Music reviews I’ve written for music released in 1984.
1. Metallica: Ride the Lightning (10/10)
The most important metal album of the 1980s?
I am still learning the exact timeline of the evolution of thrash metal (as opposed to other genres named “thrash) from NWOBHM and other, older things and so I don’t feel 100% confident in what I am going to say, but I feel somewhat confident so I am going to go for it.
This is the record that blended the musical violence (volume, power, speed) of thrash with the historical ambitions of metal (which had always been a bit proggy) to create something more transcendent than a mere fusion of genres (and a reaction to some sounds, in some ways) ever could be. It’s modern metal, played faster and louder (and in some ways better) than metal had ever been, but firmly in the metal tradition – there’s no way you could charge this record with being remotely “punk”. It’s, in many ways, the birth of modern metal in the sense that everything after it is in some way referencing Metallica’s sound on this record, either by actual imitation or by attempting to take it (far) further into extremes. Those bands that didn’t want to follow in Metallica’s footsteps would now be described as “hard rock” or “metal” but with some vaguely or outright pejorative qualifier, such as “hair” or “glam” or “stoner”.
It’s the revolution.
Read my reviews of Metallica albums.
1. Run-D.M.C. (10/10)
I have no idea, but I think this might be one of the most important records of the entire decade. Read the review of Run-D.M.C.’s debut album.
3. Hüsker Dü: Zen Arcade (10/10)
I was introduced to this record as the birth of something new, whether you want to call that thing “emo” (and you shouldn’t) or “post hardcore” or what have you. I have since learned that this history of the genre was hardly accurate – Minutemen were making post hardcore music for some time before this record came out, even if their version of the genre sounds nothing like this version. It’s probably not quite as life-changing as was alleged in so many reviews I read before I ever even heard it.
But this record is still one of the foundational documents of post hardcore and everything that has come along with that supragenre. Moreover, the thing about Hüsker Dü is that they are better – or at least more conventional – songwriters than the Minutemen. So everyone remembers their music better (and more people have heard it). Moreover, Minutemen were kind of weird and uncategorizable from the get go whereas Hüsker Dü fit in with a scene. Yes, that makes the revisionist history all the more unfair to Minutemen, but it also makes what Hüsker Dü did seem somehow more daring. It’s like if the Beatles put out The White Album before Sgt. Pepper thereby upending the way everyone understood rock how bands were supposed to operate. (I write, of course, in relative terms here, with regard only to the hardcore scene, and not to rock music in general.)
Whether or not Minutemen were first, this is the record that said to a generation of bands that they could be inspired by hardcore without making hardcore. We’re still dealing with the consequences.
Read my other revirews of albums by Hüsker Dü.
3. Violent Femmes: Hallowed Ground (9/10)
I was a toddler when this record came out so I have trouble imagining the giant left turn this felt like to fans, both because I wasn’t old enough to pay attention and because this record sounds so much in the Femmes’ wheelhouse that it’s hard to understand people didn’t like it. It’s my favourite record of theirs – so much show I used to give it perfect marks- and so I just marvel at the fact that songs about Christianity could have seemed so awful and offensive, especially given the long tradition Gano was writing in. (I get that it was a left turn for a punk band, but it’s also a very punk thing to do. Fans can’t have it both ways.)
Most of Gano’s songs here are in the finest gospel/Christian songwriting tradition. It’s remarkable that he wrote these in high school as they sound like the work of someone who has been alive forever. (That being said, he parrots a lot from older songs, which makes sense but also makes the songs sound older.) We’ve gone from a teenager’s view of sex and adulthood to a teenager’s view of god and religion. And it works just as well as the debut. I’d argue it works better.
The style of the performances and the arrangements are even better than the debut -with more versatility this time out. They once again walk a line of a really ragged, punk sound, with enough musical ability to really be compelling.
My only criticism at this remove is that “Sweet Misery Blues” and “Black Girls” both feel like they belong on the first record, at least lyrically speaking, and so undermine the concept of the record.
Still, this is one of the great roots rock records of the 1980s and one of the great “roots punk” or “punk roots” records ever.
5. Minutemen: Double Nickels on the Dime (9/10)
A ridiculously overlong, sprawling attack on genre convention and every other musical convention. Take that Sammy Hagar! Read the review of Double Nickels on the Dime. Or, why not check out all my Minutemen reviews?
