The 1983 Listening Post - Bruce Cockburn - The Trouble with Normal

Bruce Cockburn - The Trouble with Normal

#273

1983

Bruce Cockburn

The Trouble with Normal

2.5 out of 5

I really appreciate the sentiment. Bruce is hitting on some very important social and political issues here. Trouble is, he comes across as so paternal because his production, playing, style, is all so…history teacher. He lacks the edge that even a Billy Joel has and that is saying something.

If you wanted to know what Warren Zevon sounds like occasionally impersonating Bob Dylan while fronting a Dire Straits band, who only listen to Genesis records, look no further.

This is as MOR as it gets, whatever messages are mired deep in these meandering tunes.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-trouble-with-normal/1308749140

The 1983 Listening Post - Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart

Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart

272

1983

Stevie Nicks

The Wild Heart

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Stand Back

There is a singer songwriter named Beth Hart. I met her a few years ago at an music function. She heard my band. She loved us. Blah blah. She was also a favorite of my wife’s who had her song “L.A. Song” on repeat before she moved here. Beth (Hart) was a star search contestant and told us that she had been met with pushback by record labels because of the incessant vibrato in her singing. And I’ve always wondered…did any of those record execs ever listen to Fleetwood Mac? Cuz…Stevie Nicks is all vibrato. And oddly nasal.

Anyway. This is her second solo album. It’s kind of boring. Kind of ok. It’s very pub rock. It dances close to the edge of country but I think a lot of California 70s sounding rock is where country and rock meet.

Those are a lot words to say that this is a sub-par Mac-less Fleetwood-esque album. The single, “Nightbird” is such a redux of “Dreams” that the author of that song should sue.

And I would love to live in a world where Stevie Nicks sues herself for plagiarism.

Also, synthesizers. The 80s are all about synthesizers. I forgot just how much.

This is the sound of too much money + studio time. Dull.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-wild-heart-remastered/1168959050

The 1983 Listening Post - The Cleaners from Venus - In the Golden Autumn

The Cleaners from Venus - In the Golden Autumn

#270
1983
The Cleaners from Venus
In the Golden Autumn
3.5 out of 5

Highlights:
Please Don’t Step on My Rainbow
Krugerrand Gladiators

I almost didn’t include this one. But, two things persuaded me. 1. The DIY aesthetic is in stark contrast to all the bombast and over production we’ve been hearing and I love me some Mountain Goats, who recorded under the same constraints. 2. Martin Newell released a solo album in the 90s which was produced by Andy Partridge and, with a pedigree like that, I thought him worthy of inclusion.

From the outset I hear echoes of Marco Pirroni-esque guitars. That’s just on the opener but it adds something to this otherwise super lo fi retro entry. I’d have more appreciation for this record if it seemed like the participants were having fun and not just recording sound effects of birds (”The Autumn Cornfield”).
Later, around “Marilyn on a Train”) I found myself falling under this record’s spell the more time I spent with it but I really want the 60s to end.

The 1983 Listening Post - Altered Images - Bite

Altered Images - Bite

#271

1983

Altered Images

Bite

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Now That You’re Here

NONONONONO! I don’t want disco in my New Wave! Strings? WTF? Why is Clare Grogan’s vocals pushed so far behind the bass? This reminds me of when Rilo Kiley came out with that shitty last album and tried to pass it off as a forward step but it was really just an attempt to be pop and it also failed spectacularly. The next 35 minutes are going to suck.

Wait! That saxophone…that’s terrible. Make it stop.

The production on this, considering the pedigree of Nicky China and Tony Visconti, is terrible. Whoever mastered it was high and neeeeeeded that bass. 

The deeper into this listen the more I hate this record. It seems like the producers hate the band and everyone just wants out. 

