The 1984 Listening Post - Queensryche - The Warning

Queensryche - The Warning

#232

September 7 1984

Queensryche 

The Warning

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Before the Storm

The only things I know about Queensryche are that big ballad hit they had in the 90s, the ubiquitous one that aired all the fucking time and that, when looking for Queen stuff I would momentarily get excited that there was something I didn’t know about only to be crushed under the realization that it was this fucking band. 

So, now I will listen. 

Oh, ye children of Halford. Ye emulators of Dio. Disciples of Dickenson. How many of you are there?!?

How do you even start a band like this?

“Wanted, musicians for a prog-Metal project. Not as satanic as Sabbath or as aggressive as Maiden but in that wheelhouse. Lead singer must have aspirations of regality and soaring falsetto. No punks need apply!”

I’m bored. I’m on a plane slogging through this. 

Why the umlaut? Is that necessary? Crue has two, you know. And they are about excess. Which makes sense. Queensryche is not quite excessive. Almost but just a touch away from the edge of insanity. So, one umlaut. 

This record could be one long track. Each sound so similar and indistinguishable from the rest. It’s the only “metal” album I’ve heard that is easy to read to. *

My sojourn into the skies with mono-umlauts was just fine. But I can’t imagine ever coming back to this. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-warning-remastered-expanded-edition/724347725

*currently reading Aaron James’s “Assholes”.

The 1984 Listening Post - Fee Waybill - Read My Lips

Fee Waybill - Read My Lips

#234

September 1 1984

Fee Waybill

Read My Lips

1.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Thrill of the Kill

Fee Waybill was the roadie. That’s how I understood it. He was The Tubes’ roadie and somehow he got incorporated into the band as Quay Lude and then “White Punks on Dope” happened and they just made him the lead singer. And he was sort of the perfect person for the job. Is he a great singer ? No. But his voice is fine for rock and roll. 

He really came into his own with his sardonic knowingness on Completion Backward Principle and then, even more serviceably, on Outside Inside.

And then…he had a solo album.

You know, right around this time Freddie Mercury was working on his solo record. Steve Perry just put one out. Lindsey Buckingham. Peter Wolf. Robin Gibb. Roger Taylor. Glenn Frey. It was a fucking epidemic that, in retrospect, screams “Look. The rest of the band is all fine and whatever but if you dump them and just hire a backup band that’s more money for YOU!. Fuck those guys, right? I mean, you are the voice. You’re the reason people are coming to the shows. You are QUAY Fucking Lude, man! What? You think people are coming to see Bill Fucking Spooner???

And that’s the beginning of the coke fueled journey of 80s solo rocker shit. 

This isn’t awful. I mean, Fee opens his mouth, sounds come out. But, it’s devoid of charisma. Lacking in song craft. It’s a lot of yelping about stuff. 

The Afrauxcan rhythms that were on “Wild Women of Wongo” or “Monkey Time” are back on “Who Loves You Baby?” but it isn’t until the ballideering of “I Don’t Even Know Your Name” that you realize “I never live from my past mistakes” is a weirdly prescient lyric and the fee to entry of this album is more than  money. It’s your time, which you will never get back. 

Side two is a bit more of a rocker but anonymous rock, nonetheless. 

But, you know? I miss Bill Spooner. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLaekFFqgO0&list=PLm9smEh4bd5hb4-9b2wJr4Qfwcy-5-6t6

The 1984 Listening Post - Fates Warning - Nights on Brocken

Fates Warning - Nights on Brocken

#233

September 9 1984

Fates Warning

Nights on Brocken

2.25 out of 5

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mary. It’s Barb.”

“Hey, Barb, How are you?”

“I’m fine. Look, the reason I’m calling is I’m running out to do some errands and I was going to pick up Bobby’s birthday present.“

“Yes. Good. Tommy is coming then?”

“Absolutely. Wouldn’t miss it. Here’s the thing. I have no idea what to get your son. Is he still into things like Legos?”

“Oh, no. He’s grown out of that phase.”

“Well, what should I get him? I’m stumped.”

“Well, he’s been into Satan music lately. All I hear all day long is loud guitars and some high pitched falsetto men shrieking about…well…honestly I don’t know WHAT they are all singing about.”

“Satan worship?”

“No, not really ‘worship’. More like…affection.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I can get. See you Sunday!”

“Can’t wait! Bring some of your famous potato salad!”

“Will do.”

Barb shrugs as she tosses a copy of Fates Warning into her basket at Woolworth’s.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/burial-mw0000466948

The 1984 Listening Post - mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath

Mercyful Fate - Don't Break the Oath

#231

September 7 1984

Mercyful Fate

Don’t Break the Oath

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Night of the Unborn

I think this is great but, honestly, I’ve burned out on satan metal. I’m secretly rooting for the PMRC not because I want this music shut down for it’s expressions but just cuz, fuck it’s boring as hell now. That’s what those parents wanted, a fucking respite from the shrieking and chukka-chukka assault. If this was ALL my teenage kid was listening to all day I would be desperately trying to get him to do something else. Go outside. Ride a bike. Read a comic book. Play a board game. Just to give me a break. 

I don’t know how to correctly evaluate it. Like I said, maybe it’s great. 

By the end I just gave myself over to it. It’s good for what it is. 

https://www.allmusic.com/album/burial-mw0000466948

The 1984 Listening Post - Jethro Tull - Under Wraps

Jethro Tull - Under Wraps

#230

September 7 1984

Jethro Tull

Under Wraps 

1.5 out of 5

If this is your favorite Jethro Tull album, you are a bad person.

If this is your favorite album, you can’t be in this group anymore. (Martin Barre says this is his favorite Tull record. I Guess that says it all. He’s not allowed in here)

Imagine being Ian Anderson and thinking, “Hey, our songs are good enough that it doesn’t matter if we use synthesizers and drum machines to record them.” Imagine being that wrong about something and yet having been around for 15 years. 

Maybe that’s not totally fair. I loved Broadsword and that has a lot of synths on it. But, these drums. Ugh. On the title track I am left at odds; part of me appreciates the gleeps and blips and the other, more rational brain hates everything about everything on it. 

If you’re a Tull fan and your response to this album is, “yeah, not their best…” you are equivocating and being a Tull apologist. I get it. I found much to love on Adam Ant’s Strip. I’ve been known to defend Queen’s Hot Space. But do Tull fans LISTEN to this record? Ever?

