JOE JACKSON
LOOK SHARP!
1979-A&M
Produced By DAVID KERSHENBAUM
1. One More Time
2. Sunday Papers
3. Is She Really Going Out With Him?
4. Happy Loving Couples
5. Throw It Away
6. Baby Stick Around
7. Look Sharp!
8. Fools In Love
9. (Do The) Instant Mash
10. Pretty Girls
11. Got The Time
With his debut album, Joe Jackson came out with a bang. A great mix of pop, punk, reggae beats, and rock, Look Sharp! had all of the attitude of Elvis Costello and Graham Parker. Songs about bitterness, loserness, and anger are the perfect vehicles for Jackson's snotty delivery, and he gives an album full of gems. "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" was the hit, but "Fools In Love", "Throw It Away", and the excellent "Got The Time" are exceptional.
The fact that Jackson has maybe the most underrated bass player in rock in Graham Maby doesn't hurt. The bass lines on this album are great, as are the songs. This is one of the great chip on your shoulder albums of its time, and a classic beginning for the age of the truly angry young man. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
THE CARS
GREATEST HITS
1985-ELEKTRA
VARIOUS PRODUCERS
1. Just What I Needed
2. Since You're Gone
3. You Might Think
4. Good Times Roll
5. Touch And Go
6. Drive
7. Tonight She Comes
8. My Best Friend's Girl
9. Heartbeat City
10. Let's Go
11. I'm Not The One
12. Magic
13. Shake It Up
By 1985, The Cars were finished. They had just one horrible album left in them, and they were done. But they were a great singles band from 1978 through 1984.This does the job as far as the big hits are concerned, but the later release of Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology does a much better job. The songs here are all great, but they are placed in random order rather than chronological, and there could be more worthy tracks that just aren't here. "Tonight She Comes" was previously unreleased,and the rest are from the band's first 5 albums. No liner notes and skimpiness make this only okay.
The Cars were a great band for their period. They wrote great songs, and their recordings were expertly done. They were even successful on MTV, despite the goofiness of Ric Ocasek. The recent reunion with Todd Rundgren, though tempting, is not somewhere I really want to go. The Cars should be remembered for what they did in the 70's and 80's. I can't imagine that songs like "Drive" and "Heartbeat City" sound as good played today as they did with the original band. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
PAUL SIMON
GRACELAND
1986-WARNER BROTHERS
Produced By PAUL SIMON
1. The Boy In The Bubble
2. Graceland
3. I Know What I Know
4. Gumboots
5. Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes
6. You Can Call Me Al
7. Under African Skies
8. Homeless
9. Crazy Love Vol. II
10. That Was Your Mother
11. All Around The World or The Myth Of Fingerprints
By 1985, Paul Simon was considered done. It had been 10 years since Still Crazy After All These Years, and his last 2 albums, the soundtrack to his disastrous film One Trick Pony and Hearts And Bones, had gone nowhere. In 1986, he came from nowhere with his masterpiece, Graceland. Refreshed by African music, Simon puts forth his best overall collection of songs. Using mostly African musicians, the album has a completely different feel from anything that was mainstream at the time, and shows that he really was at his best when working with exotic rhythms ("El Condor Pasa" from the Simon & Garfunkel days is evidence that he excelled with this). Every track is stunning work and shows the true genius of Simon. One of the very best albums of the 1980's.
Not without controversy. The last track features Los Lobos, who have claimed for years that they wrote the song and that Simon stole it from them. Simon says that there was nothing said to him by anyone until the album was a hit, and then they suddenly wanted credit. No lawsuit that I know of has ever been filed. Oh, well. It's still a damn fine album. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
VAN HALEN
FOR UNLAWFUL CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
1991-WARNER BROTHERS
Produced By ANDY JOHNS, TED TEMPLEMAN & VAN HALEN
1. Poundcake
2. Judgement Day
3. Spanked
4. Runaround
5. Pleasure Dome
6. In 'N' Out
7. Man On A Mission
8. The Dream Is Over
9. Right Now
10. 316
11. Top Of The World
This is Van Halen's 9th album, and the 3rd of the Van Hagar era. It's also their last gasp of stardom. The album marked a move away from the synthesizers they had been utilizing since 1984, and a move back to the harder rock sound of their earlier albums. Some of the tracks are excellent..."Right Now" may be the best of the Hagar era, and the album contains several hits. But just as many of the songs are lacking. "Poundcake" is embarrasing just to listen to. The album is uneven and sounds like what it is...the last gasp of relevance from a major band.
The album title came from Sammy Hagar's passion about censorship. He wanted to simply call the album Fuck, but was talked out of it. The album hit #1 on the charts, and spawned 3 #1 singles. It also won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
Not without controversy. The last track features Los Lobos, who have claimed for years that they wrote the song and that Simon stole it from them. Simon says that there was nothing said to him by anyone until the album was a hit, and then they suddenly wanted credit. No lawsuit that I know of has ever been filed. Oh, well. It's still a damn fine album.
Yep, that's the controversy that comes to mind whenever I think of Graceland... _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
Yeah. The whole apartheid thing. I'm not going to be drawn into a whole negative spiral about this, because that's another road...maybe a topic for the music forum. I will say this about Graceland: Simon went against the wishes of a lot of people in making this album. Those wishes had everything to do with politics. I don't agree with the way Simon went about everything that had to do with making this album. He has taken a load of shit for it, some of which I agree is deserved.
As for Graceland itself, I happen to think it's a fine album. As music. "The Boy In The Bubble", in particular, was a huge influence on me as a songwriter. Simon's phrasing is really exceptional, especially on that track. He was more inspired lyrically than he had been in years...lines like "She comes back to tell me she's gone / As if I didn't know that / As if I didn't know my own bed" (from "Graceland") are really great. Paul Simon was a guy who was dying artistically and personally, and who needed to reach outside of his own world to find his way. Graceland is the result of that. I'm not putting this up here because of any of the political baggage that went along with it...I have this album and I listen to it because I enjoy the music on it, I enjoy the songwriting, the songs, the atmosphere, and the way the music makes me feel. Without Graceland, I couldn't have written lines like "I'm on my way to Arkansas to see my only son / And I can't close my eyes and go to sleep / No matter how hard I try" and made them work in the context of a song.
My bad for mentioning only the Los Lobos incident. I agree that Simon could have handled things differently, and that he should have taken some of the advice others were giving him at the time. But I do enjoy this album a lot, not because of what happened around it, but because of what's there to listen to.
Maybe a subject on the Music Forum about the non-musical side of this? _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
My bad for mentioning only the Los Lobos incident.
I have no issue with you neglecting to mention the wider controversy surrounding the album - it was just pretty weird reading this, seeing the phrase "not without controversy" followed by a relatively inconsequential story about Los Lobos and songwriting credits. It just made me laugh, as it was completely unexpected. _________________ 2021 in full effect. Come drop me some recs. Y'all know what I like.
I have no issue with you neglecting to mention the wider controversy surrounding the album - it was just pretty weird reading this, seeing the phrase "not without controversy" followed by a relatively inconsequential story about Los Lobos and songwriting credits. It just made me laugh, as it was completely unexpected.
Agreed. There were more important troubles with this, and I picked a pretty small example. _________________ I'm leaning on the threshold
Of her mystery
And crashing through the walls
Of dying history
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Norman Bates