6. Cocteau Twins: Treasure (9/10)
I don’t like putting this here but, intellectually, I think I have to. Read the review of Treasure.
7. R.E.M.: Reckoning (9/10)
This was the first ’80s REM record I think I ever heard, certainly it was the first of their records I heard from when before Stipe learned to sing. I might have heard Eponymous before it, so I technically heard “Chronic Town” first, but in terms of LPs, it was this one. So this one is the one I like the most.
I’ve heard it so many times, it’s really, really hard to be objective about it. But I think it’s a little more self-assured and a little more diverse than Murmur. It’s also less mysterious, but that’s the trade off you get when you get better (and make a better sounding record).
I could basically listen to every record of theirs from “Chronic Town” to Document over and over and over again, so I’m not sure I have anything to say that could convince anyone who doesn’t think much of REM to check this one out, but it’s probably their most accessible of their early records, while still containing everything about the band that made them special.
I love it. I cannot be objective.
Read my reviews of R.E.M. albums.
8. This is Spinal Tap (9/10)
I love this record and know all the words to all the songs that were actually in the film. My favourite is probably “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight,” which contains my favourite lines but also has my favourite title, one of the all time best mocking song titles in the English language.
But I must say that the impact of this album is not the same as the movie. The movie is the complete experience and the album doesn’t capture everything that the movie does.
Also, this album is lacking a couple tracks, none more important than “Jazz Odyssey” (which may not have actually been written beyond a few bars when this album was recorded), which I would just really like to hear in its entirety.
This is one of the great comedy rock albums of all time but it could be more complete and it just doesn’t quite measure up to the movie. It’s much better to see the movie first, and then listen to this. If this album could somehow capture the essence of the film, I would give it full marks.
9. Meat Puppets II (9/10)
Don’t let the label “cowpunk” fool you, this is one of the great early alternative rock records. Read the review of Meat Puppets II.
10. Fat Boys (8/10)
Some people think they’re a joke but I certainly don’t. Read the review of the Fat Boys’ debut album.
11. U2: The Unforgettable Fire (8/10)
In 2009, I wrote the following:
This is probably where the sound crystallized. The full “wall of sound” thing is on display. Are Eno/Lanois the post-punk equivalent of Spector?
On “A Sort of Homecoming” you can really hear the Eno/Byrne influence, and on another song too, but I don’t remember which one. [“Indian Summer”. By the way, that’s not what “Indian Summer” means, Bono.]
For me this is the album where U2 really became U2, if you know what I mean. Before this record they were an arena post punk band with some pretty great songs, and many less impressive songs, and a general sense of bombast and size lacking in most post punk. (Of course, I didn’t know this at the time, but I’ve listened to a lot of post punk in the last 15 years.)
With this record, they get their “wall of sound” and they become so characteristically U2 that we need an adjective. U2ian?
For me this is their best ’80s album – even when it sounds too much like Eno-era Talking Heads – as they finally moved beyond their early sound and they have yet to become obsessed with Americana.
12. Venom: At War With Satan (8/10)
The beginnings of black metal??? Read the review of At War With Satan.
13. Voivod: War and Pain (8/10)
Excellent, messy thrash metal. Read the review of War and Pain.
14. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: From Her to Eternity (8/10)
If you had never heard The Birthday Party before listening to this record (as I hadn’t) I can imagine a world in which this record sounded truly great. I know that because it happened to me, as this was one of my introductions to this band. And placing it into the context of 1984 it manages to sound both unique and distinctly un-1984. But having listened to the Birthday Party a bunch since, I now know that the Bad Seeds didn’t exactly have a unique sound, even if lots of personnel changed from one band to the other.
This record is, if you can believe it, like a kinder, gentler (and more literate!) Birthday Party. The edge has been dulled and it is closer to the some of the traditions the Birthday Party sought to upend.
The record does do a pretty good job of setting up the first half of their career too: the covers in their imitable style plus originals with Cave’s singular fixations plus the Bad Seeds’ (relatively) unique approach to post punk. It’s a sound they’d mostly stick with for the next decade plus, even if they did improve upon it at times.