True Story: This album would get a half point higher rating if the song “European Legacy” was, instead, “European Leprosy”, which is how I sing it. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/under-wraps-remastered/726363677

The 1984 Listening Post - Jethro Tull - Under Wraps

Jethro Tull - Under Wraps

#230

September 7 1984

Jethro Tull

Under Wraps 

1.5 out of 5

If this is your favorite Jethro Tull album, you are a bad person.

If this is your favorite album, you can’t be in this group anymore. (Martin Barre says this is his favorite Tull record. I Guess that says it all. He’s not allowed in here)

Imagine being Ian Anderson and thinking, “Hey, our songs are good enough that it doesn’t matter if we use synthesizers and drum machines to record them.” Imagine being that wrong about something and yet having been around for 15 years. 

Maybe that’s not totally fair. I loved Broadsword and that has a lot of synths on it. But, these drums. Ugh. On the title track I am left at odds; part of me appreciates the gleeps and blips and the other, more rational brain hates everything about everything on it. 

If you’re a Tull fan and your response to this album is, “yeah, not their best…” you are equivocating and being a Tull apologist. I get it. I found much to love on Adam Ant’s Strip. I’ve been known to defend Queen’s Hot Space. But do Tull fans LISTEN to this record? Ever?

True Story: This album would get a half point higher rating if the song “European Legacy” was, instead, “European Leprosy”, which is how I sing it. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/under-wraps-remastered/726363677

The 1984 Listening Post - K.U.K.L. - The Eye

K.U.K.L. - The Eye

#227

September 1 1984

K.U.K.L.

The Eye

3.75 out of 5

I’m covering this because Bjork. 

If you take out all of the minute attempts at commerciality by Siouxie and the Banshees this is what you end up. A weirdly shrieky, howly but eminently fascinating hellscape of torment and torture. 

I think the songs are mislabeled here. 

The Spire and Dismembered seem to be switched. Dismembered (which is labelled as Spire) is excellent. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-eye/371582575

The 1984 Listening Post - Nazareth - The Catch

Nazareth - The Catch

#228

September 1 1984

Nazareth

The Catch

1.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Love of Freedom

Oh boy has this band run out of ideas or what? The desperate attempt to remain relevant saddle the listeners with fake reggae tropes, shitty songs and an awful cover song. AND a terrible album cover as well. 

So much garbage here. The wannabe Police track “You Don’t Believe in Us” is downright insulting to Police fans. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-catch/1208831284

The 1984 Listening Post - Iron Maiden - Powerslave

Iron Maiden - Powerslave

#229

September 

Iron Maiden

Powerslave 

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

2 Minutes to Midnight 

Losfer Words

The Duellists

If you like Iron Maiden you will dig this. 

For the most part, I do. 

What they do they do very well. 

They took Priest and injected adrenaline into it. 

Beethoven would have loved “The Duellists”.  In fact I think he would have appreciated most of Iron Maiden’s oeuvre. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/powerslave-2015-remastered-edition/1147170341

The 1984 Listening Post - David Bowie - Tonight

David Bowie - Tonight

#226

September 1 1984

David Bowie

Tonight

2.25 out of 5

10 years ago, during my Bowie retrospective I wrote: “How do you follow up one of the biggest breakthrough commercial albums of your career, let alone decade? Apparently, you hire a bunch of co-writers and make an album that sounds like Thompson Twins. Keyboard steel drums, faux raga, deep 80s percussion, programming, Tonight sounds more like an album from the era than I would expect. See, one thing Bowie's been able to do is utilize the fad of the era and make it sound timeless. Maybe it's the novelties of the era or maybe its something else, but Tonight is replete with forgettable missteps.”

I was not wrong. This is bad. 

“Don’t Look Down” is worse than I remembered it. And I want to kick him in the shins for what he does to “God Only Knows”, one of the singularly most beautiful songs in the history or rock. “Neighborhood Threat” actually sounds like the direction he would go with Tin Machine but it’s not a good song…it tries way too hard. And “Blue Jean” sounds like a holdover from the “Let’s Dance” sessions. And before you @ me, no, it’s not a “highlight” because I’m pretty sure we were forced to like it by it’s MTV ubiquity. I guess “I Keep Forgetting” is sort of cute, like Bowie as Elvis. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tonight/697275287

The 1984 Listening Post - Black Flag - Family Man

Black Flag - Family Man

#225

August 1984

Black Flag

Family Man

2.75 out of 5

A long time ago I fancied myself a bit of a prosetry writer. I was filled with my post-adolescent rage and frustrations with the world and I would scribble ideas in my little notebook as I pondered my existence in a studio rathole in the heart of Hollywood, just up the street from Mann’s Chinese Theater. 

One day I met a couple who lived in the building and they asked me to come to their apartment and read some of my stuff. 

I sat on a milk crate in their living space and read while they listened. Eventually they got bored and went off to the couch to go make out. 

I let myself out.

I still think I was better than Henry Rollins. 

The 1st half of this record is all spoken word crap by a wanna-be beat poet. The second half is the same thing but with music until it’s just jazz and then my head starts to hurt. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/family-man/117618826

The 1984 Listening Post - The Stockholm Monsters - Alma Mater

The Stockholm Monsters - Alma Mater

#224

August 1984

The Stockholm Monsters 

Alma Mater

2 out of 5

Highlights:

Where I Belong

Jangle rock, synth with trumpets and drum machines. What the hell is The Stockholm Monsters? Weird and unlike anything happening at the time and yet, calls to mind a bunch of bands. Are they New Order? There’s a taste of the Smiths. The singer calls to mind Lydon. 

And then it just goes on and one and one….and it all sounds like one guy with a 4 track machine and he’s become boring. He’s like the guest that won’t leave but insists on playing his original songs at your party. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/alma-mater-plus/305282584

The 1984 Listening Post - Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction

Jag Panzer - Ample Destruction

#223

August 1984

Jag Panzer

Ample Destruction

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Harder Than Steel

I’ve never heard of this band which hails from the German mountain town of…checks notes…Colorado Springs?? Is that right??

I think the production and playing elevates this over, say Saxon or Venom, even though Panzer is trafficking in the same fiery Hell idiom. They certainly shred and they have Metallica type urges. I didn’t hate this at all.

