The 1986 Listening Post - Big Audio Dynamite - No. 10, Upping St.

Big Audio Dynamite - No. 10, Upping St.

#466/2116

October 1986

Big Audio Dynamite

No. 10, Upping St.

Genre: Dance Rock

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

C’mon Every Beatbox

V. Thirteen

Ticket 

The first thing that struck me about the lead single is how much it sounds like it could be a latter day Clash song. And also just how far a stretch “The world’s most important band” moniker was. It’s that moment when, as a fan, you realize you were marketed to and everything is advertising and nothing really matters and punk was never real and fuck everything, pass the Cheetos. 

It’s hard to get past the 80s sounds on this spinner. “Limbo the Law” and “V. Thirteen” really suffer here. The samples, the drum machines, it’s all so of the era and I really wish the Jones/Strummer tracks were just 4 guys thrashing the way they did just 6 years before. 

But, listen to “Ticket” and tell me that Scott LeRock and Boogie Down Productions didn’t listen to this record 100 times. Hip Hop is about to explode and this record has that all over it. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/no-10-upping-st/197980378

The 1986 Listening Post - Alien Sex Fiend - "It" the Album

Alien Sex Fiend - "It" the Album

#465/2115

October 1986

Alien Sex Fiend

It the Album

Genre: TechnUnk

3.5 out of 5

I know that this album has nothing to do with it and doesn’t really sound like it but this is the kind of stuff that I imagine would be investigated as possible soundtrack music for movies like Liquid Sky.

We talk about the great splintering of the 80s and this is but another tendril. Evoking a experience that is both psychedelic and cocaine fueled, it’s the background sound for early raves but also psychotic meltdowns. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/it-the-album/1485740445

The 1986 Listening Post - A Witness - I Am John's Pancreas

A Witness - I Am John's Pancreas

#464/2114

October 1986

A Witness

I Am John’s Pancreas

Genre: Lo-Fi Punk

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Dipping Bird

If my band, The Yeast Infection, was fronted by John Darnielle, but he grew up in England, that’s this record, man.

It’s unmusical, pretentious and nearly forgettable save a couple tracks. 

Next. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/i-am-johns-pancreas/264230707

The 1986 Listening Post - Timbuk 3 - Greetings from Timbuk 3

Timbuk 3 - Greetings from Timbuk 3

#463/2113 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

October 1986

Timbuk 3

Greetings from Timbuk 3

Genre: How the fuck have I not heard this record?!?

4.5 out of 5 (Shame on You is not great)

Highlights:
The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades

Life is Hard

Facts About Cats

I never heard this band. But I heard that single. I mean, who didn’t? When my roommate and his writing partner sold their first script, the attached letter from their agent said, “They’re future’s so bright, I gotta wear shades.”

It was a ubiquitous statement, the “All that and a bag of chips” of it’s time. 

But that time was short lived as hell. 

And the shame of it is that it’s not the best track on the record. That’s the rest of the album cuz, dammit, there’s not a clunker on here. 

The trouble with T3 is they SOUND like a novelty band. Like they are sending up roots rock. They wear their sense of humor on their sleeves so, how to take them seriously, especially when they write light and frothy goofball tracks like “Hairstyles and Attitudes” which could be a TMBG song and they do it so effortlessly???

https://music.apple.com/us/album/greetings-from-timbuk-3/716067913

The 1986 Listening Post - The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy - Distressed Gentlefolk

The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy - Distressed Gentlefolk

#462/2112 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

October 1986

The Jazz Butcher Consipiracy

Distressed Gentlefolk

Genre: Rock

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Falling in Love

Big Bad Thing

Buffalo Shame

Nothing Special

How best to describe the latest from The Jazz Butcher? 

Maybe like this: Imagine you put out two or more excellent genre defying albums of the 80s that few people care about, don’t get radio play, doesn’t make a dent on the charts but are all excellent and it’s time to follow it up. 

You can either aim for commercialism as deftly as possible, forsaking everything you once stood for.

Or.

You can double down on your songwriting, craft and sense of whimsy and fun.

That’s what Pat Fish and the gang does here. 

It’s a bit paisley, a lot buskery, jangly and dreamy and just damned great. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/distressed-gentlefolk/1207940510

The 1986 Listening Post -The Choir - Voices in the Shadows

The Choir - Voices in the Shadows

#461/2111

October 1986

The Choir

Voices in the Shadows

Genre: (Christian) Power Pop

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Fear Only You

Love Falls Down

This band is listed as “Christian Alternative” but all I hear is upbeat power pop, so, either they hid their message really well or I’m a dolt. 

In fact, if The Choir wasn’t labeled as Christian Rock I don’t see how “Love Falls Down” isn’t a college radio hit in the mid-80s. This is the sound of every REM wannabe band or The Connells or U2 lite. 

Totally acceptable power pop. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/diamonds-and-rain/1165981775

The 1986 Listening Post - Omen - The Curse

Omen - The Curse

#460/2110

October 1986

Omen

The Curse

Genre: ThraShatan Metal

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

S.R.B.

At All Cost

This doesn’t sound like last year’s Omen. It’s a lot more thrash and, tbh, I kind of like it for that reason. 

They can’t deny their Venom-esque leanings so the song content is mediocre posturing by what sounds like a band trying to be current. 

