The 1985 Listening Post - Cabaret Voltaire - The Covenant, the Sword and the Lord

Cabaret Voltaire - The Covenant, the Sword and the Lord

#479/1112

November 1985

Cabaret Voltaire

The Covenant, the Sword and the Lord

Genre: Electronic

2.75 out of 5

I’m on record with my disdain for Cabaret Voltaire. As a student of Dadaism and Tristan Tzara and Hugo Ball and all of that I’m pretty sure Cabaret Voltaire’s music would not have been played at the Cabaret Voltaire.

And I’ve never cared much for their output. 

This time, however, I think the club scene has finally caught up with them. Case in point: the frenetic dance floor schism of “I Want You” followed by the nihilistic disco “Hells Home”.

Musically, its more interesting than any of their previous records. It’s also much much darker. But it still leaves me cold. 

Unless you like Charles Manson, cuz they put some of him on the record in between tracks. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-covenant-the-sword-and-the-arms-of-the-lord-remastered/825389082

The 1985 Listening Post - Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down the Stairs

Microdisney - The Clock Comes Down the Stairs

#478/1111

November 1985

Microdisney

The Clock Comes Down the Stairs

Genre: Rock

3.75 Out of 5

Highlights:

Birthday Girl

With that name I really really really wanted this to be like Deep Freeze Mice. You know…experimental, lo-fi, weird.

It’s not. I mean, it is weird. But only because the songwriters have a unique take on what sounds like simple pop rock. This might make no sense to anyone (and maybe I’m crazy) but they kind of sound like a (20 years earlier) Irish version of Barenaked Ladies. 

This is everything I wanted Everything But the Girl to be but they aren’t. It’s not a revelation but it’ll do. And it peters out toward the end pretty sharply but it was pleasant enough. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-clock-comes-down-the-stairs/697887525

The 1985 Listening Post - Dramarama - Cinema Verite

Dramarama - Cinema Verite

#477/1110 LISTENING POST ADMIN DISCOVERY

November 1985

Dramarama

Cinema Verite

Genre: Alternative

5 out of 5

Highlights:

Visiting the Zoo

Questions

Scenario

Anything, Anything (I’ll Give You)

Some Crazy Dame

Transformation

Etc

Is there any song that more represents Los Angeles in the mid-80s than “Anything, Anything”? To me that song is synonymous with KROQ and the LA scene. It was ubiquitous. And also it was good. It was a primal scream of beta-male rock. So desperate. So aggressively desperate. Easdale lays his emotions on his sleeve elsewhere as well, on “Questions” for instance, where he wails, “Does she talk about me???”

I want to give him a hug but I also want to sing along, live on the Sunset Strip. 

The album is more…power poppy than I expected. It’s gently rocking without giving in to softer impulses completely. 

I actually like their cover of “Femme Fatale” more than R.E.M.’s.

And then…Side Two continues the excellence. 

Why didn’t anyone tell me about this record!?

How was “Some Crazy Dame” not played exhaustively on Modern Rock Radio?? It’s steeped in latter day Beatles cum Cheap Trick and it manages to be better than a lot of both of those bands’ stuff. At the very least it’s as good as anything Trick was doing in their heyday. 

There

is

not

a

bad

song

on

this

record.

Like me, Dramarama was a New Jerseyan transplanted to LA, although I never knew that until today. And, aside from that single, I never gave them the time of day. What a fucking loss for me. 

Huge fucking discovery for Allen. 

"Blitzkrieg Time of Changes review"

The 1985 Listening Post - Carnivore - Carnivore

Carnivore - Carnivore

#476/1109

November 1985

Carnivore

Carnivore

Genre: Thrash

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Carnivore

Male Supremacy

I’m not sure if this is sophomoric and brilliant or sophomoric and terrible. I mean, the title track is sort of everything that this album is about, no? The “Carnivore” isn’t in reference to consuming meat. It’s an aggressive paean to cunnilingus. But it’s also terrifying. It’s not similar in style to but wholly the cousin of NiN’s “Closer”.

In the dark recesses of fetishdom, in the corners of BDSM is a style of domination/submission based on the Gor series of books by John Norman. Looking at these guys on the back cover I’m sure they have inspired or soundtracked many an Andrew cross session in that world. 

All that said, it’s really accomplished and the vocal left turn on “Male Supremacy” was kind of a shock. 

It all gets kind of repetitive but that doesn’t make it not good. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/carnivore/214399055

The 1985 Listening Post - Beat Happening - Beat Happening

Beat Happening - Beat Happening

#474/1107 

November 1985

Beat Happening

Beat Happening

Genre: Indie Lo-Fi

4 out of 5

Highlights:

I Let Him Get To Me

In Love With You Thing

How ahead of its time was Beat Happening? Personally, I will admit that I thought it was going to be a retro mod sound. It’s not. It’s more of a predecessor to, say, All Girl Summer Fun Band’s sound. The indie bands that would crop up a little more than a decade later and become press darlings. I’m thinking of Cub and Donora. This is the sound of Riot Grrl and, whatever anyone else thinks, I really loved the Riot Grrl sound and image. 