With time it has grown to be not one of my favourite Bad Seed records, but I still recognize it as important for how it launched their career and distinguished them from the extremely difficult and confrontational band that preceded them. (It is extremely hard to imagine the latter day Bad Seeds evolving out of the Birthday Party with this iteration in between.)
Read my reviews of all Bad Seeds albums here.
15. Prince: Purple Rain (8/10)
Though I have yet to hear even half of Prince’s discography, I think there’s a case to be made that, melodically speaking at least, this is his best set of songs ever. There’s not a single melody here that isn’t up to the quality of the others, and a few of them are among his very best. Moreover, he’s exercised his duty/ability as an editor and shortened some of these from much longer pieces. (Prince did like to let songs run a long time on some of his records.) In that sense I think you could probably make a case that this is the best Prince album.
But I don’t buy it. As is just about always the case with Prince, the lyrics are all over the place, with one song ostensibly (but obscurely) about one subject opening with a brief skit about a completely different subject, for example.
And though Prince’s abilities as a songwriter, arranger and performer (particularly a guitarist) are all on full display, his range isn’t as much. Because this record is more concise and polished, it lacks some of the ambition and diversity of the records of his I like the most. Though he could sometimes let a song run too long or dump too many ideas on one record, I like it when he does those things. Though this record has more immediate appeal than many for me the rewards are greater with the weirder, crazier records. Those are the records where I really admire him. Here it feels like to me he’s too under control, which is fine. (And it’s still a really strong set of songs.)
Not my favourite but I understand why everyone loves it.
PS: “When Doves Cry” set the blueprint for so much aughts R&B (minus the guitar) that it’s kind of incredible. How many songs from that decade can you name which are just a basic rhythm track, one melody instrument and way too many vocal overdubs?
16. Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward (8/10)
Their best record? Probably not, but possibly my favorite. Read the review of Some Great Reward.
17. The Replacements: Let it Be (8/10)
Ever since I first heard this record – any Replacements record, really – I have struggled with it.
I read so much about how great this band was before I listened to them that I was bound to be disappointed. They are the kind of band that, because they were never truly innovative – except within the scene they emerged out of – you sort of had to be there. What I mean is, you had to be that age, in your late teens or early 20s, when music touches you. (Obviously you just need to be that age when you listen to them, not when they were together. This is the wonder of recording technology.)
But at some point they started to grow on me and I started to really appreciate this record and Tim, maybe not to the extent of critics and the older fans I know, but more than I did when I first listened to them and thought “This band???”
Alas, I feel I am swaying back the other direction. I had this record rated 9/10 until today, which seems insane as I listen to it over and over. Westerberg is a good and occasionally great songwriter, but he is often his own worst enemy (so it seems to me). “Androgynous” seems to be incredibly prescient and shows a keen understanding of the way people are. (He understands that what is shocking now will not be shocking in the future. He was 25.) “Answering Machine” doesn’t use an answering machine for its sound effects, instead using the phone system’s messages for disconnected lines. What? Sometimes he has a great idea and undercuts it in some way I don’t like. (And he likes Kiss!)
The band is pleasantly roughshod though I find Westerberg’s keyboards (on this and other records) almost always manage to sound horribly ’80s despite the sound of every other instrument on the album.
Less interesting than their contemporaries, but with undoubtedly better songs than most, I just don’t know if I can ever get to the place where I think they are one of the great American bands of the ’80s.
They’re good, but that’s as far as I think I’m willing to go. (Today.)
18. Philip Glass: Akhnaten (8/10)
This is a significantly more traditional piece of music than Einstein on the Beach. (I have not heard the second opera in this so-called trilogy.) Not being super familiar with Glass, I’m not sure when this change happened, but this is a lot closer to traditional opera (there is evidence, albeit minor, of a plot) than his first effort. And that’s both a good thing (if you care about such things) and a bad thing (if you enjoyed the more radical approach).
I like this – I am generally very intrigued by works that clearly mix traditions as this does with minimalism and traditional opera – but it’s hardly a landmark. Enjoyable for sure, though.
19. Fred Anderson: The Missing Link [recorded in 1979] (8/10)
Anderson apparently got lots of exposure in the ’60s as part of the AACM but never got an album as leader until this one, and then this wasn’t released for five years. Listening to this music, it’s hard to understand why that was.