There’s a hint of Altered Images that fights to come through on the Side One closer, “Now That You’re Here” and they get really close on “Don’t Talk to Me About Love” but the bass…that fucking bass…..also, turning Altered Images into BananaramaLauperGoGos is a bad idea. 

https://open.spotify.com/album/6HJUiwsBuAI9uhL9FkpUuG?si=8SKAbEN3SxS9qZs1FmUqlQ

The 1983 Listening Post - Gary Moore - Victims of the Future

Gary Moore - Victims of the Future

#269

December 1983

Gary Moore

Victims of the Future

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Victims of the Future

Shapes of Things

It feels like ages since we heard some high-octave/high-octane soaring vocals to go along with gigantic guitars so, here we are, closing in on the end of this project and we have Gary Moore. It takes balls to have a sound like this that isn’t accompanied by a name like Excelsior or Gigantasaur or even The Gary Moore Project. It’s just him. Everyone else is along for the electric six string ride. 

What songs lack in, say, quality choruses (Teenage Idol) they make up for it with blistering guitar solos. Can we talk for a minute about how forceful and great Deep Purple’s drummer Ian Paice is? On the tracks he plays on, especially the Yardbirds cover “The Shape of Things”, he’s positively a force a nature. 

“Empty Rooms” was probably left lying around some Journey sessions and Moore needed a ballad so he grabbed it but I don’t care cuz, after all that synth-pop I’ve forgotten what guitars sound like. 

The second side starts out with less promise, as Moore unleashes his internal Malmsteen on a 7 minute masturbatory epic that is also every bit the worst Scorpions you’ve heard and from there it’s shitty Van Halen (“All I Want”) & crappy Ozzy “Law of the Jungle”.

This album should be called The Law of Diminishing Returns. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/victims-of-the-future/723400228

The 1983 Listening Post - Kim Wilde - Catch as Catch Can

Kim Wilde - Catch as Catch Can

#268

1983

Kim Wilde

Catch as Catch Can

2.25 out of 5

Highlights:

House of Salome

Opening with what *sounds* like a surefire mid-80s radio hit, “Salome” is a highlight on this entry by the pop diva. Amidst the standard techno fare she gets in some retro licks on “Love Blonde” but, after a couple of really great pop records, Kim’s sounding a bit tired. She reaches for New Wave glory at the end of Side One on “Dream Sequence” and epic drama on Side Two’s “Shoot to Disable” but, instead of achieving Replicas era Gary Numan, she gets closer to Dance era Numan. on the former and barely scratches Warriors era Numa on the latter. That’s too safe for this genre. I appreciate the attempts, tho. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/catch-as-catch-can/1243020589

The 1983 Listening Post - David J - The Etiquette of Violence

David J - The Etiquette of Violence

#266

1983

David J

The Etiquette of Violence

1.75 out of 5

I started listening to this and was losing myself in thesomnabulance of the first track when I took out my AirPod sfor a second and heard my daughter practicing her violin. Those two seconds were more pleasant than anything on this record. This is the sound of someone who has lost the musical script and is putting his depression and anger on record. Thank god guys like David had music to turn to cuz otherwise the suicide rate in England would be so much higher. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/etiquette-of-violence/252831717

The 1983 Listening Post - Robert Palmer - Pride

Robert Palmer - Pride

#265

March 1983

Robert Palmer

Pride

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Want You More

The Silver Gun

If you record an album in the Bahamas, it’s probably gonna sound like it was made in the Bahamas. The title track is all steel drums and rhythms (what the fuck is it about the early 80s and rhythm tracks. Is this where VCVBVC songs died?) Then Deadline is the whitest reggae I’ve heard in a while and a redux of “Looking for Clues” (which was on a spectacular album). The ominous “Want You More” is somewhat treacherous and “It’s Not Difficult” is a healthy New Wave Rock entry (“Say You Will” sounds like a cutting room entry from the Clues sessions) but this whole thing is hit or miss. But, Palmer is always challenging himself to try new things. He does that here. I guess that’s to be appreciated.

There’s little need for this.