Everything about this record makes me happy. It is one of those that really shouldn’t exist but, 80s. And it would get easier and easier for people to get in a room, make music and put it on vinyl/plastic/1’s & 0’s.

Think Kimya Dawson and Moldy Peaches.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/beat-happening/259052882

The 1985 Listening Post - Pete Townshend - White City: A Novel

Pete Townshend - White City: A Novel

#473/1106

November 11 1985

Pete Townshend

White City: A Novel

Genre: Rock

3.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Give Blood

Face the Face

What I like about this album is that, as opposed to many other “concept albums” that require a great deal of attention be paid (looking at you, Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking) is this one is comprised of individual songs that actually work on their own as well as part of the whole. They are intensely Townshend (“Face the Face” is one of the more interesting of his tracks I’ve heard in a while) but all that means is, if you like the guy behind The Who but don’t care whether Daltrey sings the songs or not, this will work for you.

Fwiw, “Secondhand Love” works a lot better if you substitute “Secondhand” with “Chicken-Man”.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/white-city-a-novel/1440840431

The 1985 Listening Post - SPK - Machine Age Voodoo

SPK - Machine Age Voodoo

#472/1105

November 29 1985

SPK

Machine Age Voodoo

2.5 out of 5

Remember Xex? It seems to me that SPK heard, liked and decided to emulate that record but without any of Waw Pierogi’s or Thumbalina Guglielmo’s sense of humor. 

It’s a little droning and repetitive and certainly not all that inventive (but, maybe at the time it was, I dunno). And it can actually sound a bit like Dead or Alive (but is that really who one wants to emulate? You do you, SPK)

At times I find myself really digging the drone and at others I think it’s a 5 years too late New Wave record that doesn’t realize the time has passed.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/machine-age-voodoo/543096043

The 1985 Listening Post - D.I. - Ancient Artifacts

D.I. - Ancient Artifacts

#471/1104

November 29 1985

D.I.

Ancient Artifacts

Genre: Punk

2.2.5 out of 5

Imagine starting a punk band after listening to Dirk Wears White Six and making that the benchmark?

“Wounds From Within” is the most evident of this. 

The rest is as lo-fi punk as one can get, with songs about living in The O.C. Or surfing in HB (Orange County & Huntington Beach, respectively) and other stuff that, honestly, wasn’t all that memorable.

I could, however, hear the beginnings of  latter day punk ala Green Day & Blink 182, so there’s that. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/ancient-artifacts/416450493

The 1985 Listening Post - Mr. Mister - Welcome to the Real World

Mr. Mister - Welcome to the Real World

#470/1103

November 27 1985

Mr. Mister

Welcome to the Real World 

Genre: Rock

3 out of 5

Highlights:

Kyrie

Broken Wings

I so wanted this to be better. I hoped that Mr. Mister was secretly more than their singles. 

Instead they sound more like a cut rate, less aggressive Asia. 

So, here’s my question: I know it’s cute to be Mister Mister. Oh, look at how new wave they are! But what if the surname was actually a summer cooking device. No?

These are the jokes, gang. 

All subscriptions to this group are fully refundable. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/welcome-to-the-real-world/302053572

The 1985 Listening Post - Dead Can Dance - Spleen and Ideal

Dead Can Dance - Spleen and Ideal

#469/1102

November 25 1985

Dead Can Dance

Spleen and Ideal

Genre: Dark Wave

4 out of 5

Highlights:

Circumradiant Dawn

Ascension

When I was in college a bunch of us to movement classes off site. We paid hard earned money to be exposed to ridiculous amounts of pain designed to break us down and build us back up. A lot of it was for stamina, I think. I never really understood it. It was called Alexander Technique. I hated Alexander and his technique and none of it ever helped me in my acting pursuits. 

I think these teachers of “experimental theater” were just making shit up as they went along.

The music they would play was ambient or dark or it was weirdly droning or it was Penguin Cafe Orchestra. 

They didn’t play Dead Can Dance but I think they would have liked to. 

Instead I just think I want to stand, with my feet pointed inward, arch my back, stretch my arms behind me like a plane, jut out my jaw and hold it until I pass out. 

On the flip side, I did need some music to meditate to/fall asleep to and I’ve played Music for Airports so much that Eno could put an addition to his house with my streams so I tried this album and, boom, I was out by track 5. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/spleen-and-ideal-remastered/277711135