Red Mosquito

Or maybe just their music

Still a great thread though.

Sade - Stronger Than Pride

Sade continues to make a sort of cool jazz pop that’s far more enjoyable than many of her peers. This one has Paradise on it, along with Love Is Stronger Than Pride, and Nothing Can Come Between Us, but there are several other highlights here worth noting, including Haunt Me, Keep Looking, Give It Up, and Siempre Hay Esperanza, which is the instrumental closer to this. Sade’s voice is ethereal through this, and it perfectly fits the cooler vibe of this album. Not as good as her debut but hard to beat that.

The Essential Track: Haunt Me

Up Next: Underworld - Underneath the Radar

Jorge wrote:Or maybe just their music

I have long struggled for the reason for the imbalance. Granted, I have given I think at least high praise for Siouxsie and the Banshees, Fleetwood Mac, Heart’s harder rock albums, Sonic Youth, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation… but I don’t deny there’s a lack of representation in the top half of my list and I simply don’t know why.

Funny that I dropped a positive review of a female artist at nearly the same time. My only guess is that a lot of prominent female artists are thriving in genres I don’t often listen to? Or the classics are just dominated historically by male artists?

I sometimes feel bad for the other members of Sade (the band) because people think that Sade (the band) is just Sade (the singer). But that's kind of on them for agreeing to name Sade (the band) after Sade (the singer) and putting Sade (the singer) front and center of all the promotional materials and album covers for Sade (the band)

Jorge wrote:I sometimes feel bad for the other members of Sade (the band) because people think that Sade (the band) is just Sade (the singer). But that's kind of on them for agreeing to name Sade (the band) after Sade (the singer) and putting Sade (the singer) front and center of all the promotional materials and album covers for Sade (the band)

The band makes it all work, primarily because if Sade the singer is upfront, Sade the band provides the atmosphere that makes her more than just another pop star.

Underworld - Underneath the Radar

80s dance combined with guitar rock is an interesting twist, and one that worked a lot better than I expected. The opening track, Glory! Glory!, and the title track worked best for me along with The God Song, but even though I initially sort of exhaled with a sense I would be just tolerating this, each song came to surprise me with how much I enjoyed the structure and atmosphere they were creating. Once again another I am not calling an all time favorite, but one that I can appreciate and enjoy nevertheless - certainly much more than tolerating, which is sort of what I expected hearing the electronic song intros.

The Essential Track: Underneath the Radar

Up Next: Crowded House - Temple of Low Men

Crowded House - Temple of Low Men

I gotta say I really liked this album, which really solidifies Crowded House for me as an essential band in this thread. It is reliable and sturdy rock music - and sometimes that just what you need. This is less hooky for lack of a better term than their debut, but made up for in its range and songwriting. Kill Eye really leaves a mark near the beginning, When You Come turns into an epic track, as does Never Be the Same. They get a little funky with Sister Madly, then turn back to rock In the Lowlands and end with the slower Better Be Home Soon. The whole thing feels like following the classic rock form to a tee, which is right up my alley.

The Essential Track: When You Come

Up Next: The Proclaimers - Sunshine On Leith

Jorge wrote:I sometimes feel bad for the other members of Sade (the band) because people think that Sade (the band) is just Sade (the singer). But that's kind of on them for agreeing to name Sade (the band) after Sade (the singer) and putting Sade (the singer) front and center of all the promotional materials and album covers for Sade (the band)

They knew how to promote their music. Bon Jovi had the same idea.

The Proclaimers - Sunshine on Leith

This is another I really enjoyed more than I expected. I knew I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) of course, but wasn’t sure if I could handle variations of that song for 45 minutes, even if I do indeed enjoy that song. This had a lot more range than that. Then I Met You, My Old Friends the Blues, the title track, It’s Saturday Night, and Oh Jean are all highlights and sound very different from each other. Pairing with a rock band gave them plenty of space to kick around this sound to quite positive results.

