is certainly for me better than most 60s bands I have heard in the 80s. Their 8th album went to #2 in the Us and #4 in the UK. 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 10:21:04 GMT 1
70 Modern English - Mesh & Lace
I first heard of Modern English back in 1989 when I was discussing the band Bad English, a colleague at work thought I meant them, he start raving about them and I said no never heard them!! Many many years later possibly the early 00s on Dotmusic I heard 'I Melt With You' on a playlist and it was instant love, its now one of my favourite 80s songs. But I still never checked out anything else. That started now. Now this album sounds great in 2023, it is so post-punk and smothered in Joy Division like gloom and yes a very impressive debut but I already know the next album is even better. It really is one of those 4AD vibe albums that you stick on and suck up the atmosphere rather than great songs so for their debut it's a 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 13:52:09 GMT 1
69 Bow Wow Wow - See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!
This album wasn't on Spotify, had to YouTube it. I had a feeling I would like it. It is completely crazy with so much energy, with the brilliant 'Go Wild In The Country', had a bit of a crush on Annabella at the time but seeing stuff in a modern light, she was maybe being exploited though that cover should never have been allowed to be made at her age, it barely was acceptable in the 80s. Best not posting it here anyway. The album reached #26 in the UK.
3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 14:08:20 GMT 1
68 Tom Tom Club -Tom Tom Club
A debut album now from a side project of Talking Heads members Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. It is very much a record of the times, great use of samples and synths to make some very imaginative tracks. like the singles '"Wordy Rappinghood" and ' "Genius of Love". It reached #78 in the Uk and #23 in the US. 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 14:16:00 GMT 1
67 Stray Cats - Stray Cats
Very much a band I associate with this time period, their rockabilly sound was all over the charts for a couple of years. But apart from the hits of their debut I never followed them at all. I have heard some of Brian Setzer later music though. But really if you have this album produced by Dave Edmunds, you dont need another, its a great example of rockabilly revival not bettered by any band I know. It reached #6 in the UK. It seems their third album broke them in the US so looking forwrad to hearing it, i must know the singles in that case. 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 14:21:27 GMT 1
66 ABBA - The Visitors
Their eighth album and last in the original run. It's not up to the standard of their previous records, with lead single 'One Of Us' informing what the mood was in the studio, not great at all. But even a weaker ABBA album is good and theie is still plenty to like here, even if they dont like each other anymore. It was another UK number one and reached #29 in the US. Its sold over 5 million worldwide. 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 14:26:45 GMT 1
65 Split Enz - Waiata
Another album I had to use YouTube for, this is their sixth album and overall I prefer it to their previous record although there os nothing as good as 'I Got You'. 'One Step Ahead' is great though hinting at their Crowded House future I think. Thanks to MTV support the album reached #45 in the US. 3.5/5
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Post by Whitneyfan on Feb 12, 2023 14:30:51 GMT 1
I have to disagree that 'The Visitors' is one of ABBA's weakest albums - I definitely think it's in their top 3! Even though it didn't include the magnificent 'The Day Before You Came', 'One Of Us' has always been one of my favourites of theirs, and the title track and 'When All Is Said And Done' should both have been singles.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 12, 2023 14:35:32 GMT 1
I have to disagree that 'The Visitors' is one of ABBA's weakest albums - I definitely think it's in their top 3! Even though it didn't include the magnificent 'The Day Before You Came', 'One Of Us' has always been one of my favourites of theirs, and the title track and 'When All Is Said And Done' should both have been singles. I'd only rate their first two and the new one lower but even still they are still 3.5 records as well. But the reissued CD edition would have bumped it to a 4 for sure.
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Good Old Days
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Post by Good Old Days on Feb 12, 2023 21:18:34 GMT 1
"The Visitors" 1. When All Is Said And Done (# 3) 2. Head Over Heels (# 13) 3. Two For The Price Of One (# 19) 4. Slipping Through My Fingers (# 21) 5. One Of Us (# 25) 6. I Let The Music Speak (# 31) 7. Like An Angel Passing Through My Room (# 34) 8. Should I Laugh Or Cry (# 43) - bonus track 9. The Day Before You Came (# 69) - bonus track 10. Under Attack (# 71) - bonus track 11. Cassandra (# 82) - bonus track 12. Soldiers (# 85) 13. The Visitors (# 86)
I don't like anything from bonus tracks, so 4 stars for original release, but only 3 stars for re-issue.