Anderson plays relatively straight-forward (and often slower) lines for a “free jazz” saxophonist, and the title appears to allude to the space he seems to have found between traditional blues saxophone and free jazz. Like a number of free players, he seems interested in connecting free with tradition, rather than just trying to explode are traditions.
But the lack of a second horn, and the substitution of a percussionist in place of the trumpet, makes the record sound more radical. It’s an unusual combination that both gives more prominence to Anderson’s role and also forces the bass to play a little more of a melodic role.
It’s good stuff. It’s certainly not as far out as some free, but it’s also “catchier” for lack of a better word, despite the slightly impenetrable rhythms.
It’s really hard to understand why this man was pretty much unknown when he recorded this.
20. Hans Werner Henze: Symphony No. 7 (8/10)
Henze’s first symphony in twenty years, the seventh, is a markedly more traditional piece. (And admittedly so, apparently, as Henze claimed he was trying to write in the tradition of Beethoven.) The work is is very pleasing and, as these things go, is something I enjoy listening to, but I cannot shake the conservativeness of it. Certainly it is more daring than most Neo-Classical / Neo-Romantic works, and it breaks more traditions, but it is, at bottom, a far more conservative piece than what he used to write. And so I struggle with it. But, I cannot deny how compelling it is.
21. The Blue Nile: A Walk Across the Rooftops (8/10)
A refreshingly arty sophisti-pop record. Read the review of A Walk Across the Rooftops.
22. Robyn Hitchcock: I Often Dream of Trains (8/10)
I really like this. Read the review of I Often Dream of Trains.
23. Siouxsie and the Banshees: Hyaena (7/10)
Not my favourite of theirs but good as usual. Read the review of Hyaena or read all of my reviews of albums by Siouxsie and the Banshees.
24. Bruce Springsteen: Born in the U.SA. (7/10)
I think I have to rank this record this high because of the quality of the songs but I don’t want to. Read the review of Born in the U.S.A.
25. Felt: The Splendour of Fear (7/10)
Instrumental jangle pop that’s unique enough to make it interesting. Read the review of The Splendour of Fear.
26. Echo & the Bunnymen: Ocean Rain (7/10)
So they’re a baroque pop band now??? Read the review of Ocean Rain.
27. Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (7/10)
I love the film. I got a copy of it not that long after I saw it – in a theatre! though one with only about 6 people in it – and it’s become one of only a few staple rock concert films I have.
But half the appeal of this movie is that it’s a movie. The Heads’ show is unique and is literally half the fun.
Divorced from the film the performances are alright, but most Heads fans agree that the earlier official live album is better. And I can personally attest that there are better performances available on Youtube.
This is still great stuff, it’s just that the visuals are really key and they’re missing when you just listen to the soundtrack.
Also, somehow listening to “Genius of Love” on its own, without the visuals, makes me dislike the Tom Tom Club even more, if that was possible.
Read my reviews of Talking Heads’ studio albums.
28. Brewing Up with Billy Bragg (7/10)
In 2011, I said the following:
Bragg’s affected delivery and lack of innate musical ability – both in terms of writing melodies and performing them – makes this a little difficult to get in to. But after a while it grows on you. The biggest problem is the songs, half of which are silly little love songs (okay, not so silly) and have of which are venomous political tirades. It’s a pretty odd combination, which somehow works most of the time, but occasionally becomes downright puzzling. The bonus disc further stresses this little dilemma, as the best piece of social comment (“Talking Wag Club Blues,” probably my favourite on either disk) follows a straight up pop tune (“Won’t Talk About it,” which may or may not be a parody…I cannot tell).
A mixed bag, but an interesting one, which is completely free of bad 80s production.
So I don’t completely agree with this assessment now. I like the record more than I did when I first heard it. But, well, I also think it’s a big problem when your favourite track is on the bonus disc.
29. Black Flag: My War (7/10)
Two drastic left-turns in one. Read the review of My War.
30. Iron Maiden: Powerslave (7/10)
1 absolute classic song makes this better than it should be. Read the review of Powerslave.
31. Pretenders: Learning to Crawl (7/10)
Hynde is a good songwriter. Dammit. Read the review of Learning to Crawl.