The Essential Track: I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Up Next: The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane

The Go-Betweens - 16 Lovers Lane

Yet another in a nice run of excellent albums. I remember enjoying the last one well enough, but this seems like a really strong effort, despite the discord, for this band. It’s got a jangly rock vibe that feels organic even if some of the drums were done with a drum machine. Love Goes On!, You Can’t Say No Forever, Clouds, and Dive For Your Memory were my favorites here, all quite enjoyable pop rock, even leaning slightly heavy in moments (You Can’t say No Forever and Clouds in particular. Great suggestion.

The Essential Track: You Can’t Say No Forever

Up Next: Billy Bragg - Workers Playtime

Billy Bragg - Workers Playtime

On his fourth album, Bragg seems to be a bit more love song focused than my imagined ripped from the headlines early releases. It’s still in the vein of a British punk doing folk rock and still very enjoyable. My favorite ends the album with a bit of that social commentary on Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards. Another solid album from Bragg.

The Essential Track: Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

Up Next: Weddings Parties Anything - Roaring Days

Yeah, that's my fave BB album I'd say. Always been a fan but it's nice to hear him mix it up here.

Very interested in your thoughts on WPA. Very 'strine* this one.

(* Australian)

Weddings Parties Anything - Roaring Days

This is the second album we’re covering here from this band, and I recall the prior album being a positive experience. Likewise, this is a good collection of relatively straightforward rock music, though there is a tiny bit of what seems like a Celtic punk vibe happening, particularly in the second half of the album. It is the first half though that really intrigued me, with Industrial Town, Under the Clocks, Gun, and Tilting at Windmills highlighting. The title track and A Summons in the Morning were my favorite on the back half. This is a strong band that does keep things interesting.

The Essential Track: Under the Clocks

Up Next: Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden

Talk Talk - Spirit of Eden

I had to go back and look at what I wrote about their last album, maybe for retrospective clues on what we get here - but nope, I didn’t see this coming at all. Culled from long jam sessions in the dark, this album’s feel is almost stream of consciousness, but not so much in a shapeless, avant garde way - more like floating from one track to the next. It’s not as if you can’t tell there’s a new track but that it doesn’t really matter because you are transfixed into a space of jazz, rock, and even a bit of minimalism where you are never sure what’s coming next, but never jarred in your senses. A few years ago I might have rolled my eyes at this one a bit, but since we’ve done a sort of a least surface level dive into the foundations that spurred these improvisational sessions, I not only appreciate what they did here, but emphatically enjoyed it. It’s got to be rare for a band to be fine and good and just drop a piece of art like this no one could have expected. And to my joy, an album I think where trying to listen in parts pulls the whole thing out of context. Do this one right and go cover to cover.

The Essential Track: Desire

Up Next: Lyle Lovett - Pontiac

Tremendous album, I love Talk Talk

Lyle Lovett - Pontiac

Speaking of a shock to expectations, this album turns everything I thought I knew about country on its head. Lovett really employs so many different sounds here, from a simple folk-like opening on If I Had a Boat, to synths on LA County, and then into horns and pop and all sorts of lush sounds between She’s No Lady, M-O-N-E-Y, and Black and Blue. Lesson learned on judging the artist based on the genre they are most associated with.

The Essential Track: She’s No Lady

Up Next: Johnny Hates Jazz - Turn Back the Clock

Johnny Hates Jazz - Turn Back the Clock

Shattered Dreams, which opens this album, is a pretty well known hit and really not too bad. In fact, my sense at the start was that this might one of those rare synth-pop albums I could really get into. But unfortunately, there’s not much for me here beyond that. It may hurt that it got wedged after two very different but fantastic albums, but this album now feels plain and unappealing. But we’ll always have Shattered Dreams.

The Essential Track: Shattered Dreams

Up Next: Danzig

SD is definitely much better than the rest of the album, no denying