That said, the electronica bit at the end, "The Silver Gun" is something out of the ordinary and very welcome.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pride/5239945

The 1983 Listening Post - Bananarama - Deep Sea Skiving

Bananarama - Deep Sea Skiving

#264

March 7, 19831983

Banarama

Deep Sea Skiing

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Shy Boy

Young at Heart

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

Boy Trouble

Okay this was a challenge. I had to piece it together on YouTube and some of the songs were mislabeled so I thought I was listening to one and it was actually a different one. Sigh…

Song by song:

1. Shy Boy

Wait. I swear I remember this track. This was everywhere. The bass is mixed too high for me to get into the vocals as much as I’d like. Like they are secondary. i wonder if this will continue through the record. ****

2. Doctor Love

1. A Paul Weller song that doesn’t really do him or ‘Rama justice. It’s too…big. ***

3. What a Shambles

1. The first song credited to Banarama on the album. It’s wholly pleasant. Like a sunny, summer, day-glo day. ****

4. Really Saying Something

1. It’s hard to rate covers. The originals, if good, cement themselves somewhere in your brain. There is something almost bored about the vocals that works in that they just want the song to carry the day. And that almost disaffected quality is inviting. It leaves me wanting, though. ***

5. Cheers Then

1. Written by Bananrama (with others), this is happy and frivolous and charming. Abba-esque ***

6. Aie a Mana

1. My favorite track so far. Bouncy, shimmering, fresh and fun. ****

7. Young at Heart

1. Why wasn’t this a single? It’s one of the best songs on the album. It’s like Christmas. ****

8. Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

1. The best cover track on the record ****

9. Hey Young London

1. Bananarama does Bow Wow Wow. McLaren was right. This rhythm is made for pop rock. It drives the song above where it would normally land. ***

10. Boy Trouble

1. I take it back, this is my favorite track. It’s great with all three voices but I kind of wish it was a solo track. Doesn’t matter which banana, I think that would make it even better. ****

11. Wish You Were Here With Me

1. A very nice, sweet, inoffensive piece of pop candy. All very pleasant. Like I said, Christmas. ****

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1xm0HhIaKcFVAOozgofjnx8rtjZraqEv

The 1983 Listening Post - Captain Sensible - The Power of Love

Captain Sensible - The Power of Love

#264

November 1983

Captain Sensible

The Power of Love

2.5 out of 5

Highlights:

It’s Hard to Believe I’m Not

Thanks for the Night

I want to die.

What was going on with these ex-punk and post punters becoming pop-crooners? There are so many missteps on this that it almost negates the good work of The Damned. In retrospect, they weren’t all that to begin with so…maybe this isn’t so much of a surprise. 

If you only listen to the first couple tracks you will want to throw this record across the room. Its deeper into Side One that it takes off, starting with “Sir Donald’s Son”. 

Sensible is having a laugh on a lot of this record but putting it to music that would have been rejected for Freddie Mercury’s Mr. Bad Guy is a terrible choice. 

I wish “Glad It’s All Over” had been the closing track. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-power-of-love/1266103485

The 1983 Listening Post - Hunters & Collectors - The Fireman's Curse

Hunters & Collectors - The Fireman's Curse

#263

September 5 1983

Hunters & Collectors

The Fireman’s Curse

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Curse

Fish Roar

The Australian invasion continues!

This is another entry in the big-sound-much-to-say-can’t-quite-figure-out-how-to-say-it-without-grandeur genre. It all sounds sooooo important. But that country has already given us one Midnight Oil and they had already hit the stratosphere with 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Not sure we need another. Each song grows on me in ways that make me think they are really good until I realize that this is a terrific rhythm section backing an Oi! vocalist with a handful of protest lyrics and not anything for me to hold on to besides the beat. Damn I want to love this more than I do.

I don’t know what was going on in Australia in the early 80s but, boy, there’s a lot protesting going on. 

I accidentally listened to this album backwards. In it’s correct order it is a bit more comprehensive. But it’s better when it’s heard correctly.

This whole thing just tries too damned hard. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-firemans-curse/743531438

The 1983 Listening Post - Howard Devoto - Jerky Versions of the Dream

Howard Devoto - Jerky Versions of the Dream

#262

July 26 1983

Howard Devoto

Jerky Versions of the Dream

2.5 out of 5

The dream-synth-dance pop revolution continues. In this case the musicianship is stellar as is the production but Howard Devoto has the singing ability of Howard the Duck.  He doesn’t sound like a duck. He sounds like…like…Oh! It’s like when Jim Steinman lost Meat Loaf to vocal nodes and sang his songs on his own album. He knows where the notes are but he struggles to find them. Or they are actively running away from him. 

