TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Aug 2, 2023 6:40:56 GMT 1
6 Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis
Their third album and their most successful. I was not sure whether that was going to be the case when one of the best songs they have ever done 'Cars And Girls' failed to chart, it was so close but not enough. Then though the total curveball of "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" came along and gave them their biggest ever hit. It is maybe not the most cohesive album in their catalogue but it has so many of their best songs and no filler unlike their next record. I didn't actually buy this one at the time although got all the singles weirdly. The record reached #5 in the UK
4.5/5
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Aug 2, 2023 6:59:55 GMT 1
Now top 5 and unless you followed the previous lists I suspect you can only guess one album still to come and here it is. 5 R.E.M. - Green
Their sixth album and an album I have grown to love more and more over the years. I have no idea why I found this album so difficult at the time, it is Michael at his most abrasive maybe but that is really what makes it so brilliant now. This record has so much passion and if you list the tracks a much stronger album than many think "Pop Song 89", "Get Up", "Stand", "Orange Crush", "Turn You Inside-Out" all brilliant and these are all amazing as well "You Are the Everything" and "The Wrong Child". So side 1 perfection and Side 2 is close but again a couple of weaker tracks at the end. The record, their first major release, reached #12 in the US and #27 in the UK.
4.5/5
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Aug 2, 2023 7:13:42 GMT 1
4 1927 - ...ish
Who? Well I know some members know this band. 1927 were an Australian rock band and this was their debut album, they were very similar to Icehouse in sound but with more of an AOR leaning. I played this album to death, only really famous for the song "That's When I Think of You" which reached #6 in Australia and was regarded song of the year there. It just missed the top 40 here. Eventhough it is the most well-known it is probably not the best song, I would say "If I Could" is an even better power ballad. But it is the more new wave tracks that make this album the personal classic it is To Love Me" and "Compulsory Hero" both fantastic songs. Side one is another perfect disc but side two again tails off. It is a real struggle for a 5/5 album in 1988, will there even be one? The record reached #2 in Australia selling 350.000 copies which is incredible there.
4.5/5
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Post by smokeyb on Aug 2, 2023 23:15:47 GMT 1
This list cannot be all cool stuff I found later sometimes you have to go all in with a band you loved at the time. 24 Johnny Hates Jazz - Turn Back the Clock
I was really not knowing what I was going to do with their debut album today. The UK Sophisti-Pop band just had a sound that was 1988 for me. Would I still like this now? Well come on as soon as the first notes of 'Shattered Dreams' came in, It was goosebumps straight away. One of the best songs of 1988. Much of the album still holds up really well especially the ballads like "Turn Back the Clock". But even if the uptempo tracks which are of their time, have an innocence that gives them some timeless energy today."I Don't Want to Be a Hero" especially. "Heart of Gold was always a bit of an odd song but in 1987-1988 it worked as it had that same vibe as Swing Out Sister, The songwriting is just top notch and Clark has such a great voice. It won't change your world but I loved this album so much I even got a coach driver to play it when we were on a very long trip in France. Would never have played it in the Common room though!! The record reached #1 in the UK and #96 in the US 4.5/5 I have this one on vinyl, really liked them at the time, the singles were all good. I also liked their 2013 single " Magnetized"
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Post by smokeyb on Aug 2, 2023 23:19:14 GMT 1
20 Pet Shop Boys - Introspective
This will probably be the last time we see them in the top 20. This was their third album and a real case of quality over quantity with just six tracks but these tracks are all extended or remixed versions and some quite different from the regular single version. To be fair I do prefer the single versions of all these apart from maybe 'It's Alright' which is just a stormer on this. But just look "Left to My Own Devices", "Domino Dancing", "Always on My Mind; and. "I'm Not Scared". The only track I had never heard before was "I Want a Dog". Only thing that hurts this is , I would probably have been a little disappointed if I bought the album at the time expecting the single or even versions more similar to the singles. The record maybe for that reason peaked #2 and #34 in the US. 4.5/5 One of their many albums in my collection, as you say only 6 tracks, but there are some belters on there.
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Post by smokeyb on Aug 2, 2023 23:23:26 GMT 1
6 Prefab Sprout - From Langley Park to Memphis
Their third album and their most successful. I was not sure whether that was going to be the case when one of the best songs they have ever done 'Cars And Girls' failed to chart, it was so close but not enough. Then though the total curveball of "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" came along and gave them their biggest ever hit. It is maybe not the most cohesive album in their catalogue but it has so many of their best songs and no filler unlike their next record. I didn't actually buy this one at the time although got all the singles weirdly. The record reached #5 in the UK
4.5/5 I love Prefab Sprout's music, I have this on vinyl & cassette would you believe, so many great songs on here.
