My discoveries per year

dihansse · 2016-04-10T12:28:28-04:00

Well! Here I would like to start with my own long term project taking advantage of the best BEA has to offer: overall charts from people who are as interested in music as I am. I already have year charts which are based on the albums I already own or know, but there are a lot of them which I haven't listened to yet and which might be worth discovering. I'd like to do this by going through the overall BEA top lists per year starting in 1963 which is both my year of birth and the year in which I personally think rock music started to become interesting. To keep it a bit varied I will skip through the years in five year periods, ie starting in 1963 then 1968 then 1973 all the way to 2013 and then back to 1964 and so on. Every year I will start with some stats of my personal chart in comparison to the overall year charts, both top 20 an top 50 and will start to listen to at least the top 20 albums I don't know and I'll hope to give some comments sometimes very short, sometimes a bit longer. I will also update my personal year charts accordingly. In principle I will use Apple Music to listen to the albums, which I suppose will cover most of the field. If a certain album isn't present in Apple Music, I'll have to skip it. I will try to listen to all the albums at least once and sometimes twice if I doubt, but I'll skip the really stupid ones (ex a Xmas compilation in 1963) and also other compilations, classical music, jazz and easy listening. This will be a long term project which means there might be times in which I will stop a bit of course because I don't want be stuck listining to albums of the same year all the time. However I suppose this will take at least a month per year. I will try to keep it up but please don't be mad if I give up (maybe already after the first year :lol: )

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These are two albums of 1982 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Album - Generic Flipper (1982) by Flipper

There's not a lot of musicality in this album but it's one of those infamous albums I really cherish. It's punk but not fast but in a way the flow of about all the tracks just maintains a certain kind of tension throughout the whole album. Shed No Tears, (I Saw You) Shine and Sex Bomb are my personal favorites but the the whole album is a classic and it remains firmly a the 10th rank of 1982.

And an album from my wishlist:

Mummy Your Not Watching Me (1982) by Television Personalities

Also a band which is easy to hate and the naiveness in which these tracks are delivered is at first view enough to just dismiss it. But when you dig deeper there's something that keeps your attention throughout the whole album. Adventure Playground is the best track but overall this is a good album which lands at the 40th rank.

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Two albums of 1983 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Eliminator (1983) by ZZ Top

This album is a bit more commercial than the previous ZZ Top albums but I like it as there is a real rock'n roll drive to tracks like Gimme All Your Lovin' and Sharp Dressed Man and many more tracks. It moves up from the 49th to the 40th rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

Undercover (1983) by The Rolling Stones

An album which went a bit under my radar while I suppose there isn't a Stones album that doesn't deserve to be in my charts and this is also the case for this one. Undercover Of The Night already starts in a good funky style and She Was Hot has a bit the same style of She' So Cold (only hotter 😉 ).Other highlights are Wanna Hold You and Too Tough and there are certainly a few misses here but overall I fairly like this album which moves to the 31st rank.

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Two albums of 1984 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Learning To Crawl (1984) by Pretenders
The 3rd album by Pretenders and released after a number of new people joined the band because of drug related deaths. And it's clear the Chrissie Hynde has found a new breath here. The songs sound very inspired especially at the start of the album. The Middle Of The Road is to me one of their best tracks and also Back On The Chain Gang, Time The Avenger and Show Me belong to the best they ever did. Even the two slows, Thin Line Between Love And Hate and 2000 Miles I used to consider as rather cheesy are not that bad at all in hindsight. All in all a very good album which goes from the 34th to the 9th rank of the year 1984.

And an album from my wishlist:

The Big Express (1984) by XTC

A fairly good album but this good English band with Wake Up, All The Pretty Girls and This World Over as the best tracks. Not their best but overall fairly good and it enters my year chart at the 36th rank.

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Two albums of 1985 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Hounds Of Love (1985) by Kate Bush

The hits, Running Up That Hill and Cloudbusting, are great on this album but especially towards the end, the songs become a bit too experimental (read: boring) to me and only a foreboding of the ones to come. Of course her voice remains great, but to me this is certainly not her best album and it moves up from the 46th to the 42nd rank of the year.

And an album from my wishlist:

Bonded By Blood (1985) by Exodus (US)

I know a few of their more recent albums but much to my shame I had never listened to this first (and supposed to be best) album of theirs which claims to be one of the first trash albums to be recorded but at its release was already surpassed by the other great trash bands with of course Metallica at the lead.
I fairly liked the album, its fast and the guitar sounds great but the voice of the singer is not really my thing. The best track to me is Metal Command and the album enters my year chart at the 30th rank.

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Two albums of 1986 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Atomizer (1986) by Big Black

A really dark and brutal album by this band headed by Steve Albini with links to both industrial and hardcore punk. And the quintessential track to prove that is Kerosine which hits like a hammer for more than 6 minutes. This is not appealing music at first sight but this definitely a must hear if you don't only want nice songs. And the album goes from the 34th to the 28th rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

Mistrial (1986) by Lou Reed

Many people consider this as one of the, if not the, worst album by Lou Reed. I certainly won't state it is one of his best but I somehow liked it. It's fairly hard rocking and even lesser know songs like I Remember or Outside are not that bad. I even can appreciate the attempt to do a rap song: The Original Wrapper. And there are two really good tracks here as well: Video Violence and Tell It To Your Heart. Of course the production is sometimes a bit too 80's with No Money Down as the most telling example but overall a good album which reaches the 39th rank of the year.

