The 1981 Listening Post - Martha and the Muffins - This is the Ice Age

 Martha and the Muffins - This is the Ice Age

#487

October 22 1981

Martha and the Muffins

This Is the Ice Age

Genre: New Wave but more…

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Swimming

This is the Ice Age

One Day in Paris

Three Hundred Years/Chemistry

Third time’s a damned charm for Martha and her Muffins. And that’s saying something since their first two albums were pretty strong. With Ice Age we are introduced to a new producer b y the name of Daniel Lanois. Know him and love him, this Canadian would push pop music into territories unheard of and bring us some of the most exciting sounds of the 80s. But he gets his start here.

And you can hear it. Pushing the New Wave pop into more and more experimental places each song makes the album richer. This is because of the strength of Lanois. I can hear the more pop elements of the tunes as the skeletons of these songs but they are layered with such delicious arrangements and elements that are evocative without being off-putting. “Casualties of Glass” is playing in that Romeo Void territory which just validates that Iyall and Co. were on to something and it was the future. 

We get a taste of the pop M+M in “You Sold the Cottage” but this album is more of a statement than that. It seems to take its inspiration more from Eno and Kate Bush than the pop New Wave tropes of the day. 

This album is supposed to wash over you, it’s better to lay on a couch with headphones and let it happen. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnUDRtPAWsE&list=PLlvn8uktX5LvCZnx2VvWXBvBJSBDzzUZ4

The 1980 Listening Post - Martha and the Muffins - Trance and Dance

 Martha and the Muffins - Trance and Dance

#405

October 1980

Martha and the Muffins

Trance and Dance

Genre: New Wave

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Luna Park

Symptomatic Love

M&M’s second record in one year is…more Saxy New Wave.

Herky and Jerky in all those delicious ways that has me wondering: why don’t we talk about Martha and the Muffins when we bring up New Wave? Not we in The Listening Post but “we” as a collective. 

Also, and I know this is going to cause all sorts of slagging but, every few years or so there’s talk about the sudden rise of women in popular music. But, what we’ve been seeing in the 80s is a huge leap for women. Does that get talked about enough? I mean, sure, it seems that they will get shoved aside to make MTV space for Glam Metal (Which is men dressed as women) and Rap (which is replete with objectification of women)  but, boy oh boy, the early 80s was filled with great, boundary pushing music by women and dammit, we need to applaud that more. 

The playlist included only has about 75% of the album. You’d have to search the rest of the songs. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Bh8Y81dBU&list=PLS1aBl9FARttpb921sp1eszeccRtksyJ-

The 1980 Listening Post - Martha and the Muffins - Metro Music

#57

February 1980

Martha and the Muffins

Metro Music

Genre: Everything you think of when you think of “New Wave”

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Echo Beach

Paint By Number Heart

Indecisive

Cheesies and Gum

There’s something about “Echo Beach” the big hit off this record that sets it apart from other “New Wave” music. It’s that guitar. The riff and then the rhythm sounds like a 70s classic rock band. The saxophone gives it that classic 80s flair. So, somewhere in the nexus between Blondie and Romeo Void and Quarterflash is that song. 

Down stream it just gets better. I adore the duet interplay between the Marthas on Paint By Number Heart. And the 3rd single, which is the 3rd song in a row of singles, “Saigon” is also a nice slice of NW. 

In fact, the whole record is. 

Why isn’t this available to stream? Darn.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNy8ePVkPVk&list=PLlvn8uktX5LuZ0PVEe6VLdNv07DgOLOgD  (Missing 1 track - Revenge (Against The World))

The 1986 Listening Post - Martha and the Muffins - The World is a Ball

Martha and the Muffins - The World is a Ball

#602

May 1986

Martha and the Muffins

The World is a Ball

Genre: New Wave

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Only You

You know what I was thinking of while listening to this? Mates of State. What happened to them? They sort of popped in out of nowhere, took the mantle of elder states people married Indie Pop Rockers and then I never heard of them again. 

Martha and her husband, whom she met while in the band, are the band at this point. 

And, like MofS, they were New Wave stalwarts and then…gone. 

This album is cute. Sometimes it seems to be trying to be pop Kate Bush “Only You” and I appreciate that. Sometimes it’s just hypnotic New Wave Dance Pop. I’m ok with that.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-world-is-a-ball-30th-anniversary-edition/1205594207

The 1984 Listening Post - Martha & the Muffins - Mystery Walk

Martha & the Muffins - Mystery Walk

#43

February 1984

Martha and the Muffins

Mystery Walk

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Black Stations/White Stations

Come Out and Dance

I completely missed this band so my intro to them will have to be this, their FIFTH album. Who knew? Well, Martha and the Muffins fans, of course.

In the wrong hands, synth pop is…well, see Nick Kershaw. In the right hands, like, say, Danial Lanois, it sounds like Martha and the Muffins, the most unfortunately named band of the era. Well, one of. 

This is blue eyed funk with a keen eye on trying to craft a dance hall hit. They open it with that track, the highly catchy “Black Stations/White Stations” and they don’t really let up on that uber competent 80s closing credits or meet cute montage ability for a while. 

They get real moody toward the end of the second side and, for me, they lose the narrative, but it’s fine for background music at that point, even if it’s a little cheesy and a lot house band in a casino. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/mystery-walk-30th-anniversary-edition/903974903