They just released their 10th (!!!) album in 2017. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ample-destruction/656505565

The 1984 Listening Post - Hanoi Rocks - Two Steps from the Move

Hanoi Rocks - Two Steps from the Move

#222

August 1984

Hanoi Rocks

Two Steps from the Move

4 out of 5

Highlights: 

Up Around the Bend

Underwater World

Normally I hate when a band opens their record with a cover. To me it signals that they don’t think their own compositions are up to snuff or at least up to that cover’s par. In this case, it’s more like an opening salvo. Hanoi’s cover of Fogerty’s “Up Around the Bend” is a party of glam meets Americana. In a way they make it more American than even CCR, if that makes sense. If it came out in 1974 it would surely be a smash and Hanoi Rocks would be that much closer to their own early Saturday morning kids show or ABC TV Movie. As it is, it’s much better than their cousins Motley Crue’s “Smokin’ in the Boys Room”.

From there the record takes flight, though. It’s about rawk. It’s glam, man.

Btw, Razzle is the shit, man. Vince Neil took away one of rock’s best in that car accident. This guy could slam the skins. 

The promise of Bangkok Shocks, Saigon Shakes, Hanoi Rocks come to fruition here. I can only imagine how these guys would have ruled the mid-late 80s.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/two-steps-from-the-move/194095530

The 1984 Listening Post - A Flock of Seagulls - The Story of a Young Heart

A Flock of Seagulls - The Story of a Young Heart

#221

August 1984

A Flock of Seagulls

The Story of a Young Heart

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Remember David

The good news is that the songs are boring AND they seem to go forever. Hooray!

Has there ever been a band that has so vastly overstayed their welcome at the party? Mike Score and his buddies should’ve ghosted the music scene a long time before this. YOU CAN’T KEEP SINGING “THIS IS THE STORY OF A YOUNG HEART” OVER AND OVER IF YOU NEVER TELL ANY STORY!!!!

“Remember David” is the closest we get to the “I Ran” version of Seagulls, it’s welcome but it’s the Side Two opener followed by the drivingly retro New Wave “Over My Head”. so it takes forever to get there. The album could’ve used a LOT more of that.

A Flock of Seagulls had their time but they aren’t adding anything to their story.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-story-of-a-young-heart/295506962

The 1984 Listening Post - 23 Skidoo - Urban Gamelon

23 Skidoo - Urban Gamelon

#220

August

23 Skidoo

Urban Gamelon

2.75 out of 5

With a name like 23 Skidoo you might be expecting some sort of madcap, two tone semi-comic funband. Instead, what we get is an aggro-afro pop, reggae tinged post-rock noise fest that seems to be the template for Big Audio Dynamite. 

This almost seems to exist solely as music you would use for samples or for background in an East Village retail outfit. 

Otherwise…

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/urban-gamelan/294893678

The 1984 Listening Post - Flipper - Gone Fishin'

Flipper - Gone Fishin'

#219

August 29 1984

Flipper

Gone Fishin’

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

In Life My Friends

Talk’s Cheap

I get Flipper and The Germs confused. I am not sure why. I really liked Generic Flipper but on this I feel like I got it the first time and I don’t need anymore. However, if I had to choose between Flipper and Sonic Youth (who I feel is a cousin, musically) I will take Flipper almost any day. They just seem like they are willing to die for their music and Thurston Moore would be happy in a jam band.

If the drummer was better, or even good, Yeast Infection might’ve come close to this band. Also, if the guitarist could play. And if there was a bassist. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gone-fishin/299831761

The 1984 Listening Post - Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward

Depeche Mode - Some Great Reward

#218

August 27 1984

Depeche Mode

Some Great Reward

3.75 out of 5

Why do I think of Depeche Mode’s music as ugly? This question presents itself to me with every passing Mode album. I have never felt compelled to give any of the previous three anything more than 3.5 stars and that was Speak and Spell and the rest scored much much lower. 

It took me to “People Are People” to figure it out: I loathe Dave Gahane’s voice. I find him almost heavy metal aggressive and instead of working counter to the music of Martin Gore and the rest it makes it sound angrier. While this full throated pointed attack works for, say, Roland Orzibal, it grates on me with DM. It doesn’t really work for me until late in the album on “If You Want”. 

The 80s are littered with children & cousins of Joy Division/Ultravox/Yaz/Kraftwerk/Numan, etc. I don’t know why Depeche Mode cut through as high as they did. But they do nothing for me, and then I just want to put Upstairs at Eric’s back on. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/some-great-reward-remastered-deluxe/263502341

The 1984 Listening Post - Soul Asylum - Say What You Will, Clarence

Soul Asylum - Say What You Will, Clarence

#217

August 24 1984

Soul Asylum 

Say What You Will, Clarence

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Money Talks

Religivision

What would happen if Husker Du was more musically inclined, had a better bassist and drank whiskey while listening to country music?

In other words Du meets Replacements. Which is no surprise, Bob Mould produced it. 

That’s the best I got while listening to this album. At first glance it seems amazing that they would have a hit with the melodic acoustic “Runaway Train” years later but, as the album plays out in its shambolic way, it almost feels inevitable. 

With all the crazy fun diversity on Zen Arcade think of this as Zen Junior Fun Place.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/say-what-you-will-clarence-karl-sold-the-truck/162612865

The 1984 Listening Post - Krokus - The Blitz

Krokus - The Blitz

#216

August 26 1984

Krokus

The Blitz

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Boys Nite Out

Speaking of Glam Metal. Here’s another band that wants to be Slade, covers The Sweet and fails at both. Admittedly, Headhunter wasn’t terrible and neither is this, wholly. And to prove it, they cover “Ballroom Blitz” in a version that makes you want to immediately wash it out with the original upon listening. 

Instead of going full glam, though, they hew closer to AC/DC and they are better off for it on “Boys Nite Out” and “Out to Lunch” where Marc Storace sounds more like Bon Scott than Scott did. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-blitz/298295960

The 1984 Listening Post - Scandal - Warrior

Scandal - Warrior

#215

August 21 1984

Scandal

The Warrior

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Warrior

Man, “The Warrior” might be the best worst song ever. Or the worst best. Either way. How did Patty Smythe get this song and not…um…30 other bands? Or Laura Branigan? It was written by Holly Knight, co-writer of Animotion’s “Obsession” and…checks notes…Nick Gilder. Nick “Hot Child in the City” Gilder, man. That guy…he could write a glam classic. And Holly is one of the unsung heroes of 80s rock. 

Excellent production by…checks notes again…Mike Chapman. Yep. The guy responsible for The Sweet’s best stuff and Blondie’s smash album Parallel Lines and Get the Knack. 

