okay, i'm listening to this hardcore punk, proto-thrash sounding classic right now. I decided to completely shift gears after the previous album. That's just what I like to do.
Also, i wanted to find something short, and this being 27 minutes fit the bill (couldn't find that debut EP by Green on Red).
anywayssss... i was a bit sad going into 1982 cuz it was a year before thrash got rolling and a good 4 years 'fore thrasdh really got into its golden age. And i love listening to thrash. and just to meet my qouta of typing thrash; thrash thrash and... thrash.
now, this was a silly thoughts as in 1982 the main building blocks of thrash were firmly in place with NWOBHM, Hardcore, Venom , and this band's sound. But still, i was thinking i wouldn't find that primal rage in this year.
I was wrong.
This album fucking rules! It is so freaking loud, abrasive and aggressive. I mean, Reign In Blood-era Slayer is challenged by this album in terms of brutality. The "song" "Cries of Help" made me a bit sick, but otherwise I enjoyed this album a lot. The riffage, the rigged up-down-up-down beat is cool (if a bit too predominant) and the short blasts of lead-guitar are awesome throughout.
With an album like this with not much change track to track, I tend to have not much to say. and this is no exc eption. Its really cool and I'm glad I listened to it and have more context to some of my favorite bands/albums/sounds of the 80s (Slayer 83-89, Metallica 83-88, early Death, Possessed, etc) and yeah I give this a big ol batch of kudos for pushing the boundaries and inspiring the next generation of brute-force geniuses.
Grade: 8.5/10
I'll move this to my chart, looks like its landing spot as of now is 18, just ahead of The Circle Jerks' "Wild In The Streets" and just behind "Rio" by Duran Duran. This is likely to move a lot... up or down? I don't know. Still, yeah, this is bad ass.
THE BLOOD RUNS RED! THE BLOOD RUNS RED! (insert blistering guitar solo that's swallowed by all the other noise). One of my favorites though for real.
If you want to inundate yourself even more then cross reference my chart with these others. I've listened to a lot from 82; it's a great year.
well, this is interesting. It comes in and reminds me of a quaint, charming, and warm version of Suicide or Throbbing Gristle. It never forces the issue, but the pop sensibilities and the shimmering beauty of songs like "The Guests" "Destination Moon" "Spectrum is Green" can't be heard and then denied.
Context is in short supply for this music, as I am by no means remotely smart or knowledgeable about minimal wave or synthwave or this brand of this brand of synth-driven post punk. But even without the context, this album hits that sweet spot of charming catchiness, no-fucks-given DIY vibing, warm electronics-laden, direct and unaffected vocal layering, excellence.
The skittery and utterly sexy simplicity of "New Statue" has me giddy at the moment. "Tenth Planet" is so sweet and romantic. "A Darkness In My Soul" is mesmerizing.
"Please Don't Fade Away" comes out of nowhere and sucker punches me right in the softy-bone. That sounded weird. But really that track is so sweet, melancholy, humane. I just can't even!
Going into this I was a bit groany, like "why oh why did you push play on this, Ryan?!? You know you won't dig most likely and you also know your strangely rigid code of ethics on album listening! why not listen to that heralded Fagan album? damn it". But within 2 minutes I was in on the album fully, wholly. And now I'm just engrossed and happier than a puppy as I listen.
I just don't get it. These artists feel like they are offhandedly and nonchalantly making a un ique, gorgeous album. I mean, I know that's how it sounds, maybe they meticulously planned out this album and that's why every detail works so nicely. But the vibe i get is this is just some young people getting together and almost by accident spitting out a classic.
The reason i don't get it is here I am with technology so unfathomably ahead of them and I spend hours plugging away on garage band trying make something which in my mind would sound brittle yet warm, offhand yet detailed, fun and lively like this. And i end up with a mess of garbage that end up erasing disgustedly. These chaps just have a special quality that i don't have. anyone, i don't wanna come off as a self deprecating sad sack. I am just in awe of this sort of DIY off the cuff brilliance.
This was a surprising new 82 fave for me. a solid 8.9-9.1/10, and I'm adding it to my chart at, lets seeee... whoa! WHOA! number 5. Just ahead of Nebraska and just behind 1999. and with this one there is lots of room for upward movement. _________________ -Ryan
Today was a good day. I'm about to go to work for a while, but just looking over the music and art i've enjoyed today, I am reinvigorated by the utter bleakness of the only canon/iconic 82 album i heard today "Pornography, by the film score of epic heroism "Conan The Barbarian", by the beyond easy description beauty of "Harvest of Dreams", by the ferocious angst of "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" and by the childish, pure creativity of "Space Museum". No album has left me unhappy. And now I have one more album, and by far this is the most grounded, natural, humane, and of course soulful of 'em all so far today...
There are albums and records I hear sometimes in my days here on this earth which cut through to the bare essence of what it means to be alive, to be lonely, to be struggling, to feel every nook and cranny of life.