32. Judas Priest: Defenders of the Faith (7/10)
I like this fine for a Judas Priest record. Read the review of Defenders of the Faith.
33. The Bangles: All Over the Place (7/10)
Pretty good power pop. Read the review of All Over the Place.
34. Warlock: Burning the Witches (7/10)
This might be a landmark. Read the review of Burning the Witches.
35. King Crimson: Three of a Perfect Pair (6/10)
Listening to this record, it’s no wonder they broke up for nearly a decade. I can hear the strain.
On the one hand we have Belew songs, one of which is alright, but most of which are really subpar, and on the other hand we have the improvisations. They are at war. Worse, they are mostly divided by side, so that we start with what feels like a borderline Belew solo album as performed by ’80s King Crimson, followed by what we think Crimson might actually want to sound like.
These competing tendencies were well combined on Discipline and Beat (and when they reunited in the 1990s) but here they don’t work.
My favourite song is literally the joke barbershop quartet bonus track. Everything else feels like a pale imitation of a formerly great band.
That being said: would I rather listen to this than Hair Metal or Synth Pop or the New Romantics or Yacht Rock? You’re damn right I would.
Read my reviews of King Crimson’s albums.
36. Alphaville: Forever Young (6/10)
Pretty good synthpop. Read the review of Forever Young.
37. The Smiths (6/10)
They are fine. They are not one of the greatest bands of this or any other decade. Read the review of The Smiths’ debut record.
38. Simple Minds: Sparkle in the Rain (6/10)
I cannot get over how much these guys sound like a less good U2. Read the review of Sparkle in the Rain.
39. Lou Reed: New Sensations (6/10)
What’s new about it is Reed’s concessions to ’80s production. Read the review of New Sensations or why not check out all of my Lou Reed reviews?
40. Bruck Cockburn: Stealing Fire (6/10)
Good songs marred by terrible production and some poor arrangement choices. Read the review of Stealing Fire.
41. Orchestral Manouevres in the Dark: Junk Culture (6/10)
I guess it’s relatively interesting for synthpop. Read the review of Junk Culture.
42. Madonna: Like a Virgin (6/10)
Less diverse than the debut. Read the review of Like a Virgin.
43. Twisted Sister: Stay Hungry (6/10)
“Metal” for teenage boys. Read the review of Stay Hungry.
44. Wham!: Make It Big (6/10)
’80s Motown sung by a British guy. Read the review of Make It Big.
45. Mauricio Kagel: Der Eid des Hippokrates (5/10)
Der Eid des Hippokrates is one of those piano pieces where the piano is used in unconventional ways. It requires three hands and one of them must be doing that knocking. It’s not something that’s going to stay with me.
46. Scorpions: Love at First Sting (5/10)
Not my thing at all. Read the review of Love at First Sting.
47. Van Halen: 1984 (5/10)
Big, dumb. Read the review of the creatively titled 1984 album.
48. David Bowie: Tonight (5/10)
I wrote the following in 2011:
There is some really weak shit on this (the reggae stuff, for example). There is also the odd gem. The really glaring sign that this is a tossed off effort is the sheer number of covers and old songs. It’s pretty transparent. Bowie can sing with all the emotion he wants to but he wasn’t all there. It’s not horrible but it’s so below his 70s standard it’s kind of shocking.
I really thought I had written a new review. Read my reviews of other David Bowie albums.
49. Various Artists: Footloose Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (5/10)
Well, it’s not terrible. And it goes by quickly. Read the review of the soundtrack to Footloose.
50. Tina Turner: Private Dancer (4/10)
I don’t like the covers and I don’t like the production. Read the review of Private Dancer.
EPs:
1. Celtic Frost: Morbid Tales (9/10)
A definitive step on the way from thrash to a more diverse extreme music world. Read the review of Morbid Tales.
Destruction: Sentence of Death (7/10)
This is some ridiculous, basically campy, European thrash. These guys don’t seem to understand much about taste or subtlety. And the production hasn’t dated that well. (I am thinking of whatever is happening to the drums on “Black Mass”.) But they jumped on the bandwagon pretty early and, moreover, everything is as advertised. (Look at that cover. You know what you’re getting.)
Not Ranked:
Compilations, archival releases and new performances of old music.
I forgot one. “This is Spinal Tap” [10]