The cred on this record is astounding. 

You know all that red adds up to? 

One  

Good 

Song. 

The closest they get again is the penultimate power popper “Tonight”. But it’s not close enough.

But there is also a Journey song here that was sold to Scandal and then, when Journey re-recorded it, it resulted in a lawsuit but also an amazing story that cuts close to my heart. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/warrior/185819377

The 1984 Listening Post - The Psychedelic Furs - Mirror Moves

The Psychedelic Furs - Mirror Moves

#214

August 21 1984

The Psychedelic Furs 

Mirror Moves

3.75 out of 5

Highlights: 

The Ghost in You

Here Come Cowboys

Heaven

Anyone else think that Richard Butler sounds like a British Michael Stipe? Their voices are soooo similar. 

The Furs make the kind of Roxy Music meets Moody Blues Music that I find pleasant despite Butler’s obnoxious pretentious sounding voice?. 

Side One is the definition of Day-Glo 80s for me. I’m lost in nostalgia. It’s cold in New York in the winter and we all use Tiger Balm and smoke clove cigarettes and I pine after the girl down the hall who doesn’t know I exist. 

Side Two is nearly negligible. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mirror-moves/185821140

The 1984 Listening Post - W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P. - W.A.S.P.

#213

August 17 1984

W.A.S.P.

W.A.S.P.

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

I Wanna Be Somebody

L.O.V.E. Machine

I guess on the three roads of the tributary taken by metal bands; thrash, stadium & glam (the latter two often interchangeable, I prefer the Glam one. Makes sense. I loved Glam Rock, Queen, Power Pop, theater. 

This is in the Cure wheelhouse. 

So of course I have room in my heart for this never before heard by me in it’s entirety band. 

Was there a clause in these band’s contract that they all needed to sing a song about Hell or Satan or something? Did an A&R guy say, “Ozzy’s singing about this stuff so that’s what the kids are into!”? No wonder moms all thought there was rampant devil worship. All because Ozzy went full demon a couple years before. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/w-a-s-p/210337187

The 1984 Listening Post - Voivod - War and Pain

Voivod - War and Pain

#212

August 10 1984

Voivod

War and Pain

2.75 out of 5

Speed metal was never my jam. Much as I love Metallica, the sonic quality and production has something to do with it. This is so fast and nearly incomprehensible it sounds like the band has some place else to be. I get that thrash metal is a thing and that it has its adherents but I’m not sure I know what to do with it in this case. And then…right in the middle of “Warriors of Ice” I got it. I was hooked in. I wanted more of it injected into my veins. But, it didn’t last the whole record. I still think the production sucks. it reminds me a bit of Nashville Pussy. Or, rather, NP reminds me of Voivod. The potential is here, I bet they get better. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/war-and-pain/211032923

The 1984 Listening Post - Red Hot Chili Peppers - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Red Hot Chili Peppers

#211

August 10 1984

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Red Hot Chili Peppers

1.75 out of 5

When I was working at the video store in the West Village the bosses hired a manager. I have nothing of interest to say about her save that she came in one day and was talking a LOT about this band she had seen the night before. The Red Hot Chili Peppers. She could not stop talking about how amazing they were. 

And then they were tucked away in my brain until a few years later when they broke big. And, of course I had one or two of their big releases. But I never went all the way back to where the beginnings of 90s alternative sprang. 

Some of it is here with the quasi-funk/proto-post punk/near metal/wanna be rap of this album. 

I appreciate what Flea and Martinez (1st drummer) re doing on the opening track but I want to chew my arm off when the rap starts in “Baby Appeal”, (and the equally shitty “Green Heaven”) which makes Marky Ramone’s venture seem almost admirable. 

And it just gets worse from there. 

Omg, RHCP have been recording for 35 years. 1949 was 35 years prior to that. 

Here’s a true thing: Anthony Kiedis is the worst thing about this band. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/red-hot-chili-peppers/635001065

The 1984 Listening Post - Survivor - Vital Signs

Survivor - Vital Signs

#210

August 1984

Survivor

Vital Signs

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

First Night

It’s the Singer Not the Song

Opening with an acoustic guitar, Survivor lays the template for its biggest record and sounds more like John Parr than John Parr. Did Survivor sound like every song on every movie soundtrack in the 80s because that was the sound of the 80s or did they set the template with “Eye of the Tiger”? Chicken and Rock Egg, I guess.

You’ve heard almost the entire first side of this album. “Can’t Hold Back”, “High On You”, “First Night”, “The Search is Over”. Put it on the turntable, lace up your skates, grab your corset bedecked girlfriend and hit the roller disco. 

I have to give it up for “It’s the Singer Not the Song” that has a bounce that could find it in the repertoire of a band in a different genre. Oh, who’m I kidding? I just like it. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/vital-signs/289320252

The 1984 Listening Post - Great White - Great White

Great White - Great White

#209

1984 Housekeeping

Great White

Great White

2.5 out of 5

Somewhere, in some record shop, there must be a cutout bin of just 80s bands who all wanted to be Van PriestSnake. I sometimes wonder, did they all hear the same records and decide to be THAT band? Was it organic? How did this genre take shape. If I was a documentarian that is the movie I’d be interested in making. Not the one that describes the origin of Metal. We all know that story, or some version of it. Yarburds, Zeppelin, Sabbath, blah blah blah. 

No, the story that is fascinating is the SECOND generation. The ones who heard it and decided to be that. Krokus, Survivor, Great White, Fastway, Venom, Saxon, Dokken, Helix, Kick Axe, etc. What was that defining moment that gave birth to the exact same band over and over and sent the to clubs to ply their Plant voiced, Eddie Axed craft? 

Well, anyway, here’s Great White. 

Just another one. The cover of The Who’s “Substitute” draws no line between Mods and GlaMetal. In fact, it proves the opposite. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Qv9rMe_-w

The 1984 Listening Post - The Fixx - Phantoms

The Fixx - Phantoms

#208

August 1 1984

The Fixx

Phantoms

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Less Cities, More Moving People

Question

Are We Ourselves?

Reach the Beach was really good. 

This is like they reached the beach and got a record contract and were told, “go make that stuff you make so we can try to sell it and all make some dough.” And they did. And it all sounds perfectly Fixx-like, with it’s groovy basses and faux-funky rhythms. Put it on, you’ll forget it’s there. I did. 

