Essential Studio Albums

[liebzz]

Bob Seger - Against the Wind

Bob Seger is another at this point where you kind of get what you expected - old school classic rock. Not too hard, not too fast, this album is a breeze, and I was stunned when it was already over. The title track is a Seger classic, the Horizontal Bop, You’ll Accomp’ny Me, Her Strut, Betty Lou’s Gettin’ Out Tonight, and Shinin’ Brightly also stuck out a bit in a quick easy album.

The Essential Track: Against the Wind

Up Next: Talking Heads - Remain in Light

Her Strut is just a down ‘n’ dirty groove. One of my favorites of his.

Yup, gave that one some serious thought.

[Higgs]

There’s about 8 albums left for 1980, so time to take suggestions on what’s missing for ‘81:

Phil Collins - Face Value
The Who - Face Dances
Iron Maiden - Killers
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Van Halen - Fair Warning
Motley Crue - Too Fast For Love (yup, we’re going there)
The Police - Ghost in the Machine
Bad Brains
Go-Go’s - Beauty and the Beat
Kraftwerk - Computer World
Rush - Moving Pictures
Blue Oyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin
Foreigner - 4
Genesis - Abacab
Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk
Joan Jett and the Black Hawks - Bad Reputation
Joan Jett and the Black Hawks - I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll
Squeeze - East Side Story
The Cure - Faith
New Order - Movement
Depeche Mode - Speak and Spell
Elvis Costello & the Attractions - Imperial Bedroom
Rolling Stones - Tattoo You
Neil Young - Re-Ac-Tor
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Hard Promises
U2 - October
Muddy Waters - King Bee

Australian Crawl - Sirocco
Men at Work - Business as Usual
Mondo Rock - Chemistry
INXS - Shabooh Shoobah

[coptheriotact]

Sirocco is a jam

[Birds in Hell]

... time to take suggestions on what’s missing for ‘81:

Is 1981 the greatest year for music ever?

Man, it's good:

Bill Evans - You Must Believe in Spring
Harold Budd - The Serpent in Quicksilver
King Crimson - Discipline
Nick Mason - Nick Mason's Fictitious Sports
Mission of Burma - Signals, Calls and Marches
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju
Tom Tom Club
Wipers - Youth of America
Brian Eno and David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Fun fact: Adrian Belew plays guitar on three of these albums, as well as on Remain in Light, your next scheduled listen from 1980.

And that's only a few of the records he played on around that time, the guy was everywhere.

[liebzz]

Talking Heads - Remain in Light

There’s a sense that everything we’ve heard from the Talking Heads and Brian Eno leads to this moment. Really, all that sort of fits into the general framework of that rhythmic based rock writing from the late 70s lead here too: a moment where the sonic experimentation and catchy rhythms find their home together. Crosseeyed and Painless, and Once in a Lifetime are classics that embody this, but nearly every moment of this album blends different sonic loops with Byrne’s lyrical style, the afrobeats, and those relentless rhythms. How on earth this soup all comes together to form one phenomenal meal is almost beyond comprehension. But it does and becomes instantly essential.

The Essential Track: Once in a Lifetime

Up Next: David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

[Teeeeeekay]

Steve Earle - Guitar Town (1986)

I’ve been obsessed with this one lately.

[liebzz]

Steve Earle - Guitar Town (1986)

I’ve been obsessed with this one lately.

On the list - but it’ll be a while til we get to
‘86.

[Teeeeeekay]

Steve Earle - Guitar Town (1986)

I’ve been obsessed with this one lately.

On the list - but it’ll be a while til we get to
‘86.

My bad. I forgot it’s year by year.

[liebzz]

David Bowie - Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)

I have no idea what I was expecting here - I seem to like David Bowie enough but I can’t say this journey have driven to seek out deeper albums and cuts or anything like that. And yet having heard none of these songs before, I found this album to be quite enjoyable. The title track and Teenage Wildlife stuck out immediately, as did Up the Hill Backwards. Really creative and interesting album that matched in vibe this Halloween week.

The Essential Track: Teenage Wildlife

Up Next: Joy Division - Closer

[liebzz]

Joy Division - Closer

This is another darker album, and the last as Joy Division. This one seems a bit tighter compositionally from the last one, which I think gives it the slight edge. It seems to almost alternate between guitar and synth driven rock, and musically this album is also one that seems a bit ahead of its time and pushes the conventional sense of rock music is capable of. That said, the guitar driven material is what really drew me in here - Atrocity Exhibition, Colony, A Means to An End, and Passover, all in the first half, are what make this album for me. There are no weak spots here though. This is the sort of album I will need when I’m just that space.

The Essential Track: A Means to An End (I am sure on further listen it would be something else, but this is the first listen draw)

Up Next: Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles

[VinylGuy]

I should listen to Joy Division more.

[LoathedVermin72]

Scary Monsters is maybe my favorite Bowie album

[liebzz]

Scary Monsters is maybe my favorite Bowie album

If it isn’t mine, it’s very close.