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Post by Earl Purple on Feb 12, 2023 23:31:11 GMT 1
So a few of the albums I actually bought from 1981 have already come up, including my favourite and possibly my second favourite.
Paradise Theatre is a fantastic album from start to finish without a single back song on it. If it's your first ever play of it, it's not surprising, you might not even have known "The Best Of Times" but of course the melody appears 3 times, as a prologue (AD 1928) and epilogue (AD 1958), and AD 1928 is medleyed into "Rockin' The Paradise" which together was one of the first videos on MTV in the USA but wasn't released as a single.
Too Much Times On My Hands was a US top 10 hit and NM #1, their 4th in a row, but whereas the previous 3 had been written by Dennis DeYoung, that song was written by Tommy Shaw who also performed the lead vocal on it.
I actually generally saw Styx as an American version of Queen (with maybe a bit of prog-rock thrown in) and generally a bit of an inferior version until 1981 when they were briefly better than Queen (at least what Queen were doing at the time). It wouldn't surprise me though if "A Night At The Opera" wasn't in Dennis De Young's record collection and if it didn't influence this album in some way.
But then Queen aren't really one of your favourite bands like they are mine.
The other album you've already picked are ELO, and I think Time is a fantastic album, but it was the beginning of the end for them.
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Post by Earl Purple on Feb 12, 2023 23:32:15 GMT 1
70 Modern English - Mesh & Lace
I first heard of Modern English back in 1989 when I was discussing the band Bad English, a colleague at work thought I meant them, he start raving about them and I said no never heard them!! Many many years later possibly the early 00s on Dotmusic I heard 'I Melt With You' on a playlist and it was instant love, its now one of my favourite 80s songs. But I still never checked out anything else. That started now. Now this album sounds great in 2023, it is so post-punk and smothered in Joy Division like gloom and yes a very impressive debut but I already know the next album is even better. It really is one of those 4AD vibe albums that you stick on and suck up the atmosphere rather than great songs so for their debut it's a 3.5/5 I heard "I'll Melt With You" when a woman I was dating played it to me at the end of 1994 / start of 1995.
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 13, 2023 15:36:29 GMT 1
64 The Teardrop Explodes - Wilder
Think this is another culprit of annual album releases, it seems to be so common in this era but i don't think bands are getting the chance to make better records. There is nothing wrong with this record it's just pretty mid. I really like their sound but there needs to be more tunes, we know Julian Cope is capable of this as we will hear in his first solo record in a few years. Their 2nd album went to #29 in the Uk and #176 in the US. 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 13, 2023 15:41:54 GMT 1
63 The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
And here is another annual release but this one is better. 'Start Me Up' is one of their best songs and the next 6 tracks are all pretty good as well but it tails off a bit at the end. You could argue this is a record they could make in their sleep and its not taking as many chances as their previous but sometimes you just want your band to sound like themselves. It certainly worked out for them giving them a US number one with their 18th album and #2 in the UK. The album has sold over 4 million in the US alone. 3.5/5
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TheThorne
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Post by TheThorne on Feb 13, 2023 15:52:50 GMT 1
62 Joan Jett & The Blackhearts -I Love Rock 'n Roll
First of two entries for her, the other album could have been in 1980 to be fair. Having only heard her hits before, I never realised how young she was, the lyrics on many of these tracks could be from a Britney or Avril album and they are really her comtemparies, when I was a kid I classed her along with Meatloaf and Rainbow but no she really is a pop artist in rock clothing which is fine. Some of the songa are a bit cringe though. Her previous album does it better even without a monster hit like the title track. This album went to #2 in the US and #25 in the UK. 3.5/5
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