And then I tuned back in and I liked what I was hearing. 

Harmless. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/phantoms/1091854179

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The 1984 Listening Post - The Droogs - Stone Cold World

The Droogs - Stone Cold World

#207

1984 Housekeeping

The Droogs

Stone Cold World

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

A Change is Gonna Come

Stone Cold World

From Another Side

Does anyone know these guys? They stepped out of time, it seems, to release late 60s garage rock in the 80s. They do a great job of it but it’s so out of sync with what’s going on that it’s no surprise they never found an audience in their own country. And by country I mean 80s Los Angeles. 

Yes, this record is 16 years out of date. But, when I think about that, the relationship between 1968 to 1984 that’s like looking back at 2003 as antediluvian. It’s amazing how much music changed from the 60s to the 80s but should it be so surprising that someone was out there making this stuff? 

For what they do, they do very very well. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1HTSh1VHZo

The 1984 Listening Post - Animotion - Animotion

Animotion - Animotion

#206

1984 Housekeeping

Animation

Animation

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Obsession

Let Him Go

Fun Fun Fun

Why is this record not available? Weird. That hit single is perfect. It comes wayyyy after this kind of music was in vogue and yet it’s fresh. And it works today. I can’t express just how dynamic and timeless it sounds. It could have been released in the 70s, the 80s, the early 00s, today. 

As for the rest of the record…

The first side drives like they don’t know that synth-pop is out of fashion. Then the second side starts and…the synth pop party continues. 

They give you one more rave up before it’s time for that make-out session but even the power ballad has more Benatar than I expected.

They aren’t cheeky, nor are they too serious. Animation’s Anomotion is Fun Fun Fun. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNC7tvnhnCE

The 1984 Listening Post - GG Allin - Eat My Fuc

GG Allin - Eat My Fuc

#205

1984 Housekeeping

GG Allen

Eat My Fuc

1.75 out of 5

There are very few artists that intrigued me from the era that I didn’t bother to investigate. Three of them were featured on the news often enough for me to know who they were and uninteresting in their shock value that I stayed away. Wendy O Williams & Plasmatics who I finally heard a couple years ago on this project, Gwar, who, for me, appearances on Jerry Springer were enough and GG Allin.

Allin is living up to his hype. It’s punk all right. Cuz he’s a punk. It’s angry and obnoxious and violent and adolescent and the world may not need it but I think it does. On the edge of the music industry that can see Y&T back in the studio pumping out the same junk year after year, maybe this is the rock industry’s enema. Surely, Shat, the band that I saw play at SXSW when we played there, is an heir of sorts to this scatological vein ripping. 

But it’s not good music, nor is it cathartic. Too bad. GG is like the letters column of Screw magazine come to life. 

"Fucking the Dog" and "Cock on the Loose" crack me up, though. 

Points for actually existing and…being available for someone…I guess.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/e-m-f/258899565

The 1984 Listening Post - Grim Reaper - See You in Hell

Grim Reaper - See You in Hell

#204

July 13 1984

Grim Reaper

See You in Hell

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Wrath of the Ripper

Now or Never

How do I even regard this stuff? On its own? In comparison to the other bands of the day? I just don’t know. 

Somewhere between Venom, Saxon and all those metal bands squeezes Grim Reaper. Not really heavy enough to make a run for Priest. Steve Grimmet hits the high notes and considering this album was picked up by a major with little expectation and shot up to the top 70 of the billboard charts…good on em.

But, their power ballad…”The Show Must Go On”…avoid. Just…awful.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/see-you-in-hell/620542332

The 1984 Listening Post - Difford & Tilbrook - Difford & Tilbrook

Difford & Tilbrook - Difford and Tilbrook

#203

July

Difford & Tilbrook

Difford & Tilbrook

1.5 out of 5

I think Difford & Tilbrook always wanted to be the British Hall & Oates. Their inclinations to middle of the road blue eyed fauxtown are pervasive. 

And they are the perfect example of alchemy. While they were great songwriters for a while, it was the whole of Squeeze that made ArgyBargy & East Side Story. Without, say Gilson Lavis, they are just a notch away from generic 80s pop, in danger of being crushed under the weight of their own perceived self-worth. 

And this collection, whether you consider it a Squeeze record or a D&T joint, is underwhelming. 

Difford was always better when he was writing about something close to his heart, drinking or bad relationships. Tilbrook…well, let’s just say he’s not Elton John. Squeeze lost me during Sweets From a Stranger. This didn’t bring me back.

Many points off not just for boredom and incompetence but because this mars the good name of Squeeze. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/difford-tilbrook/164748535

The 1984 Listening Post - Y&T - In Rock We Trust

Y&T - In Rock We Trust

#202

July 1984

Y&T

In Rock We Trust

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Keep on Runnin’

Your Love is Driving Me Crazy 

There’s something sad about this opening track. “Rock and Roll’s Gonna Save the World” is such a pander to a stadium full of head banging, t-shirt clad, parking lot heroes cuz we all know that it’s the anthem of those who have run out of ideas. ‘sides, singing about “rock and roll” is AC/DC’s jam, guys. If you’re gonna sing about it you better bring the fire. Not until they start sounding like Hagar Halen later into the second side (“Don’t Stop Runnin’”) does the album sound like they are having a good time. Why wasn’t this released as a single? And the Hagar continues with “Your Love is Driving Me Crazy” and I wish the album felt more like this. 

I bet they sound(ed) great live. And these songs, if you bothered to learn them would be fun to sing along to in concert. 

But, here they mostly just sound like rehashed rawk. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-rock-we-trust/670904414

The 1984 Listening Post - Fastway - All Fired Up!

Fastway - All Fired Up!

#201

July  1984

Fastway

All Fired Up

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

All Fired Up

Station

Hurtin’ Me

I feel the need to remind myself and everybody, this band is fronted by the guy who went on to front Flogging Molly. But this is straight up 80’s cock rock metal. And his voice is actually soaringly great for it. But it’s NOT Flogging Molly. I know David King is trying for that Robert Plant sound but he ends up a cross between Klaus Meine and Stephen Pearcy, all of whom were also trying for that sound. 

This is 80s cock rock blended with the early 70s for an added dose of heavy, just look at the Side Two opener, “Hurtin’ Me”, which wants to be Zeppelin so bad it can taste it. 

Nothing new here but it runs out of gas real fast…way fast. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/all-fired-up/352282594

The 1984 Listening Post - One the Juggler - Nearly a Sin

One the Juggler - Nearly a Sin

#200!!!

