Essential Studio Albums

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Iron Maiden - Killers

Iron Maiden continue on here sounding like a breath of fresh air - a high speed one maybe - as perhaps the leading band of the new wave of British metal. Either way, this album takes off just as quickly as the first, even if it doesn’t reach those heights, with The Ides of March, Wrathchild, and Murders in Rue Morgue. The beast tracks here for me, again you can sort of hear a child McCready finding his guitar muse, in Innocent Exile, Killers, and Drifter. Not a sore spot on this album from top to bottom once again. Who knew I’d become an overnight Maiden fan.

The Essential Track: Innocent Exile

Up Next: Van Halen - Fair Warning

Love Iron Maiden's first two with Paul. That sound is more up my alley then the Bruce era, though I do like a lot of songs with Bruce.

They are one of the bands I went into this pretty cold, and walking out a fan. There have been a few of those, and this is one of those bands I am likely to really dig into more at some point.

[liebzz]

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Juju

Siouxsie and the Banshees return to guitar rock on this album, and it feels quite welcome. The opening trio (again) of Spellbound, Into the Light, and Arabian Knights is quite excellent. Sin in My Heart and the drawn out Voodoo Dolly are also big highlights here. There was some reading that this is seen as an influential goth album, and I can see that, but I think this calls back a bit more to the rhythm based post punk we’ve heard a lot of the last couple weeks. Excellent stuff nonetheless.

The Essential Track: Spellbound

Up Next: Au Pairs - Playing With a Different Sex

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Au Pairs - Playing With a Different Sex

This is yet another excellent album. I had never heard of this band before it was recommended and I am glad I got to hear it. It’s a bit of a grower of an album, but it sort of happens while the album progresses. Were So Cool is a good opener and Love Song is a strong follow, it I was caught up in Headache for Michelle, a bit of an atmospheric tune, Armagh, Unfinished Business, Dear John, and the building closer It’s Obvious. So the back half of this is my preference. My hope is to not lose this in the dustbin of similar sounding albums, which I gather may have happened when it was new, but it’s more than a worthy listen.

The Essential Track: Headache for Michelle

Up Next: Kraftwerk - Computer World

[liebzz]

Kraftwerk - Computer World

This is a bit of a fascinating if not weird album from Kraftwek, which is saying a lot since their albums always veer on the edge of weird, often in a good way. They have a way of using repetitive loops in a hypnotic way to keep you engrossed in their works, and this album is really no different in that aspect. It really is just at times it devolves into primitive video game music - I swear I was powering up in Mario Bros during Pocket Calculator. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting album I am glad I took in.

The Essential Track: Computer World (yes I liked it more than Computer Love)

Up Next: Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

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Brian Eno & David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

These guys had an era working together. Between Fear of Music and Remain in Light, there’s a lot of good will built for this partnership. For their collaborative album here, the pop and rock elements that dominate those albums are gone, and in are the kaleidoscopic fragments that make these soundscapes. While that’s a very loaded Brian Eno-like description, it’s David Byrnes fingerprints I think that take this album up a few notches. America Is Waiting, Help Me Somebody, The Jezebel Spirit, , and Very Very Hungry feel like David Byrne songs, and they were instantly my favorites here.

The Essential Track: America Is Waiting

Up Next: Rick James - Street Songs

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Rick James - Street Songs

This is a good mix of soul, funk, and R&B, and most of the album I enjoyed. Give It To Me Baby and Super Freak are iconic hits and worth the title. Below the Funk and Ghetto Life are also really nice highlights here. While it may be a classic in some circles, I was not so much a fan of his duet with Teena Marie, Fire and Desire, which just felt like a bit too much - like a cloyingly sweet dessert.

The Essential Track: Super Freak

Up Next: Prince - Controversy

[liebzz]

Prince - Controversy

As the title suggests, there’s some stuff in here that might have raised a few eyebrows in 1981. Ronnie Talk to Russia might be exhibit 1 with Annie Christian exhibit 2 and Jack U Off as exhibit 3. The opening title track here is pretty great and it’s followed by Sexuality, both exceptional pop songs that have an edge to them that ensures there’s more to it than a nice pop song. Let’s Work was also a highlight track for me. This seems like a Prince that’s just about to take off into the stratosphere.

The Essential Track: Controversy

Up Next: Rush - Moving Pictures

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Rush - Moving Pictures

Rush is one of those bands I’ve been kind of waiting for an album to knock me out, and they’ve had moments but never really sustained it for a full album…until now. This one is really fantastic and maybe their finest to date. It mixes the cathartic rock they are capable of with their brainy music and it results in an album as thrilling as it is interesting. It has its classic songs, Tom Sawyer and Limelight, but I was most blown away by YYZ, an instrumental track emulated later by Primus as an intro to John the Fisherman, The Camera Eye with a long instrumental breakdown that just grows on you as it expands, Witch Hunt, and Vital Signs, two wonky tracks that just seem to work so well. This was well worth the time.