When they abandon the lyrics, they actually sound quite metallically majestic.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-curse-nightmares/60366190

The 1986 Listening Post - Colin Newman

Colin Newman - Commercial Suicide

#459/2109

October 1986

Colin Newman

Commercial Suicide

Genre: Experi-Dream

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Their Terrain

Commercial Suicide

Hey, look! It’s another solo record by a Wire Guy. Only this time…it doesn’t suck. 

It’s lush and inviting and downright delightful for a while. But, eventually, like all the WireGuys, it mires itself in self-indulgent experimentation and I can’t wait for it to be over. Dammit. The Chamber Pop of the title track is delicious, though and is a harbinger of what’s coming from Britain in about 10 years. This album really teeters for me. Between the bells of self-indulgence and beauty.

This is somebody’s favorite album and I would very much like to meet that person.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/commercial-suicide/44342442

The 1986 Listening Post - Saint Vitus - Born Too Late

Saint Vitus - Born Too Late

#458/2108

October 1986

Saint Vitus

Born Too Late

Genre: Sludge Metal

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Born Too Late

H.A.A.G.

Picking right up where they left off with their psychedelic Sabbath homage, Vitus desperately needs a better producer, man. They needs someone who knows how to mix this thing in a way that it doesn’t sound so tinny and can really bore its way into your soul because that’s what they are going for and I am here for it. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/born-too-late/117748132

The 1986 Listening Post - Roxette - Pearls of Passion

Roxette - Pearls of Passion

#457/2107

October 31 1986

Roxette

Pearls of Passion

Genre: SynthPop

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Soul Deep

I’m sitting in my car, cranking the Possessed album, wishing I had done something else with my life when all of a sudden I’m met by a decidedly 80s, four in the floor beat, with horns and the high pitch shouting of Marie Fredriksson and something that sounds like an actual song and, at first, I’m grateful after all that shredtastic nonsense. 

This is harmless Swedish Pop that, I am sure, will get better. In fact, I know there are more interesting Swedish bands/groups on the horizon and maybe this one has something more to offer but this is pretty middle of the synth pop road with not much to recommend it. Songs like “Surrender” and “Call of the Wild” and “From One Heart to Another” are more enticing than what the band offered as singles. I almost like them.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/pearls-of-passion/949912381

The 1986 Listening Post - Christian Death - Atrocities

Christian Death - Atrocities

#455/2105

October 31 1986

Christian Death

Atrocities

Genre: Death Rock

2.25 out of 5

And here it is, the new version of Christian Death, in its full form. Rozz Williams is gone, Valor Kand has taken full control, which explains the prevalence of percussion above almost everything else. 

Ostensibly this record is about The Holocaust and, specifically Joseph Mengele at times and that’s the second record I’ve heard this month with songs about the torturer-as-doctor, after Slayer’s “Angel of Death”. I kind of get it. We were all pretty affected by the Holocaust in the mid-80s. At least those of us who were old enough to remember the amazing ABC mini-series that was as harrowing and terrifying as anything I’d seen before. Here we are 8 years later and reaping from that. 

It lives on to this day, actually. I’m still boring my way through Hitler: Ascent, Jojo Rabbit won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, Look Who’s Back…

Anyway…this is a boring record despite the ugliness of the content. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/atrocities/776298126

The 1986 Listening Post - Possessed - Beyond the Gates

Possessed - Beyond the Gates

#456/2106

October 31 1986

Possessed

Beyond the Gates

Genre: Thrash

1.25 out of 5

I listened to this so you don’t have to. 

After taking the genre and fucking crushing it, they try to repeat and come up with an incomprehensible piece of chaos that let me wondering about my life choices in regards to this project. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/beyond-the-gates/980777250

The 1986 Listening Post - The Angels - Howling

The Angels - Howling

#454/2104 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

October 29 1986

The Angels

Howling

Genre: Power Rock

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

When the Time Comes

Don’t Waste My Time

Where Do You Run 

Hide Your Face

Standing Over You

Requisite 80s cover:

“We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by Mann & Weil, turning it into…an INXS song? If it was recorded by Iggy Pop, who absolutely should have done this. It’s the weakest track on the record, btw. 

If you take just about any 70s Glam Power Pop Rock band (like, say, Bay City Rollers) and add a ton of heft, crank up the bass and teach one of them to lick on his axe like he was making up for not having an aluminum foil wrapped cucumber in his pants, you might get The Angels.

I still don’t like the lead singer all that much but this is actually better than their last and makes me want to go back into the archives and listen to their oodles of earlier stuff. 

Of course, the reason this is so good is probably cuz the lead singer and guitarist jettisoned the rest of the band really went for that commercial sound. They hit it in spades but there were no takers stateside. This is not a ready made hitmaker. This is the kind of band that needs to slog it out in 50 cities and towns and pubs and clubs and make a name for themselves in a van. 

Hard to do that from Australia. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/howling/160332754

The 1986 Listening Post - XTC - Skylarking

XTC - Skylarking

#453/2103

October 27 1986

XTC

Skylarking
Genre: Power Pop

2.25 out of 5

Just kidding. 

Gotcha, though didn’t I?

This is a 5 out of 5 record. Through and through. I listened to this thing like mad when it came out and, yet, even though it got heavy rotation in my last year of college, it’s really the sound of Los Angeles in the 80s to me. MY Los Angeles. My life. My adult life, which began out here. 

The album is designed to play like a cycle, they say. Sure. A cycle is a day. A week. A year. A lifetime. 