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Aug 5, 2023 7:22:57 GMT 1
This should be finished but had a false start. I think that this is maybe because this will be the most underwhelming top 3 of the 80s. I love all three but just a shame there isn't anything better in 1988, like to hear if I have missed something or heavily underrated anything, I think not? 3 Bruce Hornsby & The Range - Scenes From the Southside
The second album from the band from Virginia. Is this better than the debut, of course not? It is just a lot more of the same and that is all I wanted. The singles are brilliant as well. Maybe not quite as great again as the debut but "The Valley Road" and "Look Out Any Window" love them both and the very interesting original version of "Jacob's Ladder". The record reached #5 in the US and #18 in the UK.
4.5/5
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Aug 5, 2023 7:38:03 GMT 1
I expected this to be number one but it just missed out 2 Love & Money - Strange Kind of Love
Another second album but this time, it is a huge improvement on the debut. This is easily my most played album of 1988. It is a masterpiece album from the Scottish sophisto-pop band. I had no idea what sophisto-pop was and I suspect it is a retroactive genre like 'Jangle Pop', RYM loves its genres. But sophisto-pop first meant Sade to me and actually this album and sound is very Sade, I never even noticed that until I had my last play through. Two of the singles do not fit that sound, they are much more pop and funky such as "Halleluiah Man" and "Jocelyn Square", and of course the more jazz "Up Escalator". But the rest is so chill and immaculately produced Sade like pop, just imagine her singing "Strange Kind of Love", "Inflammable" or "Razorsedge". Anyway, it is a gorgeous album and really should have been a big hit album and made Love & Money as well known as other Scottish bands at the time. In fact I want to live in the alternate universe that Fairground Attraction flopped and were pretty much forgotten and "Halleluiah Man" was a UK number one. 1000x times better song. Sadly though the album only reached #71 in the UK and #175 in the US but is now regarded as a classic Scottish band album.
5/5
Oh dear maybe Fairground Attraction are a band that would be in many others top 10!!
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Aug 5, 2023 8:19:33 GMT 1
My Number One Album of 1988
Well my number one, well you will have worked out that they are Canadian but you are still maybe stuck. Well it is this. Glass Tiger - Diamond Sun
And it is another second album, this takes everything from their debut and just improves it in every way. The band are better, the vocals are better, the production is better. It also feels like a cohesive album and brilliant mix of AOR, pop rock and Celtic rock. The album although my number is not perfect, it does have a couple of average songs in the middle but the rest is just awesome. "Diamond Sun' was teh single in the UK and I think that was the right choice for our market but it was never going to be a hit, it will have been interesting to see how the more rock "I'm Still Searching" would have done, my son heard the album with me recently and he said is that the band that do 'You Give Love a Bad Name'. Sounding like Bon Jovi is so 1988, they really missed a trick now trying it out here as well. But so many good songs "Far Away From Here", "(Watching) Worlds Crumble", the Journey like "Send Your Love". And a song that will be the template for the only other hit in the UK, "My Song" (with The Chieftains) just such a great Celtic rock song. Glass Tiger were my band and I love that I finally got to see them live a few years ago. The record reached #6 in Canada and #82 in the US.
5/5
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
Posts: 27,551
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Post by TheThorne on Aug 5, 2023 8:19:57 GMT 1
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Post by PurpleCareBear on Aug 8, 2023 17:06:38 GMT 1
The Primitives - Crash , Out Of Reach ,Way Behind Me - great stuff - I never heard of them beyond that, 'til I bought a budget Best Of, a few years ago. First impression - those three tracks were the only good ones .....but you've made me give the (Best Of) CD a few more spins and I uploaded its other seven singles to my ipod. For me, still nothing is as great as those three hits......but turns out I really like others too, especially Secrets, Thru The Flowers and You Are The Way. Johnny Hates Jazz - I love every song. 5/5. I had most of its singles too. The 12'' of Turn Back The Clock is wonderful. One single came with three badges. One said 'Jazz'. One said 'Hates'. You'll never guess what the other one said. In Tua Nua - I'm not sure I've heard their music. I don't listen to radio but my parents used to and Leslie Dowdalls Wonderful Thing got a lot of play over the years - it's a lovely song, in aid of Daffodil Day, I think. I had her single Everything (?), I can't even remember it now . Erasure - The Innocents
I've always thought that Pop The First 20 Hits was enough for me. A year or two back, I saw The Innocents in a charity shop and thought ''Oh go on then''. It turned out to be a few cents well spent. Roxette - Look Sharp
I had this on cass, then rebought it when I switched to CD. I also had Joyride as a cass but didn't rebuy that one as I didn't like it as much. I know I'm alone on that. If I see it in a charity shop I might give it another chance.Anyway, Look Sharp was good then, and is still good now. Voice Of The Beehive - Let It Bee
I stilll have this one on cassette (and a budget Hits on CD). They really shoulda had about five top ten singles. I Say Nothing is one of my singintheshower songs.
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