The Listening Post

Monday, January 14, 2019

The 1983 Listening Post - Violent Femmes - Violent Femmes

I hope you know that this will go down on your permanent record.

April 13 1983
Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
5 out of 5

Highlights:

Blister in the Sun
Kiss Off
Add It Up
Gone Daddy Gone
Gimme the Car
Promise

There is no doubt in my mind that the debut record from Violent Femmes was one of the most important releases in Indie Rock history. It’s my belief that this is the true launching pad for modern “Indie”. A bunch of buskers heard by The Pretenders and launched on Sire records, this record was finally certified gold…after 4 years. And platinum 4 years later.
Without ever charting!
One of the most important albums in any 80s kid’s college record collection.

The 1983 Listening Post - R.E.M. - Murmur

R.E.M. - Murmur

April 12 1983

R.E.M.
Murmur
5 out 5

Highlights:

Radio Free Europe
Catapult
Pilgrimage
Laughing
Moral Kiosk
9-9
Shaking Through

Finally.
Knowing this was sitting out there was like an oasis in the midst of quite a desolate desert of music.
I just listened to the whole thing again and, even with the nostalgia, it is still magnificent.
Even though some of us were prepared for it because either we heard Chronic Town or just the college radio hit, “1,000,000” (which I requested every day from the Fairleigh Dickinson University radio station), Murmur still sounds like a revelation. Something that had not existed before but seems like it should have always been there.

I’ve written about this album a couple of times so, I will put my 2011 review in the comments.

The 1983 Listening Post - Quiet Riot - Metal Health

Quiet Riot - Metal Health

March 11, 1983
Quiet Riot
Metal Health
Grade 5

Kevin Dubrow is everything that his obvious hero, Roger Daltrey is not. (He also wanted to have that hair but…male pattern baldness is not a friend to hair metal boys) But it’s through DuBrow that we can hear the connection between Daltrey and Vince Neil and those singers. They were never Queen. They were never Jagger. They were all influenced by The Who.
As much as Def Leppard, this is the record that really pushed the glam rock that would enrich Poison and Motley Crue and the like and fire them into the mainstream. Ratt wished they could be Quiet Riot. Where Leppard were trying to get with your girlfriend, Quiet Riot was trying to get with your girlfriend’s sleazy friend who had daddy issues and smoked Marlboros cuz Benson and Hedges Deluxe Ultra Lights were for Musical Theater assholes. (Guess who used to smoke B&HDUL?…:) )
As evidenced on Run for Cover & Battle Axe the band learned a LOT from ex-member Randy Rhodes, aping his style to great effect.
Take The Sweet, add Sound City type production, amp everything up and make it cut like glass and that’s Nu-Glam. (Which, had this happened in the 90s, is what it would’ve been called.)
I’d never heard this record until tonight and I could go right back to the beginning and start all over again.

Highlights:
Metal Health
Cum on Feel the Noize
Slick Black Cadillac
Love’s a Bitch
Breathless
Run for Cover
Thunderbird

The 1983 Listening Post - Def Leppard - Pyromania

Def Leppard - Pyromania

Oh, you shut up.
This album glistens and explodes. Carefully crafted, meticulously honed ear candy. I get it now. Back when it came out I just hated everybody who liked it.

1/20/1983
Def Leppard
Pyromania
5 Stars (You read that right)

Best Tracks:

Rock Rock Til You Drop
Photograph
Stagefright
Die Hard the Hunter
Foolin'
Rock of Ages

https://open.spotify.com/album/5ab6RIlAGwbVAacV1JIr2d…

The 1983 Listening Post - UFO - Making Contact

You know what this sounds like? Boring Michael Schenker. No surprise. He used to be in this band. Fortunately for him, he got out before this.
I forgot it was on while it was on.

2/28/1983
UFO
Making Contact

2.5 Stars

https://open.spotify.com/album/6SkLeQONahUWBcgZG7QJM8…

The 1983 Listening Post - Bryan Adams - Cuts Like a Knife

This one'll get me in trouble. Maybe I have a soft spot for this kind of heartland-y pop rock. Maybe it's cuz I'm older. I think it's all part of the Springsteen residue.
I liked it.

1/18/1983
Bryan Adams
Cuts Like a Knife
4.5 Stars

Best Tracks
The Only One
Cuts Like a Knife

https://open.spotify.com/album/5ZZ5S9fqcpQo4N3n7nPUk7…

The Listening Post - The Greg Kihn Band - Kihnspiracy

If the Knack didn't exist, Greg Kihn would've tried to be them.
But nowhere near as good.
After 7 mediocre and equally middling performing records, why on Earth were people still giving this guy a record deal?
But goes to show how dumb I am. He had his biggest hit on it.

Go figure.

2/28/1983
The Greg Kihn Band
Kihnspiracy
3

Best Tracks:
Jeopardy
Fascination

https://open.spotify.com/album/0bKkOfLzf0a3gl9I0Yrm3M…

The 1983 Listening Post - Grand Funk Railroad - What's Funk?

Grand Funk Railroad
What's Funk?

I feel like if I had the time and energy to go back into Grand Funk Railroad's catalog I might enjoy them in the same way that I do early J. Geils Band. But, unlike that band, I don't have the desire to do that. So I will start with their last album. And it was fine. Kind of dull. The answer to the question posed by the title is...not this.

1/31/1983
Grand Funk Railroad
What's Funk?
3.5 Stars

Best tracks:
Still Waiting
Borderline

https://open.spotify.com/album/5BARrbWmYZMLPavfOjAzlg…

1983 Listening Post - Soft Cell

Soft Cell

The Art of Falling Apart

Look, they weren't that great to begin with. Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret was excellent but they will forever be known for one single and THAT song, which sold a gazillion copies, should've made Marc Almond super rich. If he had backed it with a song of his own and not a cover. Like when Roger Taylor demanded that "I'm in Love with My Car" be the b-side of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Smart guy. Almond, not so much.

The follow up was meh.

1/31/1983
Soft Cell
The Art of Falling Apart
3.5 Stars

Best Tracks:

Where the Heart Is
The Art of Falling Apart

https://open.spotify.com/album/41HPpkU7TxMgwAsUmh1g3n…

The 1983 Listening Post - Loudness - The Law of the Devil's Land

The 1983 Listening Post.
Loudness
The Law of the Devil's Land

In 2008 I started a blog called "The Listening Post". In it I would sit with the entire catalog of one band and review each album in chronological order.
Each album would be given a grade, A-F. The best tracks would be rated as "A Sides". The surprising songs would be "BlindSides". The worst would be "DownSides".
From 2015-2017 I decided to forgo the blog and just listen....
to every rock album released from 1978-1982. Just to, you know, see if I missed anything.
Since my Facebook feed has become nothing more than Trump, Trump and more politics, I thought it might be fun to continue the project.
This group is dedicated to 1983.
I'll put up the albums in order of release. Hopefully I won't miss anything.
I will be listening to each album and entering my own ratings and song preferences in my ongoing spreadsheet (which I will share with you, if you like).
But, I will also link the album here in case anyone wants to talk about them.
Let's rock!
This is a Facebook group that is being cross posted here for short term posterity.

I don't know what any of these songs are about. And I didn't even know they existed. This is right in that Randy Rhodes wheelhouse and I loved every second of it.

1/21/1983
Loudness
The Law of Devil's Land
4 Stars

https://open.spotify.com/album/4jbhp6Nsb0ny2FuGiRTibW…

The Listening Post - Septenary