Running Wild - Gates to Purgatory
#320
December 26 1984
Running Wild
Gates to Purgatory
2.75 out of 5
I love Iron Maiden.
I wish Iron Maiden didn't exist so I wouldn't have to slog through so many fucking Iron Maiden wanna be bands.
It detracts from any originality from the original and diminishes whatever breakthrough they might have made.
I realize they named themselves after a Priest song but they don't sound like Priest. They sound like a college Priest cover band that won a battle of the cover bands one Saturday night and decided to make it a career.
There is nothing offensive about this, it's not Keel or anything. But it's not inventive or surprising. It's just there.
This band has been recording and recording and touring and playing and releasing shit for 30+ years.
Amazing.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gates-to-purgatory/1141487536
Monday, April 1, 2019
The 1984 Listening Post - Butthole Surfers - Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
Butthole Surfers - Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
#319
December 10 1984
Butthole Surfers
Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Eye of the Chicken
Woly Boly
Lady Sniff
This is some fucked up shit, man.
Imagine (hear me out) if Captain Beefheart wrote linear music that didn't require 19 different time signatures and listened a shit ton of Wall of Voodoo and The Resident, took some mescaline and thought, "Maybe I'll invent Primus".
Or something like that.
No matter.
This is the sound of primal rock. I want to shoot this directly into my veins.
Fun Fact: The band took the stage one night and the announcer just looked at the song sheet and said, "It's the Butthole Surfers!" and they kept the name.
The song, "Butthole Surfer" is the weakest on Side One. I mean, I love it but it's still not as fun as the rest.
But "Lady Sniff" is the most disgusting thing I've heard in a while...and I love it. Zappa has nothing on these guys.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/psychic-powerless-another-mans-sac/279584480
#319
December 10 1984
Butthole Surfers
Psychic...Powerless...Another Man's Sac
4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Eye of the Chicken
Woly Boly
Lady Sniff
This is some fucked up shit, man.
Imagine (hear me out) if Captain Beefheart wrote linear music that didn't require 19 different time signatures and listened a shit ton of Wall of Voodoo and The Resident, took some mescaline and thought, "Maybe I'll invent Primus".
Or something like that.
No matter.
This is the sound of primal rock. I want to shoot this directly into my veins.
Fun Fact: The band took the stage one night and the announcer just looked at the song sheet and said, "It's the Butthole Surfers!" and they kept the name.
The song, "Butthole Surfer" is the weakest on Side One. I mean, I love it but it's still not as fun as the rest.
But "Lady Sniff" is the most disgusting thing I've heard in a while...and I love it. Zappa has nothing on these guys.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/psychic-powerless-another-mans-sac/279584480
The 1984 Listening Post - Roger Hodgson - In the Eye of the Storm
Roger Hodgson - In the Eye of the Storm
#318
October 1984 (December 7 CD release)
Roger Hodgson
In the Eye of the Storm
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
Had a Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy)
Only Because of You
Wait...CD?
Yep. This was an early CD release. Not the first. The first "Pop" album to be released on CD was by ABBA. And the first "Rock" CD was Billy Joel's 52nd St. in 82.
But this is pretty early.
Do you like Supertramp? I did. I mean, I liked their hits. Breakfast of Champions is amazing. Their follow up was okay, too. This is the proggy -prog of Supertramp. The songs go off into their own trippy avenues of excess and jams and it's all perfectly ear pleasing, despite Roger's falsetto.
I’m a little unnerved by just how much like latter day Genesis “I’m Not Afraid”. It’s not just biting on “That’s All”, it seems to want to steal it outright.
But, this is right in that spot between Famous Last Words and Breakfast in America. Not as mediocre as the former, not as stellar as the latter.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-the-eye-of-the-storm/110449627
#318
October 1984 (December 7 CD release)
Roger Hodgson
In the Eye of the Storm
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
Had a Dream (Sleeping with the Enemy)
Only Because of You
Wait...CD?
Yep. This was an early CD release. Not the first. The first "Pop" album to be released on CD was by ABBA. And the first "Rock" CD was Billy Joel's 52nd St. in 82.