1984 Housekeeping

One the Juggler

Nearly a Sin

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Enjoy Yourself

Passion Killer

Sister Soul

Damage is Done

let’s celebrate getting to 200(!!) albums in 1984 with one that you would have to dig up yourself as it’s not available anywhere. Although I have managed to get all the tracks onto my hard drive and I am currently streaming them to my Echo. 

I don’t recall how One the Juggler came into our lives. It might have been a discounted record at Sounds in the East Village. And I don’t even think I listened to the rest of the record more than once, if that. But that opening track, “Enjoy Yourself” stuck with me. Or maybe it was the name of the band. The song was a 1 1/2 minute trifle. And yet, as soon as it plays I can remember every note. 

From there it’s Alarm-y jangle rock. I hear Bowie, but I also hear The Clash. And some Love & Rockets. And a bit of The Kinks. And Lennon.

As the first side comes careering back into focus and memory I must say, OtJ could’ve been one of the unsung unremembered groups of the era. Not glam enough, not indie enough, not anything enough and all of it. 

I always felt bad for One the Juggler. This record is better than I remembered. 

The 1984 Listening Post - Stephen Stills - Right By You

Stephen Stills - Right By You

#199

July 30 1984

Stephen Stills

Right By You

2 out of 5

Stephen Stills is BACK!

Said no one ever. 

There are songs on this album. Recorded by people. People who, I assume, breathed air and ate foods. 

The aforementioned tunes are neither memorable nor are they immediately forgettable. They aren’t “good”. They aren’t “bad”. They exist. 

And Jimmy Page plays guitar on three of them. Including the only one that even remotely piqued my interest, “Flaming Heart”. 

The purpose of this project is to see if I missed anything from an era, something like The Saints or Kick Axe that would’ve brought me joy. This is not one of those. 

Slightly more interesting than Christopher Cross. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/right-by-you/54813856

The 1984 Listening Post - The Saints - A Little Madness to Be Free

The Saints - A Little Madness to Be Free

#198

July 1984

The Saints

A Little Madness to Be Free

4.25 out of 5

Walk Away

The Photograph

The Angels

Ghost Ships

Let’s stay down under for a wee bit more, since the sheer output from that country is staggering. I’ve heard a lot of sounds from that place but this is the first time I can think of that someone is aping Mick Jagger as blatantly as Chris Bailey here. I heard their two 1978 records and they were fine, but this is much more lush and picaresque. Bailey may be trying to sound like a bluesman from down under but he’s fooling himself. He’s a punk who is growing up and disillusionment in life and the world is catching up to him, these songs are those of an old soul, someone with his own map of the world in his voice. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZwm5eci0xA

The 1984 Listening Post - The Beasts of Bourbon - The Axeman's Jazz

The Beasts of Bourbon - The Axeman's Jazz

#197

July 1984

The Beasts of Bourbon

The Axeman’s Jazz

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Psycho

Wow, is this dark. Dark and hilarious. I guess this was some sort of Aussie Traveling Wilburys of sorts. I’m hesitant to call it a “supergroup”. It’s part Cramps, part Hank Williams, part Mojo Nixon I guess? What came out of one recording session is some demented roots rock that could be the sound of a drunken band falling apart or a bunch of like minded pub rockers who are too soused to worry about getting it all too right. By the time I get to “Graveyard Train” I guess the album is working cuz all I wanna do is drive a truck across the middle of the country at 2 in the morning looking for my next kill. Or drink. Or maybe both. 

It loses my interest by the second half as it really is just the perfect kind of record to put on at 1:30 AM in the local dive bar. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0o28fi8I8Y

The 1984 Listening Post - Metallica - Ride the Lightning

Metallica - Ride the Lightning

#196

July 27 1984

Metallica 

Ride the Lightning

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Creeping Terror

The Call of Ktulu

Hahahahaha. Opening with middle earthian acoustic guitars only pummel the listener with electro shock guitars. Love it. 

Dammit, these headphones don’t get any louder! I feel like you should be deaf after you hear this thing. 

This isn’t Kill Em All II. This is a gigantic expansion of ideas and playability. 

The themes and execution are enormous. It’s more than a Metal. I can’t describe it. 

And I’m now deaf. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ride-the-lightning-remastered/579148345

The 1984 Listening Post - Aztec Camera - Knife

Aztec Camera - Knife

#195

July 27 1984

Aztec camera

Knife

4 out of 5

All I Need is Everything

The Birth fo the True

Knife

I only know Aztec Camera from two things: 

Their name. Always mentioned with the greats of the Indie band 80s. 

And...their cover of Van Halen’s “Jump”. 

Neither of those things propelled me to investigate further. What did I miss?

This is fine. Pleasant. Harmless. It’s like The Jam lite. Or Crowded House. But not as hook laden as those bands so it’s no surprise that Pete Frane was a critical darling but didn’t connect with the masses in a big way. But god damn do these songs go on too long. 

It’s all so Knopflerian. 

That said, the title track unfolds like a lily in a burgeoning field of poppies. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/knife/516632672

The 1984 Listening Post - The Bluebells - Sisters

The Bluebells - Sisters

#193

July 1984

The Bluebells

Sisters

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Young at Heart

I’m Falling

Cath

South Atlantic Way

Much like the Fun Boy Three version of “Our Lips Are Sealed”, the male co-writer of “Young at Heart” a nice track off Bananarama’s Deep Sea Skiving is redone here in a way that I find most appealing. As some retro-bluegrass, country fair track. 

Elvis Costello had his hand in some of this on the track “Will She Be Waiting”, a perfectly lush track that calls to mind summers and the 60s. 

Unfortunately the album is only available as a cobbled together playlist so some of the tracks like “Syracuse University” and “Learn to Love” are only available in their live form and I found that to be less than as great as their studio work. And the album gets more and more “important” as it progresses. Culminating in “South Atlantic Way”, a song about The Falklands. 

Easily one of the best discoveries of 1984. A stellar little piece of 80s pop sans requisite posturing and synths and epicness. Just a bunch of really good songs, done really well. Once again, Scotland comes through. I love The Yummy Fur, 1990s, The Fratellis…Sottish rock almost never disappoints.