Not only does the entire thing flow like a magic carpet of psychedelic power pop, it calls to mind all the great albums of the past, like Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds and moves them into the 80s and, here’s the great trick that Andy and Colin and Todd pull off: It sounds current today. 

I could spout lyrical content or go on about individual songs for hours but I won’t because there isn’t a bad track on this thing and every one of them has a lyric/couplet/poem that stands the test of time. 

I will point to “Dear God”, though. It was left off the original release, we all know, but, dammit, it is really the foundation for my entire religious belief system. 

Except that the conceit is that, in order for the narrator to castigate “God”, he must sing TO him, making him agnostic. He clearly is not. “If there’s one thing I don’t believe in, it’s you.” is an indictment that presages the coming ascendency of the “nones”. This is the song that is the harbinger not of doom but of the opposite of hope. Not hopelessness, just a resignation that, although the band is using the tropes of the hippy, peace and love era, they are more cynical and, tbh, realists. There might be no better anthem for Gen X than that one. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/skylarking-remastered-2001/1440889477

The 1986 Listening Post - Crime and the City Solution - Room of Lights

Crime and the City Solution - Room of Lights

#452/2102

October 27 1986

Crime and the City Solution

Room of Lights

Genre: What would The Doors sounds like in 86?

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Hey Sinkiller

Six Bells Chime

her Room of Lights (For Lisa)

This belongs in that category that I toss Nick Cave in of music that should really be a soundtrack to some terrific but offbeat Off Off Broadway play. It’s dank and moody and the lead singer sounds like Jim Morrison. 

It’s dynamic but not bombastic and, to be honest, some of it, like “Hey Sinkiller” are more ominous than anything Glenn Danzig was able to put out. It’s downright scary. 

I went with friends to the Ziegfeld to see the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire. It was packed. Like PACKED! We had to sit separately, if memory serves. 

I remember there being a band but I never pursued who they were because I was held captive by the rest of the movie, it’s themes, it’s presentation, it’s beauty.

THIS is the band! I’m grateful to have caught up to them again through this project. 

I’m not sure I wanna hear any more from them lest I try to leap off the same ledge upon which Bruno Ganz was perched. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/room-of-lights/825506960

The 1986 Listening Post - I Start Counting - My Translucent Hands

I Start Counting - My Translucent Hands

#451/2100

October 27 1986

I Start Counting

My Translucent Hands

Genre: Electro

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Lose Him

Not as robotic as Kraftwerk, although devoted to them, obviously. Not as funny as Xex but more assured and well produced. Not as sexy as Joy Division but they kind of wanna get there. 

This is equal parts electro-mood sounds and actual attempts at songs that could be played in a club/rave. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/my-translucent-hands/827910547

The 1986 Listening Post - He Said - Hail

He Said - Hail

#450/2099

October 27 1986

He Said

Hail

Genre: Music for people who hate songs

1.75 out of 5

It’s…the other guy from Wire. 

As great as Chairs Missing was, 154 was just all right. 

And we just heard Bruce Gilbert’s nonsense recently. 

I’m not a Wire historian so I don’t know what compelled them to pull a Kiss and go solo but it certainly wasn’t to sell records cuz no one really heard of Wire, let alone were clamoring for more Wire. 

The bass driven (no surprise, considering Lewis is the bassist for said parent band) opener sets the tone for to monotone industrial near atonality of this thing. If it wasn’t so ugly it would be somewhat interesting. Instead it’s more like someone listened to Scary Monsters and Super Creeps over and over during a bender and recorded a record with no one giving advice on when to stop. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/hail/1033803411

The 1986 Listening Post - Howard Jones - One to One

Howard Jones - One to One

#449/2098

October 25 1986

Howard Jones

One to One

Genre: SynthPop

2.75 out of 5

The first thing I noticed when I listened to this record was that it was a 2020 remaster. Which implies, to me, that there are people in the world who were clamoring for this album to be reissued so they could listen to it with better fidelity than was featured on their previous versions. 

This boggles my mind inasmuch as the first two Jones records were, by all accounts, terrific, but this one is super dull. Unmemorable. Forgettable. 

It feels like a bunch of ideas without songs to wrap around them.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/one-to-one-expanded-remastered/1491372515

The 1986 Listening Post - Slayer - To Hell with the Devil

Slayer - To Hell with the Devil

#448/2097

October 24 1986

Slayer

To Hell with the Devil

Genre: Christian Metal

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

To Hell with the Devil

Calling on You

Free

Honestly

I think I’ve been pretty open about my love of big 80s hair metal when it’s done unapologetically but also with a knowing sense of self-awareness. So much so that I have talked about the retro band Station a few times who are cut directly from this musical cloth.

There’s no escaping that, despite their content, Stryper was really good at this idiom and it’s impossible for me to completely slag. This is a glam metal at it’s most fervent. 

It’s unabashed and honest and declarative and cheeky. 

Dammit. 

Jesus, that first side is a Glam Metal classic. No? Even the Power Ballad, “Honestly” is spectacularly 80s. 

Ultimately, this is just a fine example of the form. Occasionally excellent, often great, never terrible. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/to-hell-with-the-devil/1440914389

The 1986 Listening Post - Nik Kershaw - Radio Musicola

Nik Kershaw - Radio Musicola

#447/2096

October 24 1986

Nik Kershaw

Radio Musicola

Genre: Dance Pop

2.25 out of 5

This is big pop 80s. I actually didn’t know Nik had it in him. I mean, I guess I should have. It hews closer to what I would expect from Madonna or Cyndi Lauper. 