This worked for me on Magazine’s albums but there is a lushness that these songs are requiring that he isn’t up to. Imagine these sung by, say, John Foxx or even Simon leBon. They might be excellent. We’ll never know cuz Devoto is the star here. 

I really like the music (“Cold Imagination” & “Topless” are standouts on side one) and the effort, but Devoto is his own worst enemy, which drags down the rating. But Side Two has “Waiting for a Train” and that is so abhorrently awful that I want to poke my eardrums. I believe my AirPods tried to pop out on their own. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/howard-devoto/468611

The 1983 Listening Post - The Gymslips - Rockin' with the Renees

The Gymslips - Rockin' with the Renees

#261

1983

The Gymslips

Rockin’ with the Renees 

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Renees

Face Lifts

Robot Man

Some Girls

(This review is for the LP set only)

You know what band I miss? Killer Pussy. “Teenage Enema Nurses in Bondage”? I had that maxi single and adored it. 

I also love the Pipettes. And the 5,6,7,8’s. 

It seems like the Gymslips existed, then were split apart and became all those groups and a host of others. This is Donora and Cub (The band who wrote “New York” that They Might Be Giants covered). This is what the Runaways wanted to be but, for some reason, couldn’t. This is Joan Jett with the attitude but no snarl. The landscape of Rock is littered with girl groups who are great but disappear in a poof of “what happened”? That I’ve never heard of the Gymslips until now is evidence of that. And they cover a Suzi Quatro song, ffs. 

This is a great record. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/rockin-with-the-renees-the-punk-collection/953140803

The 1983 Listening Post - Fra Lippo Lippi - Small Mercies

Fra Lippo Lippi - Small Mercies

#260

1983

Fra Lippo Lippi

Small Mercies

2.5 out of 5

Ah…the pleasant, antiseptic sounds of harmless, keyboard driven EuroTronica. 

Barely a thing. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/small-mercies/1131401969

The 1983 Listening Post - Matthew Wilder - I Don't Speak the Language

Matthew Wilder - I Don't Speak the Language

#259

Julu 1 1983

Matthew Wilder

I Don’t Speak the Language

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

The Kid’s American

I Was There

I’ve always thought Matthew Wilder was British. Possibly it’s the blue-eyed soul that was so popular out of there (UB40, Culture Club) that I just assumed he was part of that pack. He’s not, he’s a NewYorker, transplanted to LA who was, eventually, nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Mulan. 

I would venture that he hews closer to Elton John on a lot of these tracks, especially on “I Was There”, which John should’ve covered and made into a hit.. He won’t be pegged. Which is also his flaw. He’s so adept at a minor variety of styles that are equally inoffensive, toothless but also well crafted that he doesn’t sound like anything, really. There’s faux-ska, blue eyed soul, pop, disco…it’s a hodgepodge.

At first I was like, “It’s the ‘Break My Stride’ guy! What a tool!” Then the album kept never bugging me and I realized he had made a good one. Not a great one. But it’s very good. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/i-dont-speak-the-language/359713649

The 1983 Listening Post - Haysi Fantayzee - Battle Hymns for Children Singing

Haysi Fantayzee - Battle Hymns for Children Singing

#258

1983

Haysi Fantayzee

Battle Hymns for Children Singing

1.5 out of 5

This is the sound of music made by the kids who were abducted by Kinko the Clown and grew up to try to work out their issues with music. The Bow Wow Wow/Adam Ant/Burundi Beat of “More Money” & “Jimmy Jive Jive” are such obnoxious and odious rip offs that its doubly offensive that the songs are so boring.

This prefab mess is an aural assault. I’ve never been happier that a group ceased to record after a debut release.

On their hit, “John Wayne is Big Leggy” Jeremy Healy of Haysi Fantayzee[2] said, “It was an allegory for treatment of which the white settlers used, but on the Native American Indians. However, I wrote it like John Wayne having anal sex with a squaw. I thought this was hilarious!”