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These are two albums of 1987 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Document (1987) by R.E.M.

I must admit this is the first album I discovered by this band of which I would discover that their earlier albums are even better. And the track I discovered it with was a hit in Belgium but on of their least typical: The One I Love. Maybe less good than their earlier albums but still a great one with nearly all tracks being classics and of which I have always loved It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) that bit more. The album moves up from the 14th to the 7th rank of the year.

And an album from my wishlist:

Midnight To Midnight (1987) by The Psychedelic Furs

This albums is generally viewed as one of their worst because it was a bit more polished than their others but to me that doesn't mean I don't like it. There is enough tracks that are worth listening and although Pretty In Pink doesn't appear on the original version in my opinion this is still a very neat one which enters my year chart at the 38th rank.

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Two albums of 1988 (and one of 1987 I listened to)

First an album I already own/know:

16 Lovers Lane (1988) by The Go-Betweens

What a fine band the Go-Betweens were and this is proven by this great album. Streets Of Your Town Is the "hit" on this album and maybe also the finest song but that great way in which Foster and MacLennan deliver their well written songs is just great on nearly all tracks. Never fantastic but always very good and this album moves down a little bit from the 17th to the 23rd rank.

For my wishlist I finally want to tackle those two-part album by Helloween: Keeper Of The Seven Keys so I first to have to start with 1987:

Keeper Of The Seven Keys (Part 1) (1987) by Helloween

Helloween is the German power metal band blessed with singers with very high pitched voices, good guitars and over the top and sometimes even ridiculous songwriting and they do that very well on those two albums. Never on this first album, they succeed to do a real banger. Sometimes you have very good solo-ing like on Alive and on Helloween they try to do an epic long track but always they have to do something that is just too much. And the ballad A Tale That Wasn't right is completely at the wrong side of ridicule.

And the same goes for the 1988 follow-up:

Keeper Of The Seven Keys (Part II) (1988) by Helloween

Dr. Stein is such a fine example of a completely lunatic and on the verge of ridicule track in which they even dare to end with the ending of A Day In The Life. The epic track on this album is Keeper Of Seven Keys and also on this one they are steering between some good parts (see the very good soloing near the end) and some utterly weak ones. So both are fairly ridiculous albums but somehow incredibly entertaining as well.
So the first album ends at the 56th rank of 1987.
And the second album ends at the 39th rank of 1988.

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These are two albums of 1989 I listened to:

First an album I already own/know:

Disintegration (1989) by The Cure

One of the darker albums by The Cure and I already admit that they are not my favorite. I prefer the earlier indie gems. Not to say that these albums are bad. They already contain a few hits which are very much ok like Pictures Of You, Lullaby, Love Song and Fascination Street and also the other tracks which are bit more gloomy (although this is also the case for some of the hits). The album moves up from the 54th to the 36th rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

Laughter (1989) by The Mighty Lemon Drops

I can't keep myself from thinking that this album sounds a lot like an English light version of Midnight Oil, not the themes but just the way the singer sings, the harmonies and the general sound. English light but I nevertheless liked the album with The Heartbreak Thing as the highlight. The album enters my year chart at the 18th rank.

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And two albums of 1990:

First an album I already own/know:

And an album from my wishlist:

The Rhythm Of The Saints (1990) by Paul Simon

After the great Graceland, Paul Simon did a second sound at integrating non-Western music in an album now more Brazilian sounds. And also on this album, though not as good as on Graceland, he does it again which already is very clear at the first track: The Obvious Child. Especially Proof and Born At The Right Time are further proofs of his genius. The album moves up from the 59th to the 44th rank.

And an album from my wishlist:

Smile (1990) by Ride

This is a compilation of two earlier EP's and according to Allmusic it sounds a bit rough. In my opinion this is already the Ride I love of their latter albums. The term shoe gaze is too diminutive to describe the great sound Ride always succeeds to create. There's not really an outlier but all tracks here sound great and the album enters my year chart at the 25th rank.

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Only an album I already own/know from 1991:

Ten (1991) by Pearl Jam

In fact I've never been a real fan of grunge. Of course I adored Nirvana but they were a phenomenon in their own and bands like Alice In Chains or Soundgarden were not really my thing. So the next one was Pearl Jam which in my opinion couldn't even be compared to Nirvana although it has that one great track, Alive, which has the mother of (nearly) all guitar solos.
Growing out of Mother Love Bone, there were still a few songs which had likeness to that band like Even Flow, a good song but not a great one in my opinion. But apart from Oceans, a song I really don't like, the album gradually grew on me. I still wouldn't call it a classic but it's an album I like.
A lot of the tracks became classics nevertheless. To prove that I would like to revert to De Tijdloze (the timeless), a top 100 list of songs voted every year by the listeners of Studio Brussel, an alternative Belgian rock station (not any more I think but that's maybe because I'm growing old). Already in 1992, Alive entered that list at the 59th rank and pushed on to the 6th rank the year after only to stay in the top 10 for an x amount of years. Jeremy also entered the top 100 in 1993 and was never ranked very high and sometimes was kicked out. But then there was Black which only entered for the first time in 2001 at 84, went to 47 the next year and by 2015 reached the first rank and stayed there for most of the following years also in 2025. And that track indeed also grew on me and I think now it's the second best track of the album.
Needless to say that this album needed to increase in my ranking and it does go from the 77th to the 42nd rank, still not very high but there was a fierce competition of incredible albums that year.

And no albums available on Apple Music any more on my wishlist.

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