But he’s not as cute or interesting or daring and his songs kinda suck. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/radio-musicola/1442665134

The 1986 Listening Post - Iggy Pop - Blah-Blah-Blah

Iggy Pop - Blah-Blah-Blah

#446/2095

October 23 1986

Iggy Pop

Blah-Blah-Blah

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Cry For Love

Requisite 80s cover:

“Real Wild Child” by Bobby Rydell which sounds like a “Hey! What if we make this sound like if David Bowie fronted The Cars in 1978?!?”

You don’t open your album with a cover if you have ANYTHING stronger. You just don’t. That tells me everything. 

Have I told my Iggy story yet?

I used to work at a boutique video store in the village called New Video. Very quickly they expanded to the west village, upper west side, midtown east side. I was one of the first of my friends to get a job there. I was transferred to just about every branch and almost fired more times than I remember. 

We thought we were the shit. That we knew more about movies than anyone else. It was our calling card. We were the Clerks that Clerks was talking about. Boy, did that movie resonate with me. After a while I was put in charge of the x-rated section. Debbie from Dallas was a customer. One of the regulars offered me a job on her X-rated feature. 

Yes, I took that job. 

Yes, it was everything you imagine in the 80s. 

Anyway. In the mid-80s, we were the place to come to if you were wanting movies to rent. 

David Byrne would come in with his choices written on sheet music. 

Ric Ocasek would cluck and jerk with Paulina. 

Tom Cruise would rent Ridley Scott movies cuz he was gonna work on Legend and wanted to know more about the director. He was worried once when he came in because he had a military movie he was working on and he didn’t know if it would be good. It was Top Gun.

Ellen Barkin hated me because I would try to steer people away from Buckaroo Banzai. Just to piss her off. 

One guy would come in, looking for something new, something interesting and ask for suggestions. 

Every single damned time I would ask, “Have you seen Repo Man?”

He would say that he had. And then I’d recommend Buckaroo Banzai. 

This went on every Friday for a month.

His name was James Osterberg. 

He wrote and performed the theme song. Cuz, he’s Iggy Pop. And I knew that but he didn’t know that I knew that. Cuz his name was “James”.

You know how you’re supposed to use your place of work to network? 

I did the opposite. 

Fuck Iggy Pop. Never liked his music. (On his own, that is. The Stooges are fine)

This album is the furthest from the groundbreaking punk of the Stooges. A 100% attempt at commercialism that fails. I love crass commercialism. He just can’t do it. It’s mostly co-written by Bowie. So it sounds like 80s Bowie. Check out “Isolation” for a perfect example of this. But because of that I don’t hate it as much as his previous garbage. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/blah-blah-blah/1443994796

The 1986 Listening Post - Billy Idol - Whiplash Smile

Billy Idol - Whiplash Smile

#445/2094

October 20 1986

Billy Idol

Whiplash Smile

Genre: New Wave

2.25 out of 5

Lowlights:

Beyond Belief (not that one)

Requisite 80s cover:

“To Be A Lover”, oft covered William Bell and Booker T Jones song. It’s perfectly Idolized here. 

That opener…sounds a lot like the template for “Cradle of Love”. But, then again, everything Billy, et al, does sounds like that. It’s all pulsating dance rock. I love it for that but I also get bored by it pretty easily.

Weirdly, when it doesn’t sound like classic Billy, it sounds like…ZZ Top? (“Soul Standing By”)

I wondered why this record is only on Spotify and not available on Apple Music and then I listened to it and now I have more respect for Apple Music. 

You know why this album is a whole lotta “meh”?

Two words:

Harold

Faltermeyer. 

‘Nuff said.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6oXV5HeLjIKQJE6iecEIGc?si=JZyBQ4z8QgCTqH0AO_9lhQ

The 1986 Listening Post - Bad Company - Fame and Fortune

Bad Company - Fame and Fortune

#444/2093

October 22 1986

Bad Company

Fame and Fortune

Genre: Let’s be Foreigner!

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Tell It Like It Is

Bad Company is trying so hard on this record. They are listening to everything that’s out there and figure, “we can do that” and so we end up with Leppard-esque junk like “Fame and Fortune” amidst all the other wannabe-radio friendly power rock. They almost get there on songs like “Tel It Like it Is”, which would be better served by Rodgers and I almost like it. But, then you get to “When We Made Love”, and you wonder how anyone could write this garbage with a straight face. Idare you to learn how to play it on an instrument, sit your significant other down and sing it to him/her with a straight face. 

Do it. 

I dare you.

In fact, I am now BEGGING any musician with a retro show to learn this hot garbage and play it in front of humans. 

I came late to Bad Company so I missed whatever made them “great” but, losing Paul Rodgers didn’t help on this callous programmer. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/fame-and-fortune/40457801

The 1986 Listening Post - "Weird Al" Yankovic - Polka Party!

"Weird Al" Yankovic - Polka Party!

#443/2122

October 21 1986

“Weird Al” Yankovic

Polka Party!

Genre: Novelty

2 out of 5

Highlights:

Christmas at Ground Zero

There is a terrific podcast called “Hit Parade” with Chris Molanphy from Slate. For music lovers, especially from the 80s and 90s, it’s a gas. As I am listening to this I just finished a recent episode which was all about novelty records and, specifically, the grandmaster of all, Weird Al. I mean, the guy has made this into a 4 decade career. That’s crazy. 