But this is pretty early.
Do you like Supertramp? I did. I mean, I liked their hits. Breakfast of Champions is amazing. Their follow up was okay, too. This is the proggy -prog of Supertramp. The songs go off into their own trippy avenues of excess and jams and it's all perfectly ear pleasing, despite Roger's falsetto.
I’m a little unnerved by just how much like latter day Genesis “I’m Not Afraid”. It’s not just biting on “That’s All”, it seems to want to steal it outright.
But, this is right in that spot between Famous Last Words and Breakfast in America. Not as mediocre as the former, not as stellar as the latter.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/in-the-eye-of-the-storm/110449627
The 1984 Listening Post - Foreigner - Agent Provocateur
Foreigner - Agent Provocateur
#317
December 7 1984
Foreigner
Agent Provocateur
3.5 out of 5
Highlights:
I Want to Know What Love Is
Stranger in My Own House
Was 4 a fluke? I mean, it was so loaded with ear candy and then the band went away for a couple years, no doubt to tour and buy houses with the Urgent/Waiting/Jukebox Hero money.
And that sound is back. In spades. It's big and arena ready but it sounds old now. Truth is, it sounded sort of old then but now the teeth are long, the houses are bought and it all feels so phoned in.
But let's face it, they learned from "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and know a hit when they pen one. But, is "That Was Yesterday" any good? Or "Reaction to Action" (Which sounds like a lame Roger Taylor track for a latter day Queen album)? Or "Growing Up the Hard Way? Or even, "I Want to Know What Love Is"?
Okay, that last one is pretty good.
Five years before it would be a hit for Gloria Gaynor or Diana Ross. Five Years from this it could be massive for Madonna. 25 years later it would be a hit for Mariah Carey. It's a dynamite song. It's kind of perfect for the genre.
Other than that, this sounds like it was written to be sold to radio. And, man, it's long. It's like a week long this record.
Fun fact:
Trevor Horn worked on this for a bit and then left.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/agent-provocateur/216663946
#317
December 7 1984
Foreigner
Agent Provocateur
3.5 out of 5
Highlights:
I Want to Know What Love Is
Stranger in My Own House
Was 4 a fluke? I mean, it was so loaded with ear candy and then the band went away for a couple years, no doubt to tour and buy houses with the Urgent/Waiting/Jukebox Hero money.
And that sound is back. In spades. It's big and arena ready but it sounds old now. Truth is, it sounded sort of old then but now the teeth are long, the houses are bought and it all feels so phoned in.
But let's face it, they learned from "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and know a hit when they pen one. But, is "That Was Yesterday" any good? Or "Reaction to Action" (Which sounds like a lame Roger Taylor track for a latter day Queen album)? Or "Growing Up the Hard Way? Or even, "I Want to Know What Love Is"?
Okay, that last one is pretty good.
Five years before it would be a hit for Gloria Gaynor or Diana Ross. Five Years from this it could be massive for Madonna. 25 years later it would be a hit for Mariah Carey. It's a dynamite song. It's kind of perfect for the genre.
Other than that, this sounds like it was written to be sold to radio. And, man, it's long. It's like a week long this record.
Fun fact:
Trevor Horn worked on this for a bit and then left.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/agent-provocateur/216663946
The 1984 Listening Post - Black Flag - Slip It In
Black Flag - Slip It In
#316
December 1 1984
Black Flag
Slip It In
2.25 out of 5
Wait, forget what I said before. This is where the 90s starts. This is King Missile, right? Or a slightly more coherent Sonic Youth.
Double entendres? Sexually charged teen angst? And this sort of also sounds like Ramones.
None of that is really all that great, btw. It's just observation.
I think, looking back on this with today's ears, it sounds rudimentary but, from an archeological standpoint, maybe it's ground breaking. Surely the guitar in "Black Coffee" is electrifying (the lyrics, however...I get it, man, you're drinking Black Coffee), but is it any different from what, say, the Stooges were doing? And the MC5 before them? It also sounds so damned muddy.
