The Cure - The Top
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Hyaena
King Crimson - Three of a Perfect Pair
The Smiths - Hatful of Hollow
XTC - The Big Express
Meat Puppets - Meat Puppets II
I have to of course ask if Brian Eno was omitted due to my exhaustion or due to his album not being seminal enough to include?
Thank goodness you reminded me!
Brian Eno and Harold Budd - The Pearl
Steve Roach - Structures from Silence
Staying in this zone still, we have The Glove, a supergroup combining The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees (I think). This album too seems a bit on the brighter side and it suits them well. Sex-Eye-Make Up, Mr. Alphabet Says (I just personally really liked this one), Relax, and the instrumental (if I remember correctly) A Blues in Drag were all highlights here. Not many sore spots here, just solid and interesting throughout.
This band continues to sound a few years ahead of its time, with their brand of punk sounding very much like the seeds of a Green River or similar bands that are just a few years away, only sped up. Makes sense that Matt Cameron loves this band. Is This Real? might be my favorite this far, but the other two have their strong moments as well. Doom Town, Romeo (pretty wild track), and This Time really stuck out for me here. I keep expecting the lo-fi punk and spitfire vocals to turn me off, but they don’t with this band. They make it all work quite well.
This is one of a small sample of hardcore punk albums I have hit up in this thread, and while I am still not sold on the genre, this was a bit closer for me. There was a sense of youthful social commentary here that’s both at times juvenile and piercing, combined with some semblance of thrash but the playing is discernible. The vocals at times a bit less decipherable, given that there’s a lot of fast screaming, but after a few moments to calibrate myself, it wasn’t a deal breaker here. Subliminal to me was the best of the bunch, but I Want More showed they were capable of a coherent chorus, and Suicidal Failure was a good closer to this.
I have to say I found this to be the most effortlessly enjoyable AC/DC album since maybe before Back in Black. The title track here is the ultimate AC/DC, and the album basically blows through the sound that made them famous without even an itch to switch things up. Often, that is a point of criticism, but for a band whose selling point is big rock chops, take it or leave it, it seems only right for them to rock out without exception and let things fall where they may. It just feels looser than even some of the more recent albums.
This is another solid album from these folks. The Cutter and Back of Love come out the gates with them at their best - clearly in a post-punk space but there seems to be a larger than life drama to them not unlike U2 as they expanded their sound. From there, they maintained that sense of grandeur but also kicked around the tires a bit with some sonic textures that I think were rewarding for them. Porcupine is a killer track in that regard and the sudden shift from a drearier sound to a bright one in a span of seconds makes you think it’s a different song altogether but turns instead into a separate movement inside the song, which was pretty cool.
I know Japanese Whispers is technically a compilation of the standalone singles the band released in 83, but to me it really holds together as an album-album
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Jorge wrote:I know Japanese Whispers is technically a compilation of the standalone singles the band released in 83, but to me it really holds together as an album-album
I agree. It has a specific and brighter vibe to it than The Cure’s prior albums. My thought was not a reduction in quality at all, but that these songs don’t fit with the other albums - even still agreed there’s at least a musical arc to that album that defies its label as a compilation.
At times, this band precisely in its musical moment, and at others as if they beat Oasis to the punch by a decade. Part Brit-pop, part 80s jangly rock, but all of it really enjoyable. The second half still sticks out in my brain, from the malleable Blue Girls to the fantastic pop of Love Love. I remember the first half being pretty flawless, though for some reason not recalling the individual tracks much. Looking for Life might have ended up being my favorite here though the instant excitement of Love Love finished maybe a close second. I’m sure I will catch some heat for that from big fans, but I was nevertheless into this album from the jump as a brighter more accessible entry into this thread.
This debut album I see often listed among the great debuts, and it certainly seems like a pretty great achievement on first listen. Admittedly, Reel Around the Fountain, and Miserable Lie don’t hit me right away, but with future listens I could easily see myself coming around to it. I am admittedly in it for the Johnny Marr jangly guitars, and You’ve Got Everything Now brings me right to that spot. Then everything from This Charming Man on through the end is fantastic, bridging divides between some of the darker elements of post punk whilst keeping things open and pop oriented similarly to an R.E.M. - I’ll be back for this one again.
In these parts, we might note that every band sort of needs their No Code - a transitional album that shifts the narrative and expands the possibilities of what a band can deliver. It’s the growth album, where you might end up with a divisive moment amongst fans and media but ultimately pays off. This is it for The Cure, and for me a phenomenal success. The songs are wonky and have a lot of little textural experiments happening along with their standard devotion to a particular groove. It makes the songs feel like they are taking risks, even if this isn’t a wholesale reboot of the band (neither was No Code). I could very well see this one growing upon further listening as my favorite from the Cure (probably not yet). Wailing Wall, The Caterpillar, and Bananafishbones are the best examples of what’s happening here, while Shake Dog Shake, and The Top are both reminders we’re still squarely in The Cure’s world. Top notch.
Juxtaposed to The Cure’s more adventurous path, Simple Minds doubled down on their sound here, and rightfully relies on the strength of these songs. Up On the Catwalk, Waterfront, Lou Reed’s Street Hassle, White Hot Day, and The Kick Inside of Me are all really strong tracks that play on what they do best. This is easily my favorite of their albums so far, with the sound and energy here realizing what I’ve been missing thus far.
This took me by surprise - this album is on the level with English Settlement, which I remember as being pretty magical, but the textures and sounds here might be even more brilliant. Every song here has a place in this, and each unique and exceptional - to the point where the best track’s whatever you feel like on that particular day - mind adequately blown here. While it certainly could feel like it fits into an 80s timeframe, it also has the sense of being timeless, belonging to now as much as the 60s or 70s. Damn.
This is a real oddity of an album. Wherein the first half seems like the continuation of all things relatively stable of this lineup of King Crimson (so some post punk/new wave with a prog leftover vibe sitting there somewhere), the album turns nearly fully instrumental in the second half - almost like splitting difference of opinion in half without a compromise. Somehow, it doesn’t feel fully disconnected here, but it also has the scent of not being fully cohesive either. Somewhere in some sort of purgatory. Almost reminiscent of a Yellow Submarine, though not that extreme.
Wow. The Replacements did a lot of growing up it seems here and the results are just phenomenal. I Will Dare, We’re Coming Out, Andrgynous, their cover of KISS’s Black Diamond (might be better than the original), Unsatisfied, Seen Your Video, and Sixteen Blue all stick out as exceptional on first listen. It’s a certain level of pop punk, but then digs into some classic rock territory, in a different way than say The Clash, but just as appealing.
Minutemen quite literally. 43 songs in 74 minutes, so just under 2 mins per song. It actually makes the album seem way longer than it is, but that’s a digression. The music here is really good, great riffs, great playing - and sometimes it does feel like the song wasn’t given time to develop, but most of the time it’s just fine with the timing, though hard to differentiate the tracks when there are so many. I did find a favorite here in Nature Without Man.
I won’t lie - I will always find Henry Rollins abrasive in a way that’s not pleasant. It’s just how I hear him, and it’s always been that way. I actually did think this album was a step up however, maybe due to them slowing down a bit so it’s not all spitfire. I still wouldn’t count it among my favorite albums by any stretch, but I was impressed to see they are more than just a hardcore punk band.
The Essential Track: My War
Up Next: Joan Jett and the Blackhawks - Glorious Results of a Misspent Youth