Hearing this album, right from the jump with the raw emotion of Ted Hawkins as he starts the album with the words so honest and bare, "Watch your step! before you stumble and fall. You promised daddy true love, sugar. and that ain't all." Then hearing those first strummed chords which lays bare where this album is coming from, well, this album is one of those transcendant musical moments.
The album itself is a straight up Folk Soul album. The moments of just Ted and his guitar, such as "Lost Ones", "Peace and Happiness" "Sorry You're Sick", "I Gave Up All I Had", "Stay Close To Me" and "Bring It Home Daddy" hit so incredibly hard. They lay bare the man and his emotion. His voice is pure, his style is so great. Some of these songs are built from 2 chords and gallons of emotion. Others such as the re-imagined electric version of "Watch Your Step" and "Who Got My Natural Comb?" while nice and invigorating, also lose a bit of that magic which imbues the stripped down compositions.
I love this album, cuz its moments of gritty truth (The Lost Ones, I can't stress enough, is one of the most heartbreaking songs I've ever heard) outpace anything I've heard from this era including anything oin Nebraska, while its more flushed out moments really rock and get me amped up as well. And the album manages to jockey back and forth between these 2 aesthetics without missing a beat. There is nothing here that dates it. Its timeless. As long as there are people feeling emotions and dealing with the trials and tribulations of life iteself, this album and this voice and this music will have impact and pertinence to the listener.
And with that I get outta here with yet another favorite. I will give this a grade of 9.2/10 but really that number is just a number and I have a hard time giving it a numerical grade. Anyway, I'm gonna be rash, I'm gonna be emotional, instinctive and I'm gonna place this at number 3 on my chart of 1982. I know, its cray cray. Just ahead of Gram Parsons Live 1973 and just behind only Thriller and Harvest of Dreams. it has a chance of moving to number 1. Its that touching and pure.
If you like hardcore don’t forget the debut album of Hüsker Dü:
Land Speed Record by Hüsker Dü
AllMusic call it a live EP but it contains 17 tracks through which they rip in 26 minutes.
Not yet the genius they would show later but tracks like Data Control already show some of that.
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
If you like hardcore don’t forget the debut album of Hüsker Dü:
Land Speed Record by Hüsker Dü
AllMusic call it a live EP but it contains 17 tracks through which they rip in 26 minutes.
Not yet the genius they would show later but tracks like Data Control already show some of that.
awesome! I'll check it out. One of the musical hot takes I have which INSTANTLY delegitimizes all my opinions and disassembles any of the little respect I've gained in my lifetime here on BEA is I consider Zen Arcade to be overrated, or, as I hate that word, I consider it just okay. I don't get the power of that album. But maybe delving into their earlier discography will give me more of a handle on their classic. _________________ -Ryan
If you like hardcore don’t forget the debut album of Hüsker Dü:
Land Speed Record by Hüsker Dü
AllMusic call it a live EP but it contains 17 tracks through which they rip in 26 minutes.
Not yet the genius they would show later but tracks like Data Control already show some of that.
awesome! I'll check it out. One of the musical hot takes I have which INSTANTLY delegitimizes all my opinions and disassembles any of the little respect I've gained in my lifetime here on BEA is I consider Zen Arcade to be overrated, or, as I hate that word, I consider it just okay. I don't get the power of that album. But maybe delving into their earlier discography will give me more of a handle on their classic.
Like I said this is a very basic record on which they are only starting to grow so you won't find anything of very high quality here. So if you want to focus on their hardcore start it's maybe better to start with their second album Everything Falls Apart.
You're talking to a Hüsker Dü fan here so I can only advise to listen to Zen Arcade a few times more. If you take that album track by track there are some real hardcore classics on it which are just shredding away like Indecision Time, What's Going On, Beyond The Treshold, Whatever so not to be underwhelmed by that long Reoccurring Dreams. When you listen to the tracks I mentioned in a row they should feel powerful, the same power you can feel listening to Beaster, the second Sugar album (Bob Mould's band after Hüsker Dü).
Personally I've always doubted between Zen Arcade and Flip Your Whig as their best album and in many cases the last one wins. And most people think New Day Rising is their second best.
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
Listened to this little adrenalized nugget. I heard it years ago and remember liking it. I like it more now with more of an appreciation of what it does well and what it was doing slightly different from the contemporaries.
Hardcore punk but with more hooks, more fun, less macho ethos. Its solid.
Perhaps i'm just not in an inspired mood or maybe I'm just still not a big enough fan to wax peotic, but yeah I don't have much to say about this. Its quite good. didn't blow me away I suppose.
anyway, its been moved up a bit to 27, just behind Plastic Surgery Disasters by the DKs and just ahead of Miami by The Gun Club. And I may come back to it when I'm more into punk. _________________ -Ryan
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