Three Black Flag records in one year. Only two more in 85 and one of them is about 25 minutes long. I might put the kibosh on it.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/slip-it-in/117618553
#316
December 1 1984
Black Flag
Slip It In
2.25 out of 5
Wait, forget what I said before. This is where the 90s starts. This is King Missile, right? Or a slightly more coherent Sonic Youth.
Double entendres? Sexually charged teen angst? And this sort of also sounds like Ramones.
None of that is really all that great, btw. It's just observation.
I think, looking back on this with today's ears, it sounds rudimentary but, from an archeological standpoint, maybe it's ground breaking. Surely the guitar in "Black Coffee" is electrifying (the lyrics, however...I get it, man, you're drinking Black Coffee), but is it any different from what, say, the Stooges were doing? And the MC5 before them? It also sounds so damned muddy.
Three Black Flag records in one year. Only two more in 85 and one of them is about 25 minutes long. I might put the kibosh on it.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/slip-it-in/117618553
The 1984 Listening Post - Frank Zappa - Thing-Fish
Frank Zappa - Thing-Fish
#323
December 21 1984
Frank Zappa
Thing-Fish
0 out of 5
Just in time for Christmas! It's the third Zappa album of the year and this time he's not settling for a double album, NO! It's a 90 minute, triple album which was supposed to be a stage show but wasn't and then he died and it was.
Side One:
Okay, so this is gonna be a minstrel show, right? It makes sense, Zappa's been aping an afrocentric vocal sound (to the point of parody and offense sometimes) and, according to him, it's also about...AIDS. Which was manufactured as a weapon. And was tested on black inmates.
Did he grow his own shit or did he buy it somewhere?
Okay, "Harry & Rhonda" is actually kind of funny....and the best work Dale and Terry Bozzio have offered in quite a while.
Side One: Excellently repulsive and weird. But also fascinatingly offensive and listenable.
Side Two:
Thing-Fish is narrating something using an old Zappa tune but employing the dialect Ike Willis developed and expanded for this.
There's something about Zombies and an Evil Prince which is sort of like Opera or what Zappa thinks is a Broadway aria/soliloquy but also thinks Broadway sucks. I think.
I'm a third of the way in and I'm still waiting for a plot of some kind.
There's also a lot about cologne that smells like chitlins.
What is this about??
Side Two: plodding.
Side Three:
I have no fucking idea what's going on. What is going on? There's no nuance here and it's incredibly offensive.
Side Four:
Is there some forced mating happening with some doppleganger of an audience member?
Jeepers. Is he having a relationship with an inflatable doll? Sounds like it.
And now women are bad...and so are...men? And they are gay for...work?
WTH?
Side Five:
Someone is having sex with a briefcase and a pen, shouting about her pussy and squirting her tits somewhere.
The PMRC exists for this record.
Side Six:
I don’t know what’s going on. Endings are hard, apparently.
This was a terrible thing and I deserve compensation for getting through it.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/thing-fish/551811417
#323
December 21 1984
Frank Zappa
Thing-Fish
0 out of 5
Just in time for Christmas! It's the third Zappa album of the year and this time he's not settling for a double album, NO! It's a 90 minute, triple album which was supposed to be a stage show but wasn't and then he died and it was.
Side One:
Okay, so this is gonna be a minstrel show, right? It makes sense, Zappa's been aping an afrocentric vocal sound (to the point of parody and offense sometimes) and, according to him, it's also about...AIDS. Which was manufactured as a weapon. And was tested on black inmates.
Did he grow his own shit or did he buy it somewhere?
Okay, "Harry & Rhonda" is actually kind of funny....and the best work Dale and Terry Bozzio have offered in quite a while.
Side One: Excellently repulsive and weird. But also fascinatingly offensive and listenable.
Side Two:
Thing-Fish is narrating something using an old Zappa tune but employing the dialect Ike Willis developed and expanded for this.
There's something about Zombies and an Evil Prince which is sort of like Opera or what Zappa thinks is a Broadway aria/soliloquy but also thinks Broadway sucks. I think.