He did it by using all the media available to him: radio, MTV, YouTube, digital delivery. He’s a savvy one that Al.

This album is a bit of disappointment right out the gate. “Living with a Hernia” & “Addicted to Spuds” both seem like hackneyed attempt to cash in on popular songs without much of the wit we want from Al.. The Talking Heads style rip doesn’t bite as hard as the Devo one last time. And the polka of hits is uninspired as well. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/polka-party/250494835

The 1986 Listening Post - John Farnham - Whispering Jack

John Farnham - Whispering Jack

#442/2121 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

October 20 1986

John Farnham

Whispering Jack

Genre: Much better than John Parr but not wholly dissimilar

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Pressure Down

You’re the Voice (written by a guy I sold an air conditioner unit to)

Trouble

Every country has one or two of these acts. A pop idol that can not cross over to America but remains an icon in their home country. 

Cliff Richard. 

Tragically Hip. 

I’m sure there are others but my brain is jello right now. 

That isn’t to say they aren’t any good. Quite the opposite. 

But, who has ever heard of John Farnham? Did you know this was his 12th record? 

Nope. Not me. 

Did you know that, for a while, he was the lead singer on Little River Band? 

Nope. But that begs the question, why is this so much better than any LRB stuff he was involved with???

That said, it’s big and assured and, at times, quite excellent entry into the pantheon of 80s big vocals rock. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/whispering-jack/270340388

The 1986 Listening Post - Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Liverpool

#441/2120

October 20 1986

Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Liverpool

Genre: Dance Rock

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Warriors of the Wasteland

Rage Hard

Maximum Joy

Watching the Wildlife

That first one was so delicious. It’s one of those records that almost automatically demands backlash for the next one. And, yes, there’s a lot of familiar on this record but I had heard that it was so bad that I never sought it out. (To be fair, the likelihood of me actually buying this record, despite my love of the first one that was loaned to me on cassette was tiny, money being super scarce for a kid just starting out, y’know?)

But it’s not bad. On the contrary. It’s like Pleasuredome Part 2. Muscular and assertive. But when it’s not, it’s annoying and cloying. What a schizo record. No surprise it’s their last. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/liverpool/1364128357

The 1986 Listening Post - Paul Young - Between Two Fires

Paul Young - Between Two Fires

#440/2119

October 20 1986

Paul Young

Between Two Fires

Genre: MOR

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Wonderland

Between Two Fires

80s rock is littered with guys like Paul Young. I often liken them to American Idol performers. They aren’t really all that edge cutting. They are inoffensive. That they managed to scrape out a career from uninteresting album pop is an achievement unto itself and I am loath to condemn it considering, hell, I didn’t do it. 

This album is the sound of that era. Every track could be the closing credit track to an 80s Rom-Com (looking at you, specifically, “Wonderland”). This kind of programmer is the price I pay to get to the really good stuff of the era. I suppose it has its fans. 

Lemme put it this way, I could cook dinner to this record. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/between-two-fires-expanded-edition/406063683

The 1986 Listening Post - The Stranglers - Dreamtime

The Stranglers - Dreamtime

#439/2118

October 17 1986

The Stranglers

Dreamtime

Genre: SynthPop

2.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Always the Sun

This one starts off strong, with the promise that the band is continuing it’s “Better than Lou Reed while aping Lou Reed and proving that Lou Reed could have been great if he didn’t Lou Reed everything up.” from the last record. 

But then it all gets muddied up with synthy mood stuff and the entire album seems to lose interest in itself. 

I mean, it tries to go for some kind of poppy sound but by the time we get to “Too Precious” and “Mayan Skies” I’ve lost track. It’s an non-cohesive record made by a band that doesn’t know what it wants to be. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/dreamtime/259234910

The 1986 Listening Post - Eddie Money - Can't Hold Back

Eddie Money - Can't Hold Back

#438/2117

October 15 1986

Eddie Money

Can’t Hold Back

Genre: Rock

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Stranger in a Strange Land

Requisite 80s cover:

Isn’t a cover but, rather an interpolation. “Take Me Home Tonight” is an interpretation of “Be My Baby”. It’s co-written by Phil Spector, among others but not Money, and it features Ronnie Spector on vocals. 

After listening to middling Huey Lewis, Corey Hart, Meat Loaf, here comes Eddie Money, an artist I really never quite understood. Is he a vocalist? A songwriter? A musician? Does he play anything? What does he do? 

I’ve only heard sporadic Money stuff over the years and I never really heard the appeal. In a way he seems to have stepped out of the 70s singer/songwriter model but then again, he’s got kind of a terrible voice. 

But, more power to him, he managed to keep his name and brand in the light for decades despite not being really interesting or relevant…ever. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/cant-hold-back/192666803

The 1986 Listening Post - Andy White - Rave On Andy White

Andy White - Rave On Andy White

#437/2116

October 14 1986

Andy White

Rave On Andy White

Genre: A Busker with a Band

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

The Soldier’s Sash

Reality Row

Religious Persuasion

Tuesday Apocalypse #13

The entire time I was listening to this I was thinking that it was some terrific production, for what is essentially a Billy Bragg style of singer/songwriter. But, with a band instead of just Billy on the Underground platform. 

The guy has talent, that’s for damned sure, but I get why I’ve never heard of him, despite the fact that he’s been putting out albums since this one all the way to last year, I’m not sure any of his stuff translates much outside of his sphere. 

