[Romanelli]

[dihansse]

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1981 I listened to:


Dare (1981) by The Human League
The synths on this album sound really dated. And the synths are exactly what makes this album great together with the special voice of Phil Oakey which sounds warm and cold at the same time. And of course the album is brimful with hits and still great hits like, well like nearly all the tracks; except a few ones which are also not very good. I can't help but still like this album very much although maybe I shouldn't and it moves up from the 50th to the 45th rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

Rage In Eden (1981) by Ultravox
This album has one great track which is also the only single I know of the album: The Voice. I know there are a lot of lovers of this album but to me it's is ok but not great as a whole. And enters at the 52nd rank.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1982 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Imperial Bedroom (1982) by Elvis Costello And The Attractions
This must be one of his best albums. As on all his best albums there is a really good ballad and here it is Man Out Of Time although it doesn't always succeed in being a ballad. But there's also the jazzy Almost Blue. Beyond Belief, Shabby Doll and The Loved Ones are typical Costello songs in which he just shows his great talent in writing those amazing songs. So for me a masterpiece which goes up from the 12th to the 7th rank of the year.

And an album from my wishlist:

...Famous Last Words... (1982) by Supertramp
This is the last Supertramp album with Roger Hodgson as a singer and a composer so it's clear that after this it could only go downhill. But Many people also consider this album as not good at all because too polished. And in a way it is but Supertramp has never been a wild band and I can't help but like it very much; not as dearly so their main albums but that's difficult I suppose. In Europe the band had only one hit with this album: It's Raining Again which is already very much ok but there's a few others with C'est Le Bon (only tarnished by the incredibly bad French) and the great closer Don't Leave Me Now. Still a good album but I guess it would be their last and this one ends at the 31st rank.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1983 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

War (1983) by U2
Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Years Day are the U2 songs I really love. The rest of the album is good but not great but certainly more than filler so this album remains at the 15th rank of the year.

And an album from my wishlist:

In Heat (1983) by The Romantics
Only the hits One In a Million and especially Talking In you Sleep are OK. The rest doesn't really stick out so not an album for my year chart.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1984 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Couldn't Stand The Weather (1984) by Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
This is a very decent album by Stevie Ray Vaughn, one of the better blues guitar players as his magnificent cover of Voodoo Chile proves (if you ever have the chance to seen one of his versions on Youtube...). There are a few other covers on this album and they all sound good but his own songs prove he was also a good songwriter: just listen to that wonderful jazzy Stang's Swang. Which means this album moves up from the 34th to the 22nd rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

The Icicle Works (1984) by The Icicle Works
One of those positive albums in the style of Echo and The Bunnymen, The Alarm, The Sound and also U2 and Simple Minds but never with the popularity of those bands. It's true the songs are not really memorable but still very much alright as Love Is A Wonderful Color, In The Cauldron of Love, A Factory In The Desert and Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream) and Nirvana prove. And Ian McNabb was going to do better on his solo albums. This album enters my year chart at the 42nd rank.
And btw: this day is also the 42nd anniversary of this album: speaking of coincidences.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1985 I listened to:
First an album I already own/know:

This Nation's Saving Grace (1985) by The Fall
I've got a bit of a love/hate relationship with this band which is often described as similar to Pavement. But if I had to choose I certainly wouldn't choose The Fall. But nevertheless this band and this album have their place in rock history and there are certainly some good songs here. And the album moves up from the 36th to the 32nd rank of 1985.

And an album from my wishlist:

The Evening Visits... And Stays For Years (1985) by The Apartments
The Apartments are a peculiar band fronted by a peculiar singer who was a very peculiar singing voice which cannot really be described as pleasant. But somehow a lot of songs have sort of an appeal and that is best proved by Mr. Somewhere which was also fantastically covered by This Mortal Coil. Conclusion: a good but not a great album which enters my year chart at the 37th rank.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1986 I listened to:


Skylarking (1986) by XTC

I still like the more punky Black Sea better but this is a very consistent good old pop album with a lot of musicality. No real highlights or hits here (Dear God is no part of this album) but the overall album goes from the 34th to the 23rd rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

Strungout On Jargon (1985) by Death Of Samantha
And as promised starting my discovery of the music of bands Cleveland guitar player/singer John Petkovic played in and in fact also his long time mate Doug Gillard: so I will focus on the two of them. Their first band together was Death Of Samantha (the band name comes from a Yoko Ono song) they started in 1983 and this was their first full album which I only found on Youtube. But a great album it is: it has a real punkish atmosphere but also has good songs and hooks. Coca Cola & Licorice, the opening song of the album had already made a name for itself and has indeed a good baseline. And from there it goes on with lots of good DIY like tracks which promises the best for the rest of their career and I think Repo agrees. This album immediately enters my year chart at the 29th rank.

[dihansse]

Two albums of 1987 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Warehouse: Songs And Stories (1987) by Hüsker Dü
Hüsker Dü is my favorite band and Zen Arcade and Flip You Wig are my two favorite albums of all times. Which also means that I sometimes forget to listen to their last two albums and especially to this last double album of theirs which was a great pleasure to again listen to. It's clear that Bob Mould and Grant Hart could drink each other's blood at this stage and some of the songs seem to be already meant for their post-HD period but wow this is still a magnificent album. Unlike the two aforementioned ones, this one doesn't contain one of my absolute favorite tracks of the band but it certainly has enough tracks which follow just after that, even six of them. And although most people including me think that Bob Mould was the better songwriter and performer, Grant Hart also contributes a lot here like on the wonderful Charity, Chastity, Prudence and Hope. And the album and the band ends with a bang: the desparately rocking You Can Live At Home, also by Grant Hart. At this time Hüsker Dü was nearing its expiry date with bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and Pixies stepping in their footsteps but here they showed they could end in greatness and the album goes from the 14th to the 5th rank of the year.

And an album from my wishlist:

Lolita Nation (1987) by Game Theory
This is a fairly peculiar album. Allmusic keeps on insisting it's heavily indebted to Big Star and of course that's partly true but it's weirder than that. First of all it consists of a whopping 27 tracks with a lot of short snippets and a number of not really good track. But cut through those weeds and you end up with a more than decent album with highlights like The Waist And The Knees, Nothing New and Chardonnay. I don't really know the band very well but it's worth discovering more. This album ends up at the 43rd rank.

[dihansse]

My 2 choices for 1988 are:

An album I already own/know:

Isn't Anything (1988) by My Bloody Valentine
I must admit this album is a bit more in my league than Loveless but there's so much shoegaze band I love more than MBV so this album doesn't end very high either but nevertheless goes from the 50th to the 42nd rank of 1988.

And an album from my wishlist:

Where The Women Wear The Glory And The Men Wear The Pants (1988) by Death Of Samantha
And another album from this American underground band (wink wink) led by Dave Petkovic and Doug Gillard and again a very good one with Harlequin Tragedy and Blood Creek as the two highlights. It enters my year chart at the 24th rank.