I'm a third of the way in and I'm still waiting for a plot of some kind.
There's also a lot about cologne that smells like chitlins.
What is this about??
Side Two: plodding.
Side Three:
I have no fucking idea what's going on. What is going on? There's no nuance here and it's incredibly offensive.
Side Four:
Is there some forced mating happening with some doppleganger of an audience member?
Jeepers. Is he having a relationship with an inflatable doll? Sounds like it.
And now women are bad...and so are...men? And they are gay for...work?
WTH?
Side Five:
Someone is having sex with a briefcase and a pen, shouting about her pussy and squirting her tits somewhere.
The PMRC exists for this record.
Side Six:
I don’t know what’s going on. Endings are hard, apparently.
This was a terrible thing and I deserve compensation for getting through it.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/thing-fish/551811417
The 1984 Listening Post - Keel - Lay Down the Law
Keel - Lay Down the Law
#315
November 1984
Keel
Lay Down the Law
1.5 out of 5
Oh this is ugly.
The cover is ugly. The lead singer is ugly sounding. The band is a mess. Their best song is the Rolling Stones cover and even THAT is interminable.
I got through it but, ultimately, it's like Kiss if Kiss had the stomach flu and still thought they were hot shit.
I hope this band never shows up on our lists again.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lay-down-the-law/1049104650
#315
November 1984
Keel
Lay Down the Law
1.5 out of 5
Oh this is ugly.
The cover is ugly. The lead singer is ugly sounding. The band is a mess. Their best song is the Rolling Stones cover and even THAT is interminable.
I got through it but, ultimately, it's like Kiss if Kiss had the stomach flu and still thought they were hot shit.
I hope this band never shows up on our lists again.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/lay-down-the-law/1049104650
The 1984 Listening Post - Jean Michel Jarre - Zoolook
Jean Michel Jarre - Zoolook
#314
November 1984
Jean Michel Jarre
Zoolook
4.5 out of 5
Ethnicolor
Zoolook
Blah Blah Cafe
Remember that story about my friend who finds Industrial music calming and he can listen to it any time and it helps him relax?
I thought that was weird.
And then, there I was, sitting in the office, headphones on, listening to Zoolook and...boom...I get it.
Jarre does that for me.
Oxygene. Magnetic Fields. And even this one. Not just calming, nearly a zen state.
This time around JMJ is playing with vocal samples and creating a soundscape that I find myself just disappearing into.
It's not my favorite Jarre (that would be Magnetic Fields) and it's not the best Jarre (That would be Oxygene) but it's damned great.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/zoolook/1027734795
#314
November 1984
Jean Michel Jarre
Zoolook
4.5 out of 5
Ethnicolor
Zoolook
Blah Blah Cafe
Remember that story about my friend who finds Industrial music calming and he can listen to it any time and it helps him relax?
I thought that was weird.
And then, there I was, sitting in the office, headphones on, listening to Zoolook and...boom...I get it.
Jarre does that for me.
Oxygene. Magnetic Fields. And even this one. Not just calming, nearly a zen state.
This time around JMJ is playing with vocal samples and creating a soundscape that I find myself just disappearing into.
It's not my favorite Jarre (that would be Magnetic Fields) and it's not the best Jarre (That would be Oxygene) but it's damned great.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/zoolook/1027734795
The 1984 Listening Post - The Jazz Butcher - A Scandal in Bohemia
The Jazz Butcher - A Scandal in Bohemia
#313
November 1984
The Jazz Butcher
A Scandal in Bohemia
4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Southern Mark Smith (Big Return)
Marnie (Muscovite Mix)
Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present
Girlfriend
Ah, the joy of discovery.
How many times has that happened to us here?
The Cardiacs.
The Chameleons.
Scott Walker.
The Del-Lords.
Plasticland
The Icycle Works, ffs.
And now, The Jazz Butcher.
I know, I know, you're saying, "The Jazz Butcher? Where ya been, Allen? Everyone loves The Jazz Butcher!"