I’m grateful for streaming, though, as it gives me the opportunity to hear someone like Andy. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/rave-on-andy-white/1148005574

The 1986 Listening Post - Wang Chung - Mosaic

Wang Chung - Mosaic

#436/2115

October 14 1986

Wang Chung

Mosaic

Genre: Synth Rock

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Everybody Have Fun Tonight

And just when you thought the sound of NewDisco Wave is done…you find yourself Wang Chunging tonight.

I’ve talked before about how WC is THE sound of Los Angeles in the 80s. Wet asphalt. Day Glo. Sockless shoes. Sounds better on CD than on vinyl. No pops and hisses for these guys. Interferes with the good coke. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/mosaic/1444090564

The 1986 Listening Post - Saxon - Rock the Nations

Saxon - Rock the Nations

#435/2114

October 13 1986

Saxon

Rock the Nations

Genre: Mediocretal 

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Party Til You Puke

Word is Elton John was recording in the same studio and popped in to play piano on…”Party Til You Puke”. (Also on the last song, “Northern Lady”.)

That should suffice for the entire review of this hollow piece of mediocrity, except that’s the best song on the record. 

I get what they are going for, but it all sounds so calculated that it’s impossible for me to truly enjoy. So much seems to have promise and then it all peters out when the actual songs takes shape (“Running Hot” is a great example of this).

https://music.apple.com/us/album/rock-the-nations/717114516

The 1986 Listening Post - SNFU - If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish

SNFU - If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish

#434/2113

October 10 1986

SNFU

If You Swear, You’ll Catch No Fish

Genre: Punk

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

The Devil’s Voice

Scarecrow

Mind Like a Door

Do you think modern melodic punk bands of the 00s knew how much they owed to a…gulp…Canadian band? I know there are bands that sound like this but usually the lead singer is a snot nosed menace or a demon impersonator. Ken Chinn is neither. The guy has pipes. And those are the kind of pipes that will propel this sound into the pop world in about 10 years. Not for him, of course, but someone’s gotta be a pioneer. 

I know this is “punk” but it’s also right at the water’s edge of 90s alternative. 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOibV79vltA

The 1986 Listening Post - Lyres - Lyres Lyres

Lyres - Lyres Lyres

#433/2112

October 13 1986

Lyres

Lyres Lyres

Genre: 60s Garage Rock

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Not Looking Back

She Pays the Rent

What can be said about Lyres that I didn’t say last time? They are driving in a lane that, in 1986, no one is really caring about unless it’s the Rolling Stones. But they do it so damned well on this record that it’s impossible not to wonder what life would’ve been like for them 18 years earlier. 

Eventually it runs out of steam and just sounds like the same song over and over and someone turn down that guitar!

“Beneath the streets of Kenmore Square, it was 87 degrees and every bit as arid as a Sears humidifier testing facility 20 minutes into The Lyres’ set at the famed Rathskeller. The Rat. The sweat soaked sardine crush swayed to and fro aggressively, but with no apparent rythmic connection to the Danelectro & Farfisa tsunami washing over them. I’d never seen him before, but he was obviously an asshole. We were evil eyeing each other for a good three songs when I made the mistake of losing myself in the music. I never saw the sucker punch coming, and he never saw the thick-walled refillable Budweiser bar bottle. You wouldn’t think a little waif like 105 pound Alison could break a bottle like that on a man’s head. They threw him out, gave me a free beer. I married Alison. It was a mistake.” - Luca Barnacles

https://music.apple.com/us/album/lyres-lyres/576560881

The 1986 Listening Post - Berlin - Count Three & Pray

Berlin - Count Three & Pray

#432/2111

October 13 1986

Berlin

Count Three & Pray

Genre: Rock

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Will I Ever Understand You

Trash

When Love Goes to War

Pink and Velvet

Welp, I think this is it for Berlin, yes? They bring in Bob Ezrin to produce. Get Ted Nugent and Elliot Easton and David Gilmour to play guitar on it. Score a massive hit that they didn’t write and still can’t sell any records. 

The writing is on the vinyl. 

The label picked all the wrong songs for singles, obviously. Except that big one and I just can’t bring myself to highlight it. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/count-three-pray/1434879315

The 1986 Listening Post - Survivor - When Seconds Count

Survivor - When Seconds Count

#431/2110

October 9 1986

Survivor

When Seconds Count

3.25 out of 5

It takes talent to make songs that sound like a perfect hybrid of Starship and Loverboy and Journey and find the worst of each of them. 

OK, maybe that’s actually pretty easy to do. But that’s what this sounds like. I got to give credit to Survivor for putting out six(!!!) mediocre albums in a row and still remaining a name that people associate with the era. 

Just…wow.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/u-vox/1179374363

The 1986 Listening Post - Ultravox - U-Vox

Ultravox - U-Vox

#430/2109

October 9 1986

Ultravox

U-Vox

Genre: Synthpop

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Same Old Story

Sweet Surrender 

The Prize

All in One Day

I first saw this flow chart in some magazine, might’ve been Trouser Press, and I never ever forgot it. I loved how it connected all the New Romantics (mostly I loved how incestuous everyone was. I don’t know if Pete Frame followed it up with the 80s versions of these bands but I include it here because, honestly, I’ve sort of run out ways to talk about Ultravox and how they sound like they are trying to recapture the flag from Simple Minds. This isn’t bad. It’s not transcendent. When it hits, it hits. (“The Prize) When it doesn’t…well, there are worse things you could listen to. It’s more muscular than other Ultravox records. In fact, it might rank among my favorite now. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/u-vox/1179374363

The 1986 Listening Post - Talking Heads - True Stories

#429/2108

October 7 1986

Talking Heads

True Stories

Genre: A lot better than i’d heard it would be

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Love for Sale

Puzzlin’ Evidence

Wild Wild Life

I used to love Spy Magazine. I think I read every issue for about a year. One article I clearly recall (not the details of which, though) was a comparison between two Davids whose names were synonymous with violent homicide: Davids Lynch and Byrne. That cracked me up and I can’t think of either without bringing it to mind ever since. 