And that’s Haysi Fantayzee.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/battle-hymns-for-children-singing/598897428 

The 1983 Listening Post - Alien Sex Fiend - Who's Been Sleeping in My Brain

Alien Sex Fiend - Who's Been Sleeping in My Brain

#257

1983

Alien Sex Fiend

Who’s Been Sleeping in My Brain

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

I Am a Product

There were signs for Alien Sex Fiend everywhere. The name is cool, I guess. The music sounds like an excuse to have a band called “Alien Sex Fiend”. I’ve never been one for the Cramps-y goth horror sound. (Although I liked 45 Grave quite a bit) This is what Misfits should have sounded like. There’s a healthy dollop of humor in here and drums for days. The whole thing sounds like a 60s monster tv show that’s been colorized.

The ideas are there. The musicianship is there. Something’s missing and I can’t really put my finger on it. The songs…aren’t. That’s what it is. 

It boggles that this band is still around. I bet Dead or Alive were friends with these guys.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/whos-been-sleeping-in-my-brain/212044379

The 1983 Listening Post - Marine Girls - Lazy Ways

Marine Girls - Lazy Ways

#256 

1983

Marine Girls

Lazy Ways

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

A Place in the Sun

Falling Again

Second Sight

THIS! I have been looking for this record for 30 years. There was a girl in college who used to play this all the time but I could never remember who it was or what it was called. I just remembered the cover. And that I liked it. Or I liked her. I don’t remember! It’s all a blur!

(It’s also very possible that I am misremembering all of this and my roommate had it and we just listened to it a couple times but there was a girl there that I was enamored of and I couldn’t bring myself to talk to and I just conflated her with the record)

I know, it’s basically a folk record but I think this is a harbinger of what’s to come. The low-fi, DIY sound is the seeds of so much that is coming in the next decade. One could think it’s basically an independent version of The Roches. But, it’s not. It’s where All Girl Summer Fun Band has its sound origin. And the Murmurs. 

Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely the sound of a smoky bar in in the east village where everyone smokes and wishes it was 1958 and the Marine Girls are the featured act on a Monday night. But you can’t believe they have a record to sell and you are just in awe of them because, fuck, they’re doing it!

PS: This is for the first half of the album linked. The rest is the other album Beach Party

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lazy-ways-beach-party/204669167

The 1983 Listening Post - Golden Palominos - Golden Palominos

Golden Palominos - Golden Palominos

#255

May 20 1955

Golden Palominos

Golden Palominos

2.5 out of 5

This is a drummer’s album. And it shows. It’s all jam and warbles. In 85 we all had the Goldens 2nd album. That was the one with Michael Stipe on it. This is nothing like it. This is afro-funk and tongue speaking.

If The Residents had this kind of ability, they would put an album out that sounded just like this. Is that Yoko Ono on “Under the Cap”? Nope. I think it’s Syd Straw doing a Yoko impersonation.

If you love drumming…I mean wall to wall drumming…and weirdness…this is the record for you. Unless you also like…oh, what are they called….songs. Bit, it’s unlike just about anything this year.

I always confuse Anton Fier with Anton Fig, David Letterman’s drummer. They’re not the same guys, right?

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-golden-palominos/964620533

The 1983 Listening Post - Sparks - In Outer Space

Sparks - In Outer Space

#254

1983

Sparks

In Outer Space

4.75 out 5

Highlights: 

Cool Places

Popularity

All You Ever Think About is Sex

Rockin’ Girls

I Wish I Looked a Little Better

I just re-listened to my entire Sparks catalog in October. I had a love affair with them in college, based on the sardonic and ironic wit of Angst in my Pants.

I didn’t give In Outer Space much of a chance back then. I wanted the rocking’ crunch of Angst and this was all so…synth-y.

I missed out back then because all of the wit is still there (“Rockin’ Girls”, “I Wish I Looked a Little Better”), the melodies are strong and the production is smart.

They did not sustain after this, however. In Outer Space is their attempt to vaunt into the top 40. It worked with the party track, “Cool Places” one of the best dance tracks of the era and the silly and delightful “Popularity” but after this Sparks would be in the wilderness for a long while. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-outer-space/279523332