I don't know who Pat Fish is or really who he reminds me of because he reminds me of so much and yet no one at all. If I had to call it, I would say he's like a British Jonathan Richman if Richman had just that much more musical chops.
"Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present" is the Fleshtones song the Fleshtones wish they could have written and performed.
From jump this is not the sound of the 80s. It's the sound of the 80s becoming the 90s. It's jangle pop but not cloying. It's a cousin to The Bluebells and, as you will recall, that's a compliment.
But it's also different. There's a ton of different styles happening here. As I said, it sounds like everything and nothing. And all of it is listenable.
Might listen again and rate it higher.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-scandal-in-bohemia/1207957091
#313
November 1984
The Jazz Butcher
A Scandal in Bohemia
4.25 out of 5
Highlights:
Southern Mark Smith (Big Return)
Marnie (Muscovite Mix)
Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present
Girlfriend
Ah, the joy of discovery.
How many times has that happened to us here?
The Cardiacs.
The Chameleons.
Scott Walker.
The Del-Lords.
Plasticland
The Icycle Works, ffs.
And now, The Jazz Butcher.
I know, I know, you're saying, "The Jazz Butcher? Where ya been, Allen? Everyone loves The Jazz Butcher!"
I don't know who Pat Fish is or really who he reminds me of because he reminds me of so much and yet no one at all. If I had to call it, I would say he's like a British Jonathan Richman if Richman had just that much more musical chops.
"Caroline Wheeler's Birthday Present" is the Fleshtones song the Fleshtones wish they could have written and performed.
From jump this is not the sound of the 80s. It's the sound of the 80s becoming the 90s. It's jangle pop but not cloying. It's a cousin to The Bluebells and, as you will recall, that's a compliment.
But it's also different. There's a ton of different styles happening here. As I said, it sounds like everything and nothing. And all of it is listenable.
Might listen again and rate it higher.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-scandal-in-bohemia/1207957091
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
The 1984 Listening Post - Gangway - The Twist
Gangway - The Twist
#311
November 1984
Gangway
The Twist
3.25 out of 5
Highlights:
What?
Violence, Easter & Christmas
Jangle Pop meets The Style Council. Or Jangly Dream Pop. What would The Smiths sound like if Morrissey was not someone I was afraid would drink bleach and the rest of the band grew up in a sunnier climate with parents that loved and hugged them?
Gangway.
I chose to intersperse this with Celtic Frost because no two records could be as different (well, there's a LOT that could be different but far be it from to hide from hyperbole).
It made the listening experience very weird but here's the thing:
I would have thought that one being a respite for the other would engender a higher rating for the less offensive. This was not the case.
Instead what it caused is a whiplash case of dizziness.
So, when the percussion driven mood piece "What?" arrived I was taken aback. I actually thought maybe I was still listening to death metal.
More whiplash.
It gets a bit wobbly in the middle but recovers nicely by doubling down on The Smiths on a Carousel "Violence, Easter & Christmas" only to become twee & feeble toward the end.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-twist/269180868
#311
November 1984
Gangway
The Twist
3.25 out of 5
Highlights:
What?
Violence, Easter & Christmas
Jangle Pop meets The Style Council. Or Jangly Dream Pop. What would The Smiths sound like if Morrissey was not someone I was afraid would drink bleach and the rest of the band grew up in a sunnier climate with parents that loved and hugged them?
Gangway.
I chose to intersperse this with Celtic Frost because no two records could be as different (well, there's a LOT that could be different but far be it from to hide from hyperbole).
It made the listening experience very weird but here's the thing:
I would have thought that one being a respite for the other would engender a higher rating for the less offensive. This was not the case.
Instead what it caused is a whiplash case of dizziness.
So, when the percussion driven mood piece "What?" arrived I was taken aback. I actually thought maybe I was still listening to death metal.
More whiplash.
It gets a bit wobbly in the middle but recovers nicely by doubling down on The Smiths on a Carousel "Violence, Easter & Christmas" only to become twee & feeble toward the end.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-twist/269180868
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