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ6ZdwVslTU&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVDuLatu22EzJbOYktDLI5NW

The 1984 Listening Post - Sammy Hagar - VOA

Sammy hagar - VOA

#192

July

Sammy Hagar

VOA

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Rock is in My Blood

VOA

I remember the very first time I heard the name “Sammy Hagar”. I was in the new record shop (same guy, new location) in Bar Harbor. Flipping through the LPs with my buddy, Peter, he pulled out something and said, “This guy, Sammy Hagar”, I’ve heard a lot about him. 

And that was it. We moved on. Now, Peter loved Van Halen so it’s very possible that’s why he’d been hearing about Sam. Not that Van Hagar was a thing yet, we were knee deep in 1984 and Pete was having a pair of red pants painted to look like Eddie’s guitar. 

Needless to say, I wasn’t into that shit back then (I had no idea that this was to become a preferred sub-genre for decades). 

So, here it is. The record that took the world by storm. The lead single has as much contemporary resonance as a song about rotary phones. 

(I need to stop for a second and remind everyone that Sammy wrote the best cover of the 80s, Rick Springfield’s version of “I’ve Done Everything For You” was a revelation when I discovered, years too late, that it was done by Sam’s first band, Montrose.)

So, this is the in-between Montrose and VH. There’s been a few of these. Three Lock Box. Danger Zone. Street Machine. HSAS. (I missed Standing Hampton somehow.)

This is the one where I feel like Hagar got it the most right. It has the energy I have been expecting, in retrospect. It’s a big album. Made for a stadium. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/voa/113350

The 1984 Listening Post - Rick Springfield - Hard to Hold

Rick Springfield - Hard to Hold

#191

July 23 1984

Rick Springfield

Hard to Hold

1.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Love Somebody

Yeah. I know. It’s a soundtrack. But it’s also filled with Rick Originals. And I love me some Rick. And I’ve also never heard this whole thing. So, there.

You wouldn’t think Power Pop would work with that big, echoey, stadium sound but the leadoff track, “Love Somebody” actually does. In fact, it gets a little bit too close to the 84 Springsteen sound. But, that’s the era, no? 

From there the album falls apart in a morass of bad ideas. I commend Rick for trying new things but, dude, “Bop Til You Drop” is bad. I know the synthesizers worked on Success Hasn’t Spoiled Me Yet but here they sound like you’re auditioning for Breakin’ 3, Electric Boogalee. Unrelentingly bad duet ballad “Taxi Dancing” and the inexplicably instrumental, “S.F.O.” complete Side One and I’m hesitant to turn the record over. 

It doesn’t get better. How Graham Parker managed to find his way on to this thing is beyond me as I’ve never seen the movie. But, even his lesser work is an improvement on the garbage on this platter. 

The Parker, Hendryx and Gabriel tracks save this from being a complete disaster. But, you can just listen to that one song and forget this exists. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hard-to-hold/309677793

The 1984 Listening Post - Quiet Riot - Condition Critical

Quiet Riot - Condition Critical

#190

July 7 1984

Quiet Riot

Condition Critical

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Mama Weer All Crazee Now

Stop Your Hands, Clap Your Feet

Scream and Shout

So…Metal Health II. There’s even a Slide cover. The lead off track sounds more like a Twisted Sister song but maybe Sister sounded like a Riot knockoff but I think they basically came into their own at the same time, no? As long as Slade, the North Star for these guys aren’t going to make too much headway here, might as well mine that sound. 

There is an intersection point where all these bands meet. Not the Icon/Helix/Kick Axe metal. But the Quiet Riot/Motley Crue/Poison glam metal. Which is more accessible to more people and better suited to sales (See:The Sweet, circa 1975). A good example is “Stomp Your Hands, Clap Your Feet”, not just heavy glam but also designed specifically to be played to a stadium of thousands. 

Weird to me that more of these bands didn’t employ Chinn & Chapman songs into their catalog. They would all seem so perfect for updating. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/condition-critical/192486740

The 1984 Listening Post - Icon - Icon

Icon - Icon

#189

July 7 1984

Icon

Icon

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

On Your Feet

World War

Under My Gun

I can’t tell if Icon sounds like 80s Kiss or if 80s Kiss sounds like Icon. I have to wonder what separated the Quiet Riots and Rats from theKick Axes and Icons. 

Ratt made an entire career out of, basically, one song and one record…why not Icon? I think these guys are better than Ratt. For what they do, they kick some axe. There is no reason “Under My Gun” wasn’t a hit unless they didn’t make any videos or said videos were terrible. 

This is a perfectly fine addition to the glam-hair-metal catalog. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/icon/510073228

The 1984 Listening Post - Helix - Walkin' the Razor's Edge

Helix - Walkin' the Razor's Edge

#188

July 7 1984

Helix

Walkin’ the Razor’s Edge

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Rock You

When the Hammer Falls

You know what? After all the experimentation and synth-rock I had no idea that I missed good ol’ hair metal. Not since Kick Axe have we had some on this project, huh? And they, too, were from Canada. These guys are the Great White North’s Crue, especially on tracks like “Young & Wreckless” and  “My Kind of Rock” except when they are Def Leppard (“Rock You” “Feel the Fire”) or when they are Priest (“Animal House” “When the Hammer Falls”) or Poison “(Make Me Do) Anything You Want” 

These guys just wanna be Ratt’s more accessible cousin (“Six Strings, Nine Lives”). I think they’re better. This is such an improvement over their last record.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/walkin-the-razors-edge-bonus-track-version/714952293

I’ve never wanted to be in Winnipeg in March in my life. http://planethelix.com/events/march-22ndclub-regent-center-wkickaxe-the-killer-dwarfs/

The 1984 Listening Post - David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees

David Sylvian - Brilliant Trees

#187

July 7 1984

David Sylvian

Brilliant Trees

2.25 out of 5

Disjointed at times, lush at others. I found Japan hit or miss in the past. I prefer the commerciality of the New Romantics who took the sound to the radio. This is the logical groggy outgrowth of that tributary for me. I don’t hate it. I don’t feel like I missed anything, though. 

I had to leave this for a couple hours to make dinner and sit with the fam and, completely forgot where I was. Damn, it’s midway through “Red Guitar” and I’m pretty sure Sylvian is just making it all up as he goes. 

Did you ever wonder what David Bowie would sound like if he decided to record Gary Numan songs whilst on Ambient? Listen to “Backwaters”. Awful. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/brilliant-trees-remastered-2003/1041863159

The 1984 Listening Post - Public Image Ltd. - This is What You Want...This is What You get

Public Image Ltd - This is What You Want...This is What You Get

#186

July 6 1984

Public Image Ltd.