The Essential Track: (it’s a hard pick) Vital Signs

Up Next: Blue Oyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin

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Blue Oyster Cult - Fire of Unknown Origin

This is a bit of a middle of the road album from Blue Oyster Cult. The best song is the hit, which is maybe about right for this general brand of arena rock - but Burnin’ For You is really a fun song. The opening title track, Veteran of Psychic Wars, and Joan Crawford are also solid here, but there’s really not that much to say about this album that is consistently good but rarely great.

The Essential Track: Burnin’ For You

Up Next: Foreigner 4

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Foreigner - 4

I don’t know if it’s a losing streak or this brand of arena rock just started wearing thin circa 1981, but this is another arena pop rock album, much celebrated by the fans of this band, that largely fall pretty flat. Granted, Urgent is a pretty solid single, keeping with Foreigner’s pattern of putting a lot into the singles and then kind of getting through the rest. Juke Box Hero isn’t as strong but you could do worse…as in Waiting For a Girl Like You, which is a pretty cloying ballad, and the kind of stuff that spawned the token album ballad for generations to come (you can almost here them saying in a canned cliche “here’s one for the ladies”). The rest of the album pretty exists on cliches of arena rock of the time, with nothing much sticking out as really all that essential.

The Essential Track: Urgent

Up Next: Genesis - Abacab

[wease]

Urgent is the best Foreigner song

[liebzz]

Genesis - Abacab

While there’s still a hard prog bent to this album, it might also be the most accessible and catchy of their albums so far. While longer tracks, I found Abacab and Dodo/Lurker to be some of the album’s best, and also really enjoyed Keep It Dark and Man on the Corner. Sooner than later they’d make a full pop turn, but this seems maybe a bit more balanced.

The Essential Track: Dodo/Lurker

Up Next: The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk

[oasisfan35]

Urgent is the best Foreigner song

Watching the video and primarily because of hair, I thought I was watching Jeremy Allen White sing with Adam Driver on drums:

Spoiler: show

[Kalevi]

I think between the sheer volume of the journey to now having all these albums that I've never heard but suspect I wouldn't like- i would be in hell now

[bada]

Genesis - Abacab

While there’s still a hard prog bent to this album, it might also be the most accessible and catchy of their albums so far. While longer tracks, I found Abacab and Dodo/Lurker to be some of the album’s best, and also really enjoyed Keep It Dark and Man on the Corner. Sooner than later they’d make a full pop turn, but this seems maybe a bit more balanced.

The Essential Track: Dodo/Lurker

Up Next: The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk

My hardcore Genesis friends kill me when I say this but 1980-1983 Genesis is the best.

[liebzz]

Urgent is the best Foreigner song

Watching the video and primarily because of hair, I thought I was watching Jeremy Allen White sing with Adam Driver on drums:

Spoiler: show

Meanwhile, I am pretty sure Cold As Ice is my favorite Foreigner song.

[liebzz]

I think between the sheer volume of the journey to now having all these albums that I've never heard but suspect I wouldn't like- i would be in hell now

I think a big part of the journey was to finally hear many albums I suspected I wouldn’t like because I now don’t have to go to The Wall or Sam Goody to pay $19 for an album I suspected I wouldn’t like. Turns out I actually like a whole lot of them (not all, as some of these descriptions note).

[Kalevi]

I think between the sheer volume of the journey to now having all these albums that I've never heard but suspect I wouldn't like- i would be in hell now

I think a big part of the journey was to finally hear many albums I suspected I wouldn’t like because I now don’t have to go to The Wall or Sam Goody to pay $19 for an album I suspected I wouldn’t like. Turns out I actually like a whole lot of them (not all, as some of these descriptions note).

I'm exhausted enough reading these that I'm skipping the foreigner and motley crew recaps

[liebzz]

I think between the sheer volume of the journey to now having all these albums that I've never heard but suspect I wouldn't like- i would be in hell now

I think a big part of the journey was to finally hear many albums I suspected I wouldn’t like because I now don’t have to go to The Wall or Sam Goody to pay $19 for an album I suspected I wouldn’t like. Turns out I actually like a whole lot of them (not all, as some of these descriptions note).

I'm exhausted enough reading these that I'm skipping the foreigner and motley crew recaps

Neither were very positive.

[liebzz]

The Psychedelic Furs - Talk Talk Talk

Sometimes an album just blows you away. I was quite impressed with their debut but this just felt next level. With the swagger of the Stones and the jangly chords of the soon to be R.E.M., this is just a killer combination that just stuck to me. The obvious songs for discussion are Pretty in Pink, Mr. Jones and All of This and Nothing (killer intro and the shifts back and forth were pretty great) - but not a single moment where this album doesn’t impress. A must hear.

The Essential Track: Mr. Jones

Up Next: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - I Love Rock n Roll