Byrne’s been in the spotlight lately, with a very funny turn on John Mulaney’s The Sack Lunch Bunch and an appearance on SNL. I guess he has something to promote. 

I absolutely adored the last few Heads offerings. We all know how great Stop Making Sense was. It made sense, to me at least, that Byrne would venture into other forms of media presentation at some point. But the thing is, he’s not really funny, nor does he engender any real human emotions or connection so the best he can hope to offer is some detached irony. Which is what I always got from this movie. A movie that I only saw pieces of because I couldn’t stick with it. I have no idea if there’s a plot or it’s just a series of videos or what. 

And this was the record, which, for better or worse, never presented as an actual Heads album but, to me, came across as a movie Soundtrack. And that’s why I stayed away. 

Much of this sounds like recent Talking Heads songs redux but, honestly, I prefer that to 90% of what I’ve been listening to lately. 

And Radiohead named themselves after a song on this thing. 

It’s a wild, wild life. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/true-stories-bonus-track-version/124911522

The 1986 Listening Post - Slayer - Reign in Blood

Slayer - Reign in Blood

#428/2107

October 7 1986

Slayer

Reign in Blood

Genre: Thrash Metal

4.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Piece By Piece

Jesus Saves

Criminally Insane

Raining Blood

Rick Rubin really knew what he was doing, huh? If Metallica is your jam but they aren’t A. Fast enough for you or B. their songs are too long, this is the one for you. It’s a relentless brain auger that declares itself top of the pack from the first track and doesn’t let up for the 30 minutes it sticks around. 

It’s pretty insistent and I loved it. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/reign-in-blood/1440928291

The 1986 Listening Post - Red Guitars - Tales of the Unexpected

Red Guitars - Tales of the Unexpected

#427/2106

October 6 1986

Red Guitars

Tales of the Unexpected

Genre: Swirly Smooth Jangle Pop

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Suspicion & Fear

Whatever excitement I had over that first Red Guitars record is pretty much gone as they sound like a lesser version of…Everything But the Girl? Style Council? In that world. But with an appealing vocalist. 

We don’t have the complete album so these 6 tracks will have to be representative of them. 

No surprise that RG didn’t amount to anything more. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUemwD-gWrA&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVB1uokP4OJpAiU-X4lHsrYF 

The 1986 Listening Post - Steeler - Strike Back

Steeler - Strike Back

#426/2105

October 1 1986

Steeler

Strike Back

Genre: Chukka-Chukka Metal

2.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Danger Comeback

Not to be confused with Yngwie Malmsteen’s short lived band of the same name, here’s a collection of nondescript growler hair metal that brings nothing new to the table and has not a single hit on it to warrant investigation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nve3O2HuAKo

The 1986 Listening Post - Nuclear Assault - Game Over

Nuclear Assault - Game Over

#425/2104

October 6 1986

Nuclear Assault

Game Over

Genre: Thrash Metal

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Cold Steel

Vengeance

Sometimes I wonder if I actually like Thrash Metal or if I am just amazed at the masterful in sync playing and lightning fast finger work and, when I key into it, it’s astounding. Often, when I listen to albums like this, though, it just becomes background noise and every noodletastic attack blends into the next one. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/game-over/980775713

The 1986 Listening Post - A-Ha - Scoundrel Days

A-Ha - Scoundrel Days

#424/2103

October 6 1986

A-Ha

Scoundrel Days

Genre: Synth Rock

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Scoundrel Days

Cry Wolf

I think this is actually an improvement over Hunting. There isn’t a timeless pop hit the likes of “Take On Me” but everything is much more assured. They keep the Bowie-esque attempts at being arty alive while shooting for that big 80s Arena sound. 

I’d tell a story about how I had a chance to see A-Ha in concert in 1987 when I was visiting friends in California and they had an extra ticket but I didn’t because I was thinking, “Why are you going to A-Ha of all bands??”. So, I just hung out in their apartment because I didn’t have enough money to actually do anything. 

There’s much more embarrassing stuff in this story than I’m telling but an A-Ha review isn’t the place to tell it. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/scoundrel-days-deluxe-edition/380906530

The 1986 Listening Post - Benjamin Orr - The Lace

Benjamin Orr - The Lace

#423/2102

October 6 1986

Benjamin Orr

The Lace

Genre: New Wave

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Too Hot to Stop

In Circles

The Cars.

They were so simple and catchy and perfect. Like chewing Bubble Yum. The only gum that didn’t immediately lose their flavor after 20 chews. And they had something mysterious in them that people tried to pretend were spider eggs to scare kids from consuming them by the truckload. 

There’s no simile between spider eggs and The Cars or this album, which sounds so much like a Cars album it makes me wonder who was the actual brains behind the Boston band.

