Late, late, late…but I’m gonna give JT 76.29% fault on this
one. I harassed him for weeks to get me his list and just last week he did.
Then I got lazy with it, partly because I did a 1983 post as part of another
series awhile back and thought I could wing it. My bad.
At any rate, there was a lot of great music coming out 30
years ago, some amazing debuts by bands who would later prove to be hugely
influential in more than one genre (REM, Metallica), some last hurrahs (The
Police, Yazoo), others that shoulda-woulda-coulda been more (Echo and the
Bunnymen, Tears for Fears) and some that just held a place in the progression
of the artist’s catalog, still working up for that masterpiece (Depeche Mode,
The Church).
Strangely enough, JT and I have two of the same albums in
our top five of the year, which is more surprising than you’d think. He had
asked me if he could include a tie, and I had assumed a two-way for fifth, but
he had a three-way for first, so I had to shout him down from that. Though I
can’t really argue his logic with two of them. Let’s see what he had to say
first…
JT
1. (Tie) Violent Femmes- S/T
If not THE greatest debut of all time, this album is
certainly in the top five. This album was out of step with nearly everything
else going on in 1983 and because of that it still sounds just as fresh and
original today, nearly 30 years later, as it did the day it came out. From the
distinct acoustic intro to “Blister in the Sun” to the melancholy of “Good
Feeling” this album is a classic, and if you don’t own it and know it front to
back then you’re missing out. Unfortunately, the band would never come close to
the meteoric heights of this album again.
1. (Tie) REM-Murmur
If not THE greatest debut of all time, this album is
certainly in the top five. Yeah, I know, I already said that, but seriously,
how both this album and the Femmes debut came out in the same year is beyond
me. Arguably the best album that REM ever recorded, and that’s saying a lot!
Following the dreaminess of this album, REM would begin their slow crawl from underground
heroes to international pop/rock superstars.
2. U2- War
William hates this album. He also hates The Joshua Tree.
William is wrong.
***William’s note – Hate is a strong word. Wait, is loathe
stronger?
3. The The- Soul Mining
Probably the most critically and commercially underrated
band of all time (in my opinion), The The’s Soul Mining was a movement from
their early dark and cerebral material into the land of synth pop. The The
would go on to record three of my all-time favorite albums (Mind Bomb, Dusk,
and the amazing Hank Williams Sr cover album, Hanky Panky) and while this album
isn’t quite as good as those, it’s still an astonishingly great bit of music
from an amazing band.
4. The Cure- Japanese Whispers
I know, I know, this isn’t a proper album but a compilation
of a few singles and their b-sides, but I would put it up against anything the
Cure ever did (with a few obvious exceptions). Robert was playful at times
(“The Love Cats”), dark and brooding at times (“Just One Kiss”) and downright depressing
at others (“Lament), but the amazing thing is that despite the fact that these
songs were never written to be cohesive album, the songs (and moods) flow
naturally from one to the next in a way that only Robert Smith is capable of
doing.
William
(I’m actually ranking mine for reals this time)
REM – Murmur: This is my favorite album of all time and has
been for years. If REM had never recorded another note, they wouldn’t have made
any money, but they’d have made a musical statement that comes from nowhere and
goes anywhere. Ethereal, bouncy, jangly and cryptic, the attack of this album
is raw and sincere, conjuring images of what could (and would) be and creating
an atmosphere and a vibe that is both inviting and haunting. These are songs
you feel like you’ve known since birth and yet always offer something new. REM
never achieved this again, and wisely they didn’t even try.
Violent Femmes – Violent Femmes: I agree with JT that this
could easily be a tie, and if it were any album other than Murmur, I’d go with
it. The Femmes took the melody of folk, the heartbreak of the blues and the
angst of punk and melded them together into something that is definitely all
three and yet distinctly its own sound. For most everyone into “alternative”
music, this album was a rites of passage. If you could get on board here,
everything else would make sense. Hearts have been conquered and lost and eased
and put back together again while scream-singing to these brutally honest,
charmingly messy and unbelievably catchy anthems to the forlorn. Buy your
favorite preteen a copy today.
The Chameleons – Script of the Bridge: These guys should
have been so much more, especially then. Theirs is the story of rock n roll woes
that’s been heard countless times. But despite all the tensions both internal
and external, Mark Burgess and company were able to craft beautiful and
poignant post-punk songs that were equally delicate and muscular, with a deep
introspection in the lyrics, which commented more than complained, and a
melodic interplay both vocally and with the dueling guitars of Reg Smithies and
Dave Fielding (two of the most gifted and overlooked players of the decade).
Script of the Bridge is a debut that finds the Chameleons fully formed and
providing all the lush dynamics that would make them vital and yet frustratingly ignored for two more albums.
Tom Waits – Swordfishtrombones: And then things just got
weird. Really, for Tom, it’s not so much the song as the presentation. You run
these tunes through a more conventional rock filter, and they’ll sell like
hotcakes (er, well…). While 1980’s Heartattack and Vine was a transitional
album from jazz-scat-ballad-crooner into an avant-garde a la Armstrong madman,
Swordfishtrombones takes the latter and runs with it full tilt. Tom’s
characters have gotten darker, weirder, more sinister, but his musical methods
of bringing them to light are now following suit, and his throaty growling and
howling over jerky rhythms, clanking percussion, demented horns and erratic
musicianship will throw the casual listener for a loop. (“Turn this off. Now.”
– my dad) But allow it to sink in and you’ll find structure and (gasp) even
melody, because there’s no denying that 16 Shells from a Thirty-Ought-Six is an
unconventional rocker and that In the Neighborhood is one of the most beautiful
songs ever written. And this is Tom’s brilliance, take the simple, make it
twisted and then turn it inside out.
The Police – Synchronicity: I had a hard time deciding on my
fifth one, and it could have easily gone to Def Leppard’s Pyromania or New
Order’s Power Corruption and Lies. The tiebreaker is how often I listen to these
albums, and Synchronicity wins out – if by a hair. Anyway…a swansong like no
other. The story of the Police is one of the classic rock n roll sagas, from
rags to riches to oblivion, three diverse talents focused on creating the
greatest music possible and succeeding not only critically, but commercially as
well. And while Sting is certainly known now for his easily accessible power
radio slag, even the biggest hits of the Police contained elements of
unorthodox song structure and lyrical weightiness – and with this being their
biggest album, all of that follows. No, Every Breath You Take is not a sweet
ballad, nor is King of Pain an anguished one, but instead a (before it was
cool) statement on the environment; while yes, Synchronicity II is about mental
and emotional breakdown and Wrapped Around Your Finger references literature
that the kids back then maybe should have gotten, but the ones today almost
definitely won’t. And all of it you can sing along to with pleasure (unless
you’re JT). The rest of the album is even more delightfully diverse, from
quirky jazz (Murder by Numbers), to world music (Walking in Your Footsteps), to
flat out crazy (Mother). Plus, Miss Gradenko has one of my favorite Any Summers
solos, so choppy and concise, it’s like a miniature song within the song.
Bottom line, Synchronicity is proof that 30 years ago an album could be relevant,
eccentric and top the charts (take that, Thriller) all at the same time. Too
bad Sting lost his vision, while Andy and Stewart lost their sting.
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