I didn’t really know what I was getting into here. I thought I knew what this band sounded like and I was kind of surprised they had existed as long as they did. And then “Call Me” started and I was like “Wait, what? They’re a (UK) post punk band???”
Tag: Post Punk
Express (1986) by Love and Rockets
I spent way too much time in my review of Earth Sun Moon obsessing over how these guys weren’t Bauhaus. It’s a weird review that I find hard to read now. I wish I had focused on the music so I could try to compare the two records and understand why I appear to have …
Happy Birthday (1981) by Altered Images
Post-punk was really evolving by 1981, and I think it’s safe to say that a number of bands were starting to realize they didn’t have to sound like Joy Division. Altered Images’ obvious influence is the Banshees but Grogan does not sound like Siouxsie Sioux (and she really isn’t on her level, as a singer, …
Dreamtime (1981) by Tom Verlaine
Marquee Moon is one of my favourite albums of the ’70s so this should be right in my wheelhouse. And it mostly is. Verlaine is a better songwriter than a lot of his contemporaries (with the notable exception of David Byrne), though he’s hardly an all time great. He has a good sense of melody, …
Beauty and the Beat (1981) by Go-Go’s
This is undoubtedly an important record. It is possibly the most successful debut album by an all-female band, at least to this point and history and it might have also been the first all-female band album to hit US#1 (though I’m not 100% sure where I read that and can’t find it now). It’s trailblazing …
Duran Duran (1981)
Much like early U2 are the point at which British post punk and arena rock meet, early Duran Duran are the point at which British post punk meets pop.
Talk Talk Talk (1981) by The Psychedelic Furs
It should be to their credit that the Psychedelic Furs tried to distinguish themselves on this record more than they did on their debut but I’m not sure how much that works for me. It’s less a criticism (I think) than a manner of personal taste.
Seamonsters (1991) by The Wedding Present
We all have musical sweet spots, things we like so much that we just eat up anything that fits into those sweet spots. This album, the first I have ever heard by The Wedding Present, hits me in a few of mine. And I left wondering, not for the first time, why it took me …
Playing With a Different Sex (1981) by Au Pairs
This is an excellent feminist post punk record that has right been compared to Gang of Four, both for its political lyrics and its danceability.
The Last Pogo Jumps Again (2013, Colin Brunton, Kire Paputts)
This is an exhaustive documentary about the Toronto punk scene in the late 1970s. It is nearly 3 and a half hours long -supposedly cut down form 5 hours – which means that it is probably only for people interested in the scene or in the history of Toronto. But if you’re interested in punk …
Penis Envy (1981) by Crass
I can be a little skeptical of records from certain genres released past the genre’s “moment.” So I’m often skeptical of “classic” punk records that were released after 1978 just as I’m skeptical of “classic” new wave records released in the ’80s.
…And Don’t the Kids Just Love It (1981) by Television Personalities
There are some records which really depend upon context for them to be fully appreciated. And I think/fear that this is one of them. A record that is supposedly super influential on C86 specifically and the lo fi aesthetic in general. And that very well might be true, as I don’t know much about the …
Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980) Adam and the Ants
British new wave is nearly always less musically interesting and risky than American new wave. There are many reasons for that and I’m not going to go into them here. I just wanted to mention it because often a lot what passes for “innovation” in British new wave is attitude.
Jeopardy (1980) by The Sound
This is a pretty great British post punk record, one of the numerous post punk debuts to come out in 1980 but with enough strengths to recommend it.
In My Head (1985) by Black Flag
I guess there was a point in my life where I could have become a big Black Flag fan and become interested in the little stylistic changes they made throughout there career. But that point was a while ago and, instead, I found other things that suited my desire for noisy music.
What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1980) by The Chameleons
I sort of don’t know why I ended up listening to this. It seemed to have pretty positive reviews and they released so few records, I guess I figured I had to listen to this if I was ever going to listen to any Chameleons record. So here we are.
A-Z (1980) by Colin Newman
One of the things I find fascinating about musicians is when a frontman or primary songwriter or leader of a major band goes out and makes a solo record…which sounds exactly like their band, or close enough. It’s like, what was getting in your way in the band that made you think you couldn’t make …
Love Zombies (1980) by The Monochrome Set
We all have things we like more than other things, that hit certain buttons or pleasure points. And the moment the title track started I was like “This is for me”. I love carnivalesque music in places where it shouldn’t be, for whatever reason, and the lead off track to an album by a band …
Kilimanjaro (1980) by The Teardrop Explodes
It’s funny what gets labeled “psychedelic”, especially when music wasn’t particularly psychedelic. I’ve never heard this band before – though I’ve heard Cope’s solo music but the label “neo psychedelic” really steers one the wrong way. Yes, it’s a spectrum, but this is pretty typical 1980 British post punk with a couple of major differences: …
Empires and Dance (1980) by Simple Minds
Is “I Travel” the first post punk song this dancey? It sounds like they invented New Order’s sound before New Order got to it. I gotta say I wasn’t expecting that when I put on this record.
The Head on the Door (1985) by The Cure
My general appreciation of The Cure keeps running into problems. The problem is that I had their singles collections for years and listened to them fairly regularly but didn’t get around to their albums until recently. And now I listen to them haphazardly: one from the early ’80s here, one from the mid ’80s there, …
Wild Planet (1980) by The B-52’s
As with their debut, this is a wacky, dancy, vaguely surfy and extremely campy record which is a lot of fun.
The Affectionate Punch (1980) by The Associates
This is an excellent debut albums which combines post punk and new wave to mostly great effect.
Crocodiles (1980) by Echo and the Bunnymen
Maybe it’s when I came to the Bunnymen but I am constantly underwhelmed by a band that most consider one of the pillars of British Post Punk (a genre I love). They always remind me of other bands (both past and contemporary) and I find myself wondering what’s with all the hype. (Someone once claimed …
Fear and Whiskey (1985) by Mekons
This record is credited by many as the birth of alt country. (Funnily enough, a record by an American band released exactly five years later is also credited as the birth of alt country…) I’m not sure that’s true for more than a few reasons, but it’s still a remarkably unique post punk record, especially …
Underwater Moonlight (1980) by The Soft Boys
The beginning of the first song got me excited. Then the rest of the album happened…
Low-Life (1985) by New Order
I generally don’t like and don’t get the gradual drift tin dance music of so many of the trailblazers and followers of the initial wave of post punk. It doesn’t make much sense to me to be excited by the possibilities of punk, and want to expand it, and then to decide that what you …
Freedom of Choice (1980) by Devo
As someone else put it: Devo have actually devolved – as they claim was happening to culture – only to produce their biggest hit. This contains “Whip It” – far and away their most famous song – and, as a result, the album was their biggest hit.
Seventeen Seconds (1980) by The Cure
I can’t actually recall if I’ve ever listened to Three Imaginary Boys. I don’t think I have but I can also imagine listening to it once and deciding there was no point to include it, given its reputation. I have listed to Faith on the other hand and I did not enjoy it when I …
Half-Mute (1980) by Tuxedomoon
With the first track I thought this was going to get really out there, like a (much) more ambient version of Swell Maps or This Heat but with saxophone.