This is What You Want... This is What You Get

1.75 out of 5

Oy. This is ugly. Is it club music? At first that’s what it sounds like it wants to be. Then it’s just monotonous pounding. Not as dark as Swans, although that kind of commitment would be welcome. But not as interesting as Lydon was just a few years back. Proving that it was Jah Wobble all along.Much like it was McLaren before him. It’s too easy to call this Rotten. But it’s not good. This is what it sounds like when a celebrity asshole crashes a rave and insists on getting on the microphone. And the horn section is drunk. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/this-is-what-you-want-this-is-what-you-get/366402830

The 1984 Listening Post - Billy Squier - Signs of Life

Billy Squier - Signs of Life

#185

July 5 1984

Billy Squier

Signs of Life

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

All Night Long

Rock Me Tonite

Billy Squier makes music to drive fast all alone on the highway. In other words, he was making the soundtrack to Miami Vice before Miami Vice was a thing and before Glenn Frey watered it down and smuggified it. The rest of the album is Sammy Hagar territory. Billy could’ve fronted Van Halen and I doubt there’d be any difference, save the amount of alcohol intake. 

There is a requisite (for the time) paranoid song about 1984. And a bunch of stuff that just sounds like 3rd rate Foreigner. 

Billy knows how to do this, but he’s wearing it’s welcome out. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/signs-of-life/716310291

The 1984 Listening Post - Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane

Lindsey Buckingham - Go Insane

#184

July 

Lindsey Buckingham

Go Insane

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Go Insane

Slow Dancing

Bang the Drum

D.W. Suite

Why this album came into our lives I can’t remember. I don’t think *I* owned it but there was a copy on cassette that I used to listen to. Especially on one life defining night in New York. A terrible experience in an acting rehearsal space…I won’t go into detail. It still haunts me.  It was the catalyst for me leaving the acting department and wading in the morass of the film department. I should’ve left college that semester. It really wasn’t for me. I wasn’t ready. But had I left I know that I never would have been roommates with someone with whom I, on a lark, took a post senior year trip to LA. He and I would not have been roommates in Los Angeles. I would not have started to pursue a career here. I would not have gotten married, had a kid, lost that kid, got remarried and had these two. 

More likely I would have gone home to figure out what I wanted to do. Stayed in the NY area to try my hand at acting. And, also likely, when my father died shortly thereafter, I wouldn’t have gone back toLos Angeles, beckoned by a commercial director who wanted to see me for a certain spot (kicking off a decade long working relationship and decades long friendship). I would probably have moved back home, directionless, to help my mother with her situation as a widow with debt. It’s doubtful I would have gotten out of New Jersey, probably taking over their business. And I’d be a completely different person than I am today. 

That acting experience that night was only partially the reason those things never happened, but, had it not occurred, there’s a good chance that I would not have left the theater department. It was but one in a series of events…

And it all started with staring out the 2nd floor rehearsal studio window, listening to Go Insane by Lindsey Buckingham. 

Strangely, the record isn’t bringing back nostalgia or pangs of any kind. I just recall it. But because of that night, I can’t be objective. 

It’s experimental and dark. it sounds like Lindsey but not like Fleetwood Mac. Like he’s trying to break out of something. Be something else. It was the perfect record for that night, a bridge between middle of the road and experimentation. Exactly where I was at the time. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/go-insane/357962619

The 1984 Listening Post - Dio - The Last in Line

Dio - The Last in Line

#183

July 2 1984

Dio

The Last in Line

4 out of 5

Highlights:

We Rock

I Speed at Night

One Night in the City

Evil Eyes

With no apologies I declare that I loved Holy Diver. When I listened to The Last in Line on that journey of Sabbath/Purple so many years ago, this shocked me. I was fully prepared to hate it. But, nope. Loved it. But, of course, the sequel had to suck, right? Uh uh. From the opener, “We Rock” this is mind melting metal. 

Who knew that I was such a headbanger? I’ve only been to one “Metal” concert in my life. Ozzy, on Blizzard of Ozz. I don’t buy metal records. Don’t go out of my way to know anything about them or the artists. Couldn’t name you a metal group from the last 25 years without strain. But, when a good one comes on, like on the Listening Post project, I love it. 

This is Holy Diver Part II. Need some speed metal? Sure. "We Rock" will take care of that nicely, thank you. and a few tracks later, so will "I Speed at Night, an awesome shreddattack. Some epic stadium anthem-metal? How about "The Last in Line"? Radio Friendly Groove metal? "One Night in the City"'s got ya covered. 

From top to bottom, there are no surprises here just good solid formula rawk. If you liked Dover, you’ll enjoy this one. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-last-in-line-remastered/1134745928

The 1984 Listening Post - Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead

Cirith Ungol - King of the Dead

#182

July 2 1984

Cirith Ungol

King of the Dead

1.75 out of 5

I never ever ever turn music down. My ears are…special. I can hear the person on the other end of your phone call when I sit across the dining room table from you. If I didn’t hear you, it’s because I wasn’t listening. I like it LOUD. When no one is home my Sonos speakers are all set to the max. And we have a small house. I have a Play 1 in the living room. Another in the bathroom, just 15 feet away. And a PlayBar in the family room. 

I play them all at max if no one is around. My AirPods are set to max, so loud that when I was on the ferry from Victoria to Vancouver last week my co-workers 2 seats away got worried about my hearing. 

My doc says my ears are like magic. The rest of me….

All that said, I had to turn this band down. Not because they are jokingly bad (they are) but Tim Baker’s piercing vocals are like razors, unfettered by something as simple as, I dunno, the rest of a band. And they are doubled. Like all good power pop should be. except this is doom metal. 

The drums have no heft, which is weird for the 80s, the bass is mixed too high BUT still can’t do battle with the Vox. 

And the songs all want to be demonic. They want to sooooooo sooooooo bad. But…nope. I get what they are trying to do and I really want to like it but it’s all such a bad mixed mess. Shame, really. I bet there’s some chops in there. Oh, how they want to be the Sabbath of Tolkien, though….

After all the Strum and Drang there is the requisite finger plucking acoustic driven epic cum sludge rock, “Finger of Scorn”, followed by the classical piece, "Toccata in Dm"  by Bach. Oh, dammit, Randy Rhodes, what thee hath wrought. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/king-of-the-dead/56580149