[liebzz]

Echo & the Bunnymen - Crocodiles

There’s a tremendous amount of riches in the post punk universe circa 1980, and this album is a gem that could easily get lost in that pile - but it shouldn’t. It’s an excellent debut, and features a bit more punk snarl than some of their contemporaries while still tinkering around with their sound and coming up with something original. What stuck out on this listen was Do It Clean, Monkeys, Crocodiles, Read It In Books, and The Pictures On My Wall, but this is another without a weak link. Just an exceptional run of albums.

The Essential Track: The Pictures on My Wall

Up Next: U2 - Boy

[liebzz]

U2 - Boy

Some bands have that effect that when you make it to them in this journey, it feels like an arrival. U2 demands the kind of attention that certainly falls into that category. On the surface, they sort of blend into a lot of what we’ve been listening to the last few weeks. But there’s stuff that does really pull them up from the pack (not least that they are all guitar driven and break free from the synthesizers). I Will Follow is the single here and it’s so good. But so is A Cat Dubh > Into the Heart, Out of Control, Another Time Another Place, and the Electric Co. - picking a favorite that I thought coming in was a no brainer turned out to be a tough choice.

The Essential Track: The Electric Co.

Up Next: The Clash - Sandanista!

[liebzz]

The Clash - Sandanista!

This might be the most ambitious album in this entire thread. 36 tracks that range from weird to staples, reggae, soul, rock, punk, and more - sometimes approached singly and other times meshed together. There’s tons of experimentation, which is only to be expected on a lengthy triple album, and nearly no filler - at least to the extent that each track contributes to the fullness of this album, and none encapsulates the whole project. In that sense, every track here is essential even if you don’t like them all the same. Depending on how you accept this massive collection of tracks, it’s either the most bloated and overwrought album ever, or it’s 1980’s White Album. In the first part of the album, I was thinking the former, but as the album progressed and I stuck with it, I found it to ultimately be the latter. It’s weird and wild and worth the investment.

The Essential Track: I honestly don’t even know or could venture any guess

Up Next: X - Los Angeles

[liebzz]

X -Los Angeles

A return to some real punk rock here, this X debut is, at the start, a real bolt of energy. Of note as the album progresses is an excellent punk cover of Soul Kitchen, Nausea, Los Angeles, and Sex and Dying in High Society, though my favorites ended this album, The Unheard Music that features a killer riff that acts as the chorus, and The World’s a Mess It’s In My KISS, which gets sort of psychedelic. Funny that the two least punk songs here are my favorites.

The Essential Track: The Unheard Music

Up Next: John Martyn - Grace and Danger

[Higgs]

The Clash - Sandanista!

This might be the most ambitious album in this entire thread. 36 tracks that range from weird to staples, reggae, soul, rock, punk, and more - sometimes approached singly and other times meshed together. There’s tons of experimentation, which is only to be expected on a lengthy triple album, and nearly no filler - at least to the extent that each track contributes to the fullness of this album, and none encapsulates the whole project. In that sense, every track here is essential even if you don’t like them all the same. Depending on how you accept this massive collection of tracks, it’s either the most bloated and overwrought album ever, or it’s 1980’s White Album. In the first part of the album, I was thinking the former, but as the album progressed and I stuck with it, I found it to ultimately be the latter. It’s weird and wild and worth the investment.

The Essential Track: I honestly don’t even know or could venture any guess

Up Next: X - Los Angeles

It's The Call Up. Although I would also accept The Magnificent Seven.

[liebzz]

John Martyn - Grace and Danger

Another recommendation from the group I had never even heard of. A little rudimentary research revealed that Phil Collins played drums and background vocals, and apparently there’s a mirror like connective tissue between this and Face Value - both addressing the breakdown of relationships. On this one, the first 2/3 of this album aren’t as depressing as the subject matter, and is fantastic. Some People Are Crazy, Grace and Danger, Lookin’ On, and Johnny Too Bad are all straight rock n roll, but seem to bring something new and fresh. Sweet Little Mystery slows things down, but it’s got a character that maintains the high quality of this album, as does Hurt in Your Heart. I ran out of gas a bit at the end, but this is an otherwise wonderful album.

The Essential Track: Grace and Danger

Up Next: Phil Collins - Face Value

[liebzz]

Phil Collins - Face Value

This album must have surprised his fans quite a bit. As a band leader in Genesis, their albums had been largely complicated and not particularly emotional. So comparatively, this seems like Phil Collins laid bare, dealing with the emotional impact of the dissolving of his relationship. To that extent, there are parallels with Grace and Danger. This album though, has a mix of many different sounds, with the pop music really breaking through the din. The simple yet cathartic approach to In the Air Tonight makes it one of the better songs Phil Collins has ever been involved with, and I Missed Again is slightly less simple but similarly cathartic. There are certainly other highlights here, like The Roof is Leaking, Thunder and Lightning, and I’m Not Moving. The only real serious blemish on this is the cover of Tomorrow Never Knows, which is a square peg to close the album and disrupts the feel and focus this album otherwise had.

The Essential Track: In the Air Tonight

Up Next: The Who - Face Dances