In the end, The Lace sounds more like a middling Rick Springfield record. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-lace/272506975

The 1986 Listening Post - Metal Church - The Dark

Metal Church - The Dark

#422/2101

October 6 1986

Metal Church

The Dark

Genre: Scary Satan Metal

2 out of 5

Highlights:

Watch the Children Pray

Oh boy, I wanted this to be great. That first record was a blast. This one has it’s moments. Especially that monster track “Watch the Children Pray”, which hews closer to early Sabbath and Did than it does to where Metal ala Metallica and Megadeth are at this point in time. 

I think everyone wants that, though. 

Ultimately, it’s a real letdown. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-dark/298087735

The 1986 Listening Post - The Brilliant Corners - What's in a Word

The Brilliant Corners - What's in a Word

#421/2100

October 3 1986

The Brilliant Corners

What’s in a Word

4 out of 5

Indie Pop

Highlights:

Laugh I Could Have Cried

Sweet Brendan

Sunny, bright 80s BritPop that, I think, is anticipating an onslaught. They are about a decade too early but it’s all there... except a big hit song. 

Yeah, it’s an EP but I didn’t know that going in. It caught me. I didn’t wanna turn away. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/growing-up-absurd-whats-in-a-word-fruit-machine-ep/343496292

The 1986 Listening Post - The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4

The Housemartins - London 0 Hull 4

#420/2099  LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

October 1 1986

The Housemartins

London 0 Hull 4

Genre: Nearly Ska Blue Eyed Soul Pop Rock

4.75 out of 5 (Should it be a 5? I could go to a 5)

Highlights:

Happy Hour

Get Up Off Our Knees

Anxious

Reverends Revenge

Sitting on a Fence

Think for a Minute

We’re Not Deep

Lean on Me

This one was really sneaky. I found it so bouncy and fun that I decided to look them up and, lo and behold, everybody wrote about their lyrics and how they defy expectations with the music. This album is like if The Clash went and decided to model themselves after what they wished Paul Weller sounded like post Paris Match. 

One of these guys would go off and become Fatboy Slim. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/london-0-hull-4/887484176

The 1986 Listening Post - News From Babel - Letters Home

News From Babel - Letters Home

#418/2097

1986 Housekeeping

News From Babel

Letters Home

Genre: Avant-Cabaret

2.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Banknote

I argued against the inclusion of this record but I lost the battle. Primarily, I think, because there’s just no really sense to be made about what does and doesn’t constitute “Rock” in the middle 80s. 

We’ve talked a lot about splintering in this era and I am absolutely sure we will cast off a lot of these tributaries as we move down the line, but I think it’s good, in retrospect, to examine these experimentations of the genre, if for nothing else, than just to figure out what the era was all about.

This feels like what would happen if Captain Beefheart was a neo-Austrian Kurt Weill inspired studio band. 

I want to hate it but I also can’t look away. 

THE 1986 Listening Post - Tommy Keene - Songs From the Film

Tommy Keene - Songs from the Film

#417/2096

1986 Housekeeping

Tommy Keene

Songs from the Film

Genre: Power Pop

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Places That Are Gone

In Our Lives

Gold Town

Requisite 80s cover:

Kill Your Songs by Lou Reed, Mass dynamic and ominous here. 

Bless the folks at the labels who were trying to keep Power Pop viable. I don’t know the Tommy Keene story, he seems to have been cut from the same Matthew Sweet mold: Writes tight songs. Local appeal. Label picked him up with high hopes and they didn’t pan out. 

He’s got that Costello nasal sound down. The songs are delectably loquacious confections smartly written and presented. 

Maybe he was just too late or too early. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/songs-from-the-film/1443718279

The 1986 Listening Post - Spermbirds - Something to Prove

Spermbirds - Something to Prove

#416/2095 LISTENING POST DISCOVERY

1986 Housekeeping

Spermbirds

Something to Prove

Genre: Punk

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Something to Prove

What a Bitch Is

Shit Job

Try Again

It’s weird to me that I, as an inveterate Cerebus fan, who has every issue including the hard to find first issue signed by Dave Sim as well as having letters printed in his comic and the book of letters he printed, would never seek out this record. Look at that cover! It’s Cerebus! I mean, if you were a fan of the aardvark you knew about this record. Sim wrote about it. The band never asked for permission but he didn’t have a problem with their use. 

For a German band they really come across as SoCal American Punk. In fact, they kind of remind me of an independent punk band that I reviewed in 95, Kiss the Clown. I’m sure there were tons of them but Spermbirds is one of the first that I recall really capturing this sound. Not the first, but definitely one of them.

I do wish I had heard this back in the day. This is melodic punk that would have gotten a bunch of play in the tape deck in my 1963 Chevy Bel Air. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/something-to-prove-nothing-is-easy/381476700

The 1986 Listening Post - Gangway - Sitting in the Park

Gangway - Sitting in the Park

#415/2094

1986 Housekeeping

Gangway

Sitting in the Park

Genre: SytnthPop

3.5 out of 5

After hearing so much great and groundbreaking stuff it feels decidedly weird to go back and listen to second rate synthpop.

Long after Squeeze and Madness were at their height, Gangway seems to be trapped in a time warp.

Nothing absolutely horrible here. Nothing that makes me want to join the Gangway Fan Club Internationale.

This album is as harmful as a pipe smoking bespectacled writer sitting in the park.

Which is the cover of the record. 

At least they knew….

https://music.apple.com/us/album/sitting-in-the-park/331492217